This is simply too cool: Reykjavik, Iceland is turning its lights out on Thursday night. Why?
Authorities in the capital Reykjavik will turn off street lights on Thursday evening and people are also being encouraged to sit in their houses in the dark, writer Andri Snaer Magnason said on Wednesday.
While the lights are out, an astronomer will describe the night sky over national radio.
What a wonderful idea! It’s only for a half hour, so there won’t be a big negative impact, and that’s long enough for people to get dark adapted… in fact, I bet a lot of them will be disappointed when the lights go back on.
What an amazing thing to do, and how I wish it could happen here in the States. I think one of the problems in our society today is — seriously — we’ve lost touch with nature. As an amateur astronomer, I cannot tell you how many times I’ve let people look through my telescope, only to have them disbelieve what they are seeing (more than once I’ve seen kids look into the top of the telescope, thinking I hung a picture of Saturn there).
Most people in this country have no idea what a truly dark sky looks like. The ironic thing is, without seeing it for yourself, you have no idea what you’re missing. It’s truly an awe-inspiring site, one that can move you emotionally, bring a lump to your throat. I’m not just blowing smoke here: I’ve seen this reaction in people many times. I wrote about it, a few years ago.
I wonder– maybe the Dark Sky Association could try to do this here. Small towns, or maybe ones that lean toward the green end of the spectrum, would be more willing to try it. I think I’d be happy to throw my weight, FWIW, behind something like this.
September 28th, 2006 at 4:15 pm
Been there. I’ve even had close friends see astronomical objects through my telescope and have not the slightest idea what they were seeing. Even the surface of the Moon is unfamiliar territory.
September 28th, 2006 at 4:29 pm
Very cool indeed! I used to love looking at Orion and other constellations late at night when I lived further away from city lights.
Incidentally, I’m in the market for a decent, reasonably priced telescope for my 13-year-old nephew, who lives in Craig, Alaska. So, no city lights to contend with, but often a bit of cloud cover. Any suggestions?
September 28th, 2006 at 4:35 pm
I am all for that. I grew up in extremely rural Eastern Montana and the Milky Way was a given for my night sky. Now I’m in Petaluma and I honestly do miss it, even if I can go out to the Coast Guard base 7 miles out of town and see the Milky Way. I brought a friend from San Mateo out here at night and she was just flabbergasted at all the stars she’d only seen before in photographs and textbooks; she “knew” them from sciences classes, but when meeting them “face to face,” it was an entirely different matter.
It would be amazing if we could get something like that to happen in communities in America. Few things in this world are as awe-inspiring as a dark sky of stars.
September 28th, 2006 at 4:40 pm
I miss dark skies. Over the last few years, I’ve noticed that the skies over my home have progressively gotten brighter and the suburbs engulf my once remote neighborhood, though I never could see the Milky Way from here. I think the limiting magnitude here is around 3. Truly sad.
I grew up miles from any real city, though the glow from Detroit was obvious on the southern horizon, it didn’t obscure much (about 40 miles north). The Aurora Borealis and the Milky Way were common night sights, I could easily see seven of the Pleiades (from here you’re lucky to see 4 - of course my eyes are nearly 40 years older, too;). My dad had a 14 inch Celestron SC type - and the views of Jupiter were inspiring and of Saturn just unreal.
So now, in the light polluted skies of San Antonio with an 8 inch Newt. Dob. I can just barely approach those first views so many years ago. I’d like to turn out the lights and leave them that way (or at least reduce the glare headed up). So many times I see reporters on television commenting how beautify the night skyline is, and I just think its such a waste of energy and sky.
jbs
September 28th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
I sell telescopes (at night), and I see that Saturn double take every night it’s up. People always think we’re trying to fake them out.
Actually, we don’t really sell telescopes–the night sky does.
September 28th, 2006 at 5:06 pm
When I first bought my first (real) telescope, I drove 100 miles to get out of the glow of Houston. I set my telescope up in the middle of nowhere at dusk and waited for it to get dark. To my dismay its started to get cloudy…
…then I realized that it wasn’t a cloud, it was the Milky Way! I really couldn’t believe how bright it was. That first night out, I didn’t actually use the scope much. I just laid on the hood of my car and stared up at the (unrecognizable) sky.
