What Happens Above Moab

Oops... had the post ready to go, but the publish time was incorrect!  Stupid AM/PM setting... 

After thirty six hours of incredibly strong wind, everything calmed down and cleared out for our last night at camp.  I happily set up to shoot some stars and drain a battery.  In this photograph you're looking due East toward the LaSal Mountains from our camp high above the Moab Fault.  In the foreground is the city of Moab, UT glowing white on the left and the thin yellow glow on the right is from the potash mining operation.  The heavy concentration of star trails from the middle to the top is an arm of the Milky Way.  There was still a lot of dust hanging in the air (see the red sky in yesterday's post) and the light pollution was just enough to give the sky a slight orange colour cast.  During my test shots, I kept adjusting the white balance until the city lights went white (Tungsten A6) and that's why the sky appears green instead of blue.  Before the colour correction, the horizon was an indiscernible scribble along the base of the photo, but afterward you can now clearly see the snow line on the distant peaks and a little separation in the foreground hills.
That's enough geeking out for a Friday.  Here's hoping you can find a neat spot this weekend to stare through the troposphere.  Cheers!