Milky Buffalo Pass

The Milky Way

  I went on a hike around Buffalo Mountain just west of Silverthorne, Colorado.  The first night we pitched camp on the trail to Red Buffalo Pass and I set my camera at 11,424 feet photographing the Milky Way throughout the night.  Smoke from forest fires burning in California and Montana created a thick red haze throughout the day and a green shimmer at night.  With clearing skies throughout sunset and in to the next day, stars blazed throughout the night above the New Moon's pitch black Rocky Mountains.

  I time-lapsed the subsequent images in to a video below.  Help preserve our dark skies...

Camp at 11,400".  Buffalo Mountain to the left.

My trusty Hubba Hubba with Red Peak in the background.  

JetBoil Coffee...  Yes

Red Buffalo Pass, the major trail from Silverthorne to Vail. 

Red Peak and Alpine Lake

High Alpine Wildflowers still hanging on at the end of this parched and hot summer.

Milky Way over Colorado

Perseids

Moonlit Landscape

A couple of practice shots with the moon lighting up the front range.  I'm getting ready for a few night sky projects coming up and wanted to get my gear back in working order after taking a month off from time-lapse photography.

Green Mountain and NCAR - Boulder, CO

The recently burned peak of Bear Mountain - Boulder, CO

   Right when I went outside I was presented with the beautiful triangular formation of two planets and a bright star setting behind the front range.  Saturn sits atop the trio with red-orange Mars clockwise, followed by the binary star Spica.  This picture was taken 74 hours before the Curiosity Rover is set to touch down on the red planet in a thrilling Entry, Descent, and Landing.

Saturn, Mars, and Spica form a triangle above Bear Mountain, Boulder, CO

What if Jupiter was our Moon?

  I thought this was a good video demonstrating just how enormous Jupiter is and actually, just how tiny Mars is.