6,000 visible stars light up America's 'dark sky' parks

Trevor Hughes | USA TODAY

BLANDING, Utah – Staring at the rings of Saturn through a telescope in the dark Utah desert, I'm struck by how much the planet resembles textbook pictures I've seen.

And then I realize: No, the textbooks resemble the actual planet I'm staring at. Crickets chirp in the warm darkness as I consider this, and I discover I'm not the only one struck by the glory of the night sky splashed above us.

"Oh my god it looks fake," says Emily Gosnell as she peers through the telescope. "I wasn't expecting to see that. It's pretty phenomenal."

Gosnell, her husband and about a dozen other people are here in the middle of the Utah desert at Natural Bridges National Monument to see something few Americans will ever witness: a truly dark sky.

Natural Bridges is one of the darkest places in the lower 48 states, with no exterior light sources for 40 miles in any direction. Here, when the sun sets, the Milky Way rises. It's a view our ancestors had nightly. But now it's a view few of us will ever see.

America's dark skies offer amazing star-watching opportunities Listen to Natural Bridges National Monument ranger Avery Sloss describe the power of the night sky as the Milky Way rotates above.

6,000 TWINKLERS

Most Americans see only a few stars. East of the Mississippi, it's pretty hard for anyone to see the Milky Way. In New York City, residents on a clear night may only ever see 10 stars. At Natural Bridges and other dark sky areas, you can see more than 6,000 individual stars.

Natural Bridges was designated the country's first International Dark Skies Park in 2007, and there's only 23 others around the world, including Mount Hovenweep, on the Utah-Colorado border about 120 miles east of Natural Bridges, and Capitol Reef National Park, about 140 miles northwest.

It's no coincidence many of America's dark skies spread overhead the West, where most of the rugged terrain is owned by the federal government, and little development marks the ground or shines into the sky.

Not just parks are recognized for having dark skies. In mountainous central Colorado, the adjacent mining towns of Silver Cliff and Westcliffe were in March named the state's first International Dark Sky Community by the International Dark Sky Association in Tucson. There's only six other Dark Sky communities in the United States.

'CONNECTION WITH THE NIGHT SKY'

Amateur astronomer Jim Bradburn says he worries kids are losing connection with the night sky, and the stars, planets and constellations that for virtually all of human existence have shaped harvest cycles, inspired religion and guided travelers. In the modern world, the sun dominates so much of our lives because we rarely see the stars.

"All of the civilizations in the world have had this tremendous connection with the night sky. That's all lost," Bradburn said. "And that's important as part of our humanity -- to know where we are on this ball spinning through the sky."

Bradburn, an architect who designed Denver International Airport's iconic "tent" terminal building, helped spearhead the Silver Cliff/Westcliffe dark sky designation. He sees the area's dark night skies as a natural feature akin to the towering mountain ranges that shield the Wet Mountain Valley from the metropolitan lights of Denver and Colorado Springs.

HOW TO SHOOT IT

While it's a true wonder to experience a truly dark sky, seeing it is only half of the fun. The other half, of course, is showcasing the wonder of the stars through photographs and video.

Getting those photos is pretty simple these days -- you'll need a camera that can shoot long exposures (often called "bulb" mode), along with a tripod to keep it steady while the shutter is open. Digital cameras with LCD display screens make night shots much easier than in the past: Experiment with shutter speeds and see the results immediately.

And GoPro and other action cameras can also shine in the dark, with the ability to create stunning nightlong time-lapses with little effort. (Pro tip: attach a backup battery to your time-lapse camera so you don't have to worry about it running flat as the Milky Way rotates above.)

Don't be disappointed with your first take, either. It can take hours of shooting to get a few sharp frames, depending on your experience. And there's no way to speed up the process of taking night-lapse videos, since you need to leave the camera on for hours to capture the dark sky moving above.

At Natural Bridges, I camped out and then rode my bike in the dark to Owachomo Bridge, which is the closest of the three monument's spans to the road. I wasn't alone. At least four other people were already crouched on the sandy ground around the rock-paved trail, shooting time-lapses and long exposures. We discussed our equipment in whispers that echoed loud against the rock walls of the canyon, and stumbled our way around by the light of red headlamps, used to maintain our night vision.

The bridge makes frequent appearances in night-sky photography because it provides a dark, solid foreground with which to contrast the bright, moving stars.

BRINGING BACK DARK SKIES

Most of us rarely spend any time in natural darkness. But that's actually a recent change. As the Western world electrified, street lights shoved back the dark. We installed them for safety, for security, to show off that we controlled the natural environment.

Today, a small chorus of voices asks that we reconsider our decision to down out the night.

"It was a common human experience for hundreds of thousands of years and now we're cut off from that," said John Barentine, a program manager with International Dark Sky Places Program of the International Dark Sky Association

Darkness, he says, "draws an immediate connection to a time in human history that's basically over."

The association works with communities, parks and homeowners to reduce unwanted light pollution. All of those streetlights you see from above when you're flying across the country are basically wasting their energy pouring photons up and out. The association helps people design lighting plans that put brightness where it's wanted, and block it from shining up pointlessly.

Natural Bridges, for instance, has only a few outside lights. They point sharply down and emit nothing above. It helps the park maintain its dark skies while also reducing energy levels to the point where a field of solar panels keeps things running.

"Light pollution is just dollars going up into the sky," Barentine said. "It says something about us that we can just waste all of this energy."

ANCIENT PUEBLO RUINS

On my trip to shoot these photos, I shot in both Natural Bridges and at Canyon of the Ancients. Canyon of the Ancients isn't a formally recognized dark sky park, but in some cases it's literally on the other side of a dirt road from Hovenweep, which is. The difference comes because while the better-funded National Park Service runs Hovenweep, the Bureau of Land Management oversees Canyon of the Ancients.

The National Park Service has recently begun emphasizing its dark sky offerings and has several dark-sky certification proposals pending approval from Barentine's association. At Hovenweep, the trails leading to historic pueblo ruins are closed at night. Dark-sky photography outside the monument's small campground requires advance approval and an escort from a ranger.

Canyon of the Ancients, however, has no such restrictions. Visitors are free to camp elsewhere in the monument and then walk, drive or bike into the trail leading to the Painted Hand Pueblo, a ruined tower jutting off a cliff. Once likely home to a small family, the tower offers a great contrast to the night sky. Just don't get too close, because even the oils in your hands could mar the 800-year-old structure.

I saw no one else for more than 12 hours, and the only signs of civilization I saw were the crumbling pueblo and a cell phone tower blinking some 30 miles away. Instead, I was treated to the immensity of the Milky Way swirling above me. It put a lot of things into perspective, particularly just how small and insignificant we are on a galactic scale.

And it left me with an absolute desire to know more about that final frontier on display above me.