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Night Sky 242 images Created 27 Sep 2013

In this gallery are pictures of the milky way, northern lights, startrails, meteors, comets, and the moon. I usually try to take night sky pictures where the sky is dark as far away from light pollution as possible. In some of these places thousands more stars are visible compared to the city.
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  • Waves crashed around my feet as I steadied my tripod and counted down until 8:04PM. That's when the International Space Station (ISS) was going to appear. It was a perfect pass, rising straight up over the horizon, before moving overhead and outshining everything else in the sky. The ISS orbits the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of 250 miles with a speed of 17,000 mph. At a cost of over $150 billion, the ISS is the single most expensive item ever constructed. The space station has been continuously occupied for 19 years by astronauts, who get to experience 16 sunsets and sunrises a day. The ISS is easily visible from Earth when sunlight reflects off of it's massive solar panels. Finding a spot in Orange County, California, that's dark enough to see the milky way is not easy. But at this time of year it's possible to look southwest over the darkest part of the ocean, while the rest of the sky is filled with light pollution and few stars. It took the ISS about 5 minutes to pass through the sky. I combined the satellite trail from 9 images with a single image of the stars to make it clearer.
    Up From the Ocean
  • It was 2AM in the boreal forest outside of Fairbanks, Alaska. I had spent the last 6 hours waiting, driving around and dodging clouds. A faint green glow was visible in the far northern sky, but there was no movement. Still tired from my red eye flight, I was almost ready to call it a night. But patience pays off when aurora hunting. Finally the anticipated solar wind stream arrived. In a matter of minutes the aurora rapidly brightened as charged particles from the sun interacted with Earth’s magnetic field. It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen it, there’s nothing else like watching an active display of the northern lights. The pulsing, flickering motion was similar to a campfire, filling the entire sky. It came from every direction, lighting up the ground enough to see. At times the speed exceeded my ability to capture it. Even a 1/2 second shutter speed blurred the fine details. After taking thousands of pictures that night, eventually I had to put my camera down and just stare upward in awe.
    Twists of Green
  • It's quite common to see clouds at night illuminated from below by light pollution. But it's strange seeing clouds turn green, illuminated from above. This was the solar wind stream I traveled to Alaska to see, and it arrived about 24 hours after I did at 2AM. The aurora was mesmerizing to watch as it became very bright, and  twisted and pulsed and flickered. It's not often that I point my camera straight up.
    Straight Up Awesome
  • At the end of October I had the the chance to spend a week in Alaska. I timed this trip with the arrival of a solar wind stream so the northern lights would be extra active. The sky only stayed clear for a couple hours on this night, but that was enough to see this bright ‘aurora rainbow.’ Only by shooting a panorama with my widest lens could I capture all of it. Most of the lakes and wetlands around Fairbanks had these bubbles in them. They are made of methane gas suspended in the ice. Just 30-40 cm underground is the permafrost, which normally stays frozen year round. But as the Arctic warms and the permafrost thaws, the decaying plant matter (also known as peat) releases methane into the atmosphere. During the summer this gas is invisible. But for a short time after the water freezes and before it gets covered with snow, these frozen bubbles are visible. Many area lakes have such a high concentration of methane that it’s actually possible to pop these bubbles and light them on fire.
    Rainbow of Aurora
  • The aurora display only lasted a couple hours on this night before a snow storm moved in. But it was very bright and active. I shot most of it from a frozen pond a few minutes outside of Fairbanks. Methane bubbles were suspended in the ice.
    Bright Green Stripes
  • Once the aurora got going, I returned to this pulloff. I couldn't see it, but my camera captured a moose grazing on the left, which was likely the same moose I photographed earlier in the day. Seeing aurora colors other than green is rare in the Arctic. This was one of my only photos with a tinge of red.
    Midnight Moose
  • At first the aurora was confined low on the northern horizon. But then it brightened and filled the sky. It's not often I can shoot a time lapse on a highway. But traffic was very light.
