Kevin Palmer

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  • In early March, Comet Panstarrs rounded the sun and became visible in the northern hemisphere. Even though it was quite bright at magnitude 0, it was a challenge to see. It was only visible for a short time after sunset, and then it slipped beneath the horizon. This shot was taken on March 13th from Gibraltar Rock, Wisconsin, which is a 400 foot high bluff with a great view to the west. This comet will not return to the solar system for 106,000 years.
    Comet Panstarrs
  • Every clear night between December and April, Orion has a close encounter with Devils Tower just before it sets. It was a shot I've had in mind for awhile, but I waited until March to pay a visit so I could capture it at a more reasonable time and temperature. Beneath the 3 belt stars is found Orion's Sword. It also goes by the name Messier 42, NGC1976, or simply the Orion Nebula. As the brightest nebula in northern hemisphere skies, it is easily seen with the naked eye away from light pollution. Larger in angular size than the moon, it looks spectacular in even a small telescope. If you zoom in to the belt star of Alnitak (pierced by a satellite trail), the Flame Nebula is on the left, with the Horsehead located below. Between finding the right overlook, aligning the star tracking mount, shooting dozens of long exposures, and hours of editing, “deepscape” photos like this are always more complex than any other type I create. But I love showing a commonly photographed landmark in an uncommon way. When thin clouds started to roll in I almost stopped shooting, but I ended up liking the halo effect.
    Orion Close Encounter
  • I took advantage of the nice March weather by heading to a place called Castle Gardens. I love exploring places like this, well off the beaten path that few people know about or visit. It's an area of fantastic rock formations: bluffs and hoodoos, toadstools and arches. Even though it's not a large park, it's easy to spend a whole day exploring and the photography opportunities are almost limitless. But I had to be careful wandering at the edges of cliffs. Often what looked like a solid rock from above was actually overhanging several feet and supported only by crumbling sandstone below. The arch pictured here likely won't survive much longer; it's connected only by a 2 feet thick section of brittle sandstone.
    Castle Gardens Sunset
  • 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
  • Every March at approximately 10PM, Andromeda has a close encounter with the iconic Devils Tower. When you look up at the stars, everything you can see with your eyes is contained within the Milky Way galaxy. But Andromeda is the exception. At 2.5 million light years away, it represents the farthest object visible to the naked eye. When you count the faint spiral arms, it is the same angular size in our sky as 6 full moons. Andromeda is thought to have about the same mass as our own galaxy. And just like the Milky Way, it is orbited by 2 satellite galaxies. Andromeda is actually best viewed in the fall, because that is when it’s  highest in the sky. To get this picture I used a star tracking mount to capture greater detail, combined with an untracked image of the tower.
    Andromeda Close Encounter
  • March has been a very active month for geomagnetic activity. But unfortunately it has also been a very cloudy month where I live. On Monday night I was finally able to catch a glimpse of the aurora while dodging clouds near Decker, Montana. The northern lights were rather weak but I was still glad to have seen them.
    Decker Aurora
  • A vivid alpenglow shines on the mountains on the other side of the frozen lake Torneträsk in Swedish Lapland. Lingering snow showers were swirling around the highest peaks. The native Sami people recognize 8 seasons here instead of 4, and "spring-winter" occurs in March and April. The snow hasn't started melting yet, but temperatures do moderate a bit when the sun returns after being absent for over a month. The hours of daylight increase significantly from day to day as the nights grow ever shorter. In early April the sky no longer gets completely dark (marking the end of aurora season) and by the latter part of May the sun will stay up 24/7. Spring-winter is the favorite season of many residents since it's the best time of year for skiing, snowmobiling, and dog sledding.
    Altastjarro Sunset
  • 200km north of the Arctic Circle at the top of Sweden, is the small village of Riksgränsen. The name translates to national border, since it is right next to Norway. It holds the claim of being the northernmost ski resort in the world. This was taken in March, but even at the end of June it remains open, and is one of few places where it’s possible to ski under the midnight sun. For most of the last century this area was accessible only by rail until Highway E10 was completed in the 1980’s. It was my last night in the Arctic and I had to come back here to return some skis. But I was glad I did since it was completely cloudy further east where I was staying. It seemed like this mountain (named Vassitjåkka) was keeping the clouds dammed up behind it. But the front of the peak glowed vividly for quite awhile as the sun went down and a bitter wind blew.
