Ground-based astronomy may be almost impossible by 2050 as global warming causes a dramatic increase in cloud cover.
Clouds and aircraft condensation trails, or contrails, already hamper astronomy, says Gerry Gilmore, an astronomer at the University of Cambridge. Worries about cloud cover prompted a study, which Gilmore chaired, to look into how global warming and rising air traffic will affect the forthcoming 100-metre-wide Overwhelmingly Large Telescope in Chile. This is one of a planned series of extremely large telescopes designed to observe the skies in unprecedented detail.
Contrails and global warming feed off each other, Gilmore says. “Contrails increase global…
