Kevin Palmer

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  • It was a beautiful wintry night in the Bighorn Mountains. Most of the snow from the previous day had fallen off the trees after a sunny day. But since this part of the forest remained in the shade, it was still looking like a winter wonderland in the moonlight.
    Snowy Pine Moonlight
  • Moonlight illuminates the top of the badlands in South Dakota.
    Summit Pass Moonlight
  • A waterfall is illuminated under the moonlit sky. The peak in the background is the 8,760 foot Clements Mountain.
    Glacier Moonlight
  • Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park erupts under the light of a full moon. It is the most predictable geographical feature on Earth with eruptions about every 91 minutes. Even though it is one of the most popular sights in the park, there were very few people out to see it at 10pm.  Partially hidden behind the top of the plume, you can see the Big Dipper, or 'Ursa Major' constellation.
    Old Faithful Moonlight
  • Among the purple prairie clover, milkweed plants shoot up as well as a few coneflowers. Darkness had fallen on the Nachusa Grasslands as the nearly full moon rose higher in the east.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: July 10, 2014
    Moonlight Breeze
  • 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
  • My camera captured these 19 meteors in only 93 minutes starting around midnight on December 14th. I was a bit disappointed that my camera battery died after this because I wondered how many more I missed. Despite the moonlight many meteors had no problem shining through. I couldn't think of a better place to watch the Geminid meteor shower than this remote island in Everglades National Park. I paddled out the day before and spent the night on Picnic Key. A lack of sleep, sickness, and battling the tide the next morning made it an exhausting trip. But it was worth it to see the best meteor shower of the year.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: 12/14/2014
    Out of the Blue
  • The moon wasn't even full on this night. But the clear arctic air along with the powdery snow made the moonlight extra bright.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: February 11, 2014
    White Shadows
  • The strongest geomagnetic storm (G3) of 2018 brought the aurora down to lower latitudes. I wasn't expecting much with hazy skies and a full moon working against me. But I had to try shooting it, since opportunities to see the aurora have been exceedingly rare as the sun heads deeper into solar minimum. And to my surprise a faint green band of light was visible to my eyes, which ended my 9-month streak since I last saw the northern lights. There are several north-facing locations nearby that I keep in the back of my mind, waiting for nights like this one. This two-track road is just over the stateline in Montana. Strange noises filled the night air including crickets chirping, sandhill cranes calling, and coyotes howling. Even though the moonlight drowned out much of the aurora, it did help with lighting up the landscape for photos.
    Smoky Pillars
  • Moonlight illuminates the badlands and grassland in South Dakota.
    Diverging Trail
  • This morning brought a G3 geomagnetic storm, which was strong enough to make the aurora visible through the moonlight in Sheridan, Wyoming.
    Aurora Outside Sheridan
  • I went to Lake DeSmet at 3AM on a 5°F night with the hope of seeing the aurora. I didn't see it, but I saw this amazing scene instead. Fog was moving off of the lake when I arrived. It left behind a thick frost known as rime ice. The coating was about an inch thick over every single plant and tree branch, but only in this small area. With bright moonlight illuminating everything, it felt like I had stepped into another world.
    Moonlit Rime
  • After seeing only about 1 hour of clear skies over 5 nights, I was determined to catch a good aurora display on my last night in Iceland. The southern coast was showing the best weather forecast. So that is where I went, camping in the shadow of the glacier-capped Eyjafjallajökull volcano which was lit up by the moonlight. This is the same volcano that erupted 7 years ago with the giant ash cloud causing the biggest disruption to air travel since WWII. As soon as it got dark the northern lights came out and stayed the entire night. Compared to lower latitudes, the aurora up here is brighter and moves and changes so much faster. It will often appear anywhere in the sky, not just limited to the north.
