Jacob, My son.
Tonight is a foggy night but back in my time at the turn of the millennium it was different. You see back then all the streets were lit up by sodium lamps. They worked by sending a high voltage through sodium until it turns into plasma. I think that all chemicals conduct electricity in their plasma state and many of them emit light. Sodium is one of those strange metals that burns when it comes in contact with water but they chose it because of the colour it emits in plasma form.
The sodium street lamps of my time emitted a soft orange coloured light, it was like a strange imitation of sunlight and when it was foggy you couldn't really see the fog that well. In this time and beyond we are using super bright LEDs, light emitting diodes. They work differently, they are much more efficient than sodium plasma and most local authorities chose plain white as the colour of light. When they turn on you can see the fog very well and you can see all the layers. However, these lights make many of the stars disappear from view so only the planets and brightest stars can be seen.
As they say, swings and roundabouts
