Kevin Palmer

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  • Golden cottonwood trees glow under the badlands of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
    North Dakota Gold
  • This bison was grazing on a September evening in the north unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
    Mud On Your Face
  • The milky way glows above the Little Missouri River, lined with golden cottonwood trees. Looking south, the skies were very dark here in the north unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. But there was a lot of light pollution present to the north from natural gas flaring in the Bakken oil field. This was taken on the last day of September.
    Theodore Roosevelt Milky Way
  • Golden cottonwood trees line the banks of the Little Missouri River in the north unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park while the badlands glow in the evening light.
    Oxbow Badlands
  • These cannonballs are an interesting geological formation in the north unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
    Broken Cannonballs
  • A vibrant sunset is reflected in the muddy waters of the Little Missouri River. This river flows over 500 miles on it's way to the Big Missouri. Echoing across the wilderness was the sound of bugling elk, and stampeding bison. The Wind Canyon overlook is one of the most scenic views in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The 26th president started a cattle ranch here in 1885. Even though the harsh North Dakota winter drove him out a few years later, it was his time here that inspired him to establish many national parks, forests, and wildlife refuges.
    Glowing River
  • This was the last line of thunderstorms on the other side of the cold front. The lightning was almost non-stop. I shot it next to the North Platte River not far from I-80. This is a stack of 10 shots.
    Strobe Lightning
  • Golden cottonwood trees line the banks of the Little Missouri River in the north unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
    River Bend Autumn
  • Eiger is one of the most recognized peaks in Switzerland. The 1,800 meter north face, called Eigerwand, is the biggest north face in the Alps and one of the most challenging climbs.
    Eiger North Face
  • This meadow was in the North Fork section of Glacier National Park near Polebridge.
    North Fork Evening
  • It was a beautiful foggy morning along the North Fork of the Flathead River. After swirling around for a couple hours the fog cleared out again like it was never there.
    North Fork Fog
  • Hunting for the aurora from the mid-latitudes can be a frustrating endeavor. For every night that I've clearly seen the northern lights, there are 2 more where I've gone out only to see the aurora quickly fade or clouds overtake the sky. But perfect nights like this one make it all worth it. After NOAA issued a geomagnetic storm warning, I headed for the Bighorn Mountains. The aurora was obvious as soon as I stepped out of my car. But it was just a green glow without any structure or movement. At 12:30AM, the lights began to grow brighter. Pillars topped with purple and red suddenly rose up and moved rapidly back and forth. This is called a substorm. Charged particles in the solar wind causes pressure to build up against Earth's magnetic field. The magnetic field will suddenly 'snap' and the release of energy makes the aurora intensify. Substorms are unpredictable and often last only minutes. In this frame I caught a Lyrid meteor burning up above Steamboat Point.
    Dawn of the North
  • 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
  • Stars appear to rotate above this abandoned barn in 3 hours time. In reality it is the stars that are stationary and the earth that is rotating. In 23 hours and 56 minutes, the stars make one counterclockwise rotation of 360 degrees. This 4 minute difference is what causes the stars to change position from night to night, and the constellations to change from season to season. Earth's northern axis happens to be pointed at Polaris, or the North Star. It hardly moves at all in the course of a night. For thousands of years people have been using Polaris to navigate. It not only tells you which way is north, but it also tells you your latitude. In this case the North Star was 40 degrees above the horizon. Those in the southern hemisphere do not have such a star to guide them.<br />
I found this old barn in Jim Edgar State Park a couple nights ago.
    Dark Barn Startrail
  • This night was a rare one. The weather was completely clear with no winds, the moon had set, and the temperature was even in the positives. Conditions were perfect for stargazing, and I had to take advantage of it. The dead silence in these grassy hills outside of Buffalo was only interrupted by the occasional howl of a coyote. I pointed my camera north and took pictures for 90 minutes, which I combined into this star trail image. It shows the stars apparent motion caused by the Earth's rotation. Each star in the northern sky takes 24 hours (23:56 to be precise) to make a complete revolution in a counterclockwise direction. The height of the North Star (also known as Polaris) is always equal to the latitude - 44° in this case. Any star less than 44° away from Polaris is circumpolar, which means it never goes below the horizon. The red at the bottom of the picture was a very dim appearance of the aurora. I couldn't see it with my eyes.
