NGC 2264, Christmas Tree Cluster

zebras that freely roam the hills

by Eric Houck

"The Universe Tree" in Frutillar, Chile // Tomás Andonie (a 19-year-old!)

“There’s as many atoms in a single molecule of your DNA as there are stars in the typical galaxy. We are, each of us, a little universe.”

—

Neil deGrasse Tyson, Cosmos

This surreal timelapse, landscape, panorama spans predawn, blue hour, and sunrise skies. Close to the start of spring in the northern hemisphere, this amazing lapse was captured between 4:30 and 7:00 am from a location overlooking northern New Mexico's Rio Grande Valley. In tracked images of the night sky just before twilight begins, the Milky Way is cast across the southern (right) edge of the panoramic frame. Toward the east, a range of short and long exposures resolves the changing brightness as the Sun rises over the distant peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. In between, exposures made during the spring morning's tantalizing blue hour are used to blend the night sky and sunrise over the high desert landscape.

Image Credit & Copyright: Paul Schmit

Quiver Tree Forest… Despite the light pollution of neighboring city Keetmanshoop, the Milky Way was bright enough so one can say it’s a bortle 1-2 sky, which is actually the case everywhere in Namibia. (gear in tags, settings and process here )

eg_astrophotography

Cha moon... faithful, beautiful, powerful

NGC 6357, Cathedral of the Stars

Horsehead and Orion Nebulae

Credits: Dale J. Martin, Massapoag Pond Obs.

Mars reptilian whale or complex sand dunes [557 x 1443]

The Moon... revealing its scars, its colours, its history, its strength, its hypnotic beauty, its pride, its majesty... Taken from my backyard, South of France.