Full moon this week, so astronomical stars were hard to see and capture. This morning, Dec. 11, the moon set at 6:17 am, MST. This image was captured at 6:14 am.... looking SW. The sun rise was 7:14 am, one hour after this exposure. So, the light on the mountains (Long's Peak and front range) was the alpenglow light. It was a morning of much blowing snow. I had to limit the star trails to six minutes, because of the general predawn twilight. Prior to these few minutes, the full moon washed out the stars in the sky. After these few moments, the twilight brightened to wash out the stars. So, it was six minutes of opportunity.
I don't expect this image to score well, but it's the best star image I captured this week. The challenge description is so broadened.... But, that's life! I accept it!
[Dec. 16th, 2008 03:26:57 PM]
A proof file for validation purposes was requested on Monday morning, 12/11. I submitted the original, unedited raw file with adjustment steps. The validation response came back as "approved" about 8 hours later. Not sure why anyone would question the legality of this image, but it's okay with me to provide the proof file anytime. It would have been considerate if a "this image has been validated" messge had been added to the image for voters to see. I think it received some low votes from several people.
[Dec. 21st, 2008 05:10:56 PM]
To those commenting about wishing the image showed more mountains and less sky, I will simply say there were no stars showing on the land. The challenge is "stars", not mountains.
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The mountains are fantastic, the sky less so. I know you needed to keep the stars prominent for the challenge, but it's a pity the mountains are so small in the shot. Maybe a vertical crop might have worked better? Not sure.
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