Death Valley Milky Way and Distant Las Vegas

The Milky Way band rises in this mid-winter morning in Death Valley National park. The TWAN photographer was invited for the annual Dark Sky Festival in the park and had the opportunity to walk in the silence of the Mesquite Dunes in the chilly desert breeze mixed with the smell of the wet sands.

Death Valley is an International Dark Sky Park, preserving its natural night environment despite being in accessible distance to Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The Park is largely free of its own sources of light pollution but the light of distant Las Vegas (the glow in the center) has some impact on the desert nightlife.