Kevin Palmer

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  • The deep blue colors of twilight overtake the sky as dawn approaches at Beartooth Lake.
    Beartooth Twilight
  • Fresh snow at Tongue River Canyon reflects the deep blue twilight sky as day turns to night.
    Arch at Twilight
  • After watching the Geminid meteor shower, I was treated to a great sunrise over the Mississippi River. It was especially colorful during twilight. The flooded area is part of Ted Shanks Wildlife Area with the river to the left.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: 12/13/13
    Great River Twilight
  • Steamboat Point is one of my favorite mountains that I've climbed multiple times. This time I walked around in the snow trying to find a different perspective on it.  I was too late to capture the sunlight on top of the peak so I had to photograph the cool blue colors of twilight instead.
    Steamboat Point Twilight
  • The deep blue colors of twilight glow above an unnamed mountain above Red Grade Road. After snowshoeing up here for the sunset, I stayed until the stars came out and the moon rose.
    Twilight Snowshoe
  • I had been wanting to shoot a storm rolling out of the mountains from this overlook next to I-90. But this particular storm was dying just after sunset and produced hardly any lightning.
    Dying Storm at Twilight
  • The Squaw Mountain Fire Lookout Tower is just 25 miles west of Denver and has a great view of the city lights coming on. The fog and clouds quickly cleared out as it got darker.
    Denver At Twilight
  • After the sun went down, the sky turned pink in the east beyond the Moulton Barn. The barn is all that remains of a homestead first settled by the Moulton family over 100 years ago.
    Twilight at Moulton Barn
  • A distinctive anvil from a thunderstorm is visible in the west as the skies get darker. Blue Mounds State Park is a short hill on the edge of the Great Plains. It is not unusual to see distant storms such as this, even though it was about 300 miles away near the Black Hills. Many green fireflies are also visible in the grass below.
    Blue Mounds Twilight
  • 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
  • Not every lunar eclipse is the same. Each one varies depending on which part of Earth’s shadow (called the umbra) that the moon passes through. Atmospheric conditions on Earth also influence the view. Lingering exhaust from the massive volcanic eruption in Tonga in January helped make this eclipse darker and redder than usual. In Wyoming, totality started during twilight. The extra light revealed more details in the landscape. Then after twilight ended, thousands of stars came out, along with stripes of green airglow. A dark sky and a full moon, normally enemies of each other, were seen together for just a few minutes before normal moonlight returned.<br />
While the lower slopes of the Bighorn Mountains are now a vibrant green, up here at Powder River Pass, winter is still hanging on. Nearly 10,000 feet above sea level, temperatures still drop below freezing at night even in mid-May.
    Powder River Pass Eclipse
  • My 9-hour flight home was one of the most scenic I’ve ever been on. Taking off from Helsinki at sunset, we chased the sun westward. Meanwhile the full moon emerged to the east and followed the plane. In a state of perpetual twilight, the light remained the same for hours. The moon neither rose nor set and it felt like time was standing still. At the top of the world, just 250 miles from the North Pole, the scene was most striking. 7 miles below was Northeast Greenland National Park, the world’s largest national park. The ice sheet emptied out into the Arctic Ocean between pristine snowy mountains. Moonlight shimmered across fresh sea ice, fractured by undersea currents. The moon was directly in the middle of what’s called the anti-twilight arch. The pink band above is the layer of atmosphere where the sun was still shining, reddened by the backscattering of sunlight. The blue band is Earth’s shadow projected out into the atmosphere. In mid-October the sun sets for good in this part of the high Arctic, not to rise again for more than 4 months.
    When Time Stood Still
  • 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
  • The two brightest objects in the night sky appear side by side in front of the milky way in a rare alignment. Venus is the blue object, and the yellow object is the moon. Even though the moon was only an 8% crescent, it was brighter than Venus. The band of yellow along the horizon is from the last colors of twilight before it was completely dark. This incredible sky is framed over the Colorado River in Utah. The 2000 foot deep canyon is part of Canyonlands National Park. But this view was actually shot from the edge of a cliff at Dead Horse Point State Park.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: 11/5/2013
    Canyon Alignment
  • 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
  • The northern lights shine through evening twilight over the Atlantic Ocean near Ólafsvík, Iceland.
