The Friday Fillip

There’s much to like about cities. At least, I think so. But there is one glaring disadvantage, and I use the term advisedly. We urbanists have lived in constant light pollution ever since electrification arrived, blotting out the night sky. A chance to see the stars is one good reason to get out of town.

If you are at all moved by the sight of the limitless, glittering heavens at night, you’ll want to take ninety seconds to watch the universe spin above the Ecuadorean volcano Cotopaxi, as filmed by Stéphane Guisard. In this lovely piece of time-lapse photography, clouds whisk by, the night brightens, and the lumière sans son begins. You see shooting stars, the milky way, and, on second or third watching, the flashlights of hikers making their way up the glacier that drips down the side of this second highest of active volcanoes. It re-establishes perspective.

click image to enlarge