Kevin Palmer

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  • After the sun set over the Absaroka Mountains, Venus became brighter and the zodiacal light began to glow vividly all around it. The diffuse, diagonal glow is caused by the sun illuminating dust particles within the solar system.
    Venus Glow
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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 />
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Date Taken: 11/5/2013
    Canyon Alignment
  • Thousands of stars forming the milky way galaxy are seen above a deep canyon in Utah. The Colorado River flows 2000 feet below the rim of Dead Horse Point into Canyonlands National Park. The bright light on the horizon is the planet Venus. There is no other object in the night sky brighter than Venus except for the moon. The clear weather, dry air, and dark skies make this area one of the best in the country for stargazing.<br />
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Date Taken: 11/5/2013
    Dark Chasm
  • 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
  • After the sun set, the Belt of Venus rose in the southeast, casting a soft pink and blue glow over the Bighorn Mountains.
    Dusk Before Solstice
  • The average temperature in space is -454° F. It wasn't quite that cold at Spring Lake, but it nearly felt like it. I've been looking forward to the milky way's return to the morning sky for months. I would have preferred warmer temperatures for my first shot of the year. But the best thing about arctic air is it often brings perfectly clear and transparent skies. Venus was just 2 weeks past it's peak in brightness, casting a nice reflection on the ice.<br />
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Date Taken: February 26, 2014
    Ice and Space
  • 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 />
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Date Taken: June 20, 2013
    Chautauqua Sunset
  • After the sun set over the Absaroka Mountains, Venus became brighter and the zodiacal light began to glow vividly all around it. The diffuse, diagonal glow is caused by the sun illuminating dust particles within the solar system. I shot a couple hundred images for a time lapse and caught a meteor in one of them.
    Zodiacal Meteor
  • Soon after the aurora intensified, fog settled in to the frozen Fremont Lake. It felt like I was in a dream as halos surrounded Venus and the moon to the west while intense pinks and reds glowed to the north.
    In a Dream
  • 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
  • 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
  • Pink colors linger in the east after sunset at Spring Lake, IL on a frigid winter evening.<br />
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Date Taken: January 9, 2015
    Wind Chill Warning
  • 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
  • Grand Teton awaits the first light of day under a soft pink sky while clouds swirl around Mount Owen.
    Teton Pre-Dawn
  • All of the Lights
  • 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
  • Just before 11PM there was a double reflection in the Powder River. Venus is on the right and Sirius is on the left.
    Sirius and Venus Reflected
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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