Who remembers the Milky Way?
Keith Young, of Baltimore, wrote to me a while back with a poem he'd written. It was about the night sky, and how little of it we can see in these days of obsessive security concerns and excessive urban lighting. (Have your kids EVER seen the Milky Way? I wonder how many haven't.)
The fact is, we don't need all the night lighting we've installed. Much of it is wasted because it's directed upward, illuminating only the undersides of clouds and migrating geese, or sideways, 
lighting up the neighbors' bedroom. We've washed out the stars.
More full cut-off light fixtures would not only keep the lights aimed where they're needed and bring back the stars. They would also save us lots of electricity and loads of money. Most communities badly need better outdoor lighting ordinances. You can learn more about the issue from the International Dark Sky Association.
But I digress... Here's
(AFP PHOTO: Dimitry Kostyukov, Helmand Province, Afghanistan)
how Keith came to write his poem:
"One night a while back I found myself fighting an episode of insomnia and sitting up in bed and having a million thoughts race uncontrollably through my head. One of those thoughts had to do with my misfortune of not being able to see some recent astronomical event because I live in the city.
"I was thinking of the words 'night' and 'city light' when all of a sudden I said to myself, 'those words rhyme!' and then ... began to compose a short poem about skywatching and urban light. When morning finally came I wrote down what I had remembered and later added a line or two and made a hundred or so revisions to create the final work that appears below."
And here it is:
NIGHT SKY LOST
Woe is me! there is much too much urban light
The dark around me is way too bright
Only the full moon competes against man’s tungsten white
I cannot praise the Creator's might
And cannot see His marvelous works spread across the cosmic site
The heavenly portends are not in my sight
(So at least I am spared from having to shake and cower in fright)
My birth constellation means nothing, it does not hold my destiny tight
It makes no matter whether I am a Libra- or a Leo- or a Gemin-ite
Nor can I “wish upon a star” and in the beauty of the Milky Way delight
My astrolabe is of no use: Should I turn my ship left or right?
Nor can I see man’s addition to the skies: a space station, a satellite
(passing all so predictably overhead in a perfect line of flight)
It is a battle I cannot win and cannot fight
I am doomed to keep my eyes on the ground and though it is not right
to abandon any hope to gaze in wonder upon the marvelous height,
and simply give up seeing the sky at night
-Keith Young
Used with permission
Comments
I grew up in the desert southwest, and I so miss those skies. I almost always could see the Milky Way, even when we lived in town. I was also lucky to spend a lot of nights at observatories at elevations where you could see different colors of objects and navigate the woods by starlight.
Posted by: S | July 15, 2011 7:41 PM
We live in New Hampshire, and before that Maine, and we see the Milky Way pretty often. It's amazing. I've never seen the Space Station, though, or the Northern Lights.
FR: Well, as he will admit, Keith was taking some "poetic license" with the International Space Station. It is quite easily seen, even under urban light pollution. Plenty of Baltimoreans have seen it since we began posting alerts here some years ago. I've even seen the Northern Lights from the WeatherDeck in Cockeysville, surrounded by the glare from street lamps and porch lights. The Milky Way is the real test.
Posted by: M Wms | July 15, 2011 8:03 PM
I've visited a couple of places where it's possible to see the Milky Way, and it's truly spectacular. Where does one have to go in Maryland to be able to see it? Can we get far enough from the cities in the state? Also hoping I might be able to see it from upstate New York during vacation in August.
The term, light pollution, is so appropriate when we talk about this issue. Thanks for the poem and the photo!
Posted by: Clayton | July 15, 2011 8:12 PM
I grew up on a farm in NE Indiana, and we always had a good view of the night sky in all directions except SE, where the glow of the lights of Fort Wayne washed out the night sky.
However, I NEVER saw the night sky as clear as when a group of us at college traveled to Northern Lower Michigan in January. On a cloudless night North of Big Rapids, and South of Traverse City, the stars just POP!
Posted by: Mike | July 16, 2011 12:32 AM
Grew up in Western MA -- '30's & 40's. Saw the Milky Way a lot -- often along the Millers River coming home from Grandparents, other times just from the back yard.
Best view I remember around here was from Dolly Sods, WV.
As an add, I (still) dearly want to see really good Northern Lights. About 10 yrs ago was on a bike camping trip in Canada, turned in early after a hard day ( plus I didn't care about hanging out having mussels). There was an aurora, and my sister, who was still up, never bothered to come get me! Family feud -- you better believe it!!!
Posted by: icyone | July 16, 2011 8:48 PM
It is very amazing picture, I've visited a some of places where it's possible to see the Milky Way, and it's truly spectacular.
Posted by: andri | July 17, 2011 4:43 AM
I've been living in Reisterstown for about 24 years, and I've seen the Milky Way once in Reisterstown. August 15, 1988, a thunderstorm knocked out power for the evening. Later on the skies cleared up, and around midnight the Milky Way was cleary visible overhead.
Big Meadows campground in Shenandoah N.P. used to be great place to see the Milky Way, but the Park Service ruined it by putting up unshielded lights.
Posted by: Bernard P. Codd | August 3, 2011 10:08 AM
I saw spectacular aurora from Reisterstown twice, November 2001 and October 2003. Over half the sky was lit up red, with red and green streamers stretching from the northern horizon to the southern sky. It was truly an awesome sight, and it lasted several hours each time.
Posted by: Bernard P. Codd | August 3, 2011 10:14 AM