Darkened cities

I found the following on the net and wanted to share....

Could you imagine a sight of big cities at night, with as background the milky-way in full bloom? For that all light should be off and that ain't gonna happen until the next Carrington event (come'on sun, you can do it )

Thiery Cohen decided not to wait for that and created some quality processed images to provide this very image. He did not merely use random sky images, but images from exact the same latitude and angle as the city-images.

Some examples:



An additional 15 images can be found; Thiery Cohen - Darkened cities

WOW! That's awesome thanks for posting! Makes one wonder how beautiful it must have been for the early people of the world before pollution ect.

wow.. !!


that's awesome.. but at the same time .. I feel a bit creeped out.. not seeing anyone on the streets or lights on .. shiver just ran up my spine..

reply to post by chrismir


Excellent pictures
They make me realize what our ancestors could see but we no longer can .... I need to search out total darkness

I would love to see this!

I live in a city area and I can only see a few stars and planets. I would sleep under the stars every night if I saw this!

No wonder our ancestors were far more intuned with the skies than we are. We don't even know what we are missing!


A house with a glass roof sounds nice


WOW RIo De Janerio looks awesome!

Sorry it's so big just scroll over

There is something about the atmos that changes completely when it is set in pure darkness.

I used to play a game online years ago, and one of the guys I played was also really good at mapping, and he'd create maps for the clan.. one he did was absolutely beautiful, but it was simply one map we were used to, altered to look as if a catastrophe had occurred. darkness where lit rooms were, broken roof parts laying on the floor, he was a magician for how he could create worlds..

I still remember feeling the depth of everything.. haha and I got the same feeling from these images. Something that is usually so different, set to darkness. no humanity.. nothing but the sky burning down on the cold earth...

Lovely images,
thanks!!

Thanks for finding and sharing these OP! S&F! Although beautiful, these make me feel both sad, and angry that we don't get to see skies like this (at least where I live) I'd give anything to be able to see the stars without light pollution.

reply to post by winofiend


Was that Unreal Tournament?

ETA: ON TOPIC: These pictures are amazing. If only we trusted each other enough to do something like this for real. Like shut the grid down for a couple of hours and then everyone, united, can marvel at the stars. I can't see it happening without a catastrophy involved but one can dream.

That looks really cool! Starred and flagged.

My city (Hong Kong) is there! If only we could actually see this! (Thanks to light pollution, most urban parts of Hong Kong have no stars at all.)

I think Shanghai and Sao Paulo were the best ones.

Beautiful vastness. I think our souls hunger for it. For all the beauty we can create, it's like nothing when you can see the stars like this. Inspirational.

Originally posted by Iamschist
Beautiful vastness. I think our souls hunger for it. For all the beauty we can create, it's like nothing when you can see the stars like this. Inspirational.

I haven't read more true words on this site in a while. Star for your post.

In my heart, I understand we humans to require humbling vastness, just as much as clean water. It keeps a person balanced.

@OP, thanks so much for the post. S&F

can someone direct me to where I have to go around california to find a view of the stars like that? I live in Northern California about 2 hours north of sacramento. While I am away from any type of metro area, there is still lots of light pollution around me, at times the sky is amazing, but I want to see these arms of the milky way. I want my photo taken with the universe. I am willing to go as far as utah to get a good view. What would be the best place for this, desert or mountains, and how far from the cities do you have to get. aaaaaaaaah

Beautiful, and amazing. Thank you for sharing.

reply to post by chrismir


Very very cool !!!

Beautiful and creepy at the same time... I really really enjoyed those, thanks for sharing !!!

Great post, thanks for bringing these to my attention.

The darkness can reveal more than the light.

These pictures are filling me with a strange melancholy, like I've seen them before, very long time ago, like I know them somehow. They seem so familiar, so close to me...WTH?
S&F for the thread.

awesome pics! thanks for sharing.... if anyone here from the UK would like to see the sky like that then i strongly advise to go to the Galloway Forest Park in the winter months!! u can see the Milky Way in all its glory!! There are also a few places in the USA that have the Dark Sky award for near pitch darkness!

Originally posted by nrd101
can someone direct me to where I have to go around california to find a view of the stars like that? I live in Northern California about 2 hours north of sacramento. While I am away from any type of metro area, there is still lots of light pollution around me, at times the sky is amazing, but I want to see these arms of the milky way. I want my photo taken with the universe.

I am willing to go as far as utah to get a good view. What would be the best place for this, desert or mountains, and how far from the cities do you have to get. aaaaaaaaah

There are two parks in the United States: Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah, the Cherry Springs State Park in Pennsylvania

Awesome work... BUT... if he did a "dark picture gallery" why did he put that awful white background?

Very poorly done. Even I can do a better job than that