Milky Way Over Amboy Crater

 Continuing from my last post... Mitch and I are attempting to do something truly crazy in our "Summer of 2024 Milky Way a Month" project. For September, we are attempting to take a photo of the Milky Way in a vertical position over Amboy Crater, which requires a late summer exposure (August or September). The problem is the extreme heat at Amboy Crater in late summer. Dangerously extreme (114°F when we started our hike). Which makes me wonder: Has anyone ever attempted this before?? A quick Google search turned up a nice image of a diagonal MW over the crater, but no photos of a vertical MW. So you might be seeing something fairly unique here!

It's about 7PM and I'm sitting with my back to the crater. The best time to photograph the Milky Way will be between 9:30pm and 10pm, so we have some time to kill. I sit comfortably in my camp chair enjoying the desert scenery. Those clouds have us worried. Will we even be able to see the Milky Way??

 

Dramatic clouds over the crater.

 

 

Pink clouds and rain to the northwest.

 

Ta da!! I'm pretty happy with this photo. We were sooooo lucky that the clouds cleared in time for a clear view of the Milky Way. The vertical orientation makes it look like the Milky Way is erupting out of the crater, which is what we were hoping for. I wasn't able to get quite as much of the Milky Way as I was hoping for, so I re-positioned my camera on the tripod for portrait (vertical) orientation.

Yes, I like this even better, with more of the Milky Way visible. It really does look like the crater is erupting! Mitch and I don't waste any time hiking back to the car. Even at 10PM, it's still triple digits. We both agree we will never again hike Amboy Crater in the summer!🥵

 

Thanks for stopping by!! 

I'll probably make one final Milky Way outing (early October), and then the Milky Way season (and this project) will be over.

Linking with Skywatch Friday.