[Image]  I camped out one night this week at over 10,000 feet elevation. To my great surprise it was totally clear and calm, so I was able to break out the camera and wander a little to capture some of the amazing dark sky over the Great Basin Desert.

I like experimenting with tent photos. This tent is grey and green, but because I put the light in my blue sleeping bag cover, it showed up blue. [Image]
Shooting towards the south was the best, as the Milky Way was more vivid. Last night at Great Basin National Park's Astronomy Festival, I learned that's because it's looking towards the center of the galaxy. Or in other words, it's looking towards the city, while the other side is out in the suburbs.
[Image]
 Sometimes it's fun to add a little extra light to the foreground objects. It can be tricky to get just the right amount of light. The other really tricky part is to not get airplane trails in the photos. There are so many airplanes that go overhead!
[Image]
I wandered around for awhile, looking for interesting frames for the night sky. This is a hobby that sure is a lot of fun! I look forward to learning more about both the night sky and astrophotography.
[Image]