Haleakala at Night and Timelapse.

[von Tom]

Earlier this month I was fortunate to be on holiday in Hawaii. Most of it was on the island of Maui, which is home to the 10,000ft volcano called Haleakala. This is a panoramic shot of the sky soon after sunset, taken from the summit, and includes the telescopes of the Haleakala Observatory. Visible in the sky is Crux, culminating low down at the left, and Orion, upside down ;), setting at the right.

The road to the observatory (not accessible to the public) was lit by a car that was using its hazard lights to light the way.

I've added a video showing the onset of night, the zodical light, Crux over the Hawaiian Big Island, and Orion setting over the observatory. The moving alt/az telescope is the USAF 3.67-metre AEOS telescope, used for tracking and imaging satellites. In the video it tracks the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope (visible for a couple of frames top left). View in HD.

http://youtu.be/7FGRNXvQWI0
http://youtu.be/7FGRNXvQWI0
Thanks for looking,

Tom

[h0ughy]

cool place to be - nice one

[iceman]

Awesome! Wish I was there too!

[Dennis]

A very picturesque panorama Tom; the illuminated road could be “mistaken” for a river of molten lava from the summit!

At 10,000ft you should have definitely noticed the reduced air pressure and consequent breathing problems!

Cheers

Dennis

[von Tom]

Thanks guys. Dennis the altitude was noticeable - a little bit nauseous but nothing too bad. Temp was about 5 degrees C. We did leave after a couple of hours of darkness as my wife was having a little more trouble, but at least for that amount of time we had the summit to ourselves. Everybody else left either just prior to, or shortly after, the sunset.

I've added a video to the first post.

[multiweb]

Awesome time-lapse. The first still is great with all the clouds and the sea underneath. I like the mountain shadow extending over the clouds at sunset and merging with the earth shadow. Pretty cool effect. The milkyway over that airport and all the traffic sets things in perspective too. Very cool. :thumbsup:

[Deeno]

Brilliantly done!

[von Tom]

Thanks guys - glad you like it.

Cheers,
Tom

[barx1963]

Tom
That is lovely, brings back memories of sunset on Muana Loa last year for me.
Seeing the shadow of the mountain moving like that is so nice.

Really makes me want to go back to Hawaii!!

Malcolm

[von Tom]

Here's an image of the Southern Cross over the Big Island, and a composite using Startrails. I cannot work out whether the lights on the island are artificial, lava, or both.