Dusts of Eternity

"Within the Dusts of Eternity We Live and Exist for but a Short Time Like Footprints in the Sand" - Rachel Lawson

 

In early December 2022, I spent a night in the Kelso Dunes, the largest field of aeolian sand deposits in the Mojave Desert. While hiking up the tallest dune, I noticed a slightly lesser one in the east, which seemed to be untouched by footprints.

 

During blue hour, I hiked back and climbed this dune. I was pleased to notice that it had a razor-sharp crest, and I decided to capture a full 360° panorama. Of course, I couldn't avoid having some of my footprints in the image, but by walking slightly below the dune crest, I was able to protect its sharp line.

 

Later at night, I captured the full sky dome with the stunning red hydrogen emission nebulae and dark dust lanes of the Winter Milky Way and the bow of the zodiacal light. Along the horizon, some red, green, and yellow airglow mixed with the light pollution from distant Palm Springs and Las Vegas.

 

EXIF

Canon EOS-R, astro-modified

Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8

IDAS NBZ filter

iOptron SkyTracker Pro

Sky:

Stacked panorama of 9 panels, each 6x 90s @ ISO1600, unfiltered & 3x 180s @ ISO6400, filtered

Foreground:

Focus stacked panorama of 9 panels, each 3x 4s, f/5.6

Done