Audio
Night Sky
Transcript
Welcome space dwellers. Our address? Capitol Reef National Park, state of Utah, country of the United States of America, Planet Earth, in the Milky Way galaxy – one of billions of galaxies in the universe. Our planet is spinning around 900 miles per hour, rotating on its axis once every 24 hours, and orbiting around the sun every 365 days. Earth is a tiny, fragile exception in the cosmos where life exists. Outer space is only 62 miles away.
By day, we can see the Sun 93 million miles away, don’t look at it of course, and often we can see the moon, only 240,000 miles away. Though the Sun’s brightness illuminates the sky overhead… stars, nebula, asteroids, and galaxies continue to glow in deep space. Capitol Reef’s stellar air quality means we are afforded clear breathable skies where we can see far and wide at our beautiful planet.
By night, the pristine dark skies of Capitol Reef reveal the wonders of the heaven’s above. At times throughout the year, several neighboring planets are visible, namely Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. On a cloudless night, it’s quite possible to see nearly 10,000 stars, while urban dwellers living in light polluted skies may see only a few thousand. Asteroids, comets, constellations, and deep space objects can be seen overhead.
Capitol Reef gives earthlings a place to witness the wonders of our planet and to contemplate our place in the universe.
Description
Capitol Reef's clear dark skies provide visitors with opportunities to view constellations, planets, asteroids, deep space objects, and more.
Credit
NPS / L. Rome
Date Created
09/02/2021
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