    Ólafsvík Aurora
  • The northern lights shine through evening twilight over the Atlantic Ocean near Ólafsvík, Iceland.
    Overpowering Green
  • The aurora dances between the lingering twilight and the city lights of Nuuk. This view is from the top of Lille Malene (or Quassussuaq).
    The Lights of Nuuk
  • On this evening I went out for the sunset but stayed for the lightning. This is a spot close to home that I discovered last month. It's a great place to hike except for the abundance of ticks. We're at the time of year where spring progresses very quickly. Many trees seem to leaf-out almost overnight and wildflowers bloom out of nowhere. This hillside was covered in lupine, which is one of the most widespread wildflowers in North America. After the warmest day of the year, the air still felt very summer-like once the sun went down. I watched this thunderstorm go up to the east, and just waited for the first bolts of lightning to flash into the blue twilight sky. Even though it was almost 70 miles away, it was clearly visible.
    Lupine Lightning
  • The blues of twilight begin to overtake the stars at 6AM. This view was from my campsite at Elk Lake in the Cloud Peak Wilderness.
    The Coming Dawn
  • The moon glows above the salt flats at Badwater Basin during twilight.
    Badwater Moon
  • 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
  • On winter solstice, the first snow of the season fell in northern Illinois. It was only a couple inches, but it was beautiful at Glacial Park on the edge of Nippersink Creek. After the sun went down on the shortest day of the year, the soft pink and blue colors of twilight set in as the temperature dropped.
    Solstice Snow
  • The colors of sunset linger behind Bearhat Mountain in Glacier National Park. The beautiful Hidden Lake wraps around the base of the mountain, before the creek drops to the valley below. Normally there is more snow in this view, but most of it had melted after a hot summer. The distant Gunsight Mountain and Sperry Glacier can be seen on the left.
    Hidden Lake View
  • At 7AM the last stars had faded out but there was still a deep blue color in the western sky. Darton Peak slowly began to emerge from behind the clouds.
    Snowy Morning Blues
  • A supercell lurked in the darkness. Every few seconds a flash would illuminate the thundercloud and show a silhouette of the sharp spires of the Badlands. This was the 4th storm I watched this evening. Rumbles of thunder slowly grew louder as yet another storm approached from the west and threatened to block the view of this one. Badlands National Park is one of my favorite places to capture storms. Even when they’re 100 miles away, the views here are excellent. And distant storms are preferred when I’m camping. The Badlands are very exposed to the elements. There is no escaping the rain, wind, and mud. An earlier downpour soaked me to the skin but the wind that followed dried me in minutes. The mud is the type that cakes to the bottom of your shoes making every footstep heavier. But a few hours in the hot sun and the mud is baked dry. At the time of this picture tennis-ball sized hail was reported in the Pine Ridge Reservation to the south. The lights are from the metropolis of Interior, population 94. The lightning was mostly cloud-to-cloud; this was the only strike I captured out of 500 shots.
    Strike Beyond Interior
  • The mammatus looked impressive on the back of this storm after sunset.
    Blue Mammatus
  • Snow covers the sand dunes at Illinois Beach State Park shortly after sunset. The soft colors of the sky in the east was reflecting on the calm Lake Michigan.
    Snow on the Dunes
  • I couldn’t let NEOWISE leave without trying to capture it over Devils Tower. But this wasn’t the shot I had in mind. The forecast called for mostly clear skies after earlier severe weather exited. But sometimes what actually happens is so much better than what I can imagine. This supercell popped up to the west around 10PM and the anvil quickly blocked out the comet. But then just as the storm was showing its best mothership structure during a close encounter with the tower, a hole in the clouds opened up. It was perfectly placed to reveal the comet once again for just a few minutes. It’s a good thing that most of the lightning was intracloud. If bolts of lightning were jumping out they would have been too bright to expose for the comet. Every single flash highlighted or backlit a different part of the storm. While the lightning continued for most of the night, I was glad the large hail stayed away. I didn’t want to test the hailproofness of my tent.
