Too Bright to See

I love being a student in Pasadena in L.A. County. I love that everything is within driving distance and that there's always something open at obscure hours of the night (because let's face it, Caltech students, as well as Astronomers, are predominately nocturnal). Ironically, one of my favorite features about L.A. is also what I like least about it. The city never sleeps. Light pollution (among many other forms of pollution) make star-gazing  a rare opportunity.  Whenever I find myself outside after sunset, I always look up at the stars, and am generally disappointed with the limited view.


Lately, I've been extra-reminiscent of the times that I was lucky enough to star-gaze in complete darkness. I used to go camping all the time with my family. One of my absolute favorite memories was just sitting on the edge of a lake, in the middle of a moon-less night, staring at the sky. The view was absolutely breathtaking and awe-inspiring.


I think it would be a really cool idea to organize a class star-gazing trip sometime in the following weeks. Theory is awesome, and in my opinion greatly contributes to the beauty of astronomy; but there's nothing like looking up at a clear, starry sky.

This picture was taken at the Jackson Meadows Reservoir in Lake Tahoe National Forest.

This picture was taken in a small village by the name of Shevchenky in the Ukraine. The bright stripe on the left hand side is a small two-lane road that is the only "major" road for miles and miles. The long time-exposure on the camera managed to capture a car driving by :]