    Revolutions
  • 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
  • Eiger is one of the most recognized peaks in Switzerland. The 1,800 meter north face, called Eigerwand, is the biggest north face in the Alps and one of the most challenging climbs.
    Eiger Black and White
  • The views of Ann Lake in the North Cascades kept getting better as I climbed up to Heather Pass. But sunlight was getting scarce as rain showers moved in.
    Overlooking Ann Lake
  • 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
  • A Geminid meteor burns up just below Polaris in Big Cypress National Preserve. I have never seen the North Star so low before since I have never been this far south.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: 12/14/2014
    Meteor Under Polaris
  • After reaching the top of Kirkjufell, the trail keeps going until that cliff at the end. This view is looking north out over the Atlantic Ocean.
    Where the Land Ends
  • For most of the night the northern lights glowed brightly to the north. But it was just a green band that didn't show much movement. Then at 2AM the sky exploded into color, with purple pillars reaching all the way up to the zenith. I've seen the northern lights dozens of times, but this was only the 3rd time I've seen them reach that high. Unfortunately 2AM is when I decided to change locations so I missed out on the best part of the show.
    Bursting With Color
  • In early August the aurora made an appearance and I was able to see it for the first time this year. The sun follows an 11 year cycle where the solar activity that causes the aurora (sunspots, solar flares, coronal mass ejections) increases and decreases. As we head toward solar minimum predicted in 2019, the aurora will become increasingly rare in the mid-latitudes, but will continue to occur around the arctic. Last year I was able to witness the aurora 10 times, mostly from Illinois, but this year has been a lot different. This picture was taken from the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains above Dayton, Wyoming. It was a spot I scouted out in advance and knew it had a good view north. While I was taking pictures, a sharp gust of wind came up over the ridge. I held on to my tripod, but the wind blew my camping chair down the side of the mountain.
    Dayton Aurora
  • The North Tongue River flows between snow-covered boulders near Burgess Junction.
    Downstream
  • Rainbow Peak lights up before sunset beyond a grove of aspen trees. This view is from the north side of Glacier National Park, near Polebridge.
    Rainbow Peak
  • When I got to Lake DeSmet for a night of stargazing, the aurora was glowing a deep red color. I ran to this point of the lake so I could look north and capture the reflection.
    Lake DeSmet Aurora
  • For most of the night the northern lights glowed brightly to the north. But it was just a green band that didn't show much movement. Then at 2AM the sky exploded into color, with purple pillars reaching all the way up to the zenith. I've seen the northern lights dozens of times, but this was only the 3rd time I've seen them reach that high. Unfortunately 2AM is when I decided to change locations so I missed out on the best part of the show.
    Subsiding Substorm
  • While the aurora was out, the International Space Station passed by to the north. The station orbits 250 miles above the earth at 17,000 MPH and circles the earth every 90 minutes.
    17,000 MPH
  • 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
  • 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
  • Over Labor Day weekend the Earth's magnetic field was battered by a solar wind stream from a coronal hole on the sun, which reached speeds of up to 800km a second. This led to the aurora dipping down to lower latitudes and I was able to catch it 4 nights in a row. I'm always in search of new north-facing viewpoints for picture opportunities. This night I spent at the top of the Judith Mountains in central Montana. Montana always has a better shot at seeing the aurora and being at a high elevation helped even more. The views reached far and wide out over the plains with more mountain ranges than I could count. As it got dark flashes of lightning were visible 250 miles away in Saskatchewan which I didn't even know was possible. The aurora danced all night long, preceded by a fiery sunset and followed by a stormy sunrise. It couldn't have been a more colorful stay on this mountaintop.
