Category

Astrophotography and Night Scapes

Blood Red Moon Madness! A Tetrad of Total Lunar Eclipses Astrophotography and Night ScapesCaliforniaJoshua TreeThe American Southwest

Blood Red Moon Madness! A Tetrad of Total Lunar Eclipses

Lunar eclipse sequence, showing total eclipse (left) through full moon (right). While the moon lies in the full shadow of the earth (umbra) it receives only faint, red-tinged light refracted through the Earth's atmosphere. As the moon passes into the penumbra it receives increasing amounts of direct sunlight, eventually leaving…
December 23, 2015
Perseid Meteor Shower over Joshua Tree National Park, August 2015 Astrophotography and Night ScapesCaliforniaDesertJoshua TreeThe American Southwest

Perseid Meteor Shower over Joshua Tree National Park, August 2015

Each August the Perseid meteor shower takes place. This year it peaked during a new moon, which offered prime conditions for seeing many meteors. I photographed the Perseid meteor shower in Joshua Tree National Park using two compositions/locations: with Arch Rock as one feature and with a single joshua tree…
August 16, 2015
Perseid Meteor Shower over Arch Rock, Joshua Tree National Park, 2015 Astrophotography and Night ScapesCaliforniaDesertJoshua TreeThe American Southwest

Perseid Meteor Shower over Arch Rock, Joshua Tree National Park, 2015

The Perseid meteor shower occurs each August, peaking on the evenings of August 12 and 13. It happens because the Earth is plowing through the trail of dust left behind by comet Swift-Tuttle. The Perseid meteors are named for the constellation Perseus in the northern sky, from which the meteors…
August 14, 2015
Lunar Eclipse Sequence, Juniper and Standing Rock, Joshua Tree, 2014 Astrophotography and Night ScapesDesertJoshua TreeThe American Southwest

Lunar Eclipse Sequence, Juniper and Standing Rock, Joshua Tree, 2014

For the eclipse of April 14/15, 2014, I wanted to depict the course of the eclipse across the sky with some recognizable landscape features in the foreground to anchor the composition. As the day of the eclipse went by, I watched the weather reports and decided Joshua Tree National Park…
June 9, 2014
Delicate Arch, Milky Way and Iridium Flare at Night, Arches National Park, Utah ArchesAstrophotography and Night ScapesThe American SouthwestUtah

Delicate Arch, Milky Way and Iridium Flare at Night, Arches National Park, Utah

I have shot Arches National Park a number of times, including a very fruitful trip some years ago to shoot astrophotography landscapes. I returned earlier this month for more, and found that I have reached a point where I need to find alternatives to the usual compositions. This one was…
May 13, 2014
Lunar Eclipse Sequence over Arch Rock, Joshua Tree National Park, April 2014 Astrophotography and Night ScapesDesertJoshua TreePanoramasThe American Southwest

Lunar Eclipse Sequence over Arch Rock, Joshua Tree National Park, April 2014

The lunar eclipse of April 14 and 15, 2014 was a wonderful event to see. I went up to Joshua Tree National Park to photograph it for two reasons. First, the weather forecast in the high desert was for clear skies and, for the most part, the skies were indeed…
April 29, 2014
Lunar Eclipse Blood Red Moon Sequence over Joshua Tree National Park Astrophotography and Night ScapesDesertJoshua TreeThe American Southwest

Lunar Eclipse Blood Red Moon Sequence over Joshua Tree National Park

This is the first of my photographic efforts shooting the lunar eclipse the evening of April 14/15 2014. I spent the entire night out under the stars in Joshua Tree National Park, where I often shoot when looking for clear skies and stars at night. I photographed several compositions and…
April 17, 2014
Venus, Milky Way and Arch Rock at Astronomical Twilight, Joshua Tree National Park Astrophotography and Night ScapesJoshua TreeThe American Southwest

Venus, Milky Way and Arch Rock at Astronomical Twilight, Joshua Tree National Park

Things are always better at astronomical twilight. Venus was often referred to as the “Morning Star” by ancient civilizations (and as the “Evening Star” as well). On this day, it was indeed the morning star, rising just moments before astronomical twilight began. This allowed for a very brief window of…
April 11, 2014
Milky Way over Sky Rock Petroglyph, Volcanic Tablelands, Bishop, California Astrophotography and Night ScapesSierra Nevada

