300 years ago people could look up at the night sky from anywhere on earth and see billions of stars. The cities of the time were lit by candles at night. It would take an awful lot of candles to light up the night sky to blot out stars. Many communal groups away from the cities of the time had outdoor fires, but even a large fire does not throw enough light to blot out stars. At that time, step away from the fire, step outside of a building, look up at the sky, and the sky was filled with points of light. Everyone on earth could see billions of stars.
Today, greater than 80% of the population inhabiting the earth live where the night sky is not so brilliant. Light pollution casts a milky sheen over the entire night canopy washing out all but the brightest stars. Take a look at the chart below (courtesy of Darksky International). In the United States, if you live almost anywhere in the eastern half of the country, the Milky Way is either barely visible in its brightest core, or not visible at all. In the core of the major cities, even the brightest stars are barely visible. And only if you can see them nearly directly overhead. Europe doesn’t fare any better with very few locations having truly dark skies. The eastern and southern portion of Asia is no better with lots of mega cities with bright lights. You can check out how dark the sky is for any place on the planet at https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/
I love the night sky. When I backpack or camp I rarely use a tent. Those that know me have often heard me say I’d rather sleep under the stars than in a 5 star. I am fortunate that I live near one of the larger dark sky locations in the lower 48 states. I live in Boise, Idaho. To the west of Boise it is 234 miles (376 km) to the towns of Redmond and Bend Oregon. A few smaller towns are found closer but they are very small, throwing off only a small footprint of light. To the southeast the large cities of Ogden and Salt Lake City Utah are 280 miles (450 km) away. To the south, the towns of Winnemucca and Elko, Nevada are 180 miles (290 km) away. One of my favorite places for dark skies is the Alvord Desert in Southeast Oregon. When I point my camera south from the playa, it is 225 miles (360 km) to Reno, Nevada. A distance far enough that my camera does not pick up any glow even with long exposures.
It was July of 2018 when I realized how incredibly sensative modern cameras had become. I had recently purchased a Nikon D850 camera and seeing pictures of the Milky Way I wanted to see what I could do. I loaded my backpack and headed for the Sawtooth Mountains just east of Boise. The image below was my first good picture of the Milky Way. Taken on the shores of Alice Lake looking almost due south. When I looked at the image I had just taken at 12:30 am on the back of my camera, I’m sure every camper on the lake heard my joy at what I saw. I was astounded.
When I stood next to the camera, looking at the mountains and stars, What I saw with my eyes was nothing approaching what the camera saw. I could barely make out a few of the snow patches and I did not see any of the detail in the structure of the Milky Way. Neither did I see the color that the camera picked up. Amazing.
As I mentioned, just southeast of Boise is a vast area of dark skies. Last September I took another quick trip to see the dark skies. This time I took two cameras, one to look south at the Milky Way, and another to look north at the stars rotating around the North Star. And as a bonus, my grandson came along so he could practice driving my Nissan Xterra with a clutch and manual shift. I’ve been told a manual transmission in a car is known as a Millennial anti theft device. Few cars are available with manual shift and even fewer drivers learn how to drive with a clutch. Anyway, by midnight I had my cameras set up snapping pictures on auto mode and crawled into my sleeping bag laying on the playa looking up at the stars and fell asleep.
My intent with the camera facing north was to get a star trail image. By using software to combine all the images into one image you get the following.
I have talked to many photographers that find taking pictures of the stars boring. The stars don’t change much day to day, season to season, or year to year. This is true. Getting great star photos is as much about what you place in the foreground as it is getting great images of the stars. But sometimes the night sky does something unusual. There are the occasional meteors that streak across the sky. Lately there are more and more man made satellites that show up as light streaks moving slowly across the sky. And of course airplanes have predictable paths that move across the sky as well. But sometimes other unusual phenomena occur. It was on this night that my camera facing north caught the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis). The camera was pointed almost due north. You can see the stars rotate around the North Star near the middle of the image (actually the earth, and camera, are rotating under the stars which are fixed from our perspective). Towards the end of the video the sky on the northern horizon turns red and you can see the familiar curtain of light ripple to the right (east).
I Did not see that brief display of Aurora Borealis that night. I slept. Who would have thought that the northern lights would be seen in southeast Oregon? Certainly not I. A few days after I realized what I had seen, I read of another photographer taking pictures of the night sky also seeing the northern lights on the northern horizon. This photographer happened to be in Death Valley, roughly 400 miles (650 km) to the south of my location. The night sky is fascinating, you never know what you will see or where you will see it.
Here are a couple more photos of the Milky Way from around the Western United States.
May 2024 be wondrously exciting for you. Find a place away from the city, look up, marvel at the points of light millions and billions of light years in the distance. Ponder, who or what might be looking back at you? Be nice, be kind, even to a visitor from one of those far off points of light.
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Just looked through these extraordinary photos. I love the night sky too, but living in NYC does not give us a star-filled sky. Sadly it’s been years since I’ve seen skies like these. Thanks for sharing these I spectacular photographs. They allowed me to re-live and appreciate the awesome nights spent years ago. Almost made me want to go hiking and camping. LOL!
Happy New Year to you and the fam. Keep pointing that camera.😘😘
Amazing Photos! Especially the Makah Bay photo with the manmade light and the starlight.