    Pillars Rising Above
  • American Alps. With countless towering peaks, alpine lakes, verdant meadows, and waterfalls, there are a lot of similarities. The mountains aren't as high, but it's more wild than the European Alps, since the majority of this rarely visited national park in northern Washington is pure wilderness. 312, or 1/3 of all the glaciers in the lower US are found within it's borders, although many of them are shrinking. While passing through in August I only had enough time for one hike. So I climbed a ridge up and around Ann Lake, which is a small, round tarn with it's own island. Sunlight began to disappear as a storm was moving in. But I should have expected to get wet, the trail started from Rainy Pass.
    Ann Lake Wildflowers
  • 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
  • If you have never seen the aurora, you should definitely make it a goal. This was a once in a lifetime show for me as I have never seen a better geomagnetic storm. I was only in Wisconsin but it felt like I was in Alaska. The aurora was pulsating, moving rapidly and it covered much of the sky. Most of my pictures were taken with a 10mm lens which tells you just how much of the sky was filled with color. This was taken from the top of Blue Mound, which is the highest point in southern Wisconsin.
    Rising Intensity
  • If you have never seen the aurora, you should definitely make it a goal. This was a once in a lifetime show for me as I have never seen a better geomagnetic storm. I was only in Wisconsin but it felt like I was in Alaska. The aurora was pulsating, moving rapidly and it covered much of the sky. Most of my pictures were taken with a 10mm lens which tells you just how much of the sky was filled with color. This was taken from the top of Blue Mound, which is the highest point in southern Wisconsin.
    Once in a Lifetime
  • I wasn't really expecting the northern lights to be this active. It was a beautiful night for stargazing, and I was only planning to shoot the milky way, but I never got to that. A slight breeze disturbed the surface of the lake most of the night. But at 3AM it became perfectly calm and the surface of Lake DeSmet looked like glass. A long exposure from a camera always picks up more colors in the aurora than the human eye can see. Oftentimes only the color green is visible. But the purple pillar on the right was very noticeable and it hardly moved at all.
    Purple Pillar
  • Brockway Aurora
  • I was trying to capture meteors, but my camera caught a lot more satellites instead.
    3:38 Flare
  • I combined some of the last aurora images I took before dawn into this startrail. I stacked the pictures in Starstax using comet mode and in reverse order so the stars seem to be rotating clockwise instead of counterclockwise. This allowed the bright purple pillar to show through more easily.
    Rotational Velocity
  • 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
  • The deep blue colors of twilight overtake the sky as dawn approaches at Beartooth Lake.
    Beartooth Twilight
  • The time was after 11PM, yet still the light of sunset lingered in the northwestern sky. It gets dark quite late here in Montana in the middle of summer. This peak has been on my radar to climb for quite awhile. Like a spine, the long and narrow Bridger Range is situated in the middle of the state. The 9,665’ Sacagawea Peak, named after the famed guide of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, is the apex of the mountain range. Views stretched far and wide in every direction and were some of the best of any peak I’ve stood on. After sundown the lights of Bozeman and smaller towns came on. Then Comet NEOWISE slowly appeared through the deep blue twilight sky. Just a few minutes makes a big difference in visibility because while the coma is bright, the tail of the comet is faint even though it’s huge. After this more clouds moved in along with a couple flashes of lightning. It was time to leave, but I was thankful for the short window of opportunity I had. Descending the steep trail by headlamp was no small task. I made note of the tricky parts on my way up and was extra careful in the dark, trying not to butt heads with any mountain goats.
    Sacagawea Comet
  • On my last night in Alaska I went to Chena Lake for a couple hours. I'm sure the aurora would have kept getting better, but I had to leave early since I'd be waking up at 4AM to catch my flight.
    Chena Birches Aurora
  • 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
  • Early in the morning the northern horizon glowed green. This was caused by a geomagnetic storm from a recurring coronal hole on the sun. A coronal hole is an opening in the outer atmosphere of the sun that allows the high-speed solar wind to escape, which triggers the aurora when it impacts Earth’s magnetic field. Since the sun rotates on it’s axis every 27 days, this can be predicted in advance. I saw the aurora from this coronal hole in September, but last month it was too cloudy. I was determined to see it again this weekend even if it meant staying up all night dodging clouds (aurora hunting is an addiction). The infrared satellite showed a gap in the clouds moving in at 2AM, so I made some coffee and found a dark spot on the Wyoming/Montana state line to watch and wait. It wasn’t the best display I've seen, but I’ll take what I can get during solar minimum, and the meteor was a nice bonus.
