Mælkevejen Over Glacier Point

Yosemite har den mørkeste himmel, de fleste amerikanske besøgende nogensinde ser. Polly havde hørt dette fra Tomas. Hun ville se det med egne øjne.

Yosemite has the darkest sky most American visitors ever see. Polly had heard this from Tomas. She wanted to see for herself.

Hun ventede hele eftermiddagen ved Glacier Point, et udsigtspunkt 970 meter over dalbunden. En lille gruppe mennesker var der for at se solnedgangen. Polly sad på rækværket.

She waited out the afternoon at Glacier Point, an overlook 970 metres above the valley floor. A small crowd was there for the sunset. Polly perched on the railing.

Solen gik ned bag Sierra-ryggen. Half Dome, på den anden side af dalen, fangede det sidste røde lys på sin flade og holdt det i tyve sekunder. Så forsvandt det røde lys. Publikum klappede stille.

The sun went down behind the Sierra ridge. Half Dome, across the valley, caught the last red light on its face and held it for twenty seconds. Then the red was gone. The crowd clapped softly.

En parkastronom i en brun vest satte et lille teleskop op. Han holdt et foredrag, mens himlen blev mørkere. Han forklarede, at de fleste amerikanske byer har mistet Mælkevejen til gadelygterne. Men i Yosemite, på en klar nat, kan man stadig se, hvad mennesker har set her i tusinder af år.

A park astronomer in a brown vest set up a small telescope. He gave a talk while the sky grew darker. He explained that most American cities have lost the Milky Way to streetlights. But in Yosemite, on a clear night, you can still see what humans have seen here for thousands of years.

De første stjerner kom frem én ad gangen. Da det var helt mørkt, var Mælkevejen et bånd af blegt lys, der strakte sig over himlen. Det blev brudt af mørke pletter, hvor støvskyer blokerede stjernerne bag dem. Den største mørke plet blev kaldt Den Store Kløft. Polly kunne se den tydeligt.

The first stars came out one at a time. By full dark, the Milky Way was a band of pale light running across the sky. It was broken by dark patches where dust clouds blocked the stars behind them. The biggest dark patch was called the Great Rift. Polly could see it clearly.

Astronomen pegede teleskopet mod en lille plet nær Skytten. "Dette er centrum af vores galakse," sagde han. "Det supermassive sorte hul i dens kerne er 26.000 lysår væk."

The astronomer pointed the telescope at a small smudge near Sagittarius. "This is the centre of our galaxy," he said. "The supermassive black hole at its heart is twenty-six thousand light years away."

En besøgende kiggede gennem okularet og trådte derefter tilbage. Astronomen vippede teleskopet, så Polly også kunne se ind. Gennem okularet var en tæt klynge af stjerner og støv.

A visitor looked through the eyepiece, then stepped back. The astronomer tilted the telescope so Polly could see in too. Through the eyepiece was a dense cluster of stars and dust.

For 26.000 år siden begyndte lyset fra den klynge sin rejse til dette teleskop. Polly kiggede længe.

Twenty-six thousand years ago, the light leaving that cluster had started its trip to this telescope. Polly looked for a long time.