    Alpenglow Above Katterjåkk
  • Early on this morning the aurora once again returned to the skies of Wyoming. I went out stargazing with low expectations of seeing it. Statistically March is the most geomagnetically active month of the year. Magnetic field lines from the sun have an easier time connecting with Earth in the weeks surrounding the equinoxes. It only takes a slight uptick in the solar wind or a brief southern tilt of the magnetic field for the northern lights to brighten up. That's what happened at 10PM, and again after 1AM. Most of the time it was a "deep-sky aurora," which means it was too dim to see with my eyes, but it showed up on camera with a long-exposure. Although it did barely cross the threshold of naked eye visibility when I watched pillars rise up and dance around for a few minutes. After melting during the day, the sound of new ice shifting and crackling echoed across Lake DeSmet on this frosty night.
    Aurora and Ice
  • It's not easy to find water that's not frozen in Abisko National Park in the winter. But the river was flowing fast enough here that the middle was kept ice-free.
    Cold Flow
  • After an auroral substorm, a corona formed at the zenith. A corona is a very fast moving type of aurora, where the rays appear to converge. But by the time I finished a time lapse and pointed my camera straight up, most of it was gone.
    At the Zenith
  • While driving the backroads through the Custer National Forest I came across some interesting sandstone formations.
    Turned to Stone
  • Colorful wildflowers surrounded the oasis in Borrego Palm Canyon.
    Burst of Color
  • The snow was very deep on this part of the Abisko River near the top of the canyon in Swedish Lapland.
    Upper Abisko Canyon
  • The buildings of the Abisko Science Station looked especially photogenic with the mountains behind them in the late evening sunlight.
    Abisko Science Station
  • After taking the chairlift to the Aurora Sky Station in Swedish Lapland the aurora was unfortunately very weak. But it was a crystal clear night and the stars were still beautiful.
    Andromeda and Faint Aurora
  • Even though the moon was bright, the aurora had no problem shining through. And the moonlight made for better pictures as it lit up the landscape.
    Above the Shaking Trees
  • It was cloudy most of the day as I drove to the remote Diamond Butte in southeast Montana. But just before sunset, the sun emerged. The entire sky turned some shade of gold, orange, or pink. It was the best sunset I've seen for quite awhile.
    Cotton Candy Sunset
  • For the 2nd night in a row, there was an active display of the northern lights in Abisko, Sweden. Starting off as a dull glow in the north after sunset, it quickly exploded with bright green spiral swirls filling the entire sky. Here above the Arctic Circle the aurora is ever present, encircling the Earth's poles in a zone called the auroral oval. Even during solar minimum when solar activity is quiet, the northern lights are visible on almost any clear night. And Abisko sees more clear nights than surrounding areas because the mountains to the west create a rain shadow effect. Visible beyond the forest of short birch trees, is Torneträsk, Sweden's 6th largest, and 2nd deepest lake.
    Green Cyclone
  • In the far northwest corner of Finland is the tiny village of Kilpisjärvi. This is the only part of the country that touches the Scandinavian Mountains, and it's near Finland's highest point. The elevation and close proximity to the Arctic Ocean makes this the snowiest place in the country, and the snow here had a different quality than any other I've seen. It was so light and fluffy it could be blown off the windshield with my breath, and footprints in the deep snow pack left behind aqua-blue holes. I climbed halfway up one of the mountains, Saana, to obtain this view as the sun struggled to emerge. On the other side of the frozen lake is Sweden, with Norway to the right. This far above the Arctic Circle, trees can not grow above 600m. After this I tried climbing higher, but the route became icy, and visibility was nearing whiteout  so I was forced to turn back.
    View From Saana
  • On my last night in the Arctic I was treated to a colorful sunset with alpenglow on the mountain Vassitjåkka. I was glad I had to drive back to Riksgransen to return my skis, it was all cloudy in Abisko where I was staying. The roads here have an almost constant layer of ice on them in the winter. But driving isn't as hard as it looks since cars are required to have studded tires.
