Phoenix Glow
While vacationing out in the American Southwest I wanted to take advantage of their dark skies and photograph the Milky Way. The only problem was that there was going to be a full moon which washes out much of the delicate starlight I was trying to capture. As luck would have it (for once I didn't plan this) there happened to be a lunar eclipse during my visit. Of course it happened to be the shortest lunar eclipse of the century but it would still work. The dark sky maps indicated 75 miles outside of Phoenix is just about the magic number to find a truly dark sky. Normally in the Midwest I'd need to travel almost 300 miles to find a sky with a similar lack of light so you can see why I was somewhat excited by this opportunity.
I was rewarded with one of the most amazing skies I have ever seen. As the moon disappeared into shadow the Milky Way emerged. I've never seen my shadow cast by starlight before and it was amazing. As you can see there was still an ample amount of light pollution. That glowing orange orb in the middle of the scene is coming from Phoenix which was 75 miles away at the time. In this case the light pollution worked out all right as the Milky Way arched right over it. Had the eclipse darkened the skies a few hours earlier though I would have lost most of the Milky Way to the light pollution.
Phoenix Glow
While vacationing out in the American Southwest I wanted to take advantage of their dark skies and photograph the Milky Way. The only problem was that there was going to be a full moon which washes out much of the delicate starlight I was trying to capture. As luck would have it (for once I didn't plan this) there happened to be a lunar eclipse during my visit. Of course it happened to be the shortest lunar eclipse of the century but it would still work. The dark sky maps indicated 75 miles outside of Phoenix is just about the magic number to find a truly dark sky. Normally in the Midwest I'd need to travel almost 300 miles to find a sky with a similar lack of light so you can see why I was somewhat excited by this opportunity.
I was rewarded with one of the most amazing skies I have ever seen. As the moon disappeared into shadow the Milky Way emerged. I've never seen my shadow cast by starlight before and it was amazing. As you can see there was still an ample amount of light pollution. That glowing orange orb in the middle of the scene is coming from Phoenix which was 75 miles away at the time. In this case the light pollution worked out all right as the Milky Way arched right over it. Had the eclipse darkened the skies a few hours earlier though I would have lost most of the Milky Way to the light pollution.