Above: I'm an American. Of course it's in the middle (and apologies if I, er, cut you off). Light pollution map as of the data available on 8 March 2025. See the excellent/astronomically depressing details at lightpollutionmap.info.
The most recent issue of Free Astronomy Magazine (March-April 2025) is available for your reading and downloading pleasure in English, Italian, Spanish, French, and Arabic at www.astropublishing.com (and facebook).
Two very young children, COVID, and life in general kept me indoors most evenings (and away from observing) for much of 2020-2021. What I do vividly remember around mid-March 2021 was taking out the garbage a little bit earlier in the morning than usual and seeing a massive celestial caravan moving from west-to-east through a crystal-clear sky. At that moment, I was astounded at the progress SpaceX had made with Starlink, as I'd never seen anything that massive and coordinated and that fast in the sky before (and that includes seeing a space shuttle undock from the ISS over the course of two full orbits, which itself I won't soon forget).
I personally do not know any amateur astronomer who considers that caravan "progress" (feel free to correct me). The good fight from darksky.org, the now-defunct SELENE-NY, whose web presence ended around 2019 (last snap – web.archive.org/web/20190101182128/http://selene-ny.org/; skipping what might be a hacked site, a link and mention is, for instance, skykeepers.org/activism.html), and other local, national, and international organizations seems most up-the-hill as we progress upwards. If it were easy for astrophotographers to plant their gear just past the edge of GEO, it would likely be a different situation. But that's a long time in waiting (because they spent all their money on gear and can't affords rockets and space platforms).
In the defense of progress, very little in the nighttime sky will get a crowd of 200 people looking at the exact same location faster than a pinpoint of light hauling in front of a field of stars. I have no doubt that the sight of a satellite can be a gateway for someone into the hobby (or into one of the many associated professions).
The problem remains far worse here on the ground, as even the darkest of dark skies are seeing light pollution either slowly or rapidly advance (see the cover article above). The tension continues.
