The Milky Way Down Under

The Milky Way Down Under

Our Milky Way at Bejoording, Western Australia

The Fading Milky Way

Light pollution is a growing environmental problem that threatens to erase the night sky before its time. A recent study revealed that perhaps two-thirds of the world's population can no longer look upwards at night and see the Milky Way—a hazy swath of stars that on warm summer nights spans the sky from horizon to horizon.

The Milky Way is dimming, not because the end of the Universe is near, but rather as a result of light pollution: the inadvertent illumination of the atmosphere from street lights, outdoor advertising, homes, schools, airports and other sources. Every night billions of bulbs send their energy skyward where microscopic bits of matter—air molecules, airborne dust, and water vapor droplets—reflect much of the wasted light back to Earth. 

(Source: NASA)

Learn more:

International Dark-Sky Association

https://www.darksky.org/light-pollution

Globe at Night

https://www.globeatnight.org

Night Sky Network (NASA JPL)

https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm

Technical details: 

Nikon d810a, 85mm, ISO 5000, f2.8

Foreground: 6 x 30 seconds, Sky: 16 x 30 seconds, iOptron SkyTracker

Hoya Starscape filter

Trevor: "This is a 24 shot panorama of the Milky Way rising above a barren farm, with yours truly looking on in awe, at Bejoording, about 1.5 hours north east of Perth in Western Australia."

Credit: Trevor Dobson

Image Date: May 2, 2022

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