Autumn Milky Way at Wellington Dam, Western Australia
Nikon d810a, 50mm, ISO 6400, f/2.8
Foreground: 5 x 30 seconds
Sky: 6 x 30 seconds
iOptron SkyTracker
Hoya Red Intensifier filter
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
Night Sky Network (NASA JPL)
https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm
Tourism Australia: https://www.australia.com
Image Credit: Trevor Dobson
Image Date: May 6, 2022
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