September 28th, 2006 at 5:12 pm
Dead Horse Point State Park in Canyonlands Utah. Could make out hte Milky Way AND the dark areas in the Milky Way as well. It was also so quiet I could hear nothing but my own tintinnitus(sp?)
Could even make out some of the moons of Saturn with my binoculars.
It was tres cool, but honestly, I dont think lights are the issue, I know in Atl its smog.
September 28th, 2006 at 5:14 pm
The nice thing about living in northeast Colorado is that even living inside a city, dark skies are always a hop, skip, and jump away. I am not very familiar with the sky (well, at least the stuff beyond those “pesky” clouds), but it is still pretty cool to go see. I need to get a scope someday as well.
September 28th, 2006 at 5:29 pm
It might be possible to do this in smaller (or a bit larger) towns in the States. There are still communities in America that are outside the larger cities and suburbs, and not connected by urban sprawl. A town could set up a sky appreciation hour (or ½ hour) when the Milky Way was overhead. An invited Astronomer could give a brief talk in the public park. People won’t have to travel miles and miles to attend. Yeah – could work. Would be very cool.
September 28th, 2006 at 5:57 pm
I love dark skies!
The best I had was in visiting my relatives just outside of Lake City, FL.
In addition to the many stars, the Milky Way was visible.
The closest experience to that I’ve had where I live, near Fort Lauderdale, was after Hurricane Wilma struck. The skies were clear and dark for days on end. You could tell when power was restored to various parts: the stars were less visible each night.
Only other time I’ve seen dark skies was out to sea, on board ship.
Anyway, I think that would be a great idea, long as it wouldn’t effect the airport’s operation.
September 28th, 2006 at 6:00 pm
Hi there! I’m among those who organized and participated in this event here in Iceland. It happened tonight and went really well despite the fact that it was cloudy
It was really cool though to see all the street lights go out and amazing to see how many people took part in this event. I and a friend of mine invited the puplic to a star party tonight, but because it was cloudy, we unfortunately didn’t see any stars. Instead we gave those who attended a lecture on astronomy and stargazing. Then, we simply went out and enjoyed the darkness! I would have loved to show people the Milky Way directly overhead tonight from the usually light polluted city center.
We hope this event will take place every year from now on. It’s a great opportunity for us amateur astronomers to inform people about light pollution which is incredibly bad despite the fact that only about 200.000 thousand people live in or around the capital (we’re only about 300.000). I think everyone was really surprised to see how great the light pollution is, though it would have been better had we seen any stars.
Phil, I hope to see you here next year when we do this again!
p.s. Tomorrow, we’ll post some pictures of the event on our website http://www.stjornuskodun.is
September 28th, 2006 at 6:26 pm
Best dark sky I’ve seen was from the deck of a sailboat, crossing Lake Michigan at night during a race. The running lights of the race fleet blended in with a perfect clear early summer sky, and the only sounds were the water rushing at the bow and the occasional flap and clatter of sails being trimmed.
did
September 28th, 2006 at 6:50 pm
Saevar, congratulations on what is at least a wonderful idea!
Here in California, we have a long period where it is clear for months (unless we get fog). I’m thinking that someplace around here would be perfect for this, durign the summer too when we can have children stay up late as well.
If you want me to come, I’m there… if you fly me out.
I have always wanted to visit Reyjavik and visit the natural steam baths.
September 28th, 2006 at 6:57 pm
I live in the Toronto, Ontario area, and we were smack in the middle of that huge blackout that covered the entire eastern seaboard a couple or few years ago. We were without power for almost 48 hours, and had a clear sky the first night. We got our son out of bed around midnight and went outside to look at the sky. After staring up into the starry night for a while, I looked down to see virtually all our neighbours out doing the same thing.
-paul
September 28th, 2006 at 7:28 pm
I’m a fan of the television show “Friends” and watch it regularly in syndicated reruns. One of my most annoying nit-picks is an episode in which Ross gathers up the group and goes up to the roof of the building so that they can see a comet - in the center of MANHATTAN! Now, I don’t know anyone who’s lived in New York city, but I’m fairly certain that comets are a definite no-show in the “night” sky there.
I’m quite sensitive these days to the total waste and annoyance of incorrect lighting in and around Dallas TX where I live. There is some small ray of hope however in that the highway department seem to be fitting their street lamps with full-cutoff fixtures. Unfortunately, the city and county of Dallas happen to be big industry gluttons and are not likely to inconvenience businesses by limiting their intrusive lighting faults. Just driving down the road by all of the large gas stations, trucking hubs and worst of all, car dealerships, gives me a roaring headache.
