Sequoia Sky

Sequoia Sky

"Camping for the night at 9,000 feet in Sequoia National Forest . . ." 

Sequoia National Forest is located in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains of California. The U.S. National Forest is named for the majestic Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) trees which populate 38 distinct groves within the boundaries of the forest. 

Sequoia National Forest

https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/sequoia/home

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:

"(Panos and focus staked images are this year's new skills!) This turned out not too bad for a first go."

"This is a horizontal pano of three exposures in portrait orientation, processed in Lightroom and Photoshop."

Credit: Preston Dyches

Image Date: June 25, 2022

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