I took a ‘me day’ off of work yesterday and decided to go explore the Pawnee National Grasslands. With a new moon and clear skies I figured it was a perfect opportunity to try my hand at astrophotography again.
Unfortunately the fates conspired against me as I was delayed leaving home and then had to try to find an open gas station in the middle of nowhere at 4:00am to put air in a tire on my truck that was low. By the time I arrived at my destination, the glow of the sun was already coming over the horizon, dimming the galaxy and stars above.
I managed a couple of shots with the Milky Way although by then it had dimmed considerably. To the left you can see the glow from the approaching sun and on the right the clouds are illuminated by the lights of Greeley, Colorado. You may notice three, very bright ‘stars’ slightly to the right of center in this image in an upside down triangle. Those are actually Saturn, Mars and Antares.
The image came out pretty well although I do wish I would have been able to arrive a half hour or so earlier.
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