    Parkman Pond Aurora - 54
  • Early in the morning the northern horizon glowed green. This was caused by a geomagnetic storm from a recurring coronal hole on the sun. A coronal hole is an opening in the outer atmosphere of the sun that allows the high-speed solar wind to escape, which triggers the aurora when it impacts Earth’s magnetic field. Since the sun rotates on it’s axis every 27 days, this can be predicted in advance. I saw the aurora from this coronal hole in September, but last month it was too cloudy. I was determined to see it again this weekend even if it meant staying up all night dodging clouds (aurora hunting is an addiction). The infrared satellite showed a gap in the clouds moving in at 2AM, so I made some coffee and found a dark spot on the Wyoming/Montana state line to watch and wait. It wasn’t the best display I've seen, but I’ll take what I can get during solar minimum, and the meteor was a nice bonus.
    Parkman Pond Aurora - 32
  • Pillars of Red
  • 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
  • In mid-August I photographed the annual Perseid meteor shower. But this was no ordinary year, as there were twice as many meteors as normal. Beartooth Lake, at almost 9,000 feet in the Beartooth Mountains was the perfect place to watch from. I was worried about the weather, with thick clouds at sunset and a wildfire only 7 miles away. But it ended up being a beautiful night. The show got started at 1AM when the moon set, leaving the sky completely dark. While listening to every little sound around me (this is grizzly bear country) I counted 250 meteors in 4 hours. This was one of 93 that my camera captured over  Beartooth Butte. The radiant (Perseus) was to the upper right outside of the frame. As dawn approached, fog swirled around the glassy surface of the lake. Hand warmers strapped to my lens prevented the glass from fogging up. I don't know how cold it was, but I do know my water bottle froze and I was snowed on at the pass earlier in the evening.
    Green to Red
  • After the northern lights began to fade and the clouds cleared, a strange wave pattern became visible in the sky. This is airglow, a chemical reaction that occurs at the same altitude as the aurora, but it's a separate process. This night was the only time I've ever seen it with the naked eye. I'm pretty sure it was caused by gravity waves from powerful severe thunderstorms that impacted Illinois earlier in the evening.
    Gravity Waves
  • Every winter I try to go on at least one backpacking trip that involves climbing a mountain. In early January I spent the night on this 9500’ peak in the southern Bighorns. Winter backpacking is not without its challenges. The rule of thumb is that everything takes twice as long and requires double the effort compared to summer. Progress is slow when breaking trail through soft and deep snow. From pitching a tent, to cooking, melting snow for water, and packing up while pausing to thaw my hands, it all takes extra time. I have to be very selective in choosing a day with the best weather when it’s not snowing, not too frigid and not too windy. Things can go wrong very quickly if you’re unprepared. There’s never enough daylight and the nights seem to go on forever. But for all that trouble, this is the reward: to wake up to an amazing sunrise and a view that few people ever get to experience.
    New Day in the Bighorns
  • 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
  • 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 moonlit Devils Tower is reflected in the Belle Fourche River near the campground.
    Belle Fourche Reflection
  • I caught this lucky meteor falling through the aurora at 1:30AM. The northern lights were so dim that I could barely notice them with my eyes, but the camera picked up more of the colors.
    Pillars and Meteor
  • The aurora borealis caused red and green pillars to fill the northern sky above the Bighorn Mountains.
    Christmas Colored Sky
  • 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
  • Windy Aurora
  • If you have never seen the aurora, you should definitely make it a goal. This was a once in a lifetime show for me as I have never seen a better geomagnetic storm. I was only in Wisconsin but it felt like I was in Alaska. The aurora was pulsating, moving rapidly and it covered much of the sky. Most of my pictures were taken with a 10mm lens which tells you just how much of the sky was filled with color. This was taken from the top of Blue Mound, which is the highest point in southern Wisconsin.
