I wonder in what state of affairs Casablanca is now.
Most of the Jewish community might have migrated to greener
pastures??
At present, we are in a dry period, but it is expected that
the Sahara will become green again in 15000 years. This is
due to a 41,000 year cycle in which the tilt of the earth
changes between 22° and 24.5°.
Sahara alternates between phases of rainforests and desert
in cycles.
--- turquoiseb no_reply@... wrote:
Very cool - don't see a lot of stars here due to all the urban
light, but
have seen that carpet before. Must've been pretty damned amazing
to stand in the middle of the desert, with that above you.
That's why I posted the photo. Most people these days have no idea.
This photo is the closest I have found to conveying what it was
like to stand in the middle of the Sahara on a moonless night. In
that era, in which global pollution had not become an issue, and
in which light pollution (I lived 60 miles from the nearest light-
emitting city, Marrakech) had not even been imagined.
Your term carpet is apt. I remember once taking a blanket with
me out into the desert behind my house, away even from the
lights of the Air Force base, and lying on it there just staring up.
I tried to figure out how big the biggest black spot in the sky
was, meaning the biggest area that did not contain any visible
stars. All that it took to cover that black spot was to hold my arm
out at full length, and use the fingernail of my little finger.
I have since gazed at the nighttime sky from the tops of the
Rockies, or from on top of Haleakala, in Maui. And from deserts
and remote areas in the US, Canada, and Europe. In the last
twenty years, I have never seen even a third as many stars. That's
why it's heartening to see this photo from South Australia. Even
if the photographer had to use a long exposure to capture this,
this many visible stars were there to be captured.
--- fairfieldlife@yahoogroups.com wrote:
Obviously, it still does in Lake Eyre, in remote South Australia.
The bright spot above the subject's hand is Venus.
[https://scontent-b-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/1236171_51757334832536
2_1189026149_n.jpg]
