When we first arrived here on the southwest corner of Kauai, a nighttime attraction was watching the full moon rise over the ocean and hills. After a couple of months, I realized the magic of being in a truly dark place. Seeing the moon is great but the moonless weeks are fantastic.

By dark I mean so dark that on a moonless night you can’t see your feet! Trying to walk an unfamiliar route without a flashlight is near impossible. I had not experienced that kind of natural darkness before.

At first I was amazed by all the stars visible to the naked eye. Then one night I realized that the high band of cloud I kept seeing was the Milky Way! Not clouds - stars! While the Milky Way can be seen all year, it blooms from June through September. Arcing across the sky, it is a spectacular and humbling sight.

In a June 2016 article (link) National Geographic reported that light pollution has blotted out the Milky Way for 80% of Americans. Even in this remote location, I fear more light incursion. I was happy to see the county change the ugly sodium vapor streetlights over to downward-directed LEDs - but even LEDs create problems.

You can learn more about light pollution and dark sky locations across the U.S. at the International Dark-Sky Association (darksky.org)

Meanwhile, I learned to use the camera to capture way more of the heavens than the unaided eye can see. You can view some of those images in the The Sky gallery on this site. I hope these inspire you to seek out a dark place where you experience the night as nature intended.