Don't worry about whether or not you are "star material." Instead, turn up your lamp and hold it up to help your neighbor around the unexpected holes and rocks that mark every path.

In the middle of the New Mexico desert, astronomers fume about the "light pollution" from all the sprawling cities that are gradually snaking out across the land. Even on the darkest moonless nights, the stars that used to gleam and twinkle so brilliantly look faded and dim. We who dwell in the middle of cities and suburbs rarely glance heavenward at night anymore - at least not to see stars. The lights that now illumine our nights as brightly as our days read "McDonald's," "Holiday Inn," "Casino Open," and "Twenty-Four Hour Service."

In the glare of all these high-powered night lights, it is hard to remember…