Anyway, kudos to you Icelanders! A great idea. The dark night sky is so inspiring everyone should get the opportunity to witness it.
September 28th, 2006 at 7:31 pm
I wish so many cities, towns & vilages in America would stop making lights that beam upward into the sky at night. What’s the point? It’s not like pedestrians are floating about at rooftop level and need to see where they’re going. At least having the lights aimed downward would reduce a tiny portion of light pollution.
As for going out in the country to see dark skies, it’s something I try to do often, and encourage others to do as well. Sadly, though, even scores of miles away, big city glow is noticeable.
September 28th, 2006 at 10:22 pm
I’m in Cleveland, Ohio - the origination place of the great 2003 blackout - and I was shocked at: a. how dark ‘dark’ was; I’m in a condo complex, and walking out front, except for the silhouette against the sky, you couldn’t see any condos - or the people standing near you.
but, b. I was surprised at how clear the sky really was. And then it hit me: it wasn’t just the lakc of light. But in this part of the US, most electricity comes from burning coal. It wasn’t that no electrons were flowing only; the plants themselves were shut down. In short…no particles in the sky, and no lights to reflect off of them……hence, outstanding and surprising clarity. And it happened in only a couple of hours. (The blackout was, maybe, 4:30 pm or so in August). Didn’t take days for the crap to settle at all.
What’s sad about our every day -or, night, business - is that so much of it is unnecessary. Most outside lights are wasted; they don’t illuminate anyone’s way and then stop; most of the energy (and, tons of coal burned) that went into the lights, is lost non-productively. Not to mention that coal burning itself can a. be done a lot more cleanly with existing technology; and, b. can (and needs to) be phased out, period.
Without people pushing for things like this every year, things will only get worse. And getting more connected to the sky - and, each other - is something desperately needed. At the very least, I’m going to forward this page to a few of my friends.
Thank you.
Dave
September 29th, 2006 at 12:26 am
Perhaps there will be greater worldwide participation if such an event is coincided with the next bright comet. When comet Hyakutake appeared, I had to drive a bit out of my way to get a good look. The best night sky I have seen was in Africa. I think I may have seen the Magellanic Clouds. Here is a world map of light pollution.
Here is a world map of light pollution.
September 29th, 2006 at 12:49 am
A few years ago my sister & her husband came out here (Melbourne, Australia) from the UK for a visit & we took them to see the Penguin Parade at Phillip Island - this is where the Fairy Penguins return to their burrows at dusk after a days fishing at sea. Phillip Island is far enough from Melbourne for the sky to be really dark. On the way back I pulled into a parking area where it’s possible to see Koalas during the day.
I told them to get out of the car & look up. They were, to coin a phrase, gob-smacked! The Milky Way down here is much more impressive than in the Northern Hemisphere (as I’m sure Phil will agree.) Both the Large & Small Magellanic Clouds, which can’t be seen from the city, are easily visible when the sky is really dark. Also the Coal Sack stands out like a big black space amongst the surrounding glow. When they were leaving to head back to the UK they both said that the view of the Milky Way that night was the most impressive thing they’d seen on their visit.
Come on down, guys, and see for yourselves. You won’t be disappointed - and we need the tourists
Pete
September 29th, 2006 at 2:27 am
I meant to say in my last post that I agree with Phil about us (many of us, anyway) having lost touch with nature. One example - I regularly walk through some local parkland (well within the Greater Melbourne Metropolitan area, unfortunately!) and keep a record of the the bird life I see & hear.
On my walks I pass many people either walking or jogging & the vast majority are wearing earphones connected, I assume, to an iPod or MP3 player or whatever they are. And it’s not just teenagers & twentysomethings, older people who should know better are doing it too. Not only are they missing out on the sounds of birds calling & insects buzzing, chirping etc. but they can’t hear life-threatening noises.
Two cases to illustrate, both occurred here in Melbourne - schoolgirl, wearing earphones, crossing a railway line even though boom gates are down, lights are flashing, bells are ringing. She’s hit by a train -dead. Jogger, wearing earphones, runs across a road without looking. He’s hit by a truck - dead. On the bright side, I suppose they’d both be candidates for a Darwin Award
September 29th, 2006 at 4:59 am
Damn kids with their iPods and their Rock and Roll music!
