Heaven Through the Lens
The way we see the night sky is changing
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Hundreds of miles above our heads, the Hubble Space Telescope sits in Earth’s orbit. For 23 years, Hubble has been transmitting telescope and camera data back down to earth. Far beyond the light pollution in our atmosphere, Hubble takes the most vivid photographs of the stars that have ever been seen. Some of Hubble’s photographs have prompted major scientific breakthroughs, whilst others have become cultural icons.
What’s not obvious, however, is that the images from the telescope hardly reflect what a person would observe from the same view. If it were possible to fly out and see the same sight with your our own eyes, we wouldn’t see what Hubble sees — astronomical bodies emit light across a broad spectrum, and the human eye can only see a small portion of it. Hubble uses a series of filters to see light from the far reaches of the electromagnetic spectrum, and its operators shift that light into our field of perception.
At the image lab at Space Telescope Science Institute, scientists manipulate light, filters, and exposure to create an honest scientific story, a process which is “as much an art as a science”. (NASA)
For decades, we’ve used images from Hubble to confirm theories that were only imaginable, as well as discover the limits of the observable universe, all by pulling in data from outside the reaches of human perception.
Meanwhile, on Earth, consumer camera technology has made rapid advances, and photographers are starting to experiment with the same techniques as Hubble. With long exposures and post-production editing, it’s increasingly possible to go beyond the human limitations of sight and detail. But as photographers go to greater and greater lengths to capture these images, another force is pushing them farther from view, and even threatening to completely snuff them out altogether.
“…And when I saw what others were doing, I was fascinated. It had this otherworldly quality, in this merge between science and art. It opened up a lot of doors.” -Gavin Heffernan
The way a human sees speed and motion is limited and malleable. If a change is too gradual, it appears still. But still images shown rapidly — twenty four per second in the case of film — give the illusion of movement. Astral time-lapse photography marries those two opposites into something miraculous.
Time-lapses are made by taking photographs one by one over a long period of time, and then showing them as frames in a video, in rapid succession. Time is condensed, turning hours into minutes, and minutes into seconds, allowing the viewer to see motion that would normally be imperceptible. Gradual changes become fully observable motion.
Since the camera is shooting photos so slowly, it allows the photographer to take long exposures, pulling out details that are otherwise shrouded in darkness. Newer cameras can capture high-resolution photos that are rich with raw data which can be brought out in the editing process, not unlike Hubble.
Being able to see the steady turn of the globe causes us to feel the phenomenon of the round earth revolving through space, rather than simply having knowledge of it. It inspires a sensation much like looking out from the top of an incredibly tall lighthouse and seeing the curvature of the planet along the horizon. It can be profound, unnerving, and even humbling to be removed from the constraints of an earthly vantage point, or in this case, time itself.
“In an hour’s drive, you’re in the middle of these incredible views, and these dark places…”
Gavin Heffernan is a filmmaker in Los Angeles, where he writes, shoots, and produces films, documentaries, and experimental pieces with the production company he founded. Every once in a while, he’ll choose somewhere far from the city lights, load up the car, grab some colleagues, the cameras, some college friends, and maybe a few beers.
“The real magic is that California has all of these incredible locations nearby,” says Heffernan, “The further away from the light pollution, the better you’re going to get the skies. You’re suddenly in this other universe.”
In other words, it’s the perfect opportunity for shooting an astral time-lapse. These kinds of projects are low commitment: you can shoot, edit, and release a time-lapse without actors, without script approval, without location permits.
The trips can be brutal, bringing equipment and a team into the mountains, deserts, and tundras farthest from the yellow bleed of light pollution. Death Valley, where some of Heffernan’s most popular time-lapses were shot, is the driest, lowest, hottest place in the United States. But the adventure — the escape — is all part of retreating toward the night sky.
“No politics, no negotiations. It’s a release from the bureaucracy of Hollywood filmmaking.”
Heffernan’s videos from Death Valley went viral, and a dozen major media outlets and blogs reposted “Death Valley Dreamlapse”. Time-lapse photography has been used to capture everything from the bustle of city life to the changing landscape of the human face. But astral time-lapses have a special appeal, largely due to the increasing scarcity of an untainted night sky.
“It’s becoming more of a rare sight,” says Heffernan, “As we keep developing, putting up buildings, and drowning out the night sky, it’s becoming more of an exotic animal, more of a science fiction. It speaks to the void missing for people, to see the galaxy.”
Even as the human population grows, that drowning-out of the heavens isn’t without organized opposition.
“Light pollution is growing at a rate of 4%… far faster than the population. As developing countries embrace the use of electric light, light pollution promises to get even worse.” -International Dark-Sky Association
(Andrew C Mace/ CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) predates the launch of Hubble into earth’s orbit. The mission of IDA is simple: “Light what you need, when you need it.” They see “the natural night” as a disappearing resource, one that fuels both the progress of scientific discovery and the wonder of the world’s populations.
The IDA offers more than a lofty call-to-action. The organization crafts lighting ordinances, advises policy initiatives, and has held Congressional and Senatorial hearings in the United States. It’s managed to preserve a number of national and state parks and locations (Death Valley included) as International Dark Sky Places, where light pollution is contained and ordinances are in place to ensure all outdoor lighting is designed with efficiency and conservation in mind.
Still, the IDA contends that there are children born today that may not see an unimpeded night sky in their entire lifetimes, and that “the star-filled nights of just a few years ago are vanishing in a yellow haze.”
From space, we often see incredible photos of the light-spotted surface of the earth. But those same earthly constellations of bright light prevent us from seeing beyond very far beyond our urban skylines. (NASA)
Early astronomers observed the skies by meticulously recording the locations of thousands of stars, by graphing the stars, by observing the subtle motion over great periods of time using tools of geometry and mapping. The movement of astral bodies was considered the highest form of perfection by thinkers like Plato and Aristotle; a large part of Western thought and philosophy hinges on the divinity of the “uniform heavenly motion”.
Now, we have access to something bigger than an intellectual notion of that movement. We have an enhanced, living, observable version, often set to music, that has the capability of reaching us emotionally. One which transcends knowledge and discovery, beyond typical human perception.
Unfortunately, a tension still remains in the human march toward exploration and development, between the light we create by our progress, and the light we stand to lose.
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