    Volcanic Green
  • With snow up to my knees, camera screen and viewfinder frosted over, and batteries dying prematurely, astrophotography in winter is not without its challenges. Even a simple task like adjusting my tripod becomes tricky with bulky gloves and numb fingers. But it's worth it to be able to see this mountain lake and forest in a way that few people do. The silence and solitude on this perfectly clear night was incredible. It was the night of winter solstice, the longest of the year with over 15 hours between sunset and sunrise. When the crescent moon made it above the treetops at 3AM, the powdery snow began to glimmer and sparkle much like the stars above. It was as if there was another galaxy of stars hidden in the snow, waiting to be revealed in the moonlight. Trailing below the moon is the planet Jupiter.
    A Glimmer of Hope
  • I'm not sure what animal made these tracks in the snow, but I think it was a coyote. The bright moonlight was illuminating the snow covered landscape on this clear night. Despite the subzero temperatures, this creek was not frozen.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: February 11, 2014
    Coyote Steps
  • 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
  • After seeing only about 1 hour of clear skies over 5 nights, I was determined to catch a good aurora display on my last night in Iceland. The southern coast was showing the best weather forecast. So that is where I went, camping in the shadow of the glacier-capped Eyjafjallajökull volcano which was lit up by the moonlight. This is the same volcano that erupted 7 years ago with the giant ash cloud causing the biggest disruption to air travel since WWII. As soon as it got dark the northern lights came out and stayed the entire night. Compared to lower latitudes, the aurora up here is brighter and moves and changes so much faster. It will often appear anywhere in the sky, not just limited to the north.
    Aurora Gap
  • Cloud Cap Summit on the north side of Mount Hood was my last stop on my 10 day road trip through the Pacific Northwest. The skies up here at 6,000 feet were exceptionally clear. The thick smoke that had been present for my whole trip finally settled into the valleys. After sunset the moonlight looked amazing on the glaciers. Jupiter was nearly touching the top of the mountain.
    Twilight On Mount Hood
  • I went to Lake DeSmet at 3AM on a 5°F night with the hope of seeing the aurora. I didn't see it, but I saw this amazing scene instead. Fog was moving off of the lake when I arrived. It left behind a thick frost known as rime ice. The coating was about an inch thick over every single plant and tree branch, but only in this small area. With bright moonlight illuminating everything, it felt like I had stepped into another world.
    By The Light of the Moon
  • After seeing only about 1 hour of clear skies over 5 nights, I was determined to catch a good aurora display on my last night in Iceland. The southern coast was showing the best weather forecast. So that is where I went, camping in the shadow of the glacier-capped Eyjafjallajökull volcano which was lit up by the moonlight. This is the same volcano that erupted 7 years ago with the giant ash cloud causing the biggest disruption to air travel since WWII. As soon as it got dark the northern lights came out and stayed the entire night. Compared to lower latitudes, the aurora up here is brighter and moves and changes so much faster. It will often appear anywhere in the sky, not just limited to the north. The aurora transformed into all kinds of interesting shapes, to me this shot looked like a surfing brontosaurus.
    Surfing Brontosaurus
  • Saskatchewan is called "Land of the Living Skies." I found out why on this night. These red and green pillars moved across the northern skies over Grasslands National Park. The passing clouds only added to the scene. The moonlight came and went across the prairie.
    Land of the Living Skies
  • 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
  • On this evening I headed up into the hills to watch lightning. The first storm that made me head out the door wasn't any good for pictures, since most of the lightning was intra-cloud. But then I watched another cell pop up to my south. As this updraft exploded into the starry sky, it started producing positive lightning strikes. Positive lightning accounts for 5-10% of all lightning, and is up to 10X more powerful than negative strikes with a peak discharge of 1 billion volts. It originates from the top of a thundercloud and travels through miles of air before striking the ground. Positive bolts can hit up to 25 miles away from the parent thunderstorm. These "bolts from the blue" are especially dangerous because people may assume they're a safe distance away from the storm when they strike.<br />
The night couldn't have been more perfect for watching lightning.A full moon helped to light up the landscape and gave the thundercloud a silver lining. I stayed in the same spot for hours as multiple storms followed the same path.
