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Category: The Milky Way and Nightscapes

Colorful Lunar Eclipse

Colorful Eclipse over the Kitt Peak National Observatory

The 8 November 2022, a total lunar eclipse occurred over the Americas and Pacific. There I was allowed to observe this beautiful lunar eclipse from the Kitt Peak National Observatory, a program of NSF’s NOIRLab. The deep red color of this lunar eclipse (lower left) is believed to be the remains of the ash from…
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Aurora and Plankton

Aurora and Plankton

Early morning of Feb 8th, 2022, I was lucky for aurora by the Norwegian Sea. Enjoying it by a beach nearby Tromsø, Norway, I noticed blue sparkles in the waves, realizing they are luminescent plankton, which made the experience much more beautiful. I was literally watching two different naturally luminescent worlds – the one in…
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Salt and Universe

Salt and Universe

The Milky Way in this picture arches over a truly unique landscape – the salty desert of Atacama, Chile. While many photographers usually enjoy beautiful reflections on a lagoon, I was amazed by this unusual structure I had never seen before. The image was taken back on 1st May 2022, when I visited and explored…
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The Meteor Showers Collection

The Meteor Showers Collection

It took long 8 years but it was worth it. Here comes the longest and most time-consuming astrophotography project of my life, the complete collection of major annual meteor showers with a normal zenithal hourly rate of more than 18 meteors per hour. While most stargazers around the globe are familiar with August Perseids and…
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Top of Hawai'i

Top of Hawai’i

There’s more going on in this picture than you might think. This image shows Gemini North (part of International Gemini Observatory), located on Maunakea in Hawai‘i at the altitude of 4214 meters. To the lower left of Gemini is a red glowing light source. This is from the eruption of the Halemaʻumaʻu crater of the…
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All of the Zodiacal Light - Annotated with planets, ZL parts and observation

All of the Zodiacal Light

This of the entire Zodiacal Light from dusk to dawn was taken from the platforms of Gemini South in Chile (left) and Gemini North in Hawai‘i (right), the two telescopes comprising the International Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. Since both platforms provide unique observational conditions in high altitudes (Gemini South at 2722 m,…
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Wizzard's Hat

Wizzard’s Hat

The Atacama Desert is just full of magic and unprecedented creation. In this image, taken a month ago, I found an unnamed geological creation dozens of kilometers southward of the famous Valle de la Luna National Park, which was formed by the sequential folding of an old salt lake that eventually dried and was forced…
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