From the time of childhood, I had been exposed to the wonders of the night sky, starting with the lullaby Twinkle twinkle little star. And that fascination with the night sky continues to endure to this day, where with every backcountry trip I take, I look forward to staring at awe at the starscape that forms every night.
This trip to the Sawtooth wilderness was no different. Apart from being a fascinating place to explore a new environment, the lack of any light pollution provided a prime opportunity to indulge in this passion. And the Sawtooths delivered like no other. Tracking the band of light that stretched across the sky, I tried to capture the swirling masses of spectral clouds at the heart of the Milky way that seemed to illuminate the light of a thousand suns. Right at that moment, a bright (possibly) Perseid meteor scintillated just above the jagged outline of the Sawtooth range.
Sawtooth Wilderness
ID USA
Starscape
If you look up at the Milky Way through the eyes of Carl Sagan, you get a feeling in your chest of something greater than yourself. And it is. But it's not supernatural.
- Richard Dawkins
Paseytan Wilderness
WA USA
The Way of the Night
Perhaps one of the rarest sights for someone living in the city is the arch of the Milky Way. With the light pollution that exists in cities, it takes effort to seek out those dark skies where one can catch sight of this. I remember every clear night I have spent in the backcountry waiting for my eyes to get dark just to tracing the line of stars arcing across from horizon to horizon, with a brilliant gaseous center straddling a multitude of galaxies and brilliant nebulae.
And so, when I was in Bryce Canyon National Park during a New Moon, I sacrificed sleep in order to stay out and watch the night sky turn from dark to bright under the brilliance of starlight.
Bryce Canyon National Park
UT USA
Light of the Night
"As dark as the night sky": the fairly common phrase ran through my mind as the bright band of the Milky Way stretched from horizon to horizon. Thousands of dazzling specks of light illuminating a dark canvas, interrupted here and there by scintillating flashes of a meteor, the steady pulse of a transpacific flight and the long slow march of the communication satellites. The mercury continued to drop as night settled in deep in the heart of the Central Cascades of Washington, but I continued my obsession with the ethereal dark night sky.
The night sky is something we all take for granted. Only when you experience the light of the night and see the Milk Way traverse the sky, however, do you realize the importance of a wilderness where you can really feel that the earth is but a mere mote of dusk floating through the vastness of space. It is a treasure that helps you experience the cosmic perspective. And every few weeks, I yearn to return to such a wilderness.
Goat Rocks Wilderness
WA USA