    Full Spectrum
  • The milky way sets in the west shortly after sunset. This was taken from the top of a hill prairie in Jim Edgar State Park. It was a great place to watch a meteor shower.
    Hill Prairie Milky Way
  • The northern lights are reflected in the waters of Lake Superior as clouds move in. During a very cloudy week in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, there was only one night that was partially clear. After hiking 10 miles to a campsite on the lake, I waited for it to get dark. The aurora was initially visible as twilight ended, but then it faded away. After midnight it became brighter, and the colorful pillars rose up and drifted from left to right.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: 10/1/14
    Lake Superior Aurora
  • 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
  • In late September a high speed solar wind stream reached earth, causing a G1 geomagnetic storm. The aurora borealis became visible in the northern part of the United States. Around here the weather was completely clear and there was no moon making conditions perfect for viewing the northern lights. I went to the grasslands outside of Lodge Grass, Montana, where there was very little light pollution. The aurora was at it's best shortly before midnight. While the pillars danced from right to left, nearby cows mooed and coyotes howled. Quite a few meteors and satellites lit up the sky as well. The geomagnetic storm is ongoing and the aurora may be visible again tonight.
    Lodge Grass Aurora
  • February started off with a geomagnetic storm on a mild winter night. At 1AM the northern sky briefly glowed green as seen from St Xavier, Montana. The Bighorn River provided a reflection; the current is fast enough here that it doesn't freeze over. I scouted out this location in the fall and knew it would be a great spot to camp out and wait for the aurora when the opportunity presented itself. A giant hole in the sun’s outer atmosphere (the corona) allowed the solar wind to escape and head towards Earth. Coronal holes rotate around the solar disk every 27 days, so they can be predicted in advance. When the high speed solar wind (up to 600 km/second) hits Earth’s magnetic field, charged particles wrap around the poles and the auroral oval expands towards the equator. This leads to the aurora being visible from mid-latitudes. But the exact timing, local weather, and other factors dictate where it can actually be seen.
    Bighorn River Aurora
  • The northern lights dance above Deadman's Basin Reservoir while a fireball meteor flies through the sky.
    Aurora and Fireball
  • Early on the morning of February 19th, the northern lights made an appearance in Central Illinois. It happened to be one of the few winter nights that was clear and not bitterly cold. There was still plenty of snow on the ground, and the barn was illuminated by a quarter moon. I waited around for many hours, but the aurora was only bright for about 10 minutes. That is how it often happens with mid-latitude auroras.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: February 19, 2014
    Barn and Pillars
  • 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
  • The view was amazing from the High Park lookout tower shortly before sunset. This is the view looking north. Meadowlark Lake can be seen on the left. Bighorn Peak and Loaf Mountain are the prominent peaks on the right.
    North of High Park
  • The last sunlight of the evening shines on the cliffs north of Steamboat Point in the Bighorn Mountains.
    North of Steamboat
  • For most of the evening the sun hid behind clouds. But finally just before sunset, golden sunbeams emerged and flooded the canyon with light. I shot the sunset from Desert View, on the east side of the South Rim. I thought this viewpoint was off the beaten path, away from the watchtower. But just out of the frame at the bottom someone had spoiled the view with graffiti.
    North of Desert View
  • Black Rock North
  • 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
  • A pair of bull moose trot past grazing bison in Yellowstone National Park. At up to 7 feet high, moose are the tallest mammals in North America, while bison are the largest. Bull moose typically lose their antlers in early winter, but you can see the stumps remaining between their eyes and ears. The flap of skin hanging from their necks is called a bell and it is not known for sure what purpose it serves. The Lamar Valley where this was taken is located in the remote northeast corner of Yellowstone, along the only road that's kept open in the winter. It has been called the Serengeti of North America because of the wide variety of large wildlife that inhabit the valley. Grizzlies, black bears, moose, bison, elk, wolves, pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, coyotes, and red foxes can all be found here.
