Badwater [Explored]

With a depth of 282 ft (86 m) below sea level, Badwater Basin is noted as the lowest point in North America. The site contains a small spring-fed pool of "bad water". The accumulated salts of the surrounding basin make it undrinkable, thus giving the Basin its name.

 

Adjacent to the pool, repeated freeze–thaw and evaporation cycles gradually push the thin salt crust into maze of honeycomb shapes.

 

The dark skies in Death Valley are awesome for astrophotography, but they also make capturing forwgrounds difficult. The salt polygons of Badwater Basin are no exception. I was therefore gald that I was able to use the light of the setting Moon to give the scene some structure.

 

EXIF

Canon EOS R, astro-modified by EOS 4Astro

Sigma 28mm f/1.4 ART

@astrohutech IDAS NBZ filter

iOptron SkyTracker Pro

Sky:

Panorama of 2 panels, each a stack of 6x 45s @ ISO1600 f/2, unfiltered & 5x 105s @ ISO6400 f/2, filtered

Foreground:

Focus stack of 4 x 60s @ ISO3200, f/2.8 during Moonset

Done