A Love Letter to the Land, Skies, and People of Nevada

I used to lay outside in my grandma’s yard begging the stars to appear in the fuzzy bright streak people had told me about. I heard if you were rural enough, and let your eyes adjust for 45 minutes, you would see the disc of our galaxy slowly fade into view.

Over the decades since, I’ve grown into a career in the space industry. I’ve become the person who tells others how to hunt down the elusive Milky Way. I’ve repeated those “45 minutes” as if I’m reading from a textbook for years.

When I arrived in Great Basin National Park, ready for my first night in Nevada, I packed a jacket, hat, and snacks, knowing I would be sitting outside waiting for my eyes to adjust for close to an hour. I drove into the park and watched the last sunlight sink and the sky darken. It was a cloudy night, and I was disappointed that I might leave without seeing the lights I had chased since childhood (and, that day, travelled across the country for).

My entire career has been dedicated to explaining space and astronomy to others, but even I find it difficult to describe my astonishment when, through the first break in the clouds, I saw a streak of brighter gray in the night sky. Every trick I knew to see the sky was unnecessary. The Milky Way filled my view within seconds of clear sky.

It strikes me as ironic, that I watched a milky rainbow land upon a mountain that explorers had searched within, unsuccessfully, for gold. It’s a poetic realization that this kind of connection and beauty is treasure. We get so excited about the possibility of diamonds raining deep within our solar system’s gas giants, but I was looking straight up at the same on Earth.

What nobody ever told me about skies so dark, is that it becomes difficult to identify even the brightest of constellations. I spun in circles calling for the Big Dipper or Cassiopeia to identify themselves, but they were hidden among thousands of glittering stars that seemed just as bright. “The darkest skies” in the United States turned out to be some of the brightest, illuminated by other suns light years away.

I thought I had accomplished what I came to Nevada for on my first night. I saw the Milky Way, so I settled into my cabin in Baker, Nevada and awoke to an entirely different mountain. One that was brighter and more alive than I could have imagined.

I began my climb to find one of Earth’s marvels, the Great Basin Bristlecone Pine. These trees are some of the oldest known living non-clonal organisms on Earth. Clark’s Nutcrackers cheered me on (maybe they were laughing at me, I’m still not sure) as I made my way past deer and butterflies and gained elevation. I took some snack breaks at two alpine lakes, sticking my feet in the icy water, somehow surprised it was still so cold in the middle of July.

I reached the Bristlecone Pines, tucked into the top of the highest peak of the mountain beneath a glacier. I assumed that to live so long, these trees must have had the best soil, pollinators, and climate. Instead, I found these living beings with roots wedged in the rocks. They had visible scars and missing limbs. They had survived for thousands of years in the unlikeliest of places. I wonder what animals have perched in their branches, what humans have found shade by their trunks, and how the glacier above them has evolved over thousands of years. I wonder what they have witnessed and survived.

I guess something about Nevada makes you want to stick around. I spoke to a woman in Baker who had been raised in town, and was now raising her daughter there. I met a family who traveled the entire world, sharing stories from places I know I’ll never reach, who chose the mountains of Nevada as their final and permanent home. I experienced it myself, using a highlighter on my national park brochure, marking down the trails I planned to trek when I return someday.

I’m so grateful to the state of Nevada for welcoming me, for letting me explore and cherish its beautiful and alien landscapes. I am inspired by the Great Basin Observatory team, hidden in the hills and using this perfect vantage point to explore beyond. I am indebted to the wonderful couple who owns the Stargazer Inn, which became my mountain oasis, for saving me a carton of strawberries when you knew I was craving them, and for so much more. The people of Nevada are somehow the best part about it. I miss you already.

Love,
Astro Alexandra

Astro Alexandra, a rising TikTok star, is an enthusiastic science communications expert who shares her love of space by creating engaging and exciting videos. She has over five million followers on social media who share her love of science. With her background working in the space industry for NASA and the U.S. Space Force, she brings the wonder of the cosmos to her audience on Earth by simplifying complex scientific topics. Astro Alexandra turns the vastness of space into stories that make people feel connected, curious, and proud to be part of something bigger than Earth.

Follow Alexandra on Instagram at @Astro.Alexandra or visit her website.