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Light from Las Vegas & LA Polluting Death Valley

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Las Vegas, soem 85 miles away, as seen from Dantes View in Death Valley National Park | AP Photo/John Locher

It's mostly Vegas, but the Los Angeles region "forms a long, narrow band" of light seen from Death Valley, finds the Associated Press in a report about light pollution in the famous national park.

"You don't see this in L.A.," a visitor told the AP. "You forget how many stars there are."

"One of the things that concerns us is losing darkness," her wife chimed in. "You just don't get darkness in Los Angeles. It's just nonexistent."

Light pollution from Las Vegas has increased 61 percent between 2001 and 2007. From Death Valley, you should be able to see around 6,000 stars, but only about 2,500 are visible.

Locally, light pollution in the form of digital billboards are not making Los Angeles residents happy.

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