    Under Jupiter
  • One of my goals this summer was to capture a lightning storm from the Bighorn Mountains. But it’s not easy since by the time a storm pops up it may be too late to get to the right spot. And once I’m in the mountains, lack of cell data makes it hard to know what’s happening with the weather. But storms weren’t even expected on this night. I was camping near an overlook called Freeze Out Point. At 11PM I went up to the overlook one last time and was surprised to see flashes to the east. The cell was some 75 miles away in Montana, and at that distance lightning often appears red as it’s seen through the thicker lower atmosphere. Distant lightning strikes that are silent and without thunder are often called heat lightning. But heat lightning isn’t really a specific type, thunder simply can’t be heard from more than 10 miles away. There was just enough time to shoot a time lapse of this moonlit lightning storm before low clouds and fog came in and obscured the view.
    75 Mile Strike
  • This was the view from my campsite in the Crazy Mountains. Blue hour is the time of day when the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon and the sky takes on a predominantly blue color. This was amplified by the light of the moon, which was about to emerge over Crazy Peak on the right. At the end of the valley a lenticular cloud formed and stayed in the same place for hours. A long exposure helped to smooth out the ripples in the water giving it a glassy look. This lake, at an elevation of 8,200 feet, is fittingly called Blue Lake.
    Blue Lake
  • A lenticular cloud hangs above the rising full moon during twilight. It was an extremely windy evening at the Sand Turn Overlook above Dayton.
    Hovering Above the Moon
  • I found this warming hut that's part of the nordic ski trails a few months ago while exploring the area. I thought it would be a great place to hike to on the night of winter solstice. It's above 8,000 feet elevation and the thermometer there was reading 0°F. But the wood burning stove warmed up the place quickly.
    Out of the Cold
  • Under a Wolf Moon
  • On this evening I headed up into the hills to watch lightning. The first storm that made me head out the door wasn't any good for pictures, since most of the lightning was intra-cloud. But then I watched another cell pop up to my south. As this updraft exploded into the starry sky, it started producing positive lightning strikes. Positive lightning accounts for 5-10% of all lightning, and is up to 10X more powerful than negative strikes with a peak discharge of 1 billion volts. It originates from the top of a thundercloud and travels through miles of air before striking the ground. Positive bolts can hit up to 25 miles away from the parent thunderstorm. These "bolts from the blue" are especially dangerous because people may assume they're a safe distance away from the storm when they strike.<br />
The night couldn't have been more perfect for watching lightning.A full moon helped to light up the landscape and gave the thundercloud a silver lining. I stayed in the same spot for hours as multiple storms followed the same path.
    Lightning and Moonbeams
  • This might be my favorite campsite I've ever found while backpacking. The melodic sounds of elk would occasionally disturb the silence as dozens of them grazed in the meadow below. I awoke at 1AM just before the moon set so I could shoot the milky way.
    5,000 Star Hotel
  • This image shows the stars apparent motion caused by the rotation of the earth. I setup my camera point at my tent while I camped in Anza Borrego.
    Anza Borrego Night
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • On this evening I headed up into the hills to watch lightning. The first storm that made me head out the door wasn't any good for pictures, since most of the lightning was intra-cloud. But then I watched another cell pop up to my south. As this updraft exploded into the starry sky, it started producing positive lightning strikes. Positive lightning accounts for 5-10% of all lightning, and is up to 10X more powerful than negative strikes with a peak discharge of 1 billion volts. It originates from the top of a thundercloud and travels through miles of air before striking the ground. Positive bolts can hit up to 25 miles away from the parent thunderstorm. These "bolts from the blue" are especially dangerous because people may assume they're a safe distance away from the storm when they strike.<br />
The night couldn't have been more perfect for watching lightning.A full moon helped to light up the landscape and gave the thundercloud a silver lining. I stayed in the same spot for hours as multiple storms followed the same path.
    Moon Behind the Anvil
  • A moonlit Devils Tower is reflected in the Belle Fourche River near the campground.
