Devils Tower [Explored]

After the April 2024 Solar Eclipse, I headed westbound and visited Devils Tower National Monument. The Tower is an astounding geologic feature that protrudes 867ft out of the prairie surrounding the Black Hills. It is considered sacred by Northern Plains Indians, who use different names, like e.g. the Lakota who call it Bear Lodge.

 

After hiking around the tower in the afternoon, I planned to shoot it with the rising Milky Way in the early morning hours. The completely clear evening sky quickly turned overcast around midnight, squashing my hopes for a successful shooting. Fortunately it cleared again about an hour before dawn, allowing me to still capture my planned compositions.

 

Special thanks to @cskenda for knocking me out of my nap in the car. Without him, I would probably have missed this shot.

 

EXIF

Canon EOS-R, astro-modified

Sigma 28mm f/1.4 ART @ f/2

IDAS NBZ filter

iOptron SkyTracker Pro

 

Sky:

Stack of 6x 45s @ ISO1600, unfiltered & 5x 105s @ ISO6400, filtered

 

Foreground:

Stack of 7x 60s @ ISO3200

Done