    Night On Richardson Highway
  • I’ve always liked this particular road on the west side of the Bighorn Mountains. With plenty of steep twists and sharp turns, switchbacks and hairpins, it ascends to a waterfall and campground. The poor maintenance, few guardrails, and occasional rockfall add to the thrill. If the snow were any deeper I couldn't have made it to the top. Before it got dark I found the perfect viewpoint so I could return later. The bright moon illuminated the beautiful landscape and clouds, I just had to wait for it to move off to the side. At 10PM Orion rose directly above the peak in the middle. Then all I needed was a car to paint the road with its headlights. So I left my camera perched on the side of the mountain to shoot automatically while I slowly drove to the bottom and back up. After combining all the car trail images with a single image of the sky this was the result. Highway 14A is the road on the right and the lights in the distance are from Greybull I think.
    Switchbacks and Car Trails
  • In December the planet Venus graced the western sky shortly after sunset. Aside from the moon, no other object in the night sky shines brighter. Venus always follows or precedes the sun in the same path known as the ecliptic. It’s also called the Evening Star or Morning Star, depending on which side of the sun it’s on. Because it’s an inner planet, Venus is never more than 47° from the sun in Earth’s sky. Anyone who points a telescope at the planet would notice that Venus goes through phases much like the moon. It is fully illuminated when it’s on the opposite side of the sun farthest from Earth. When it’s closest to Earth it turns into a narrow crescent. Galileo first observed the phases of Venus 400 years ago, which helped confirm the heliocentric model of the solar system. I attempted to capture Venus setting over Cloud Peak, but clouds were hugging the tops of the peaks and hid them from view.
    The Evening Star
  • In December the constellation Orion rises in the east immediately after sunset. While camping in Joshua Tree National Park, I picked a campsite that faced a boulder formation in that direction. When clouds moved in, I wasn’t sure I would get any pictures. But then a small gap appeared, leaving halos around the brighter stars. The red supergiant star Betelgeuse is visible in the center. It is one of the largest stars in the Milky Way, 1400 times the size of the sun. It's also a variable star, which means the brightness changes regularly. But in recent days it has been attracting attention because it’s currently dimmer than ever recorded before. Betelgeuse is at the end of its stellar life cycle and when it goes supernova its brightness in Earth's sky will rival that of the full moon. Since the star is 640 light years away, it may have already exploded centuries ago. But the likelihood of seeing a supernova anytime soon is still very small and they remain unpredictable.
    Boulders of Orion
  • In January I went out to capture one of my favorite photogenic trees late at night. It sits by itself in a field near a small abandoned house. Cassiopeia, one of the most recognizable constellations, is like a celestial clock. In 23 hours and 56 minutes it will make one rotation around the North Star. But unlike a clock, it spins counterclockwise. When closest to the horizon the 5 brightest stars make the shape of a W, but when it's highest overhead it looks like an M. From anywhere above 35°N, Cassiopeia is circumpolar. That means the constellation neither rises nor sets, always staying above the horizon. In order to get a sharper picture I shot a 12-minute exposure of the foreground, and the tree branches didn't even move an inch. Windless nights are quite rare during winter in Wyoming.
    Night On the Homestead
  • The Squaw Mountain Fire Lookout Tower is just 25 miles west of Denver and has a great view of the city lights coming on. The fog and clouds quickly cleared out as it got darker.
    Denver At Twilight
  • There’s perhaps no better way to practice social distancing and clear your head than to spend some time under the stars. The idea for this picture came months ago: to capture Orion setting over this jumble of giant boulders called the Fallen City. After doing the math and simulating the view, I determined exactly where to put my tripod and when to make it happen. But one problem is this is a very windy spot in the Bighorn Mountains. My attempt in February was foiled by the wind and I could not get any clear images. But March brought another chance with calmer weather. A fresh snowfall topped with rime ice made the forest glow in the starlight.<br />
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The Orion Nebula is the brightest in Earth’s sky. It can be seen with the naked eye from dark skies and looks spectacular in a telescope. Also visible next to Orion’s Belt are the Flame Nebula and Horsehead Nebula. To get this picture first I took a series of images of the sky with my camera on a star-tracking mount. Once the nebula set, I turned the tracking off and took a longer exposure of the foreground.
