sky glow
1
6.9
- noun
- /skaɪ ɡloʊ/
- Specialized
:
brillo del cielo
Examples
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That will make a huge sky glow near the horizon near city lights and make low horizon viewing difficult.
Blog text (9) -
We tried to look for the dumbbell nebula later in the evening, but it was too low and washed out with sky glow.
Blog text (9) -
PHOTO (COLOR): Seattle's sky glow at night (left) is typical of metropolitan (and increasingly suburban) areas around the world.
Academic text (2004) -
The sky glow over the city makes it hard to see the stars at night.
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Astronomers often study the effects of sky glow on the visibility of celestial bodies.
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Because of the sky glow from streetlights, she couldn't see the Milky Way.
Synonyms
A bright night sky over towns or cities caused by city lights that hides most stars
How Bright
- Specialized
1
6.9
50
1.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a brightening of the night sky caused by artificial light' is directly derivable from combining 'sky' (the overhead atmosphere) with 'glow' (a gentle light): it literally denotes a glow in the sky. This noun–noun compounding follows a common, cross-linguistic pattern and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Sky glow comes from the real picture of bright city lights making the night sky look like it is glowing, and the word glow helps you imagine light spreading up from streets into the sky. So it means the 'brightening' of the night sky by 'man-made light' that makes stars hard to see.