Try to imagine what the night sky looked like the day your great-grandmother was born. (Or maybe your great-great-grandmother, if you’re young.) Thomas Edison hadn’t yet invented the light bulb, so artificial light was limited to candles and oil lanterns. The night sky looked exactly as it had for millions of years, studded with planets, stars, the bright arch of the Milky Way, and the occasional meteor, comet, or aurora display. But look up at night now, and what can you see?

By Joshua Korber Hoffman, CNN

When a series of lightning strikes took down power across New York City on the night of July 13, 1977, streetlights, neon signs, and the bright lights of houses and skyscrapers went dark.

And just like that, for the first time in decades, the Milky Way could be seen streaked across the black sky, speckled by thousands of shimmering stars.

Nestled in the rugged beauty of the Siskiyou Mountains, Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve offers a journey through time and space—both beneath the earth’s surface and under its dazzling night skies. Located in southern Oregon, this 4,554-acre sanctuary protects a labyrinth of marble caves and an expansive wilderness teeming with biodiversity, where endangered and endemic species flourish in old-growth forests. The Park’s unique ecosystem is a testament to the region’s rich geologic history, a saga of shifting mountains, evolving climates, and thriving life.