    Orion and Fallen City
  • Just before 11PM there was a double reflection in the Powder River. Venus is on the right and Sirius is on the left.
    Sirius and Venus Reflected
  • An owl hooting, geese honking, coyotes howling, and a river gurgling - these were the sounds that filled the air on this frosty night. At this dot on the map called Moorhead in southeast Montana, there’s nothing really here. But that’s the point. It’s in a black zone on a light pollution map, which means the night sky doesn’t get any darker than this. The core of the Milky Way galaxy, after going behind the sun for the winter, has now returned to the pre-dawn skies. Also joining the Milky Way is a trio of planets: Saturn, Mars and Jupiter. I wasn’t sure if they would make it over the bluff before astronomical twilight began. But they did, casting long shimmering reflections on the Powder River. When two or more planets pass close to each other in Earth’s sky, it’s called a planetary conjunction. Since the planets more or less orbit the sun in the same plane, conjunctions are not all that rare. But they’re always beautiful to see.
    Milky Way and 3 Planets
  • At the end of March Venus was at it’s greatest elongation. That is when the 2nd planet from the Sun is at it’s highest and brightest in Earth’s sky. Outshining every star and planet, it’s even bright enough to see during the day under the right conditions. Because Venus is an inferior planet orbiting inside Earth’s orbit, it never strays more than 47° from the Sun. When Venus is east of the Sun it is the Evening Star. But when it is west of the Sun it becomes the Morning Star. Counterintuitively Venus appears brightest during it’s crescent phase because that’s when it’s closer to Earth. The Moon was also a crescent on this evening. It’s always challenging to capture the Moon with the stars as they appear to the eye since it's so much brighter. But the passing clouds acted as a filter and helped to balance the exposure. Above the glowing cloud is the Pleiades, the most recognizable star cluster in the sky. A week later Venus would pass through the Pleiades, an occurrence that happens every 8 years.
    Filtered Moonlight
  • The full moon in April is called the Pink Moon. But the name has nothing to do with the color, it's just called that because it coincides with the blooming of a certain type of flower. The color of the moon can vary from red to orange to yellow, depending on the clarity of the atmosphere. While low on the horizon the shorter wavelengths of light get scattered. But as it rises higher the lunar surface shows it's true color. This was also the biggest full moon of the year because it was at it's closest point to Earth, known as perigee. But it only appeared 7% larger than average, hardly worth being called a supermoon. Conditions weren't looking very promising around here since the sky was about 90% cloudy. But I hiked up to this spot overlooking Moncreiffe Ridge anyway. The moon was only visible for a few minutes as it passed through a small gap in the clouds. The plane flying by didn't show up on any flight-tracking apps, so I'm guessing it was some type of military cargo plane.
    Moon Over Moncreiffe Ridge
  • At first it had the appearance of puffy clouds on the southeast horizon. Then as it rose higher the Milky Way revealed more detail. The clouds were made not of water vapor, but of stars too numerous and densely packed to resolve individually. The bright core of the galaxy is split in two by a dark lane of cosmic dust known as the Great Rift. The Milky Way was soon followed by the rise of Jupiter, and then Saturn. Meanwhile shooting stars periodically flashed across the sky during the peak of the Lyrid meteor shower. The Lyrids are the oldest known meteor shower, first observed 2700 years ago. Of the 15 meteors I captured, this one was the brightest. Devil’s Kitchen is a small basin containing badlands-type terrain, but it may as well have been another planet. It’s a barren wasteland located on the west side of the Bighorn Mountains filled with fascinating geologic formations of all different colors. When I first found it last summer I knew I had to return to shoot it at night.
    Night at Devil's Kitchen
  • When I passed by this overlook of Seminoe Reservoir earlier in the evening I knew I had to return at midnight. As the milky way first rises it forms a huge arch from the northeast to southeastern sky. The only way to capture it all is by shooting a panorama with my widest lens. Stripes of green airglow crossed the sky and the yellow glow is light pollution from the Denver suburbs 150 miles away.
