Mliječni put iznad Glacier Pointa

Yosemite ima vrlo tamno nebo noću. Polly je htjela vidjeti to nebo.

Yosemite has very dark skies at night. Polly wanted to see them.

Čekala je na Glacier Pointu. To je visoka litica iznad doline. Mala skupina ljudi bila je tamo da gleda zalazak sunca.

She waited at Glacier Point. It is a high cliff above the valley. A small crowd was there to watch the sunset.

Sunce je zašlo. Half Dome preko doline postao je crven, a zatim taman. Skupina je tiho zapljeskala.

The sun went down. Half Dome across the valley turned red, then dark. The crowd clapped softly.

Astronom iz parka postavio je mali teleskop. Govorio je o noćnom nebu. Rekao je da većina američkih gradova više ne vidi Mliječni put zbog ulične rasvjete. Ali Yosemite još uvijek ima tamno nebo.

A park astronomer set up a small telescope. He talked about the night sky. He said most American cities have lost the Milky Way because of streetlights. But Yosemite still has dark skies.

Prve zvijezde pojavile su se jedna po jedna. Tada se pojavio Mliječni put. Bio je to široki pojas blijede svjetlosti preko neba. Imao je tamne mrlje gdje prašina skriva zvijezde.

The first stars came out one by one. Then the Milky Way appeared. It was a wide band of pale light across the sky. It had dark patches where dust hides stars.

Astronom je usmjerio teleskop na malu točku. "Ovo je središte naše galaksije," rekao je. "Udaljeno je 26.000 svjetlosnih godina."

The astronomer pointed the telescope at a small spot. "This is the centre of our galaxy," he said. "It is 26,000 light years away."

Jedan posjetitelj pogledao je kroz teleskop. Zatim je astronom dopustio Polly da pogleda također. Vidjela je mnogo zvijezda i prašine kroz okular.

A visitor looked through the telescope. Then the astronomer let Polly look too. She saw many stars and dust through the eyepiece.

Svjetlost tih zvijezda započela je svoje putovanje prije 26.000 godina. Polly je dugo gledala.

The light from those stars started its trip 26,000 years ago. Polly looked for a long time.