Light Pollution Over Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Light pollution from Jackson, Wyoming is reflected off clouds over Antelope Flats in Grand Teton National Park.

One of my biggest pet peeves since moving out west has become light pollution. It was one of the plethora of reasons that I left Phoenix, Arizona for the small-town lifestyle of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Though certain months of the year, the tourism industry tends to defy that lifestyle. Regardless, I still enjoy everything about Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park. Last night, however, I drove up into Grand Teton National Park to get a couple of night shots and was pretty startled by the amount of light pollution coming from the town of Jackson roughly 15 miles away. Granted much of it is a result of the light repeatedly bouncing off the clouds and snow, but I wasn’t expecting it to be as bright as it was, even to the naked eye. I’m still waiting for the day when light pollution becomes a higher priority not just for people, but for wildlife as well whom are constantly confused about what time of day (or night, in this case) it actually is. I’m not against having lights on at night, but there have definitely been some helpful and affordable inventions to reduce it and/or minimize it significantly.

As for the photo itself, despite it appearing like one, the moon was actually a crescent moon beginning to set over the Teton Mountains. I used both the moonlight and the light pollution itself to do a relatively quick exposure of an otherwise dark night. Blacktail Butte is the mountain on the left while the visible lights are the town of Moose in Grand Teton National Park and farther back on the Teton Mountains are various spots of Teton Village.

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Tags: Grand Teton National Park, Mountains, Night, Snow, Wyoming

Filed under Landscape.