    Belle Fourche Reflection
  • Early June is wildflower season in the Bighorns and entire mountainsides were blooming with color. I took advantage of the clear weather by shooting the milky way from Red Grade Road outside of Sheridan. It was dark for a couple hours before the galaxy started to fade and the sky became bluer. At 1AM the 65% moon peeked over the distant ridge and cast a warm glow across the arrowleaf balsamroot flowers shaking in the breeze. I’ve always found a late night moonrise to be one of the toughest scenes to capture accurately. While my eyes could easily see details of the moon, the camera only shows it as a burst of light because the moon is significantly brighter than it’s surroundings.
    By The Light of the Moon
  • Since I was camping near Seljalandsfoss, I went over to get a few shots of the aurora above the falls. I wished I could have turned off the spotlights, since they were a bit too bright. The moon was positioned at the top of the falls.
    Seljalandsfoss Aurora
  • At 4AM, I was ready to head home. The aurora had mostly faded away hours earlier. But then it came back. The crescent moon was gently lighting up the snow. This time, the colors were more of a deep purple and blue as twilight began to overtake the sky.
    4AM Aurora
  • This bright and obvious halo appeared around the nearly full moon in San Diego. The lights at the bottom are from the Coronado Bridge.
    Halo and Goodnight
  • On this evening I headed up into the hills to watch lightning. The first storm that made me head out the door wasn't any good for pictures, since most of the lightning was intra-cloud. But then I watched another cell pop up to my south. As this updraft exploded into the starry sky, it started producing positive lightning strikes. Positive lightning accounts for 5-10% of all lightning, and is up to 10X more powerful than negative strikes with a peak discharge of 1 billion volts. It originates from the top of a thundercloud and travels through miles of air before striking the ground. Positive bolts can hit up to 25 miles away from the parent thunderstorm. These "bolts from the blue" are especially dangerous because people may assume they're a safe distance away from the storm when they strike.<br />
The night couldn't have been more perfect for watching lightning.A full moon helped to light up the landscape and gave the thundercloud a silver lining. I stayed in the same spot for hours as multiple storms followed the same path.
    The Hills Are Electric
  • Medicine Rocks State Park in eastern Montana is a great place to shoot nightscape photos. Lots of interesting sandstone rock formations rise out of the prairie, and the full moon provided illumination. This picture was part of a time lapse. I shone a light on the other side of the rock to make it glow inside.
    Like Swiss Cheese
  • Once the sky became dark enough, a small patch of green aurora appeared in the northern sky. It was all that's left of the strong geomagnetic storm from the night before. This was the only picture I was able to get of this abandoned homestead before the aurora faded away.
    All That's Left
  • It was nearly 11pm in southern Saskatchewan. I had just watched a bright auroral substorm send colorful arcs high into the northern sky, but it was starting to fade. Then I turned around, looking south, and this is what I saw. A bright pinkish strip of light stretched from east to west, while the crescent moon hung low on the horizon. It's one of the most unusual things I've ever seen in the night sky. This strange type of aurora is called Steve. The name started as a joke, but it stuck.  Steve was first captured last year by a group of aurora photographers in Alberta. After ESA flew a satellite through it earlier this year, it was discovered that it's comprised of very hot (10,800°F) ionized gases moving along at 4 miles per second. This ribbon of light is 16 miles wide and thousands of miles long. I watched as Steve started overhead nearly paralleling the US-Canada border, before slowly moving south. It turned into a green "picket fence" pattern before fading away. It was awesome to see such a mysterious phenomena which is still being studied by scientists.
    Steve and the Moon
  • It was nearly 11pm in southern Saskatchewan. I had just watched a bright auroral substorm send colorful arcs high into the northern sky, but it was starting to fade. Then I turned around, looking south, and this is what I saw. A bright pinkish strip of light stretched from east to west, while the crescent moon hung low on the horizon. It's one of the most unusual things I've ever seen in the night sky. This strange type of aurora is called Steve. The name started as a joke, but it stuck.  Steve was first captured last year by a group of aurora photographers in Alberta. After ESA flew a satellite through it earlier this year, it was discovered that it's comprised of very hot (10,800°F) ionized gases moving along at 4 miles per second. This ribbon of light is 16 miles wide and thousands of miles long. I watched as Steve started overhead nearly paralleling the US-Canada border, before slowly moving south. It turned into a green "picket fence" pattern before fading away. It was awesome to see such a mysterious phenomena which is still being studied by scientists.
