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The Ghost

The most impressive hoodoos I have ever seen are the White Ghosts in the Wahweap Hoodoo area. Their soft, white sandstone makes them look like they are made of melting vanilla ice cream.

 

They are covered by caprocks of harder, brownish sandstone. Over time, erosion of the soft layer causes these caprocks to be undcut and eventually fall off. The remaining cone then erodes rapidly.

 

One of these doomed hoodoos stands near the area's most famous spire, the "Tower of Silence."

 

The decapitated stump stands alone on the plain, about 200 meters from its siblings, looking as if it has been banished by its beautiful relatives who do not want to be reminded of their own mortality.

 

But at night, the dying Hoodoo still stands proudly beneath the arch of the Milky Way. The pale ghost takes center stage and reminds the intrepid visitor, who joins him under the starry skies, of his bygone glory, while his merciless brethren huddle fearfully against the cliff from which they were born.

 

EXIF

Canon EOS-R, astro-modified

Sigma 28mm f/1.4 ART

IDAS NBZ filter

iOptron SkyTracker Pro

Low Level Lighting

 

Foreground:

Panorama of 10 panels, each a focus stack of 5x 15s @ ISO1600

 

Sky:

Panorama of 10 panels, each a stack of 6x 45s @ ISO1600, unfiltered & 3x 105s @ ISO6400, filtered

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Uploaded on June 13, 2024
Taken on May 10, 2024