The Dark River

The Dark River is a perfect name for the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon at night, as it is extremely dark if the moon is not shining.

 

But "The Dark River" also fits the dark parts of Milky Way.

 

According Wikipedia, the Great Rift is sometimes also called the Dark River. It is a series of overlapping, non-luminous, molecular dust clouds that are located between the Solar System and the Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy.

 

The clouds are estimated to contain about 1 million solar masses of plasma and dust.

 

To the naked eye, the Great Rift appears as a dark lane that divides the bright band of the Milky Way lengthwise, through about one-third of its extent, and is flanked by lanes of numerous stars.

 

I took this image at Bright Angel Point on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, while the sky was ablaze with crazy green and read sky glow.

 

A wind farm on the south rim is producing the light pollution that can be seen on the right side of the image. (Was it really worth to ruin the pristine night skies?!?)

 

Nevertheless, to record any foreground features in the darkness of the Grand Canyon, I had to push my camera to its limits - or slightly above:

 

Astro-modified Canon EOS 6D

Tamron 15-30mm @ f/2.8

 

Sky:

5 x 20s @ ISO 6400

Stacked with Fitswork

 

Foreground:

1 x 480s @ ISO 12800

1 x 240s @ ISO 12800

1 x 240s @ ISO 6400

Stacked with PS

 

Thanks for all your thoughts and comments. They are highly appreciated.

Done