Milky Way over Sky Rock Petroglyph, Volcanic Tablelands, Bishop, California

Milky Way over Sky Rock Petroglyph, Volcanic Tablelands, Bishop, California. I made this image several years ago but neglected to share any images from that evening's photographic efforts on my blog. I have made many visits to the Volcanic Tablelands, at all times of day, to explore the rocks, admire…
February 27, 2014
VLBA Radio Telescope at Night under the Milky Way Galaxy, Owens Valley, California Astrophotography and Night Scapes

VLBA Radio Telescope at Night under the Milky Way Galaxy, Owens Valley, California

The Owens Valley is home to a variety of radio telescopes. This particular radio telescope, photographed with the Milky Way galaxy rising above it in the night sky, is part of the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), a system of ten widely spaced radio telescopes that make certain forms of…
December 9, 2013
Mount Rainier, the Milky Way galaxy, Star Trails and Climbers’ Lights at Night Astrophotography and Night ScapesMount Rainier

Mount Rainier, the Milky Way galaxy, Star Trails and Climbers’ Lights at Night

On my recent trip to Mount Rainier National Park, I had one particular image in mind, and I managed to achieve something very close to what I envisioned with this photograph. Seen here is the northeast side of Mount Rainier, with star trails in the sky and climbers' lights tracing…
August 23, 2013
Perseid Meteor Shower, Milky Way, Half Dome and Yosemite National Park Astrophotography and Night ScapesYosemite

Perseid Meteor Shower, Milky Way, Half Dome and Yosemite National Park

Perseid Meteor Shower, Milky Way, Half Dome and Yosemite National Park I spent two evenings at Glacier Point during the peak of the 2013 Perseid Meteor Shower, hoping to capture my first photographs of meteors. I have a few landscape astrophotography images that have chance meteors recorded in them, but…
August 14, 2013
Zodiacal Light, Milky Way and Jupiter over Yosemite National Park Astrophotography and Night ScapesYosemite

Zodiacal Light, Milky Way and Jupiter over Yosemite National Park

Photographing Zodiacal Light over Yosemite National Park August 11-12 was near peak viewing for the 2013 Perseid meteor shower, and many people including myself were viewing the show from Yosemite's Glacier Point all evening long. However, because the moon was nearly new and it was late summer, I knew there…
August 13, 2013
Owachomo Bridge and Milky Way at Night, Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah Astrophotography and Night ScapesNatural BridgesThe American SouthwestUtah

Owachomo Bridge and Milky Way at Night, Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah

Night Photo of Owachomo Bridge and the Milky Way After making the long drive to Natural Bridges National Monument, we arrived in time to enjoy a colorful sunset and eat some dinner while waiting for the sky to become dark enough for us to begin our photography. The weather was…
July 22, 2013
The Wave Under Stars at Night, North Coyote Buttes, Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness ArizonaAstrophotography and Night ScapesThe American SouthwestThe Wave

The Wave Under Stars at Night, North Coyote Buttes, Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness

Astrophotography and Night Photography at the Wave, North Coyote Buttes The Wave, a fantastic area of ancient, stone-frozen sand dunes and tortured rock, is a real favorite of mine. Among photographers it is both something of a Mecca as well as a cliche. There are quite a few photographers who…
July 16, 2013
Ancient Bristlecone Pines, Full Moon and Starry Night, Patriarch Grove Astrophotography and Night ScapesCaliforniaTreesWhite Mountains

Ancient Bristlecone Pines, Full Moon and Starry Night, Patriarch Grove

This is the best image I made during a May trip through the White Mountains and Tioga Pass. I set out to find new, photogenic ancient bristlecone pine trees, something other than the two iconic brutes along the Discovery Trail near Schulman Grove and the oft-photographed leaner near the Patriarch…
June 25, 2013
Milky Way and Moon at Night, Shooting Star, Comet Panstarrs, Panorama, Joshua Tree National Park Astrophotography and Night ScapesJoshua TreePanoramasThe American Southwest

Milky Way and Moon at Night, Shooting Star, Comet Panstarrs, Panorama, Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree National Park, Milky Way and Moon, Shooting Star, Comet Panstarrs, Impending Dawn. This panorama of Joshua Tree National Park was made at astronomical twilight during International Dark Sky Week recently (last week). Some slight blue color from the impending dawn appears behind and to the left of the…
April 18, 2013