September 29th, 2006 at 6:14 am
The best dark sky I have seen was in South Africa about 2 years ago. Staying for a few short days at Sun City I was caught by the security guard going past the railing to get a bit further away from the lights of the hotel. She had to call in and I had to explain what I was doing to the official looking dude in a smart suit. I had my new binoculars with me and he was totally cool about it. He took me out to the helicopter landing pad in the middle of a clearing, where it was pretty damn dark. I was slightly nervous about any wild crocs that might have got past the fences (or are they ‘gator’s in Africa?). Or I could have been axe murdered and no-one would have found the body. But I’m still here!
Anyway, looking up there was a clear southern sky, and you could see EVERYTHING! Unfortunately, being from the uk, I didn’t recognise much except maybe for the southern cross and the milky way.
But we stayed for about 20 minutes, looking through the binocs, spotted a few shooting stars and think I saw the Magellanic Clouds too. It was very cool.
September 29th, 2006 at 6:16 am
We’ve seen the effects of the housing rush affect the local observatory here in Houston. Most people don’t know there is a great observatory locally in Brazos Bend State Park. This used to be over an hour’s drive from the Houston population. But thanks to the housing increase and everyone’s rush to live in suburbia, it’s now a half-hour drive and the glow of housing lights has a big impact on what’s visible - especially to the north and east along the horizons. But its great to hear the gasps of people looking at galaxies through a 36″ telescope for the first time. First they are astounded to learn there are live alligators in the park, and most don’t know what to do when they see a raccoon or deer wandering nearby, and then they see the wonders of the night sky up close and personal - its definately a learning experience! LOL
Now if only we could preserve that experience for future generations.
September 29th, 2006 at 7:25 am
My folks built a house in 1974 about 35 miles south of Olathe, KS. Until my father built an arbor over the patio, you could lay down on a chaise lounge, look up and if you let your mind and perceptions go, feel like you were falling into the Milky Way.
By the time mom sold the house in 2002-3, the city had gotten close enough that light was obscuring the sky, more than 50% less than in 1974. You could still see the stars, but it wasn’t the same effect.
September 29th, 2006 at 7:34 am
You can see satellites zipping by up there, too. They’re very faint, and you have to almost not focus in to catch them, but they’re there.
September 29th, 2006 at 7:50 am
[…] I stopped by The Bad Astronomer for his article on “Lights Out in Iceland” and saw his latest blog on the Senate bill which, in effect, authorizes the use of torture and removes the Constitutional demand of habeus corpus. Which means, the Executive branch of the government (bush’s branch) would have the power to detain anyone, ANYONE, even lawful U.S. citizens without a Grand Jury, without telling them the charges, without legal representation, and indefinitely! […]
September 29th, 2006 at 8:03 am
My best dark sky was on a cold (-20 Celsius) december moonless night while travelling from Cochrane, Ontario to Sudbury. It’s a long drive, with almost no civilization for most of the trip. Somewhere midway through, I had to take a leak real bad, so I stopped on the side of the road. I looked up and I was shocked to realize how many more stars I could see than I was used to. I was hundreds of kilometers away from a city, so there was practically no light pollution at all. And the cold made the air so cristal clear that the stars weren’t even twinkling anymore. It made me dizzy!
I wish I could have stayed there longer, but my weenie was turning into a second belly-button, so… :-\
September 29th, 2006 at 11:22 am
Phil,
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for publishing this great Iceland lights off story. Until now, I felt like a minority in my quest for dark skies. Thanks to the GREAT responses of your readers, I feel connected again….except perhaps to Frank’s cold weenie analogy.
J. Spalding
September 29th, 2006 at 2:01 pm
Out in the desert, not only are there clear skies a lot of the time, but there are places were there is little to no artificial light. Trust me, the view was amazing when I was out there.
September 29th, 2006 at 4:49 pm
The Darkest sky I have seen was during my trip to Hawaii for the Great Total Solar Eclipse of 1991. The evening that I flew to the big Island I was treated to the most awesome of sights that a person can behold…. a truly dark sky where the Milky Way stands out like a cloud.
The second dark sky I’ve seen is at our Cherry Springs State Park here in Pennsylvania in Potter County which is North Central Pennyslvania. It is surrounded by state game lands and the closest towns are very small.
