This is Dark Sky Week, an international effort to promote appreciation for dark skies and reduction in light pollution. Where are your favourite places to escape the city lights and stargaze?
New York during a blackout. Photograph credit: Craig Ruttle/AP
Most cities have skies so bright that except for catastrophic blackouts or coordinated lights-out during Earth Hour, their residents can rarely see the stars and certainly never peek at the stellar splash of the Milky Way.
The exceptions are a handful of communities that miss the beauty of the night sky, and set about making their homes and business more friendly to permitting the stars to shine freely. These locations are dark sky parks, locations of exceptional nighttime beauty where an entire community bands together to limit the impact of ground-lighting on the night skies.
Each year, a few more locations join the list. For this week, Space will be covering locations within North America, perfect vacation destinations to stargaze during warm summer nights. To get started, do you have any favourite locations far from city lights where you can lay back, stargaze, and marvel at the vastness of the universe?
For inspiration, imagine what urban stargazing could look light with the help of artist Thierry Cohen, who layers in same-latitude night skies into urban skyscapes.