    Driving in the Arctic
  • After a 35-minute ride on a chairlift in the dark, I arrived at the Aurora Sky Station, 1000 meters above sea level near the top of the mountain Nuolja. Below stretched out a panoramic view of the lake Torneträsk, the lights from Abisko village, and other peaks of the Scandinavian Mountains. The weather was ideal. Even though temperatures were at the lower limit in which the lift is allowed to operate, the skies were clear and the wind was calm. Unfortunately the aurora was calm as well. The northern lights danced a little on the ride up, then faded to a weak glow barely perceptible for the rest of the night. But I tried to make the most of my time up here by shooting this startrail image. I processed it in a way to fade the trails into the background while bringing out the colors of the faint green aurora band. Even though my camera was pointed due north, it was not possible to include the North Star in the shot, at least not without shooting vertically. In Arctic latitudes the North Celestial Pole is too high up in the sky.
    Nuolja Star Trails
  • After checking the sunset forecast, this seemed as good an evening as any to climb a peak that I've had my eye on for awhile. I knew there would be a great view of the Cloud Peak massif if I could make it to the top. There was no trail and the route up this forested mountainside was steep. But it was the first 60°F day of the year and enough snow had melted on the south-facing slope to make the going easier. The sun quickly disappeared once I reached the top and the light turned flat. When the sun is hidden on the opposite side of the mountains it can be hard to tell what kind of sunset it will be. Will there be any color or are the clouds too thick? But then a subtle glow slowly began to emerge to the west. It spread across the sky as the wind picked up and the temperature dropped. Minutes later the glow was gone, like it never happened.
    Short But Sweet Sunset
  • After staying up all night I watched the sunrise from Sand Turn Overlook in the Bighorn Mountains on this windy morning.
    Sliver of Sunrise
  • Reddest Red
  • It was at this overlook where my photography logo was born, years before I knew I’d move to Wyoming. This was also the spot where Ansel Adams took one of his most iconic photos. At least that’s what the sign would say if it wasn’t buried under 4 feet of snow. Tree growth in the 8 decades since means his shot can’t be replicated because the Snake River is not as visible now. Every night between December and April Orion follows the star Rigel until it sets behind the sharp spire of Grand Teton. There exists plenty of night sky pictures of the Tetons in the summer, but not so many in the winter. The weather may have something to do with that. On a clear night cold air slides down these steep mountain slopes and settles in to the Jackson Hole valley. One February night in 1933 the thermometer here bottomed out at -66°F, a Wyoming record that still stands today. Spring officially began the very next day, but it still managed to reach -6°F this night, making it my coldest night of camping yet. While Orion will soon be gone for the season, the summer Milky Way will take its place. And you won’t need 4 layers of clothing to see it.
    Orion Over Tetons
  • I came back to shoot these icefalls in Abisko Canyon again since the light was better than the day before.
    Icefalls of Abisko
  • While the aurora was still going strong I wandered down to Abisko Canyon to capture the lights here. There wasn't much space to set up my tripod next to the cliff's edge so I had to be careful. I shot a time lapse  as the aurora slowly faded away. Clouds would move in soon afterward, so I was glad the lights were so active early in the evening.
    Abisko Canyon Aurora
  • After snow showers hid the sun for most of the day, this brilliant sunset in Norway caught me off guard. I rushed to find a west-facing viewpoint, while slipping and sliding on an icy pathway. This view was captured from the brand new Hålogaland Bridge, which has the longest span in the entire Arctic. By the time I got my camera out, colors had already started to fade and the ice pillar which appeared above the sun was gone.<br />
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While it may look peaceful now, it was not so 80 years ago. A significant naval battle was fought here during World War II. The depths of this fjord still holds the wreckage of sunken ships. Narvik has long been a strategic ice-free port where iron ore is transported by rail from Sweden. The Germans invaded this small seaside town in the spring of 1940, but they didn't occupy it for long. The Battles of Narvik and the recapture of the town cost thousands of lives, but it was one of the first Allied victories of the war.
    Arctic Ocean Sunset
  • This aurora corona was mesmerizing to watch. It was moving and changing so fast, even a 1 second exposure was too long.
    The First Corona
  • In mid-latitudes I always consider bright moonlight as an obstacle to seeing the aurora. But in the Arctic the aurora is so bright that I can use a short exposure, and including the moon in the shot is not an issue.
    Snaking Aurora
  • While camping at Castle Gardens, I captured the stars for 2 hours to put together into this startrail image. A campfire cast a warm glow on the bluffs and hoodoos above.
    Castle Aglow
  • There was a lot to see in this view from Castle Gardens outside of Ten Sleep. Hoodoos and toadstools, red rock canyons, and the snow-capped Bighorn Mountains all lit up in the golden evening sunlight.
