Posted on 05/24/2016 4:28:10 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: That's not lightning, and it did not strike between those mountains. The diagonal band is actually the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy, while the twin peaks are actually called the Spanish Peaks -- but located in Colorado, USA. Although each Spanish peak is composed of a slightly different type of rock, both are approximately 25 million years old. This serene yet spirited image composite was meticulously created by merging a series of images all taken from the same location on one night and early last month. In the first series of exposures, the background sky was built up, with great detail being revealed in the Milky Way dust lanes as well as the large colorful region surrounding the star Rho Ophiuchus just right of center. One sky image, though, was taken using a fogging filter so that brighter stars would appear more spread out and so more prominent. As a bonus, the planets Mars and Saturn are placed right above peaks and make an orange triangle with the bright star Antares. Later that night, after the moonrise, the Moon itself naturally illuminated the snow covered mountain tops.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Credit and Copyright: Martin Pugh; Rollover Annotation: Judy Schmidt]
Beautiful. When I lived in Colorado Springs you would know it was going to be a nice day if you could see the Spanish Peaks.
I’m glad they described how they composed this. Multiple exposures, overlaid.
The sensors in these cameras are more sensitive than the human eye, and turn our planet into a front window of the galaxy.
Glad there are some dark sky areas left in Colorado.
New WallPaper.
You can see quite a number of Messier objects in that picture, besides Mars and Saturn.
Then there is the dark nebulae!
Good points!
Is that cattle in the background and beside the trees? If so, it looks almost like daylight!
I imagine that’s how a big cat would see the night time landscape. If it was my eyes, all I’d see is black.
I guess that’s why I only hunt in the day time and cats rule the night!
Glad there are some dark sky areas left in Colorado.<<
There are a few. It was there that I saw my shadow by star light for the first time.
The area that picture was taken from appears to be from hwy 69 between Walsenburg and Gardner, or close to it. It could be from Yellowstone road, too.
I must say though, the sky outside of Casper WY actually does look like that with all the colors with the naked eye! I know cuz I’ve seen it, and was shocked and amazed!
During certain months of the year, the shadow of the Rocky surface of the Spanish Peaks forms a shadow which looks like a side profile of an Indian in full head dress. They call that shadow the! ‘’Spirit of the peaks’’.
I can’t be sure of the correct spelling, but this pair of seemingly free standing mountains, ‘Huajatoillas’(WA_ha_Toy_yas) is the local word for ‘breasts of the earth’.
So, there’s a little trivia for you. BTW, there is a beautiful coldwater lake on hwy 160 between Walsenburg and LeVers called John Martin Lake that has some really good fishing, wilderness camping as well as TV facilities. I’ve caught some record bass from that lake.. I ate them not realizing they were records... But the fish are varied, plump and healthy. There are together muskie, trout, bass, sunfish, catfish, crawfish.. It’s truly a really good place to enjoy a vacation.
I get nothing.. Nada.. For the promotion except knowing that my words are true and can comfortly recommend this place for individuals and families as a most worthy, affordable, keel place to go.
It is nice, my only complaint (which is a bit of a broken record now) is that The Big One should always be 1920x1080. :’(
They did a nice careful job with it, too.
That’s some spectacular photographic mash-up, and it’s quite gorgeous and very
romantic as well.
Thank you for the post and ping, Mr. Civilizations. You’re on top of your game.
Wait! We are supposed to be in the Milky Way. How the hell did it get way over there??
;’)
Thanks ToL!
My pleasure, dear friend. ;-)
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