    Trotting Moose, Grazing Bison
  • After snowing on and off all day, the clouds parted just before sunset and revealed a fiery sky to the west. First one peak would become visible, and then glimpses of even higher summits beyond. The Alaska Range is the tallest mountain range in North America. Not only do these mountains reach high, but they also start low at about 1,000 feet above sea level. This makes even the shorter peaks look impressive. None of the other high mountains of the world are located this far north. The Alaska Range is notorious for some of the harshest weather on the planet. 100 mph winds and temperatures below -50°F are not uncommon in the winter. Except for the occasional wolf howl it was a quiet evening. But the next morning very strong winds would start to blow. It was a warm southerly wind, melting the snow in a matter of hours. The higher gusts kept blowing open the door and bent the chimney of the cabin where I was staying. I never did get to see Denali during my trip, but that just gives me a reason to go back some day.
    Donnelly Sunset Reflection
  • Pairs of eyes stared back at me as I made my way through the forest at 3AM. Three elk dashed away along the unmarked path to Shoshoni Point. This was the one Grand Canyon overlook I could find with a view to the southeast. The south rim is not the ideal place to photograph the milky way because it's located in the southern sky while most of the viewpoints look north. Once I got to the edge the galaxy was shining brilliantly above, but below it was a black abyss. Neither my eyes or my camera could see any detail in the canyon, it was just too dark. But after shooting the milky way I left my camera in position and waited for morning twilight to brighten the sky. This helped to fill in the shadows and I combined the images later. The majority of the canyon is out of the frame to the left. Someday I'll have to return to the north rim for a better view when it's not closed. Three planets are visible in this image if you know where to look.
    Grand Canyon Milky Way
  • At 90 feet high, Wildcat Falls is the tallest waterfall in Starved Rock State Park. Starved Rock is located in North Central Illinois and contains 17 canyons, many of which have waterfalls. Each canyon flows into the Illinois River to the north.
    Wildcat Falls
  • I found these wildflowers near the top of a mountain above Red Grade Road. The sunset wasn't very colorful, but it was still interesting watching the fog below. This is looking north towards Sheridan.
    Wildflowers Above the Clouds
  • This tornado near Broadwater, Nebraska, developed almost on top of me while I was attempting to core punch the storm. At the intersection of Rd 78 and Hwy 385 I was close enough to hear the roaring waterfall sound and feel the intense RFD winds. But I couldn't see it because the storm had become HP (high precipitation) and visibility was horrible. As I fled south on Hwy 385 debris started flying past me including sheet metal hitting my car. A semi truck that I passed would be flipped over on it's side and all the sign posts at the nearest intersection snapped in half. Once I made it a safe distance away (about 5 miles) I stopped and took this picture looking north. Visibility was still bad, I couldn't see the tornado and I even missed it the first time after reviewing my pictures. But after enhancing the contrast the twister became visible in the rain shaft on the left.
    Broadwater Tornado
  • Matthiessen State Park is located in North Central Illinois. There are at least 6 waterfalls located throughout the park with several creeks cutting through the gorges. The creek in this shot flows from Matthiessen Lake down to the Vermillion River. The trails alongside the creek are only accessible when the water level isn't too high. Giant's Bathtub is the name of this waterfall and it's located in the upper dells area, not far from Lake Falls.
    Giants Bathtub
  • I stood on the slopes of Mount Hood with this view of 3 Cascade volcanoes to my north at sunrise. After days of smoke greatly limiting the views, it had finally settled into the valleys. Mt Adams is the closest peak on the right. Mt Rainier is the tallest in the middle, although it appears small because it's 100 miles away. Mt St Helens on the left stands out as the peak that's no longer symmetrical, since it literally blew it's top. When St Helens erupted in 1980, a 1300 foot high, 0.7 cubic mile chunk of mountain collapsed in the largest landslide in history.
    Three Volcano Sunrise
  • The first light of the day illuminates the north face of Mount Hood. The Eliot Glacier is the largest in Oregon.
