Sunset and The Milkyway

After a morning of bikes, and an afternoon of relaxing, our evening goal was a starry night.

We have been wanting to time a trip to an Internation Dark Sky Park with a new moon so we could see what is simply not viewable at home.

Badlands is not an International Dark Sky Park, but if you go the middle of the park, there are no lights for miles. And it was not a new moon, but moonset was at 3:58 pm - just as good as no moon.

We watched the sunset from one of the west facing overlooks and then quietly waited for the light to disappear. It took a couple hours. We sat together in peace, listening to the coyotes yipping in the distance and the wind whisk by at 35 miles an hour. We waited hand in hand on the bench. Waiting for night to come full.

The stars blossomed slowly. In the beginning, the brightest lights were satellites and a planet. Then there was the big dipper. After a while, the sky evolved into a deep mass. My Lovely noted that the Milkyway appeared to be more like a group of clouds with twinkling lights due to the glow of the stars.

The night sky continued to grow. We got most of we came for, but we grew tired. I wanted to see it in all of it's spendor. I think we will have to make a special trip out one night at about 2am. Not tonight. Another night. A nocturnal adventure awaits.

We have a couple shots here, they really don't show what we saw, but we will include a professional shot to give a better perspective.Read more