Silence of Desert

The core of the Milky Way rises in this mid-winter morning twilight in Death Valley National park. The TWAN photographer was invited for the annual Dark Sky Festival in the park and had this unique opportunity to walk in the silence of the Mesquite Dunes at the break of the dawn in the chilly desert breeze mixed with the smell of the wet sands. Click the second photo to see a self-portrait of the photographer in a cloudy evening of the desert.

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 lights of distant Las Vegas have some impact on the desert nightlife.