    Cloud Peak From Castle Gardens
  • After climbing one of the highest hills near Moorhead, this is the view I found looking north. Although Western Montana gets most of the attention when it comes to natural beauty, the eastern part of the state has some very scenic areas as well.
    Wilds of Southeast Montana
  • It was cloudy all day and I wasn't expecting a great sunset. But when the clouds started clearing I drove up into the hills near Wyarno to catch this view.
    Isolation
  • 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
  • Over the last month I've been staying closer to home for obvious reasons. But I'm grateful to have places like this nearby. Lately I've been visiting blocks of public land out on the plains where the snow has already melted. From here I set off cross-country, not following a specific trail. There's a certain freedom that's felt when exploring without a destination in mind. With expectations low, I simply head wherever looks most interesting. From the top of a high hill this is the stunning view I found looking west. The town of Buffalo is tucked away behind the hills but this perspective makes it look like there's nothing around. Cloud Peak at 13,167' is the tallest in the Bighorn Mountains, and it holds the last remaining glacier in the range. The summit is also the 3rd most topographically prominent in the entire Rockies. The flat-topped mountain is flanked by the more jagged Bomber Mountain on the left and Mount Woolsey on the right. I rarely create black and white images, but some scenes are just meant for it.
    From the Hills to the Mountains
  • Crepuscular rays shine on the high plains of Wyoming shortly after sunrise as seen from the top of Sheep Mountain.
    Sheep Mountain Rays
  • Diamond Butte Fire Lookout Tower overlooks the Custer National Forest and grassland in southeast Montana. It's the only fire lookout in the eastern part of the state that's publicly accessible and available for overnight rental.
    Diamond Butte Road Cloudy
  • As I headed into the Bighorn Mountains at dusk, this lenticular cloud was hovering over the peaks.
    From Dusk til Dawn
  • A colorful sunrise glows above Lake DeSmet where a small amount of winter ice remained.
    Last of the Ice
  • Borrego Palm Canyon is found where the San Ysidro Mountains meet the Sonoran Desert. This arid region of San Diego County receives only 6 inches of rain annually. But this place is vastly different than the surrounding terrain. Fed by underground springs coming to the surface, lush plants fill the canyon and colorful wildflowers are found around every corner. Even though the water flows year round, it disappears a short ways downstream. Numerous waterfalls tumble over the boulders and I had to be careful not to step on the many frogs hopping around. The dozens of fan palms that grow here are some of the last remaining naturally occurring palms left in California. This cool and shady oasis is the perfect place to visit on a hot afternoon and it's the most popular hike in Anza Borrego Desert State Park.
    Borrego Palm Canyon
  • This meadow with towering cliffs behind it is 2.5 miles in to the Penrose Trail. The pinnacles reminded me of those in the Black Hills.
    Penrose Cliffs
  • This small waterfall is just beyond the grove of palm trees in Borrego Palm Canyon.
    Flowers and Hidden Falls
  • Windy Aurora
  • Anyone who has tried chasing the aurora is familiar with disappointment. Especially in mid-latitudes, there can be months in a row with little to no activity. And when the sun does get more active, sometimes it feels like everything is working against you. Unpredictability is high. The timing is all wrong when the geomagnetic storm happens during the day, or on the cloudiest night of the week, or when the moon is so bright you can’t see it. But if you keep going out and watching, eventually you’ll catch a view like this. Last night I went up to an overlook in the Bighorn Mountains. For the first couple hours the aurora glowed but lacked any movement. Then at 10PM, a substorm broke out into these colorful pillars moving from right to left. Just half an hour later the moon was up and the show was over. Aurora activity will continue to increase as we head towards solar maximum.
    Highway 14 Aurora
  • The mountain Nuolja is seen through birch trees on top of a hill.
    Through the Birch Trees
  • After trekking for 10 miles into the wilderness of Abisko National Park in Swedish Lapland, I was relieved to reach my destination. The last couple miles were the toughest, crossing a frozen lake fully exposed to the wind. My face was getting numb and the last of my water was now a block of ice. After warming up a bit I went back out to capture the mountain Kieron glowing in the evening sunlight. High peaks surround this scenic valley in the Scandinavian Mountains. The vegetation at the edge of tree line mostly consists of short birches, with everything else buried under a meter of snow. This was the first segment of the Kungsleden, a popular 270 mile long hiking and skiing trail. Ski season doesn’t start until the 2nd half of winter, the first half is much too dark. Mountain cabins are spaced about a day’s journey apart. They lack electricity or running water. But chopping firewood and collecting water from a hole cut in the ice keeps guests busy. The facilities included a small store, caretaker’s cabin, bunkhouse, and of course a sauna.
