The Milky Way Over Glacier Point

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

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

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

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.

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.

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."

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

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