I started this little Flickr account because I've been taking pictures of the night sky for the past couple of years, and it's a hell of a lot easier to give someone a Flickr link than it is to IM and/or email the photos. I still need a lot of practice with astrophotography (AP), but I'm starting to understand it.

I bought a Canon T7i for AP when I started out, and it worked pretty well. Later I removed the cut filter over the sensor and replaced it with a clear glass protector. This allows the full spectrum of high IR, visible, and low UV light to be recorded, and increases the sensitivity. A side perk is that I can use cut and bandpass filters to take IR and UV photos, as well as normal visible light photos using a visible bandpass filter. Thus, the Canon T7i is still an all-around picture-taker, and I have some investment in glass for it too.

In 2018 I bought a ZWO ASI1600 MM Pro monochrome astronomy camera, filters, and filter wheel. I found that by using narrowband filters and mapping the narrow bands to red, green, and blue, one can get nice false color images - from town, from my balcony and driveway - that exhibit the energy structures and patterns comprising deep space objects. This allowed me to practice AP sessions extending over multiple nights, and to refine the capture of deep space targets.

In 2019 I broke down and bought a ZWO ASI071 MC Pro color astronomy camera. It's great for shooting out in the dark (away from man-made light sources), but narrowband is a bit trickier for color cameras. There are narrowband pass filters that pass only the SII, Ha, OIII, and H-beta spectral bars, but they cost almost as much as the camera. Since I can image in town using the ZWO ASI 1600 MM Pro, I will save the $1075 (base) cost of a Triad Ultra Quad 48mm filter for now. It takes longer to take 3 or 4 sets of images using different filters, but who wants to pay a grand (before tax and shipping) for a Triad Ultra filter? Thus, the ZWO ASI071 MC Pro camera is used primarily at dark sky sites.

For dark sky projects, I have a few places that are really quite dark. The closest dark sky site is near the Los Angeles Astronomy Club's dark sky site in Lockwood Valley, CA. Lockwood Valley is a bit west of Frazier Park in the the Los Padres National Forest. It's about 60 miles from the edge of the San Fernando Valley, Canyon Country, Ventura, Ojai, and Malibu. All of these population centers create substantial light pollution, especially in the south and eastern directions, but Lockwood Valley is still pretty dark. In the winter, the site is too cold and subject to sudden snowstorms and road closures, as the elevation is close to 5000 feet; in summer, the temperature can easily drop into the 30s during the night, but usually stays in the 40s and 50s. It's close enough to civilization to have cellular service, and the roads are well maintained.

The next closest site is on the Pinto Basin Highway between Cottonwood Springs and the Ocotillo Patch in Joshua Tree National Park. While the Los Padres National Forest is wonderful in the summer and risky in the winter, the desert sites are the opposite: winter evenings can be cold in the wee hours, but for the most part the temperatures between October and March are quite comfortable. Summer nights cool down from super-hot daytime temps to around 75 to 80 (F) by midnight. Cooled cameras will suck a tremendous amount of power staying cool on summer nights. The folks at Joshua Tree NP do a great job of keeping the roads maintained, and there are a few sites along Pinto Basin Road where one can park and set up all night. You can even set up at the Cottonwood Springs Visitor Center parking lot if you want to be near the toilets. Cell service is mostly non-existent in the south of the park, but the towns of Joshua Tree, Twentynine Palms, and Morongo Valley to the north might have service available if you're close enough. During the night, the park rangers will patrol a few times.

Perhaps the nicest dark sky site is Amboy Crater, which is south of Mojave National Wilderness Preserve and about 2 miles west of the mostly deserted town of Amboy - about halfway between Barstow and Needles on Historic Route 66. Amboy Crater has a couple of parking lots, and several trails from the parking lot up to the crater, which is about a half-mile away. There are a lot of visitors in the day, but at night it thins out considerably. There are two toilets, and around a half-dozen covered areas with picnic benches. Las Vegas is about 100 miles due north, Interstate 40 is about 10 miles to the north, and there is a train in the town of Amboy that seems to have its headlight on all of the time. Otherwise, Amboy Crater is dark. In addition to having great parking, tables, and toilets, Amboy Crater is under control of the Bureau of Land Management, so it's public land open to all, and no charge. Cell service is non-existent.

The most remote dark sky site I like has no name. It's about 40 miles south of Amboy Crater in the middle of the deep Mojave Desert. The roads are unpaved, but easily navigated (I have an all-wheel drive car, which is helpful). A standard family car like a sedan might get stuck in the dry sand on the sides of the road, and there is no signal for your cell out here. From Twentynine Palms, take the Twentynine Palms Highway (CA 62) east. About 20-30 minutes outside of Twentynine Palms, near the Sheephole Valley Wilderness, the highway will suddenly curve NNE for a couple of miles. At the top of the hill, the highway will curve ESE, and a few miles after that, you will see the BLM dirt road on the left. Drive north on the road a few miles. This is the middle of the desert, and it is surrounded by the sprawl of San Bernardino, Riverside, and Los Angeles to the west, San Diego, Irvine, and Anaheim to the southwest, the desert cities of Palm Springs, Indio, Brawley, and El Centro to the south, Barstow to the northwest. There is also a Military Air Base at Twentynine Palms. As such, there is quite a bit of air traffic, which tends to cause a lot of light streaks and dashed lines in long widefield exposures. No services, no cell reception, and very few people.

Death Valley is spectacular when the seeing is good, but it's a five hour drive - if you don't stop. Often, alkali and salt dust are blowing about, taking both seeing and comfort down a notch, and raising concern about the longevity of astronomical and photographic equipment. But when Death Valley is dark and the seeing is good, it's really good. The only darker places, which are really far out, are in locations like Tonopah.

I have to suppress a laugh when my neighbors ask me if I'm not worried about the crazies out in the wilderness. As far as I can tell, all of the crazies are in town.