Milky Way over St. Helens

The skies were looking good earlier this week; fearful that they wouldn't hold out till the weekend I pulled an all nighter between work on Monday and Tuesday. Left right after work on Monday and got back 15 minutes before work started on Tuesday.

These were taken at the Johnson Observatory at Mount Saint Helens National Monument.

14mm
f/2.8
25 seconds
ISO 3200

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/27883438@N07/8​980606230/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/27883438@N07/8​988751444/

Well worth the sacrifice Robert, these are awesome!

Great comp and lovely scene, Robert. Worth the effort'!

Thanks guys. Happy to say the the weather looks like its going to be good to go for more shooting tonight I think I have located a great location in a part of the state that has super dark skies; really excited to check it out. Plan is to work on my compositions a bit. I think I'm finally over the hurdle of figuring out exposure settings and working through all the difficulties of shooting when its pitch black.

Man, shooting at night, what a feeling. Hard to explain, but I feel like a 16 year old sneaking out at night for adventures every time I go out. This stuff is pure food for the soul.

Hot damn, Robert!! That's a fantastic shot of the mtn...never occurred to me to go down that direction after dark. Keep some eyes to the North while you're out tonight, there's still a chance for some auroras tonight and tomorrow from what I've read recently.

Snydremark wrote in post #16011757
Hot damn, Robert!! That's a fantastic shot of the mtn...never occurred to me to go down that direction after dark. Keep some eyes to the North while you're out tonight, there's still a chance for some auroras tonight and tomorrow from what I've read recently.

Really, auroras; I will definitely keep an eye out for those. How does one go about tracking the probability of auroras?

just sweet pics...I would love to capture something that nice...you should be proud of your work.

stunning shots

doidinho wrote in post #16011762
Really, auroras; I will definitely keep an eye out for those. How does one go about tracking the probability of auroras?

I use http://www.spaceweathe​r.com/

I really like the first one!

doidinho wrote in post #16011762
Really, auroras; I will definitely keep an eye out for those. How does one go about tracking the probability of auroras?

U of A runs a website for it at http://www.gi.alaska.e​du/AuroraForecast

Just select the map for your region in the bottom, left and the date. Looks like tonight's likely to be a bit of a bust from this far south, but good

doidinho wrote in post #16011693
The skies were looking good earlier this week; fearful that they wouldn't hold out till the weekend...

Well, the weather held out, at least for Saturday night. I was up at Johnston Ridge, and there was another guy over at Loowit Viewpoint (and, I'm told, another was there Friday night).

I'm just getting started with this, so mine might not look quite as nice as the OP's, but I'll share one from my trip later today (I just woke up...)

@doidinho...did you have any problems with dew/condensation while you were up there, or do you have a dew heater? Had a first-time star trail attempt ruined by dew. Also, there's no exif in the photos...how late into the night were these?

--Greg

So here's my quick-take. None of my exposures were long enough to get some really good detail in the landscape

Lesson learned...

--Greg

12:36 AM
Bower 14mm f/2.8 @ f2.8
ISO 3200
30 sec

very very nice shots guys. I'm higyly considering heading out of the city as far into the country as I can and taking some night sky shots. on your post Greg I say on night shots who really cares about detail in the landscape it's not the landscape your eye is drawn to anyways.

I disagree. Milky Way shots are pretty much dime a dozen in my opinion. The best shots combine a foreground element . If I don't have a foreground element I rarely even bother shooting the milky way anymore.