starlag

/ˈstɑːˌlæɡ/nounVerified New

Also in: Sternenkater (Deutsch) · astrodesfase (Español) · stardécalage (Français)

The disorientation of seeing a truly dark sky after years of city light — the jetlag of the cosmos.

Starlag hits on the first night in the mountains or the desert: the sky is too full, the horizon is wrong, and the body does not know what time it is under so many stars. It is a lag of scale, not of hours, and it lifts only when the city takes the sky back.

Etym. — star + lag — the -lag family (jetlag) applied to the light-pollution withdrawal; the disorientation is real and unnamed.

Rel. — moonhours · nightflood

Novelty check: APPROVE

Evidence log

No query log recorded.