This is a moonlit nightscape of the historic Hearst Church in Pinos Altos, New Mexico, at 7000 feet altitude (thus the name “High Pines”) and on the Continental Divide. In the sky above, the Big Dipper is at right, and Polaris is at left over the church. The Hearst Church opened in May 1898, built with money raised by the local mining families in Pinos Altos, and with a donation from Phoebe Hearst, wife of the mining mogul in the area and senator George Hearst, parents of newspaper tychoon William Randolph Hearst. Gold from the Pinos Altos Hearst mines decorates the Hearst Castle in California. The Hearst Church now serves as an art gallery for the Grant County Art Guild. See http://gcag.org for information. This is a single 45-second exposure at f/2.8 with the 24mm lens and Canon 6D at ISO 800. Power lines and poles were cloned out. Taken January 27, 2015 under the light of a first quarter Moon in hazy skies. Warm light from decorative lights in the yard of the house across the street added the reddish glow to the adobe brick. Very nice. Subtle star diffraction spikes added with Astronomy Tools actions.
Circumpolar star trails on a moonlit night in the Gila National Forest in southern New Mexico, north of Pinos Altos. Polaris is at upper left, the Little Dipper hanging below it, and the stars of the Big Dipper are rising at right, with the end star of the handle still to clear the horizon. Illumination is from the waxing quarter Moon. The night had a lot of high cloud drifting through, adding the streaks and patchiness to the sky. This is a stack of 80 exposures, each 45 seconds with the 24mm lens at f/4 and Canon 6D at ISO 1600. The foreground comes from a single frame, the first, to minimize blurring and contrast loss from using a foreground blended from 80 shots taken over an hour while the Moon and shadows moved. The last frame was enhanced with larger star glows to punch up the appearance of the end stars and pattern of the Dipper. Stacking was performed with the Star Circle Academy’s Advanced Stacker Actions, using the Long Streaks effect.
