Death Valley is a name that conjures images of desolation and despair, and indeed, it is one of the planet’s most extreme locales. Located within the Mojave Desert of eastern California, Death Valley is the lowest and driest point in all of North America, with its lowest point sitting at 282 feet below sea level. The highest reliably reported air temperature on Earth was taken here, recorded at a sweltering 134 degrees Fahrenheit.
But despite these less-than-appealing qualities, Death Valley is also an incredibly striking and unusual landscape. It is surrounded on all sides by mountains, and within the valley lie expansive salt pans, the remainder of a succession of inland seas that characterized Death Valley during the Pleistocene era. Although the average annual rainfall is a measly 1.5 inches, flash floods from the mountains course down through narrow canyons, taking with them rocks and fine clay that create characteristic alluvial fans that can be seen from satellites orbiting the Earth.
The varied topography of Death Valley makes it one of the most picturesque places on the globe, and the scope of the night sky to be had here is breathtaking. Check out this incredible timelapse video taken in early spring of this year, which includes a glimpse of a rare desert aurora, typically not viewed at this latitude. Death Valley’s name may be ominous, but this footage perfectly exemplifies how the names we assign to places in nature do not always portray their true essence.
Image via John Bruckman