    A Hole in the Clouds
  • 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
  • Because this morning's lunar eclipse occurred with the moon close to the horizon instead of high overhead, it was particularly well suited for photography. I just needed something to frame the moon over, and I couldn't think of a better subject than Devils Tower. I did the math and figured out I would need to be just under 2 miles east of the tower to shoot it with the lens I had. The surrounding area has lots of hills, trees, and private land, but luckily there was a road in the right spot, which provided this view. What was supposed to be only flurries the evening before turned into 4 inches of fresh snow. The clouds didn't clear out until minutes before the eclipse began. As the moon became redder, the sky became bluer and the stars slowly faded away. Snow doesn't stay very long on the tower since the sun heats up the rock quickly and winds blow it off. But everything came together perfectly this morning to create a one of a kind view.
    Totality at the Tower
  • Pink colors linger in the east after sunset at Spring Lake, IL on a frigid winter evening.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: January 9, 2015
    Wind Chill Warning
  • The colors of sunset linger behind Bearhat Mountain in Glacier National Park. The beautiful Hidden Lake wraps around the base of the mountain, before the creek drops to the valley below. Normally there is more snow in this view, but most of it had melted after a hot summer. The distant Gunsight Mountain and Sperry Glacier can be seen on the left.
    Bearhat Mountain
  • The crescent moon shines through the colors of sunset over the Pacific Ocean. The seaweed was rising and falling with the waves as they splashed around the rocks. This was taken in Dana Point, California.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: 12/27/11
    Moon Over Tidepools
  • For over 4 hours thunderstorms moved past Devils Tower, which was not even in the forecast. The lightning was difficult to expose for, because some flashes were super bright while others were dim. But this was my favorite shot of lightning jumping out from behind the clouds.
    Lightning Jumping Out
  • 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
  • Later in the night the wind picked up quite a bit. But after sunset Lake Solitude was fairly calm and made for a nice reflection.
    Serene Solitude
  • The crescent moon glowed brighter after the sun set. By walking up the canyon a bit I was able to line it up behind this cliff.
    Crescent Cliff
  • 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
  • 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
  • Montezuma Valley Road is the steep, winding highway that leads to Borrego Springs. After shooting the sunset from this pullout I waited until it was dark enough to take a long exposure. With cars both coming up and going down the mountain this was my favorite frame.
    Montezuma Valley Road
  • A soft pink glow hangs in the east as seen from Telescope Peak, the top of Death Valley National Park. The views from this 11,049 feet high mountain are outstanding. Nowhere else can you see both the highest and the lowest point in the continental US. On the upper slopes of the Panamint Range grow bristlecone pines, a tree with a lifespan measured in millennia. The pink glow in the sky is known as the Belt of Venus, and it's caused by the backscattering of reddened light from the setting sun. The blue band beneath it is the shadow of the earth projected out onto the earth's atmosphere. If I had taken a panorama you could see that this shadow is curved, matching the curvature of the earth. This phenomena can be seen on any clear evening in the east after the sun sets (or in the west before the sun rises). But the colors were especially vivid here, above all the dust and aerosols in the lower atmosphere. I wanted to stay on the summit to watch the stars come out, but I still had to hike 8 miles and descend 3600 feet to get back to the Thorndike Campground where I started.
    Highest to Lowest
  • This was taken shortly after sunset at Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge, Illinois. This sunset marked the end of the longest day of the year, since summer solstice started less than 3 hours later. The bright planet Venus is on the left above the red clouds.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: June 20, 2013
    Chautauqua Sunset
  • The Big Horn fireworks display is seen with Blacktooth Mountain in the background.
    Fireworks Under Blacktooth
  • This thunderstorm popped up west of Devils Tower around 10PM. Once I got to this overlook, I could only get a few shots of Comet NEOWISE before it was blocked out by the clouds.
    It's Coming This Way
  • 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
  • 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
  • After making it through the core mammatus clouds once again filled the sky on the west side of the storm. Lightning lit up the horizon as the sky got darker.
    The Hills of Sonnette
  • Because this morning's lunar eclipse occurred with the moon close to the horizon instead of high overhead, it was particularly well suited for photography. I just needed something to frame the moon over, and I couldn't think of a better subject than Devils Tower. I did the math and figured out I would need to be just under 2 miles east of the tower to shoot it with the lens I had. The surrounding area has lots of hills, trees, and private land, but luckily there was a road in the right spot, which provided this view. What was supposed to be only flurries the evening before turned into 4 inches of fresh snow. The clouds didn't clear out until minutes before the eclipse began. As the moon became redder, the sky became bluer and the stars slowly faded away. Snow doesn't stay very long on the tower since the sun heats up the rock quickly and winds blow it off. But everything came together perfectly this morning to create a one of a kind view.