On a dark night the Milky Way stands out like a cloud which can’t be too far from what I saw from Hawaii.
The clouds themselves tell you how dark the sky really is because they look like black holes or blotches that move against the sky. Messier objects
such as M33 The Triangulum Galaxy or Pinwheel Galaxy is naked eye!
But here in suburban Philadelphia I can’t even see it even with my telescope!
September 30th, 2006 at 2:44 am
Once I flew out of Orange County airport at night and Mars was low in the western sky, in Sagittarius, so the center of the galaxy was glowing right alongside. It felt like space travel.
Back in the 60’s the Milky Way was visible from my Southern California beach city hilltop home, but it isn’t any longer.
Power outages at night are an invitation to go outside and look at the sky.
September 30th, 2006 at 3:07 am
[…] “Lights out in Iceland“. Um artigo sobre uma muito original iniciativa levada a cabo na Islândia, que vai colocar muita gente a contemplar o céu nocturno. A ver e a aprender. No Bad Astronomy. […]
September 30th, 2006 at 3:30 pm
I grew up in Chicago and never paid much attention to the night sky, it was just too bright. It wasn’t until 1979, while serving in the Army in Korea,
that I saw a truly dark night. Pitch black as a matter of fact! I was in absolute awe! It was clear and cold and stars filled every inch of sky.I’ve been looking up ever since.
September 30th, 2006 at 11:56 pm
Iceland has a lights-off-dark-sky night. The USA suspends habeas corpus. Which is the more civilised country?
October 1st, 2006 at 1:19 am
bassmanpete, i also live in melbourne, every summer holidays we go camping as a family to cape conran coastal park, in far east gippsland for about two weeks, and when night comes due to there being no artificial lighting for 45 km or so the views are spectacular, and it always dissapoints me the night view we get when we get back to the city is so much more dull.
i think these dark night events are a great idea and should really happen a lot more often
October 1st, 2006 at 8:05 am
APOD has a picture or earth at night http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061001.html
October 1st, 2006 at 12:48 pm
hi all. I have been in the Khowst mountains of Eastern Afghanistan for 6 weeks now, and I have to tell you all that it is probably the most beutiful area that I have ever seen when it comes to looking at the skies. I am in the Air Force and stationed in UpState New York (Watertown). Khowst is at an elevation of about 3,000 meters, and there are no major cities for hundreds of miles. The first night I was here, I woke up and had to walk to the latrine tent. We are in black out conditions, so there is absolutely no lights on at night (except your red lens flashlight). When I walked outside, I was in awe of what I saw. It looked like the pictures that you see in the magazines. THe MilkyWay was in all her glory. Stars everwhere. Everynight, from 11pm to 1am, I just sit outside with binoculars and my Night Vision Goggles in complete shock at what I see.
I can see nebulas and galaxies, and shooting stars. Back in the states, you are luck to see stars!! eHere, you can watch orbiting satelites. The moon is incredible!! I wish I had a telescope and camera so I could see more. I am in awe of the beauty that this place has to offer at night, and the sorrow of the day.
I’m sorry that words cannot express the beauty of the universe…and I can see why Phil and so many of you are so passionate about light pollution..and the universe. I can say that I will never look at the skies again the same way. As a matter of fact, it’s 1220 am, and I am headed out there right now with my NVGs and binoculars.
October 1st, 2006 at 7:16 pm
I’ve just returned to Sydney, Australia, from a visit to the Victorian state capital, Melbourne. We stayed with friends who live about the same distance from the CBD in Melbourne as we do in Sydney, and I commented on the difference in the number of stars they can see compared to the few we can see. Melbourne has more light-pollution friendly street and building lights and it seems to work to good effect. It’s nothing to really dark skies, of course, but it’s amazing to see how easy it is to make a difference. I could imagine Melbourne having a lights-out event, but I doubt Sydney would care enough to try it.
October 1st, 2006 at 10:04 pm
mike Johnson: thanks for sharing your experiences here, and for noticing my advice to post here instead of that other thread.
Just so you know, even in (smaller) cities here in America, we can see stars, satellites, meteors and even the Milky Way if the city lights aren’t too bright. (I’ve also watched the ISS pass almost directly overhead on occasion!) But it gets even better by taking a 10 or fifteen minute drive out past the city limits. Still, it’s amazing how far ‘civilization’ encroaches the wilderness… it seems there’s always a light on somewhere at a farm or someplace, just enough to keep total darkness away.
