Starship Asterisk*

In Southern California's Joshua Tree National Park, two giant Joshua Trees arch across the starry sky and were lit by the bright waxing gibbous moon on the early morning of June 20, 2013. To capture this scene I placed the camera very low to the ground and aimed straight up. https://sphotos-a.xx.fbc...

Light pollution comes not only from here on the ground, but from the heavens as well; in fact, one of the greatest offenders is the moon! On Thursday morning, June 20, 2013, the waxing gibbous moon shone over Keys View of Southern California's Joshua Tree National Park. The city lights on the far le...

During Wednesday/Thursdays all-night adventure Joshua Tree National Park, the sky cooperated and helped produce a few terrific images. The moon was a bit brighter than I prefer for night shooting, but it did its job beautifully and illuminated perfectly the spectacular scenery. Image Here the waxing...

It's that wonderful time of year again, when the brightest part of the Milky Way returns for another season of great stargazing! Here it appears arched over one of many impressive metal sculptures scattered around the desert community of Borrego Springs, California. With a summertime population of f...

What a great (and green) way to begin St. Patrick's Day! The CME hit us in Fairbanks, Alaska right as predicted late on the evening of March 16 and, with few exceptions, kept us aurora photographers hopping all night long. The only reason I gave up around 2 a.m. is that I ran out of memory cards for...

A SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE CELESTIAL PORTRAIT From New Zealand, the Land of the Long White Cloud, the heavens shine more beautifully than nearly anywhere else on Earth. Here Queenstown's Lake Wakatipu and moonlit snow-capped mountains make a perfect setting to enjoy the night sky on November 20, 2012. Ne...

DUSK AT DAWN Not long after sunrise on November 14, 2012, excited sky watchers on Australia's Green Island gathered on a large piece of driftwood for a front-row seat of Nature's greatest celestial spectacle--a total eclipse of the sun. The dark moon's umbral shadow shaded the island in a weird dusk...

UMBRA WORLD Early in the morning of November 14, 2012, the resort island of Green Island, Australia fell dark as moon's umbral shadow drifted across its spectacular scenery. Thousands of excited sky watchers and photographers from around the world gathered to experience this remarkable celestial eve...

After a 45 minute boat ride to Green Island (off the coast of Cairns, Australia), our group of about 200 eclipse chasers set up chairs, telescopes, binoculars and cameras in the dark and waited patiently under a quite clear and spectacular sky for the "main event" shortly after sunrise. Du...

It is during September--when the moon is nowhere around and were under a pristine dark sky--that we can see both the Milky Way and the zodiacal light, the dusty disk of our solar system that is back lit by the sun. Here, looking east over the Borrego Valley-- Californias first and only International...

I spent the night of September 14/15, 2012 at GMARS (Goat Mountain Astronomical Research Station)—the dark sky site of the Riverside Astronomical Society near Landers, CA, and while astronomers were all busy photographing the wonders of the cosmos with fantastic high-tech telescopes, I was busy phot...