Last night it was terribly windy and I woke to the sound of a recycle bin crashing on the road, toppled by a gust. Looking out the window I saw that someone was already on the job, righting the bin, although half its contents were already blowing frantically in all directions. The sky was sharp with the slicing action of the gale and here and there the odd star wobbled in the mayhem. And then I remembered my post from last night and realized I had made a colossal mistake.

I had forgotten about the Milky Way. Yes folks, the galaxy that we call home, the one we are in the midst of. The one that will still enshroud us even in 5 billion years when other galaxies have spun out of view. So yes, our night sky will be darker, a little. And yes, information about those galaxies and much else will be lost to future observers, with obvious consequences for the science of those civilizations. But the evening sky will still be resplendent with twinkling lights, though their patterns may change.

I am leaving my previous post unedited to remind myself that simple, really dumb mistakes happen. I lost the forest for the trees, even though I had a pretty good map.