'Galactic Symphony Over Crater Lake'
A breathtaking celestial panorama unfolds over Oregon’s iconic Crater Lake, where an ancient, gnarled tree stands sentinel against the night.
Above, the galactic core blazes brilliantly, its dense star clusters and dark dust lanes cutting through a vibrant green airglow. To the right, the colorful Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex and the fiery star Antares shine like cosmic jewels. Wisps of the Dark Horse Nebula and the Serpens-Aquila Rift stretch across the Milky Way, weaving through the starlit canvas. Near the horizon, the crimson hues of the Lobster (NGC 6357), Cat’s Paw (NGC 6334), and Prawn Nebula (IC 4628) paint the sky with their deep interstellar glow - completing this awe-inspiring cosmic masterpiece.
'Above the Alpine Veil'
Last week, I finally had the chance to capture my first view of this year’s Spring Milky Way over Switzerland. Thanks to a weather phenomenon known as Alpine Foehn, conditions were ideal. This warm, dry wind forms when moist air from the south rises over the Alps, shedding its moisture as rain or snow on the southern slopes. As the drier air descends on the northern side, it warms up, often resulting in remarkably clear skies.
During such Foehn events, a dense cloud bank typically hugs the peaks of the main Alpine ridge - constantly forming and dissolving in a delicate balance.
In this image, the vivid hues of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex and the dark tendrils of the Pipe Nebula, part of the Dark Horse, ascend gracefully above the lingering wall of cloud cloaking the snowy Alpine summits.
'Road to Heaven'
As the Milky Way core returns to the night sky in the early morning hours, I had the privilege of capturing its brilliance in Joshua Tree National Park at the beginning of February.
While scouting for compositions in the afternoon, I discovered this elegant S-curve in the road, framed beautifully by a striking Joshua Tree on the right. Using the PlanIt Photo app, I confirmed that the rising Milky Way would align perfectly with the scene - an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.
To add an extra dynamic element, I timed my shot to capture a passing car, its headlights illuminating the tree and its taillights painting a vivid red trail along the road, creating a leading line towards the star-filled heavens.
'Namibian Sky'
I captured this panorama during my Namibia vacation in 2023. It shows the setting Milky Way arching over one of the iconic dead trees in the Namib Rand Desert.
On my YouTube channel I try a new form of presenting such a big image, which not only allows me to zoom in and show the true resolution of the panorama, it also gives me the opportunity to showcase a few of the astronmical wonders it contains and share some insights about them.
You find this astronomy tour through the panorama on my YouTube channel:
https://youtu.be/aL8K9k754M0?si=7dSHyKyQR95S6O0M
Thanks for watching and I love to hear your feedback about how you like this form of presenting an image.
EXIF
Canon EOS-R, astro-modified by EOS 4Astro
Sigma 28mm f/1.4 ART
IDAS NBZ filter
iOptron SkyTracker Pro
Sky:
Panorama of 10 panels, each a stack of 7x 45s @ ISO1600, unfiltered & 3x 90s @ ISO6400, filtered
Foreground:
Focus stacked panorama of 10 panels, each a stack of 4x 1/30s @ ISO100 during blue hour.
'Noctilucent Aurora'
I captured this image while cruising south of the Hudson Bay during my recent @flyswiss flight from San Francisco to Zurich. A few days past the summer solistice, the horizon was painted orange by the polar day. This is the best time to observe the rare noctilucent clouds, which were joined by a faint auroral arc, while the regular clouds under the flightpath were illuminated by the rising Moon.
In the annotated version, I marked some constellations, the main stars and two open star clusters.
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