Arching over the Bryce

The Bryce Canyon is one of the most beautiful natural parks not only in US, but in the world. And one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. When you stay in, you litterally feel like in a fairytale. A hundreds of high orange skittle-shaped limestone rocky towers create such a unique valley, offering even several-days long trips. As the canyon is located far from big cities, one of the top experience is – of course – a stargazing in the park. And here comes my own experience: Heading north from Utah to Wyoming for the total solar eclipse, I had just one night to stop by but I will never forget the night! Just after the dusk of August 17th, 2017, while getting to the Sunset point, I was such happy the night was getting pretty clear with no clouds, so I first walked this one of the most visited points of the canyon. I stood up, respectfully, above the valley and heard nothing. Just a weak breeze whispered in my ears from the silent canyon. Even in the deep night, I still could see the rocky towers and felt like I really was in a fairytale. It was just me and dozens of milions years old nature creation.

Apart from the stargazing experience, I you can also notice the pretty remarkable Gegenshein on the picture, which was visible by eyes even not high over the horizon. You can also find Andromeda galaxy or NGC 7000, the North America nebula. Used Canon 6D Baader IR modified, Samyang 24 mm, f2.8, ISO 8000, 43×25 seconds single images panorama from tripod and Vixen Polarie mount.

Knowing the summer Milky Way with the cetral bulge would visible over the so-called Inspirational point, I walked a bit down to the valley to see the Milky Way over the point. Well, I definitelly know why it is called this way. Surrounded by these rocks, I created this image in the projection suggesting a window from the Bryce Canyon to the Universe. Used Canon 6D Baader IR modified, Samyang 24 mm, f2.8, ISO 10000, 41×15 seconds single images panorama from tripod.