Some images are just plain extraordinary — and often, the photographer has invested a great deal of time and effort to make that image happen. Photographer Dave Morrow describes the process of making this image from Mount Rainier National Park in early October 2012:

“I went up to Sunrise Point at Mt. Rainier last weekend with my buddy Keith. After a lame sunset, we waited for the Milky Way to come out. The placement was just perfect & the sky was pitch black! Time to jack up the ISO and shoot some stars… This was one of many from the night:)”

Visit Rainier on a beautiful day, and you’ll get a great photograph. Stick around for the sunset, and you’ll often get an exceptional photograph. Wait till the chill of October sets in on a clear night, and stand around fiddling with your camera for a few hours in the dark… and the results just might be extraordinary.

Photo by Dave Morrow - www.DaveMorrowPhotography.com

Saturday was International Observe the Moon night and our public lands provided some of the best views across the country. This cool moon shot was taken in Glacier National Park.

Photo: National Park Service 

Another great photo from our friends at the Bureau of Land Management.

mypubliclands:

The summer night sky in the Piper Mountain Wilderness Area in Inyo County, California.  Alluvial fans cover large portions of the eastern side of the wilderness, with plains and hills also part of the landscape. Desert bighorn sheep habitat can be found in three areas within this wilderness. Sagebrush and juniper-pinyon woodland are the common vegetation, with conifer trees on the higher elevations. At the base of the Inyo Mountains lies one of the northernmost stands of Joshua trees, as seen in this picture.  Piper Mountain Wilderness and many other BLM land areas are far from city lights and offer incredible night sky viewing opportunities.

Photo credit: Bob Wick, BLM-California

Today the massive buildings of the ancestral Pueblo peoples still testify to the organizational and engineering abilities not seen anywhere else in the American Southwest. For a deeper contact with the canyon that was central to thousands of people between 850 and 1250 A.D., come and explore Chaco Culture National Historic Park through guided tours, hiking & biking trails, evening campfire talks, and night sky programs.

Photo: National Park Service