    Blood Moon Tower
  • As I headed into the Bighorn Mountains at dusk, this lenticular cloud was hovering over the peaks.
    From Dusk til Dawn
  • Most of the snow had melted in Tongue River Canyon, but some ice remained near the riverbanks. After the sun set, I setup my tripod on the edge of the ice to try a long exposure.
    Tongue River Ice
  • 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
  • From comets, to lightning, northern lights, and meteors, I've amassed a collection of photos of one of my favorite local mountains at night. But I lacked a moonshot. The 7,877 foot peak named Steamboat Point is topped with dramatic cliffs of dolomite. You can't tell from this distance but the boulders below the cliff face are bigger than houses. Because of the position of the viewpoints, a full moon can only be seen rising over the mountain in the winter months. Unlike the sun, a full moon rises north of due east in the winter. In January it is called the Wolf Moon. While wolves do not currently live in the Bighorn Mountains, they have been seen before. The snow conditions at this elevation were highly variable with lots of bare ground as well as big snow drifts. After lining up my shot the moon failed to appear on time because a cloud hid the horizon. But after waiting and repositioning at the last minute, the moon briefly passed through a small gap in the clouds.
    Steamboat Moonrise
  • As my alarm dinged at 4AM I didn't know what I'd see when I peeked outside my tent. The chances were about 50/50 whether it would be too cloudy to see the lunar eclipse. But to my delight the sky was clear. Right on schedule, the moon was entering Earth's shadow - called the umbra. The left half was dark while the right half was still brightly lit. As the moon sunk lower, the shadow deepened and took on the characteristic reddish color. While the middle of the US never got to see the moon in totality before setting, it was close enough. <br />
Chimney Rock is perhaps the most well-known landmark in Nebraska and on the Oregon Trail. The towering rock spire was seen by half a million migrants who passed by with wagon trains in the 1800's. It was visible from up to 30 miles away , which is a 2 day's journey. Back then it may have been up to 10% taller than it is today.
    Chimney Rock Moon
  • Noctilucent (night shining) clouds are a rare and beautiful type of cloud. About 50 miles high in the mesosphere, no other cloud is higher. They are only seen in the summer, usually from high latitudes between 50°-65°. Occasionally they are  sighted from lower latitudes. After trying and failing many times to spot them from Wyoming, the morning of July 10th brought this incredible display.
    Treetop Noctilucent Clouds
  • After climbing a couple thousand feet I reached the summit of Darton Peak. A cold wind swept across the barren boulder field. It did not feel like August. The moon which had helped illuminate my route in the dark was overtaken by the light of the coming day. Lost Twin Lakes where I had started at 3:30AM now looked small far below. In the western sky, a vivid pink band of light known as the Belt of Venus could be seen. Below this is the curved (not flat) shadow of the Earth projected out onto the atmosphere. The shadow gets lower and lower until the sun finally crests the horizon. The rays are the shadow of clouds found on the opposite side of the sky. The Belt of Venus is visible on any clear morning or evening, but there’s perhaps no better place to see it than on a mountaintop. Despite the breathtaking view, it was a miserable morning. A bout of altitude sickness caused a pounding headache and made me lose my breakfast. And just when I started to feel better on the way out I stepped in a hidden hole and sprained my ankle. Next time I climb a 12,000' mountain I'll have to take it a lot slower.
    Rays of Pink
  • 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
  • The colors of sunset linger behind Bearhat Mountain in Glacier National Park. The beautiful Hidden Lake wraps around the base of the mountain, before the creek drops to the valley below. Normally there is more snow in this view, but most of it had melted after a hot summer. The distant Gunsight Mountain and Sperry Glacier can be seen on the left.