    An Aurora Named Steve
  • The Lost Twin Lakes are found at 10,300 feet  in the Cloud Peak Wilderness. A 6 mile hike from the West Tensleep Lake trailhead, it's the perfect spot for an overnight backpacking trip. The two lakes are in a glacial cirque surrounded by massive granite cliffs up to 2,000 feet high. The light from the crescent moon was sparkling in the lake before it set. The planet Jupiter can also be seen just below the moon.
    Sparkling Lakeshore
  • I liked the way the USS Midway was lit up at night. The battleship has a long history and was at one time the largest ship in the world. Even my widest lens wasn't enough to capture it since I couldn't back up any further.
    USS Midway
  • San Diego skyscrapers are reflected in a harbor on San Diego Bay.
    San Diego Skyline
  • A lone pine tree on the edge of Sibley Lake points to the Big Dipper (Ursa Major) constellation above. The 2 stars on the end point to Polaris, the North Star on the left. All night long the Big Dipper will rotate counterclockwise while the North Star remains stationary. I added diffraction spikes to these 8 stars to make them stand out more.
    The Pointer
  • Several feet of dry powdery snow covered the ice at Sibley Lake. It was nearly 4AM on the longest night of the year and the crescent moon was lighting up the cold scene.
    Snowy Sibley Panorama
  • Above the 10,000 feet level in the Panamint Range grows one of the oldest organisms on earth. Some of the bristlecone pines here in California's Death Valley National Park are estimated to be 3,000 years old. Even hundreds of years after dying, these tough trees remain standing, like ancient sentinels watching over the Mojave Desert miles below. The views from Telescope Peak seem to go on forever, which is how it got it's name. Nowhere else can you see both the lowest point in the western hemisphere (Badwater Basin) and the highest point in the continental US (Mount Whitney). The quarter moon helped to light up the trail as I hiked the 8 miles back after watching the sunset from the summit.
    Ancient Sentinel
  • In mid-September I went backpacking at Crystal Lake. This small lake is located at the edge of treeline at nearly 10,000 feet in the Bighorn Mountains. It was a chilly night with frost forming on my tent immediately after sunset. But soon after that the full moon began to rise out of sight to the east, illuminating the peaks to the west. Across the lake a waterfall tumbled down the cliffs and an early snow lingered above a rockfall of massive boulders. I left my wider lens behind, so I had to shoot a panorama to capture everything.
    Crystal Clear
  • Under a Wolf Moon
  • Distant flashes of lightning kept me awake much of the night at Joshua Tree National Park. Finally at 4am, I got up to try to photograph it. I never got any bolts because the lightning was too sporadic. In this image a flash of lightning behind me lit up the rocks, while a smaller storm moves under the moon and stars.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: August 20, 2014
    Night of the Monsoon
  • 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
  • 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
  • On this January night the moon was 3 days past full which means it didn't rise until 3 hours after sunset. When the moon crested the horizon it was dim and orange, for the same reason that the sun is orange when it first rises. Because earth's atmosphere is thicker at the horizon, it absorbs blue wavelengths of light and lets warmer colors shine through. This view is from the mountains west of Sheridan, whose lights can be seen glowing on the left. This entire mountainside along Red Grade Road burned in a wildfire nearly 10 years ago. But even dead trees can look photogenic in the right light.
    Moment of Moonrise
  • At 1AM the aurora spread out and filled almost the entire sky above southern Iceland, while the moon illuminated the landscape.
    Green Skies at Night
  • The Beartooth Highway is a 68 mile long road that starts in Red Lodge, Montana, and ends at the northeast entrance to Yellowstone. The steep, winding highway reaches elevations above 10,000 feet and is known for getting snow anytime of the year. Snow drifts up to 40 feet high were encountered earlier in the day. This shot was taken at 11PM when the moon was illuminating Pilot and Index Peaks. Resembling the Matterhorn in the Alps, Pilot Peak can be seen near the end of the highway outside of Cooke City. The twin stars of Gemini as well as the Beehive star cluster were setting behind the two peaks.
