This week promises some good star-gazing in clear night skies. However artificial lights are increasingly blotting out the stars in many places, and to find out how bad the light pollution has become we are invited to take part in a star counting study any night over the next 12 days (March 17-28). The exercise is to count how many stars can be seen in the portion of the sky around the constellation Orion. Orion is one of the easiest constellations to find and even from towns and cities its brilliant stars can be seen without a telescope or binoculars, although a clear night is needed. Further details and a form to enable to part in the annual GLOBE at Night star count can be found at here