Early December 2022 ~ Dusts Of Eternity ~ Skypointer Photography

Skypointer Photography
"Dusts of Eternity"
"Within the Dusts of Eternity We Live and Exist
for but a Short Time Like Footprints in the Sand"
- Rachel Lawson

In early December 2022, I spent a night in the Kelso Dunes,
the largest field of aeolian sand deposits in the Mojave Desert.

While hiking up the tallest dune, I noticed a slightly lesser one in the east,
which seemed to be untouched by footprints.

During blue hour, I hiked back and climbed this dune.

I was pleased to notice that it had a razor-sharp crest,
and I decided to capture a full 360° panorama.

Of course, I couldn't avoid having some of my footprints in the image,
but by walking slightly below the dune crest, I was able to protect its sharp line.

Later at night, I captured the full sky dome with the stunning red hydrogen emission nebulae
and dark dust lanes of the Winter Milky Way and the bow of the zodiacal light.

Along the horizon, some red, green, and yellow airglow mixed
with the light pollution from distant Palm Springs and Las Vegas.

EXIF
Canon EOS-R, astro-modified
Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8
IDAS NBZ filter
iOptron SkyTracker Pro

Sky:
Stacked panorama of 9 panels, each 6x 90s @ ISO1600,
unfiltered & 3x 180s @ ISO6400, filtered

Foreground:
Focus stacked panorama of 9 panels, each 3x 4s, f/5.6