    Morning in the Hood
  • On this late June day in central Montana, I didn’t think I would end up with any storm pictures. Just as the storms started firing at 5PM my car suffered a flat tire. After all the miles I’ve driven while stormchasing, it was bound to happen eventually. But thankfully this cell took it’s time and let me get my spare on before I could catch back up. Near the aptly named town of Grass Range, the sun came out as the rain and hail moved to the north. The golden light contrasted with the cool blues on the other side of the sky. Outflow winds gave meaning to the term (not yet amber) "waves of grain". I tried to use a long enough exposure to show some of this movement in the wheat. From here it would be a long 250 mile drive home on a donut tire.
    Waves of Grain
  • It’s one of the coolest places I’ve ever been. At the terminus of the Castner Glacier in the highest mountain range in North America is this frozen cave. I’m sure it’s easier to get to in the summer. But with 2 feet of snow covering the trail, and moose tracks outnumbering those of humans, I almost gave up on finding it. The cave is not visible until you’re standing right at the entrance. Inside is a world of ice reflecting every shade of blue. Rocks and gravel were locked in the ceiling just waiting to fall. It felt like I was in the belly of a giant beast, examining what it ate for breakfast hundreds of years ago. Down the middle flowed a silty stream. Further back very little light reaches and a water crossing prevented further exploration. Eery booming sounds came from deep within the darkness. But at least I felt safer visiting during the cold season when the glacier wasn’t actively melting. Many maps and descriptions of this place are no longer accurate. Glacier caves are temporary features which change from year to year, and as the Castner Glacier recedes there’s no telling how long this cave will last.
    A World of Ice
  • The moose is the tallest mammal in North America. And the Alaska Range is the tallest on the continent. They both came together for this shot. According to the sign at the overlook a herd of bison also roam here in the summer.
    Moose and Mountain
  • Waves lap the shoreline in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness as the sun sets over Lake Superior. By surface area, Lake Superior is the largest lake in the world. 10% of the earth's fresh water is contained in this lake, enough to cover both North and South America with 1 foot of water. The shoreline extends 1,826 miles which is more than the distance from LA to Chicago. 40 degrees is the average water temperature.<br />
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Date Taken: 9/30/14
    Lake Superior 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
  • Electric Peak in Yellowstone National Park is the highest in the Gallatin Range. It lies directly on the border of Montana and Wyoming, exactly halfway between the equator and the north pole. The 10,969 feet high peak got it's name after the first men to climb the peak were struck by lightning near the summit.
    High Voltage
  • Northern lights dance in the north and the zodiacal light shines in the east. This view was seen from the 6700 foot summit of Cougar Peak in Montana. This sky was untouched by light pollution, allowing the fainter stars and aurora to be visible. This 4 shot panorama covers a large portion of the sky.
    Aurora Zodiacal Light 2:1
  • 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
  • When I reached this overlook in the Bighorn Mountains, one thunderstorm was moving off to the east, while another approached from the north. This is the eastern storm, dumping rain over the lights of Sheridan.
    Raining On Sheridan
  • In early January is the annual Quadrantid meteor shower. Meteor rates weren't nearly as prolific as the Geminids of December. But I still wanted to photograph it since the moon phase was favorable and few pictures of this astronomical event exist. With decent weather in the forecast, I climbed to the top of a 9,477' mountain and spent the night there. The expansive views to the north included Meadowlark Lake, the tallest peaks of the Bighorns, and the High Park meadow. After chasing a mouse out of my backpack I set my camera to take pictures for most of the night. The shower seemed to be most active between about 10PM and midnight. That's when my camera captured these 8 meteors, although 3 of them were halfway out of the frame. I stitched together a few images for the bottom half of the picture, this allowed me to correct the distortion in the trees.
