Equipment
Lens
Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM (Art)
Camera
Nikon D7500
Mount
Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer
Software
Adobe Photoshop
Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight
Description
This image is probably the most challenging one I have done! The Delicate Arch is iconic and not easily accessed, the only way to get to this view point is a 3 mile round trip hike with a 500 foot climb up a sheer rock face and then a narrow ledge with a drop down 100 ft and no guard rails! The trail is not well marked either.
We did this hike at 8PM on June 22, last week, camera, lens and a ton of water and snacks in our backpacks, tripod doubled as a walking stick! I did question my sanity the entire hike, each brutal step up the rock, but was determined to finish it and get the precious data!
Now this turned out to be the easy part! We enjoyed the amazing view along with a dozen other adventurous people, it was stunning and the skies were crystal clear with a small light dome around Moab but dark elsewhere. I got the foreground in twilight and the Milky Way after dark.
People started heading back and so did we, after midnight. The hike back was downright scary with pitch dark conditions, we missed the trail a few times too! Then the friendly neighborhood bats came to investigate and came really close to our faces which made me very unhappy! And I learned the hard way that climbing DOWN a steep rock at past midnight is harder than climbing up!
We finally made it out and in hindsight, I would do this all over again! Special thank you to my husband for his support on this trip and I dedicate this image to him!
Here is the result of 15 sec un-tracked exposures, carrying a star tracker was beyond my capabilities up that rock!