On a pleasant evening at White Pocket Arizona during the new moon in April 2018, the zodiacal light reappeared over the desert southwest. Venus, which had been burning brightly in the sky after sunset dropped to just over the horizon after astronomical dark. The strong wind of the previous day had died down to an occasional cool breeze. Some dust still lingered in the atmosphere as evidenced by the ruddy horizon, but the Zodiacal Light showed forth with great effect.

It was surprisingly pleasant for April in the Southwest. Temperatures drifted in the low 50s and there was just a bit of occasional wind. Oddly frogs chorused from an area below me and center-left in the image. It was had to imagine as the temperature continued to drop that a multitude frogs were singing a loud and one assumes bawdy barupppp over and over.

By the time the shot was over (30-40 minutes), the temperature had dropped enough that I pulled my coat tight around me and zipped it up over my face. Holding still in the low 40s was getting nippy. The frog band stilled as well and I was left with just a great night sky to contemplate and watch as Orion slipped below the horizon. I sighed, gathered up my gear and headed to back to Jimmy.

Despite having been hurried to get this enormous shot finished before Venus slipped from view, I managed to capture what even in the camera was an impressive image. This image is an astounding 80 images stitched together. 40 images of the sky with tracking and 40 images of the ground.

Shot at 85mm, f1.3, ISO 8000 and various exposures. 3rd pano of water in star focus.