    8 Quadrantid Meteors
  • There was an outbreak of at least 3 tornadoes in southeast Wyoming. September tornadoes are very rare in this state. But 2019 has been a strange storm season, both starting late and ending late. This supercell north of Torrington developed a long inflow tail (aka a beaver tail) feeding moisture into the storm. It’s common to feel cool outflow winds coming out of a storm. But when you feel warm and moist inflow winds blowing into the storm that’s when you know tornado potential is high. These opposing winds help tighten up the rotation near the ground. The southeasterly winds were kicking up so much sand and dust I could feel it in my eyes, ears, and mouth. Because of poor ground visibility I didn’t get a very good view of the twister, but the structure was still impressive. When the sun came out it provided a stark contrast between the dark blue clouds and the bright golden grass.
    Beaver Tail and Bluff
  • With both clear skies and a geomagnetic storm in the forecast, I headed north of the border to Saskatchewan. Grasslands National Park is a long ways from anywhere. During the day the landscape seems stark and desolate, especially after a very dry summer. But the real beauty of this park comes after sunset. It is one of the darkest places on the continent. With no sources of light pollution at all, the stars appear the same as they did to the Plains Indians hundreds of years ago. The aurora was already bright and colorful earlier in the evening. But at midnight after the moon set, the northern lights went insane. I've never seen such rapid motion before. If you could imagine a campfire with the flames rising upward and flickering on and off, that's what it looked like. Except instead of orange, it was green, and instead of it being confined to a fire ring, it filled the entire sky. I don't think any camera could fully capture it, it just has to be experienced.
    Two Tipis
  • 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
  • While hiking to Tower Fall in Yellowstone National Park last winter I came across this bison bull grazing above the trail. I slowly made my way past while watching for any signs of aggression. At one point I could see his breath as he exhaled into the cold air and I had my camera ready. Bison are the biggest land mammals found in North America, with bulls weighing up to 1 ton. They typically live for 12 to 15 years. But it's always a struggle to survive the harsh Wyoming winters, with up to 40% of calves succumbing before their their first year. They will forage for grass wherever the snow cover is thinner such as thermal areas or on steep hillsides as this bull was doing. If the snow is too deep, the hump on their back enables them to pivot their head from side to side, sweeping away snow like a plow. Yellowstone is the only place in the United States where bison have lived continuously since prehistoric times. Their population dwindled to just two dozen in the early 1900's, but they now number at close to 5,000 animals.
    Bison Breath
  • I was driving a back road north of Buffalo, Wyoming, when I came upon this scene. The peaks above are Loaf Mountain, Bighorn Peak, and Darton Peak.
    Home on the Range
  • I headed up into the San Ysidro Mountains above Borrego Springs to shoot the sunset. It appeared the sunset would be a bust but then these clouds lit up briefly to the north.
    San Ysidro Afterglow
  • Complete silence surrounded the 11,049' summit of Telescope Peak as the colors of sunset faded away and twilight deepened. This peak at the top of Death Valley National Park is so named because "You could see no further with a telescope." Endless ridges, mountains, sand dunes, and salt flats stretched out in every direction. In the valley on the left is Badwater Basin. Nowhere in North America is lower or dryer, and it lays claim to the hottest air temperature ever measured (134°F). Despite being only 18 miles away, the weather and environment up here at this altitude is vastly different. Temperatures can be as much as 60°F cooler, and a lot more rain and snow falls here than in the surrounding desert. This sustains a forest of bristlecone pines, the oldest species of tree on Earth at up to 5,000 years old. Staying on the summit for the sunset meant descending 8 miles in the dark, but the incredible views were worth the longest dayhike I've ever done.
    Could See No Further
  • Earlier this year the American Bison was declared the national mammal of the United States. The bulls can weigh up to 2000 pounds making them the largest mammal in North America. Once numbering in the tens of millions, bison nearly became extinct at the end of the 19th century. In 1913, bison were successfully reintroduced to Wind Cave National Park, shipped by rail from New York City. Today this is one of the only genetically pure bison herds, without any cattle genes. Even though I've seen plenty of bison before, Wind Cave in the Black Hills is the only place where I've actually hiked with them right next to the trail. At first they may appear calm and lazy. But you shouldn't get too close since they are very temperamental and can charge at speeds of up to 40 mph.
    Wind Cave Bison Bull
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