milky way
Images
Was surprised to be able to see the Milky Way with my naked eye at Yaquina Bay State Park, so I took this selfie and combined it in a mosaic with shots of the higher sky to create this 'selfie.'
2023-10-06
The writhing tentacles and shimmering core of the Milky Way lives and breathes over the Pacific Ocean. Shot taken in Yaquina Bay State Park.
2023-10-06
The Milky Way from Cape Foulweather
I took advantage of one of the last clear nights for several weeks to head a few minutes north of our home to Cape Foulweather. Milky Way season is nearing its end and I wanted to capture it over the water. I didn't plan well as I was not expecting the moon to be so close, or so bright, but in the end, it worked out. Sony Alpha 6300, f/2 12mm Samyang lens on a Sky Adventurer Mini (SAM) tracker.
2023-09-20
ookout on Cape Foulweather. From the vantage point several hundred meters above sea level, you can look out across the Pacific Ocean and down the Oregon Coast. I spent an evening there capturing images as the sun set and the bright crescent moon slid across the horizon to illuminate the water and the prominent outcrop known as 'Gull Rock.' I was able to capture the Milky Way despite its proximity to the moon. The buildings in the lower left are part of the Inn at Otter Crest. The first outcrop is a viewing area at the Inn at Otter Crest, and the more distant one is called the Devil's Punch Bowl. The glow you see on the horizon at the edge of the coast is the city of Newport. The glow farther inland is from the city of Toledo. The bright moon made processing interesting. I decided to use one exposure for the land and ocean details (1/45th second at ISO 400 taken earlier) and five 6-second exposures at ISO 4000 for the sky details. I stacked the longer exposures twice: once at full frame, then a second time cropped to just the stars and Milky Way to avoid the saturation caused by the moon. I stacked those together to produce the final result. This is a re-process of older data.
2023-09-20
The Milky Way in Glacier Peak National Park
The Milky Way arching over a peak capped by the Lyman Glacier.
2023-08-20
The Milky Way was so clear that night on Orcas Island that I was able to capture detail photos with a single exposure.
2023-08-11
I visited friends with a deck overlooking the bay where the ferries shuttle people between islands and the mainland. Using my Sony Alpha camera on a tripod, I took several 20-second exposures to combine for the Milky Way. The ferry happened to cross around the same time and left a dazzling bar of light.
2023-08-11
Panoramas aren't always horizontal. This vertical view starts on the banks of the North Skykomish River, continues over Heybrook Lookout and Mt. Index, then ascends to the heavens in the sky.
2023-07-15
The Milky Way from the banks of the Skykomish River
A capture of the Milky Way crossing behind a tree viewed from the banks of the North Skykomish River near Index, WA.
2023-07-15
The night was so dark I could clearly see the Milky Way arching above us. I decided to take a few photographs to combine in a panorama mosaic.
2023-07-15
A Starlink satellite train is an eerie thing to witness. It looks like a string of pearls or white dots moving in a straight line that terminates in earth's shadow. This is the first time I caught one on camera. This is 5 45-second exposures stacked together.
2023-07-06
The Otter Crest Milky Way Arch
Despite heavy wind gusts and a bright moon just below the horizon, the arch of the Milky Way was clearly visible above the lights of the Inn at Otter Crest facing east from the grassy field.
2023-07-06
The arch of the Milky Way began to descend as I swung my camera south. The horizon was already brightening from the moon. The glow to the south is the town of Newport. Taken from Cape Foulweather.
2023-07-06
The evening of July 4th was exceptionally clear in Otter Rock, Oregon. Although the moon would still be fairly bright, there was a window of opportunity to image after it got dark around 11pm and before the moon rose at midnight. I could just barely see the Milky Way rise to the north above Cape Foulweather.
2023-07-04
My answer to the question: can you capture the Milky Way during a full moon? Sure, but why go through the trouble? Dark skies rule, but clear skies can be forgiving. Although the moon was right in front of the Milky Way, I shot it directly for 45 seconds at my lowest ISO. You can clearly see lens flare, dark spots from dust on the lens, and our own galaxy.
2023-07-03
I stacked a time lapse that ran watching slight south of directly up as I went about my astrophotography routine. This is the beautiful edge of our galaxy it captured.
2023-06-26
Milky Way on Fire (spotted from tower)
The fruits of our labour: spotting the fiery glow of the Milky Way as it rises like smoke on the hoirzon.
2023-06-26
The Milky Way rises over the horizon across from the Hornbeck Homestead in Florissant, Colorado.
2023-04-28
The beautiful Milky Way stretches across the sky low to the east as seen from the parking lot of the Hornbeck Homestead in Florissant Fossil Beds National Park (Colorado).
2023-04-28
I took this shot to commemorate my friends' dive as they approached their milestone of 300 dives together. The blue lights in the water are their dive lights.
2022-10-18
This is one of two shots taken from a tiki bar called Macabuca using my camera propped up on a lens cap on the railing for stability.
2022-10-18
Milky Way over a ridge in Snoqualmie
The Milky Way stretches into space over the top of a ridge seen from Snoqualmie Point Park in Washington.
2022-08-30
The rich colors of nebulae and stars shine against the backdrop of the Milky Way from Index, WA.
2022-08-30
Videos
Colorado Springs 2023: Astrophotography on the road
Gear: Svbony sv503 70ED 70mm (420mm f/7 or 336mm f/5 with reducer) doublet refractor, Sony Alpha 6300 mirrorless camera, assorted Samyang manual focus lenses, Sky Watcher Star Adventurer GTi 'go to' mount, Manfrotto tripod. Targets: Milky Way, Moon, SpaceX Crew-5 Dragon trunk, M13, Orion constellation, Venus, and Antares region with part of Rho Ophiuchi.
2023-05-05 00:00:00 +0000
Timelapse of time spent taking timed captures of the sky looking south from Cape Foulweather. To the left is the Inn at Otter Crest, further down is the Yaquina Head lighthouse, and the glow in the distance is my new hometown, Newport.
2023-10-03 00:00:00 +0000
A group of photographers summited Heybrook Lookout seeking dark skies. After dealing with cold winds, thunderstorms, and an encounter with a black bear, they almost lost hope. Then the skies cleared, and the Milky Way unfurled.
2023-06-23 00:00:00 +0000
My best space pictures taken in 2022
Collage of planets, galaxies, nebulae, and more that I captured in 2022. From Saturn and Andromeda to Thor's Helmet and the Milky Way.
2022-12-20 00:00:00 +0000
A timelapse of the Milky Way moving across the horizon looking towards Shaw Island from Orcas Island. Includes a cameo from the Andromeda Galaxy.
2023-08-12 00:00:00 +0000
Timelapse from a shoot of the Milky Way on the banks of the Skykomish River in Index, WA.
2023-07-16 00:00:00 +0000
The best images I captured in 2023
Hold on to your hats! We're going for a ride. 2023 was a breakout year for my astrophotography as I had my first access to dark sites, refined my Milky Way technique, got closer to the moon and started working with planets, processed my first comet, made my first solar filter to take solar shots, and a lot of new and improved targets with the addition of narrowband filters.
2023-12-14 00:00:00 +0000