    Birches and Kieron
  • Skibotn, Norway, is the furthest north I've ever traveled. But despite the high latitude, the moderating influence of the Arctic Ocean on the weather was obvious. After descending from the cold Finnish highlands, the temperature soared to just above freezing. The snow wasn't nearly as deep, and the water here was actually in a liquid state. My route to Narvik took me past several long fjords like this one. Even though more sunshine would have been nice, the views were majestic nonetheless. At almost every road pulloff I found myself stopping to take pictures. But this view was my favorite: a fishing trawler anchored off the coast with the dramatic peaks of the Lyngen Alps as a backdrop.
    Norwegian Fishing Trawler
  • It snowed almost the whole time while I was in Finland, and there was only a hint of color as the sun set. I captured it from a small island on Lake Kilpisjärvi, where there were a few trees growing. The mountain in the background is in Sweden.
    Hint of Color
  • A bitter wind blew across the icy mountainside in Björkliden, Sweden, while the moon illuminated the landscape below. I had heard about this overlook, but couldn’t find it in time to capture the first wave of auroras at 10PM. But since it was my last clear night in the Arctic, I waited until 1AM for the aurora to come back. A green stripe first appeared to the east, featureless and unmoving but slowly getting brighter. It was almost like a rubber band building up tension, until suddenly it released. Within seconds the northern lights filled the entire sky, moving and changing faster than I could possibly capture it. This is known as a substorm, and they occur several times a night when geomagnetic conditions are favorable. The solar wind piles up charged particles on the tail side of the magnetosphere. When the magnetic field line snaps, these particles are quickly funneled towards the Earth’s poles which causes a sudden expansion and brightening of the aurora. It’s not completely understood what triggers this ‘snap’. But the unpredictability is what makes the aurora so fascinating to watch, you never know what it's going to do next.
    The Second Substorm
  • This was my second time staying the night at the Diamond Butte fire lookout tower. Last month I was locked out and had to sleep on the deck, but I was glad to be able to sleep inside this time since a storm was moving in. There was no running water or electricity, but it had a propane heater, stove, and lights.
    Light in the Dark
  • As I was packing up my tent this halo appeared around the sun. This is near the top of Sheep Mountain, Wyoming.
    Sheep Mountain Halo
  • Sheep Mountain has been on my list of peaks to climb for awhile. In the summer it's possible to drive to the top of this 9,610' mountain. But that's too easy, so I went in the winter. Snow depths varied from bare ground to drifts 15 feet high. After snowshoeing an exhausting 6 miles while carrying a heavy pack, I made it to the top with barely enough time to pitch a tent before dark. The summit itself is too rocky and exposed to the wind, but I found a nearby campsite that was flat enough and more sheltered. At sunrise the next morning the views were incredible. Looking east, I could see parts of the Black Hills well over 100 miles away. When the sun made it over the horizon, it was only visible for a couple minutes. But this ephemeral light show was worth all the effort to get here.
    Sheep Mountain Sunrise
  • All of the Lights
  • Soon after the aurora intensified, fog settled in to the frozen Fremont Lake. It felt like I was in a dream as halos surrounded Venus and the moon to the west while intense pinks and reds glowed to the north.
    In a Dream
  • While hiking off-trail around Devils Tower, I encountered several deer. They were barely afraid of me at all, and let me get pictures with the tower in the background.
    Devils Tower Deer
  • On this night I found myself in the Arctic wilderness of Abisko National Park in Swedish Lapland. After trekking for 9.5 miles I arrived in this stunning valley in the Scandinavian Mountains. The northern lights came out right away when night fell. But I had to wait for them to become more active and spread to the eastern sky over the 5,000' high peak named Kieron. That happened after 11:00, when bright auroral curtains shimmered across the sky, lighting up the snow and turning it green. The temperature hovered at -10°F and a stiff wind was blowing across the frozen Abiskojaure lake. But this captivating view was worth every step to get here and every moment of cold endured.