    Bearhat and Hidden Lake
  • The snowcapped La Sal Mountains form an incredible backdrop for all the red rock formations in Arches National Park. This was taken after sunset while there was still a soft glow in the west to light up these formations known as fins.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: 11/6/2013
    La Sal Mountains
  • In December the planet Venus graced the western sky shortly after sunset. Aside from the moon, no other object in the night sky shines brighter. Venus always follows or precedes the sun in the same path known as the ecliptic. It’s also called the Evening Star or Morning Star, depending on which side of the sun it’s on. Because it’s an inner planet, Venus is never more than 47° from the sun in Earth’s sky. Anyone who points a telescope at the planet would notice that Venus goes through phases much like the moon. It is fully illuminated when it’s on the opposite side of the sun farthest from Earth. When it’s closest to Earth it turns into a narrow crescent. Galileo first observed the phases of Venus 400 years ago, which helped confirm the heliocentric model of the solar system. I attempted to capture Venus setting over Cloud Peak, but clouds were hugging the tops of the peaks and hid them from view.
    The Evening Star
  • A telephoto lens was very important to have on this storm chase, since I never got closer than about 9 miles to the tornado. This is the 4th and final tornado that I saw this evening. It was after 9:00 so that made it very challenging to photograph. The 1-second exposure gave the twister a blurred look. I would lose sight of it about 7 minutes later.
    The Last Twister
  • The twilight sky was beautiful early this morning. A very thin crescent moon was rising over Spring Lake. In the middle is the bright planet Venus. The faint zodiacal light can be seen extending diagonally between the two.
    Zodiac Twilight
  • Not every lunar eclipse is the same. Each one varies depending on which part of Earth’s shadow (called the umbra) that the moon passes through. Atmospheric conditions on Earth also influence the view. Lingering exhaust from the massive volcanic eruption in Tonga in January helped make this eclipse darker and redder than usual. In Wyoming, totality started during twilight. The extra light revealed more details in the landscape. Then after twilight ended, thousands of stars came out, along with stripes of green airglow. A dark sky and a full moon, normally enemies of each other, were seen together for just a few minutes before normal moonlight returned.<br />
While the lower slopes of the Bighorn Mountains are now a vibrant green, up here at Powder River Pass, winter is still hanging on. Nearly 10,000 feet above sea level, temperatures still drop below freezing at night even in mid-May.
    Blood Moon In A Dark Sky
  • After hitting the trail at sunrise I made it to the top of Laramie Peak shortly before 9AM and setup my gear. The true summit is littered with towers and communication equipment, so instead I pointed my camera at this subpeak to the south. The weather was perfect and the thick smoke from Montana wildfires that I was worried about stayed to the north. At 10:23 the partial eclipse began, visible only through a solar filter. Anticipation started to build as more of the sun became blocked out. After over 50% of the sun was covered the light became slightly dimmer but it was only noticeable if you've been watching the whole time. The temperature dropped by over 20°F and jackets came out. At 90% the sky became a dark blue and the landscape took on a smoky appearance. At this point the light began to change by the second. The moon moves from west to east, and the shadow approaches at 1700mph from that direction. At 11:45 the last piece of sun disappeared. Some of my favorite effects of totality were the parts I couldn't capture. Cirrus clouds in the west glowed orange like at sunset. It was similar to twilight but instead of the glow appearing in only one direction, it encircled the entire horizon. Venus came out first, then the other planets and brighter stars. It's a very strange feeling looking at the sun in what's normally the brightest part of the day and instead seeing a black hole. The ~100 people around me marveled at one of the most beautiful spectacles in nature. But just like that it was all over. The full disc of the sun returned at 1:11PM.
    Fleeting Moment
  • 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
  • kevin palmer, pentax k-5,<br />
night, sky, stars, starry, clear, august, summer, space, astronomy, astrophotography, aurora, aurora borealis, northern lights, color, colorful, red, purple, green, north, trees, Brockway Mountain, Copper Harbor, Upper Peninsula, Michigan, evening, twilight, clouds, samyang 10mm f2.8, trees, ISS, International Space Station, satellite, trail, Lake Superior, Great Lake,
    Above and Beyond
  • 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
  • The sun had not even been down an hour yet when the first green curtains overspread the blue twilight sky. Why am I not on the summit already? As I hoofed it up a mountain in Greenland, I barely needed my headlamp as the lights above illuminated my way. Route finding can be tricky at night, but I had scouted out this peak the previous day so I knew where to go. Finally I reached the top, and all body heat generated from the strenuous climb was quickly stolen by the icy wind. Below stretched out the Nuuk Fjord, 2nd longest fjord system in the world. Rising nearly 4,000 feet above the sea is Sermitsiaq, the iconic island peak which dominates the skyline of Greenland's capital city. While Mars cast its reflection across the water, ribbons of green, purple, and red shimmered overhead. Oddly the northern lights seemed to prefer every part of the sky except north. For hours the show continued, in waves of varying intensity. It was a night I'll never forget.
