December Theme: Stars

The Winter Solstice and longest night of the year takes place in our region in December. The long, crisp nights of this season give us plenty of opportunities to photograph the starry skies. So this month's theme is "Stars." Post images of the Milky Way and startrails but also don't forget about the numerous meteor showers/shooting stars that take place at this time of year. Maybe you have some shots of twinkling holiday lighting displays to share? Submissions need not even be limited to the night sky. Photos made with sunstar or moonstar effects are fair game. How about landscape elements that look like stars? Maybe even wildflower petals that look like stars? Again, the possibilities are only limited by your imagination. Let's see what all the talented RMNP members can come up with this month!

As always, if you have ideas for future monthly themes, please feel free to contact me with them!

I'll get the theme started with a shot from a chilly night I spent at Moraine Park in Rocky Mountain NP trying to capture the Leonid Meteor shower a couple of years ago. Didn't get many meteors in the frame but it was definitely a clear and star-filled night.

I'll share a photo. Created in November of last year, this shot represents Toroweap at Grand Canyon National Park. There's nothing like approaching the edge of the canyon and having the beam from your headlamp disappear into the abyss!

Sun @ f/22

Just got this 30" x 48" print mounted and framed at DuraPlaq. Looks great.
It will be on display at the College Hill group show starting Sunday.

Stars above...........fire below. The mountains above Los Alamos burning on the 4th of July, 2011.

Nice shots!

I couldn't resist - these "stars" are The Fray in Austin, Texas a few years ago. Taken from the nosebleed seats with a primitive Canon P/S camera. But fun anyway!

Here's Comet Hale Bopp, back in 1997. 30 second exposure with a normal lens (80mm on 2 1/4 x 2 1/4), wide open at around f/4 and Fuji NPH 400 film. Man, compression is not helping this one!

Here's a more traditional star image. I shot this at the end of September while on my way home from shooting a remote lake on the other side of the divide from Wild Basin. This is Mount Alice as seen from a ridge above Snowbank Lake. I shot this as a single exposure 20" at ISO 6400. The lights of the Front Range helped light the peak. Thoughts and suggestions always welcome!

Some great entries already!

My contribution is of our nearest star, the one we call Sun, and Hickman Bridge in Capitol Reef NP

Not sure if this can stand with the rest as these are all superb. This was taken around midnight in the Park Avenue section of Arches NP. There was a full moon and techs were 800 ISO, 30 secs, f11, 17mm, changed temp to 3800, applied noise reduction. I do love the motion in the clouds on this one!

Woah, Pam! This is awesome! You've been holding out on us!! Now stop it!

A recent shot from an afternoon trip to Plaza Blanca with Phil.

Ah, my fav from your most recent images! Love this!

A recent shot from an afternoon trip to Plaza Blanca with Adam.

Here's a whole buncha stars! I think this was my very first foray into night shooting 7 years ago. I was shooting a 10D and this is Meridian Park near I-25 and Lincoln Ave. That's Skyridge Medical Center in the ULC ... it was under construction at the time.

Woah, Pam - I really like it! B/W -- what an imaginative and nontraditional treatment of Christmas lights.

Pam, you've been sandbagging us! Both of your images in this thread are stunning. I've been struggling through my archives to find a Christmas Card image that I like and haven't yet used with little success. I think I'm going to steal your Meridian idea!

Very nice work above. Here is one with both variety, natural and man made (stars & light stars).

Amazing stuff so far! Here is one from this summer. It is a moonless night at American Basin.

Hopefully I'm not offending with the artificial star spikes, this is also from American Basin

Some stellar shots so far! Here's one of the Milky Way over Balanced Rock.

I glanced up and saw this theme, and realized i had a star shot sitting on my desktop--so here it is! Ghost forest, Great Sand Dunes

Couldn't help it! This is a false-color picture of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A. It is a superimposed image taken from three of NASA's observatories using different wavelengths of light: IR data from Spitzer Space Telescope (red), visible data from Hublle Space Telescope (yellow) and X-ray data from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (green/blue). More at...

OK, here's one taken a few years ago on one of our tours. A light-painted Balanced Rock with Orion above.

Here's another of Hale-Bopp with Balanced Rock lit by a half moon rising in the east, taken on Velvia.

And this is Old Faithful from 2010, on a digital sensor.

Very nice images above to enjoy and inspire.
I spent the close of 2011 overlooking Lake Powell. Here is an early morning shot from Dec 30.