Explanation: Is there any place in the world you could see a real sight like this? Yes. Pictured above is single exposure image spectacular near, far, and in between. Diving into the Earth far in the distance is part of the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy, taken with a long duration exposure. Much closer, the planet Jupiter is visible as the bright point just to band’s left. Closer still are picturesque buttes and mesas of the Canyonlands National Park in Utah, USA, lit by a crescent moon. In the foreground is a cave housing a stone circle of unknown origin named False Kiva. The cave was briefly lit by flashlight during the long exposure. Astrophotographer Wally Pacholka reports that getting to the cave to take this image was no easy trek. Also, mountain lions were a concern while waiting alone in the dark for just the right exposure.
antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0809/falsekiva_pacholka_big.jpg
heh heh heh
you said “picturesque buttes”
also, dude’s tripod is crooked
Holy smokes. Even for a nyokki post this one is pretty extraordinary.
I often wonder why some pictures are taken. How did the photographer know about this spot?
Maybe they just wander around until they find something that looks nice. I can imagine them asking random NPCs in bars about caves in the area. Because you really can’t go wrong with caves.
@...Flickerdart: And, you know, there’s always an NPC in a bar that knows information about ANYTHING you could possibly want to know. Usually the one sitting with his hood up in a dark corner.
I wonder how long the exposure time was… not so much that the stars moved a whole lot
That’s beautiful.
And the random NPCs in bars just cracked me up. Next trend: baseball caps with foam exclamation points coming out of them?
I’ve stood in the False Kiva before. It is a long hike, but worth it. Canyonlands is awesome. (only an hour from my town)
This is beautiful. Very beautiful.
Though, given the explanation of how the picture was created, I highly doubt you would actually see this if you were standing there just looking with naked eye now would you… Ya freakin’ tease…