Southern Hemisphere’s glorious view of the Milky Way
I imaged the Milky Way on two separate nights during the 2026 Chile AP trip. First, on the night of 17 March 2026, with Victoria. Second, on my last night in San Pedro – ironically, just like 2025, I debated with myself about doing DSO imaging on the last night and decided (wisely) to pack up my DSO equipment during the day and spend my last night imaging the Milky Way to facilitate an on-time departure for the Calama airport.
3rd Annual Most Amazing Astrophotography Trip to the Atacama Desert!
The third annual Atacama Desert astrophotography trip was just as amazing as the previous two! Even though Victoria and I did everything in our our power (i.e., 8+ hour layover in Houston), the travel was again FUBAR – including losing my battery along the way (thank goodness for the nightmare I’d had prior to departure that had provisioned a Plan B). Once we finally arrived the skies, the sites, the warm people of San Pedro de Atacama, and the Pisco Sours did not disappoint!
My 2025 Astrophotography Year in Review
2025 was a year filled with new equipment adventures (ultimately overcome but challenging at the time); dark skies travel – another fabulous trip to the Atacama Desert and an amazing birthday dark skies trip to Utah; three one-night stands in the Beast; and the taking away and giving back of my front patio imaging location.
One last image from our birthday Dark Skies Trip to Utah
My 65th birthday trip (YES, in October 2025!) was to explore possible camping venues on Utah BLM land, look for Milky Way foreground sights, and to capture DSO data from the dark skies of Bryce Park Place in Cannondale, Utah. As you read back in October – the trip was a complete success! What I alluded to, but never got back around to, was processing the images I captured of the Milky Way, Orionids Meteor Shower, and Comet C-2025 Lemmon. As I was closing out my 2025 AP Journal last weekend – I realized my negligence with those images…so I made that right today (17Jan2026) – better late than never!
Birthday Dark Skies Trip to Utah
My 65th birthday trip was planned to explore possible camping venues on Utah BLM land, look for Milky Way foreground sights, and to capture DSO data from the dark skies of Bryce Park Place in Cannondale, Utah. The trip was a complete success! We decided that driving the Beast this far, to camp on BLM land for DSO imaging purposes didn’t make sense – so we abandoned that objective upon arriving in Cannonville after two long days of driving. We found a few potential Milky Way venues. Mother Nature cooperated with three nights of clear skies, no bugs, and cold (but not unbearably so) overnight temperatures!
Good News: Clear skies during the New Moon & Bad News: Rain = Green Grasslands = Mosquitos
We planned our September 2025 dark skies trip to New Mexico’s Kiowa National Grasslands. Originally the weather looked like it was going to allow a 3-day trip. When Mother Nature got wind of that plan, she chuckled and painted clouds into the scenario…turning it into a 2-day trip (more like 1.5 nights of clear skies). Not to be deterred, we packed up and headed out in the Beast…commenting as we drove into the Grasslands how we’d never seen them (or New Mexico) so green. Little did me know, that since Mother Nature couldn’t produce enough cloud cover to convince us to stay away from dark skies during the New Moon…she would paint swarming and hungry mosquitos into the scenario and chase us off after a single night!
One night in the Expedition in Springfield CO
We did a repeat of our 2023 anniversary / dark skies trip this year, when Mother Nature again vetoed our planned high-country (a.k.a. cool enough weather in August to camp comfortably in the Beast) dark skies trip and only provided a single night of clear skies at the Comanche National Grasslands (SE Colorado where the temperature was 100+ degrees). I spent a night imaging from (and sleeping in) the Expedition while Paul and Zeus stayed in the nearby Cobblestone Inn; then we drove to Albuquerque for a special celebration of our 38th wedding anniversary and Zeus’ 10th anniversary “Gotcha Day”
CSASTRO Presentation on Atacama Desert imaging – 19Aug2025
I presented at the Colorado Springs Astronomical League (CSASTRO) Club’s Monthly Meeting, 19 August 2025, on my adventures imaging in the Atacama desert. The meeting invite and a recording of the presentation (with fair warning of what you’re getting yourself into if you watch it!) are below.
One night Beast recon trip to Tolvar Flats
A quick one-night “recon trip” to BLM land near Powderhorn, Colorado afforded us one-night in clear dark skies (our second this year!) to wring out the cobwebs of our camping and Beast-based imaging routines. If you’ve only got one night – you make the most of it – so it was SH2-129 Flying Bat and the Milky Way!! …and this was first light with my newest imaging stream addition – the Askar f/3.9 0.7x Full Frame Reducer for the Askar FRA600
2nd Annual Most Amazing Astrophotography trip to the Atacama Desert!
After last year’s most amazing trip to the San Pedro de Atacama Celestial Explorations (SPACE) Atacama Lodge where I spent six nights imaging under their glorious dark and clear skies, I vowed to make the trip an annual event. This year’s traveling companions, Jan Elliott and Dave Parks, shared the adventure with me. The one-line summary is: my travel was completely FUBAR, but once I finally arrived the skies did not disappoint! …and yes, there will be a 3rd Annual!!