Desert Nights

I just returned from a 3 week road trip through the US Southwest. That's the reason why I wasn't very active on social media lately.

 

It was mainly a family vacation and not an astrophotography trip. The bright moon kept me from doing astrophotography during the first two weeks, but it was nevertheless an awesome journey. I was able to show some of the stunning spots I visited during my previous astro travels to my wife and kids and I scouted a few new possible spots for the future. We did a lot of fun hikes and drove quite a few remote dirt roads.

 

During the third week, I was able to sneak away and capture some nightscapes. The images are, however, still sitting on my SD card and will have to wait a while for processing, as my work will already take me back to Los Angeles tomorrow.

 

To convey the feeling of a night under the starfilled desert sky, I publish the above image. I captured it in early February during a Los Angeles layover.

 

EXIF

Canon EOS Ra

Sigma 28mm f/1.4

iOptron SkyTracker Pro

IDAS NBZ filter

Sky:

6 panel panorama. Each a stack of 6 x 30s @ ISO1600, f/2 unfiltered + 3 x 60s @ ISO6400, f/1.4, filtered

Foreground:

Panorama of 6x 5s @ ISO100, f/8 during blue hour

Done