Milky Way Galaxy Rising over Trona Pinnacles in Southern California Desert

Milky Way Galaxy Rising over Trona Pinnacles in Southern California Desert

This timelapse consists of 1060 frames taken over 5 hours as the Milky Way core rises in mid-May at  in the Southern California desert. Unfortunately, there were a surprising number of folks driving out to this remote spot very late at night, leading to the flashes of light that appear on the landscape.

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

California Desert National Conservation Area

https://www.blm.gov/programs/national-conservation-lands/national-conservation-lands-of-the-california-desert

Credit: NASA/Preston Dyches

Duration: 44 seconds

Release Date: June 3, 2023

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