    Nuuk Fjord Aurora
  • 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
  • It was 1AM when my alarm went off. Between shooting the sunset, the stars, and the sunrise, I wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight. After slipping into my shoes that were still damp from trudging through the snow, I stepped out of my tent into the cold air. With the temperature near freezing and a strong breeze blowing, it certainly didn't feel like the first day of July. But the weather couldn't be more perfect for shooting the milky way galaxy. The moon was setting in the west, leaving me 2 hours of darkness to shoot a time lapse before morning twilight set in. This is a shot I've wanted to take since last year when I first heard about this spot. It's an alpine meadow called Highland Park set at the base of the 13,000' Blacktooth Mountain in the Cloud Peak Wilderness. I've tried shooting the milky way over these peaks before, but they were always too far away, I had to get closer. But the conditions needed to be perfect before I made the 18 mile trek. Between the snow levels, moon phase, position of the milky way, and weather conditions I knew I may only have a couple chances to get this shot. The atmosphere is a lot thinner at 10,000 feet and the stars seemed just a little bit closer on this night.
    Close to Heaven
  • The deep blues of twilight begin to overtake the eastern sky as the zodiacal light continues to glow. In the middle of the picture is Venus, the brightest object in the night sky besides the moon. I woke up at 5:20 AM in this campground, took a few pictures, and then went back to sleep.
    Ghostly Glow
  • During a heat wave I always like heading up to the Bighorn Mountains to cool down. I kept driving until I could go no higher. This highway, (14A) was opened for the season at the end of May and many snow drifts still remained. Darkness arrives very slowly this time of year, so I made some coffee and waited. After 11PM the blues of twilight finally faded away. Nights like this are rare at this elevation. No cold, wind, clouds, haze or anything else spoiled the view. It was perfect for stargazing. No matter how many times I see it, I'm always blown away by the sight of the milky way rising in a dark sky. Glittering star clusters, clouds of dust both dark and bright, glowing nebulae of all colors filled the scene. The more you look the more you see. A star tracking mount was used to counteract earth's rotation, allowing me to capture this highly-detailed image.
    Hunt Mountain Milky Way
  • 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
  • The last climbers repelled down the south face of Devils Tower soon after twilight faded. First Perseus rose to the northeast, followed by Arcturus, the 4th brightest star in the sky. Satellites slowly came and went while meteors vaporized at a much faster speed. The aurora painted its colors on an invisible canvas,  undetectable to my eye for the most part. One glow soon replaced another when the crescent moon rose at midnight. In many previous visits I’ve scouted all over the national monument looking for the best vantage points. This patch of prairie that I marked on my map is barely within the park boundary. Dodging deadfall, making my way across a steep slope and up and over a cliff is hard enough during the day, doubly so at night. I kept waiting for a big aurora display to give me a reason to come back here. That never happened, despite the forecast. But even an ordinary night is worth experiencing at an extraordinary place like this. Those who only visit Devils Tower during the day miss out on half the scenery.
    More Than a Meteor
  • At 2:30AM my alarm went off after catching a few hours of sleep. The moon was about to set, leaving me with 3 hours of darkness to watch the Orionid meteor shower over Devils Tower. My camera captured this bright streak of light shortly before twilight began. But the fact that it appeared in 2 frames and lacks any colors suggests that it was a satellite flare and not a meteor. The diffuse glow rising up diagonally from the horizon is called the zodiacal light. Also known as false dawn, the glow is caused by the sun illuminating the dust which is shed by comets and asteroids in the inner solar system. This cone-shaped glow is projected against the constellations of the zodiac, which is the path that the sun, moon, and planets travel through the sky. I've seen the zodiacal light before, but never this bright and prominent. It can only be viewed from the darkest of locations, far away from light pollution, on very clear moonless nights.
    False Dawn and Iridium Flare