Comments on: Photo Theme: Our Night Sky http://blog.epa.gov/epplocations/2012/11/photo-theme-our-night-sky/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=photo-theme-our-night-sky EPA's State of the Environment Photo Project Mon, 20 May 2013 09:55:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Moda http://blog.epa.gov/epplocations/2012/11/photo-theme-our-night-sky/comment-page-1/#comment-542 Moda Sun, 06 Jan 2013 19:40:48 +0000 http://blog.epa.gov/epplocations/?p=2526#comment-542 Beautiful landscape. Stars are looking great.

]]> By: Scott Butner http://blog.epa.gov/epplocations/2012/11/photo-theme-our-night-sky/comment-page-1/#comment-329 Scott Butner Sat, 01 Dec 2012 21:28:54 +0000 http://blog.epa.gov/epplocations/?p=2526#comment-329 I think this is an oft-neglected form of “pollution” — while posing no serious health risks, it definitely alters our ability to relate to the natural environment. In many parts of the country, including the relatively rural part of eastern Washington State that I live in, finding truly dark skies has become almost impossible — taking away such natural treasures as the Milky Way, the Aurora Borealis (northern lights) and meteors, all wonders of the night sky.

In the photo above, for instance, the glow on the horizon is from my home town of Richland, WA — more than 40 miles distant from where the photo was shot. Finding truly dark skies — the kind you can set loose your imagination in — requires drives of 2-3 hours.

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