    Midnight Flare-Up
  • Since I didn't have time to hike anywhere this evening, I wandered around Nikkaluokta instead. This little village claims to be the coldest in all of Sweden. I really liked this chapel on the top of a hill. The bright red paint was a stark contrast to the bleak cloudy weather.
    Red Chapel of Nikkaluokta
  • On my last night in the Arctic I was treated to a colorful sunset with alpenglow on the mountain Vassitjåkka. I was glad I had to drive back to Riksgransen to return my skis, it was all cloudy in Abisko where I was staying.
    Vassitjåkka
  • It was cloudy most of the day as I drove to the remote Diamond Butte in southeast Montana. But just before sunset, the sun emerged. The entire sky turned some shade of gold, orange, or pink. It was the best sunset I've seen for quite awhile.
    Big Sky Country Sunset
  • It was 4AM in the grasslands of southeast Montana. I was spending the night under the stars while my camera clicked away, but the cold breeze made sleep hard to come by. I thought I detected a bright flash of light, but wasn't sure if my eyes were playing tricks on me. It wasn't until I got home that I found the source: a fireball meteor. According to American Meteor Society reports, the meteorite (if it survived) likely fell near the CO/WY border some 300 miles away. It theoretically should have been visible from at least 10 states, I can only imagine how bright it must have been overhead. The green color reveals the composition to be mostly nickel, and it left behind a vapor trail (known as a persistent train) for over 10 minutes afterwards. My only goal was to capture the milky way for the first time this year after it hid behind the sun for the winter. The fireball was just an unexpected bonus.
    One In a Million
  • The constellation Orion hangs above the snowy peaks of the Bighorn Mountains on a cold and windy night. The diffuse glow on the right is called the zodiacal light. This glow can only be seen where the skies are very dark, any light pollution will drown it out. The zodiacal light is caused by the sun reflecting off of grains of dust shed by comets and asteroids in the inner solar system. This dust is concentrated along the zodiac (also known as ecliptic), which is the orbital plane that the sun, moon, and planets travel in our sky. The planet Mars can be seen touching a cloud at the bottom of the glow. Because of the angle of the ecliptic, this phenomena is best seen in the west after dusk in the spring, or in the east before dawn in the fall.
    Glow of the Zodiac
  • A lenticular cloud hangs above Hesse Mountain at 3AM as seen from Powder River Pass. Lenticular clouds are sculpted by the wind and form repeatedly over the same area, usually a mountain peak. In the upper right of this panorama is Jupiter, with the bright star Vega on the top left.
    Hesse Mountain Lenticular
  • A lenticular cloud hangs above Hesse Mountain at 3AM as seen from Powder River Pass. Lenticular clouds are sculpted by the wind and form repeatedly over the same area, usually a mountain peak.
    Space Invader
  • The afternoon sun shines above a snowy pillar along the Penrose Trail. It was a warm 60 degree day despite all the snow.
    Early Spring Sun
  • In the early spring I hiked to Little Goose Canyon, a place I've never been before. The road was very muddy.
    Little Goose Canyon Road
  • 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
  • Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted in March of 2010, with the giant ash cloud causing the biggest disruption to air travel since WWII.
    Eyjafjallajökull
  • It was half past midnight on the last day of August. A solar wind stream blowing at 700 km a second reached Earth a little sooner than predicted. The northern lights had been dancing on and off for the past few hours. But then I noticed a strange pattern, which was dim enough that I wasn’t sure it was really there. A long exposure revealed greater detail and color. The picket fence pattern is related to a rare, recently classified type of aurora called STEVE (Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement.) STEVE most often appears as a bright, pinkish ribbon of light found away from the main band of aurora. STEVE may or may not be accompanied by this green picket fence, but on this night the brighter streak of light was absent. It was my first time seeing it this far south in Wyoming. Lake DeSmet provided a beautiful blurred reflection when the wind let up. This night was the first of 4 in a row that I’d capture the aurora. The weeks surrounding the spring and fall equinoxes tend to be the most favorable for geomagnetic storm conditions. But around here the weather tends to be a lot clearer in the early fall, which is why I have more aurora sightings in September than in March.
    Emerald Waters
  • A severe thunderstorm approaches the farmland near Edgington, Illinois. This storm brought strong winds, large hail, and frequent lightning as it marched across Iowa and crossed the Mississippi River a few miles away.<br />
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Date Taken: May 12, 2014
    Edgington Squall