Desert Vibes

I am fascinated by desert landscapes. This is probably because there are no deserts in my home country Switzerland. The rock structures, the flora and fauna just look alien to my eyes and the low horizon is a sight I only get on a mountain peak at home.

 

I therefore enjoyed my opportunity to visit the desert in Joshua Tree NP in late November and tried to make the best from the two short evenings before moonrise.

 

Fortunately, the sky in JTNP is very dark towards the East, which allowed me to capture some amazing detail in the rising constellation Orion.

 

Higher up, the Flaming Star and California Nebulae colorize the Winter Milky Way. Interstellar dust is looming within the starry band and the welcome sight of the Gegenschein between the Pleiades and Hyades bears witness to the good sky quality.

 

EXIF

Canon EOS Ra

Sigma 28mm f/1.4

iOptron SkyTracker Pro

Sky:

3 panel panorama, each a stack of 10x 60s @ ISO800, f/2

Foreground:

Single exposure of 5s @ ISO100, f/11 during blue hour

Done