An Arizona city passed the world’s first law restricting outdoor lighting back in 1958 to protect the view from a mountaintop telescope, and the accidental result is a modern city of 75,000 where the Milky Way is still visible from downtown and the nocturnal wildlife never lost its dark

A single 1958 ordinance protecting a telescope's view became an accidental blueprint for preserving something most cities have surrendered—a night sky dark enough to see the stars from your own backyard. The post An Arizona city passed the world’s first law r…