The Big Dipper and the saucepan are probably familiar to Zoetermeer residents. But the other stars? They are perhaps less well known. If you look outside from your Zoetermeer home in the evening, you will see quite a few stars on a clear night. How much exactly? KRO-NCRV investigated that.
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Through this online tool from KRO-NCRV you can enter your zip code and discover how many stars you see on a clear night. It quickly becomes clear that this number differs per zip code in Zoetermeer. An example: Zoetermeer residents who live in the street Vletkade in the De Leyens district see up to 116 stars in good weather. But fellow citizens who live on the Marineblauw in the Rokkeveen district, on the other hand, see 33 stars.
Why you see more stars in some parts of Zoetermeer
The number of stars you see on a clear night therefore differs quite a lot per zip code. According to KRO-NCRV, this is due to the light pollution within a city. The more light pollution, the fewer stars you see, says the broadcaster.
Light pollution
Who, what, where is light pollution? On this website contains the following description: “Light pollution refers to the large amount of, often superfluous, artificial light that is emitted by, for example, street lamps, greenhouses, facade lighting, households, et cetera.”
According to KRO-NCRV, the largest light polluters in the Netherlands are the greenhouses in Westland. That is close to Zoetermeer! There is also a lot of light pollution between Berkel en Rodenrijs, Bleiswijk, Delft and Pijnacker. All in the vicinity of our city and people see far fewer stars there. As Zoetermeer residents, we often see the light from the greenhouses in, for example, the Oosterheem and Rokkeveen districts.
Big differences in the Netherlands
So, now you know that within Zoetermeer there are differences in the number of stars per zip code. If you zoom out further, you see much greater differences in numbers per province, region or village. For example, if you look at the villages in Drenthe, you will spot up to 1,500 stars on a clear night, according to the tool. Do you want to see even more stars? Then it’s time for a trip to Terschelling. There you can see more than 10,000 stars shining in some places.
Source: KRO-NCRV.