The Darkest Skys You're Likely to See Bring Light to the World
In North America and across Oregon, only a small percentage of the population can look up at night and see the Milky Way without the glare of light pollution.
But there are places with a night sky almost perfectly dark — where the tapestry of stars is so rich it’s almost disorienting. Indeed, one of the largest such places is located just a few hours from Salem and Eugene at the Oregon Outback International Dark Sky Sanctuary…
https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/travel/outdoors/2024/03/27/oregon-outback-international-dark-sky-sanctuary/73109030007/
Yes, there are Darker Places: All filled with Brilliant Wonder.
The Trans-Pecos here in Texas, some other parts of the North American West, vast parts of Africa, South America, Russian Steppes, Northern Canada, Alaska, the Australian Outback, Antarctica, the sky above any transoceanic vessel (on other than a Clown Cruiseship)—However this Oregon Sanctuary is unusual in being quite close to major population centers and in being *recognized* as of value simply for the comforting and illuminating darkness it brings.
It is uplifting to see that, after so many years of driving back the night, our Western Civilization now finally is finding the value of being able to see the same starlit dark night sky which our ancestors gazed upward at in wonder and amazement.
This being no longer possible in much of the overdeveloped world
= new reply since forum marked as read
welcome to du 
Last edited Wed May 8, 2024, 10:40 AM - Edit history (1)
I shot this in the Alabama Hills near Lone Pine, California around midnight three days ago. Here in California we have Joshua Tree, Anza Borrego, Trona Pinnacles, and many other places to enjoy the night sky, most of which are only a two hour drive from L.A. FYI, the foreground lighting comes from our headlamps.
…want to share the DarkSky International website: https://darksky.org/
The site has information on how to preserve Dark Skys by societal (and individual) choices which favour Nocturnal Conservation, as well as having a list of Dark Sky sites which you can visit and enjoy.
Left this out of the original already a bit long post as had no idea that so many people would find this resonated with their own experiences.
Always remember the hoary mariner’s aphorism: “Dark Starlit Skies at Night, Sailors Delight” (or *something* along those lines?
Thanks
Here’s a pix from one of the most famous Dark Sky sites. The Atacama desert with some of the 66 non-dark dependent international ALMA radio telescopes as foreground
ALMA’s site is: https://www.almaobservatory.org/en/home/