    Midnight Arch
  • Wandering around these sand dunes under the Milky Way, it looked like I had stepped into the Sahara Desert. But the freezing temperatures reminded me that I was still in Wyoming. The Killpecker Sand Dunes are actually the largest active dune system in the world outside of the Sahara. But the sand is spread out in many piles across 100 miles. They cross the Continental Divide at elevations over 7,000 feet. This pile was in Seminoe State Park. After shifting sand began covering this road, it had to be rerouted to the west. It was a strange feeling walking deeper into the dunes in the dark, as sand in every direction messed with my depth perception and I couldn't tell if I was going uphill or downhill. Strong winds during the day had cleared the dunes of all tracks left by humans or ATV's. It was a good thing the winds were calm now at 3AM because blowing sand and camera lenses do not go well together.
    Shifting Sands
  • It may have been past midnight, but this roadside pond was teeming with life that was very much awake. Green eyes reflected back at me as cows shuffled around. Bats swooped through the air to catch the swarms of insects. The calls of an owl, geese, killdeer, and other unidentified birds added to the chorus of crickets and squeaking mice. The water was a near perfect mirror, which is a rare sight in windy Wyoming. Earlier in the spring it’s necessary to wait until the early morning hours to see the Milky Way. But at this time of year the core of the galaxy is up completely by the time it gets dark. The shooting star was just an unexpected bonus. There was no meteor shower happening, but on any given night about 6 meteors are visible per hour from dark skies. These are called sporadic meteors, and somehow I captured 2 bright ones in less than an hour. In the center of the image is Jupiter next to the fainter planet Saturn.
    Second Sporadic
  • At the end of June I returned to one of my favorite places: Bighorn Canyon. Located on the Wyoming-Montana border, this vast canyon ranges from 1,000 - 2,500 feet deep. The remote location and dry desert air makes it a great place for stargazing. But capturing a canyon on a dark night can be a challenge. In pictures they only appear as a dark void, since very little light makes it's way down between the steep walls. But on this night I had the assistance of the crescent moon just out of frame to the right. The moonlight was bright enough to light up the cliffs, but not bright enough to drown out the Milky Way. This natural arch is set back against a steep hillside, which meant there was really only one spot to place my camera. After a hot day, I heard several rockslides echo from down below. And while walking back to my car, I met a baby rattlesnake who was not too happy I was there.
    Window to the Universe
  • After hearing about a comet named C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE), I finally got to see it for myself on this morning. Not really knowing what to expect, I set my alarm for 3AM. I was immediately blown away by how big and bright it is. Even after most of the stars had faded out against the light of dawn, it was still visible. The long tail stretched at least 5° across the northeast sky. I’m looking forward to getting more pictures of this comet, but that is assuming it holds together. Comets are very unpredictable. 2 of them were hyped up earlier this year, only to break apart before ever getting bright. Then Comet NEOWISE came as a bit of surprise. This was taken at Fort Peck Lake, the largest in Montana. With it’s many coves, arms, and inlets, the reservoir has a shoreline of more than 1,500 miles.
    Comet at Fort Peck Lake
  • There are some things that just don't happen every day. One of the brightest comets in decades is swinging past Earth this month. As I brainstormed to figure out where to capture it, Steamboat Point seemed like an obvious choice. Anyone who has driven Highway 14 would recognize this iconic peak of the Bighorn Mountains. It gets its name because of the massive rock face that sticks into the air like the prow of a steamboat. Even though storms were around in the evening, I was not expecting them to last. But lightning flashed to the north for the entire night. The red color is an effect caused by viewing from a long distance through the thicker atmosphere. At 2:30AM, the comet rose above the northeast horizon, tail-first. A comet's tail always points away from the Sun. The 67% moon off to the right lit up the mountain, while shadows added depth to the scene. Soon after this, noctilucent clouds joined the show, but that's for another post. By the time the sun rose my memory card had 1400 new images. It was a night very much worth losing sleep over.
    Worth Losing Sleep Over
  • All night long lightning flashed to the north over Steamboat Point in the Bighorn Mountains. Then at 2:30AM Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE rose above the horizon. Finally as the first light of dawn came, noctilucent clouds appeared. It was the brightest display I've ever seen. Seeing all these things at the same time made it a night to remember.
    A Night to Remember
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