Explanation:
This sky is protected.
Yesterday marked the 50 year anniversary of the
first lighting ordinance ever enacted,
which restricted
searchlight
advertisements from sweeping the night skies above
Flagstaff,
Arizona,
USA.
Flagstaff now enjoys the status of being the first
International Dark Sky City,
and maintains a lighting code that limits lights from polluting this
majestic nighttime view.
The current dark skies over Flagstaff
not only enable local astronomers to
decode the universe
but allow local
sky enthusiasts to see and enjoy a
tapestry contemplated previously by every human generation.
The above image, pointing just east of north, was taken two weeks ago at 3 am from Fort Valley, only 10 kilometers from central Flagstaff.
Visible in the above spectacular panorama are the
San Francisco Peaks
caped by a lenticular cloud.
Far in the distance, the
plane of the
Milky Way Galaxy arcs diagonally from the
lower left to the upper right, highlighted by the constellations of
Cassiopeia,
Cepheus, and Cygnus.
On the far right, the
North America Nebula
is visible just under the very bright star
Deneb.
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