Night Vision

Seeing the World Correctly Requires the Right Light

Looking up one night recently while away from city lights, I saw something I often forget about: stars. Living in the city, with its overabundance of artificial light, I do not see very many stars, even on a clear night. This loss of the sight of stars is largely the result of the municipality's attempt to deal with man's fallen nature—the street and alley lights are as bright as they are to reduce crime.

My recent recovery of a few stars reminded me of vacations taken in my youth in northern Michigan, where it got so dark on moonless nights that you had to be careful lest you walk into a tree. The shimmering Milky Way and stars impossible to begin counting canopied the lake and the cottages at...