• Sierra del Carmen      Big Bend      National Park Texas
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Shortage    The Stars at Night are Big and Bright...  Big Bend
is known as one of the outstanding places in North America for
star gazing, in fact, it has the least light pollution of any
other National Park unit in the lower 48 states. One factor that
makes this possible is simply the sparse human occupation of
this region. The obvious impression one gets of wildness in the
Big Bend is the lack of visible lights indicating a house or a
town. Most urban areas have such an abundance of light that very
few stars are able to be seen. This can be a real surprise to
visitors when they are outside in the Big Bend at night and see
the Milky Way in its full glory for perhaps the first time in
their life. Realistically one can see approximately 2000 stars
on a clear night here compared to perhaps a few hundred in a
medium sized city. The dark night sky has always been a visual
impression in the