The observing conditions you’re in sound better than anything I’ve personally seen. When you described the sky looking like something out of a magazine… well, I’ve never witnesed anything quite like that. (I have seen the night sky a few times while traveling through Wyoming, Montana, Idaho & Washington, but I wasn’t out long enough to let my eyes fully adapt. Plus, I had to keep my eyes on the road when I was actually driving, darn it!)
Anyway, your words were more than adequate to describe the awe-inspiring sights you see. I hope to read more of them. A direct question: just how does the sky look through Night Vision Goggles? Does it have the greenish hue movies always portray, but otherwise looks normal? I’ve never thought about using a set–nor have I had the opportunity to use a set–to observe stars. (Binoculars I’ve used, and that’s very cool!)
Just an aside to anyone reading this… as I sit typing this, tonight marks some of the coolest weather I’ve seen in a long time: a thunderstorm, or more specifically a line of them, has been giving a fantastic lightning display for several hours. The lightning is close enough to be bright blue-ish white, but far enough away that the thunder is little more than a distant, low rumble. Incredible. But what’s even more awesome is that the waxing gibbous moon is completely visible in the opposite direction, and stars are visible all around the storm clouds. Cassiopeia and part of Ursa Major mark the boundary from my point of view. I SO wish I had a working camera to photograph this! (Mine bit the dust a few months ago, and a replacement will be a while in coming.)
October 2nd, 2006 at 11:28 am
CR,
Using NVGs enhances the experience so much, but it runs your night vision for about 15 minutes afterwards (but believe me, it’s worth it). The color is greens, yellow(ish) and darks, but you see so much more than without them., You practically see dust entering the atmoshere and leaving short trains. Last night, in only 20 minutes, I counted at least 25 trails. It is incredible. The NVGs take in all ambient light and pretty much magnifies it (not in size, in intensity), so you see even more stars and such than you would with your neaked eye. I borrowed a camera, and took a few pitures through them last night. I wish that we could exchange email adresses so I could send some to you. But no telling after that last string how much mail we would get that we don’t want
October 2nd, 2006 at 1:52 pm
mike Johnson said: “I wish that we could exchange email adresses so I could send some to you. But no telling after that last string how much mail we would get that we don’t want”
Ha! I know what you mean there. Too bad this place doesn’t have a section for private messages (at least that I know of).
On the other hand, perhaps you could upload your pics to a free site (like Photobucket, or something similar), then provide a link so that all of us could take a look at your pics. Hopefully something can be worked out!
Take care.
October 2nd, 2006 at 4:06 pm
I’ll never forget the time I was living in a small town in Northern Wisconsin, and I had a couple visit me from Japan. I picked them up at the Twin Cities airport, and, for a big intro to America, I took them to the Mall of America. Ho hum. They weren’t terribly excited — they’d seen stores and amusement parks before.
Then, on an isolated road on the way home, they suddenly asked me to stop the car so they could get out and look up. They had NEVER SEEN the nighttime sky. Oh, maybe a few bright stars here and there, but never the whole grand sweep. They were awestruck.
Makes you think.
October 5th, 2006 at 8:57 pm
This might be of interest…
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0610/earthlights02_dmsp_big.jpg
Beautiful, yet at the same time, it illustrates why it’s getting harder to find dark skies at night these days!
October 5th, 2006 at 8:59 pm
D’OH!! I forgot JScarry already posted a link to that pic, though that earlier link has some written info with it; mine’s just to the picture.
February 8th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
I wish you luck with combatting climate change and light pollution and have thoroughly enjoyed this discussion.
Here in Northern Scotland we’re planning a similar event to Andri’s inspirational project. You can read about it
http://www.grampianlife.co.uk/SwitchOff_information/Switch_Off_-_Look_Up.html
April 17th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
[…] touches all of us. I have many stories about this sort of thing (like this one, or this one) and I am always amazed and gratified to see how "normal" people react when they get to a […]
August 30th, 2008 at 12:15 am
I just got back from a trip to Michigan’s upper peninsula earlier this month during the new moon. When I saw the sky up there I was in total awe. It is so sad it will be a very long time before I get to see that again. What we’re missing is really a tragedy.