    Twin Peaks
  • Devil's Golf Course in Death Valley is filled with these sharp and jagged salt formations. In the distance the planet Venus can be seen setting over the Panamint Range.
    Devil's Golf Course Night
  • 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
  • Every summer I try to climb at least one big mountain, and this time it was Darton Peak. It's one of the highest peaks in the Bighorns, and is very prominent from Highway 16 far below. With a goal of standing on the summit at sunrise, that meant a 3:30AM wake up time. But the bright moonlight helped illuminate my route as the stars faded out. The wind chill up here was in the lower 20's and fresh snow lingered from a couple days earlier despite it being August. Darton is typical of other peaks in the Bighorns and is covered with car-sized boulders. With towering cliffs on 2 sides, the long and rounded peak requires a 16 mile roundtrip hike, but I was able to camp at Lost Twin Lakes the night before. At an elevation of 12,275 feet, the air is only 63% of what it is at sea level. There's always something beautiful about the way the the light appears at high altitudes at the edge of day. It's amazing how the colors can seem both soft and intense at the same time.This view is looking south towards Bighorn Peak.
    Bighorn From Darton
  • After waiting hours for thick clouds to clear over Grundarfjörður, I gave up and headed back to my campsite. But to my surprise the clouds parted briefly as I got close to Olafsvik. I stopped at this perfectly calm lagoon, which was lit up by the moonlight. The aurora wasn't as active as before, but it was still visible.
    Shallow Lagoon
  • After waiting hours for thick clouds to clear over Grundarfjörður, I gave up and headed back to my campsite. But to my surprise the clouds parted briefly as I got close to Olafsvik. I stopped at this perfectly calm lagoon, which was lit up by the moonlight. The aurora wasn't as active as before, but it was still visible.
    Inverted S
  • To the local rancher it might just be a random spot on the dirt road they drive everyday. But to me it was a place I had scouted out in advance after studying topo maps, to find the best north-facing view of the Crazy Mountains. Located in Central Montana, the Crazies are always an eye-catching sight. As the highest and most prominent of the state’s many island mountain ranges, it’s jagged peaks rise straight up out of the prairie and pierce the sky. The Crazies are sacred to the local Crow Tribe, and considered ominous and unpredictable. Somewhere up there is an old tripod of mine that mysteriously vanished one night. After a fiery sunset, the clouds cleared and Comet NEOWISE soon appeared. Before it rapidly faded, mid-July was the best time to view the comet. With no interference from moonlight, the enormous dual tails of NEOWISE were visible in all their glory. The blue ion tail consists of gases ionized by UV light and influenced by the magnetic field of the solar wind to point in a straight line. The white dust tail on the other hand, consists of neutral dust particles that are more widely dispersed.
    Crazy Comet
  • The High Park fire lookout tower at almost 9,500 feet was the perfect place to watch the April full moon rising. It was a location I scouted out in advance on Google Earth, when I was looking for an ideal foreground to the east. The two peaks are Hesse Mountain on the left and Hazelton Pyramid on the right. If you look closely to the upper right of the moon the planet Jupiter can be seen. Winter is far from over here in the high country. The 3 feet of snow made it a challenge to find a route to the summit since I had never climbed this peak before. But it was much easier on the way down since I could simply follow my snowshoe tracks and the bright moonlight meant I didn't even need a headlamp.
    April Moonrise
  • After seeing only about 1 hour of clear skies over 5 nights, I was determined to catch a good aurora display on my last night in Iceland. The southern coast was showing the best weather forecast. So that is where I went, camping in the shadow of the glacier-capped Eyjafjallajökull volcano which was lit up by the moonlight. This is the same volcano that erupted 7 years ago with the giant ash cloud causing the biggest disruption to air travel since WWII. As soon as it got dark the northern lights came out and stayed the entire night. Compared to lower latitudes, the aurora up here is brighter and moves and changes so much faster. It will often appear anywhere in the sky, not just limited to the north.
    Sleeping Giant