Album Night Shots and Star Trails

From SE Nebraska. We had perfect conditions for this event. I drove out to a lake that has dark skies to the north. At its height the aurora covered the entire northern half of the sky and was overhead as well. We could even see it shimmering. I've seen the Northern Lights a couple times before but have never seen anything like this one.
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We stayed a couple hours watching. It was still going strong when we left the lake. This is a 180 degree panorama I took just before leaving. Unbelievable colors.
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Iʻm so grateful I could experience this shot!!!

When I woke up Saturday morning, I knew we would have an eruption today. The volcano had been totally quiet for more than ten days, not even an earthquake. My Co-Workers in the park laughed at me when I told them about it. Around noon, an earthquake swarm started. It got progressively more violent and extreme every hour.
There were tons of shallow quakes in the magnitude 3 and 4 range. I smiled; I already knew what would happen.

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After work, I went with all the ranger Co-workers to the rim of Kilauea. We wanted to experience the earthquakes. And wow, you could feel them like crazy. And there were constant rockfalls into the crater, creating colossal dust plumes. Everyone was now convinced our volcano would erupt soon. Well, I told them so earlier, I had my special gut feeling and it has never let me down the past four eruptions, lol.

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At one point, we all went home. I packed my car with all my camera gear, tripods, food, water, and warm jackets. I knew I needed to go within a minuteʻs notice back to the park. I went to bed and suddenly woke up at 1:30 am. Immediately, I checked the USGS data, especially the tilt meter. Volcanic tilt is an indicator of the swelling of the volcano and magma movement within it. The tilt had rapidly dropped.
We had an eruption!!!
Now I had to figure out where!!!

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Eruption signature!!!

I checked every USGS webcam and hoped to catch a glow on it.
And yes, the Kaʻu desert camera picked it up!! That means the eruptions were in the area where I was always documenting the cracks!!!


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I jumped into my car at 1:47 am and headed to the park. The 20 miles felt like an eternity.
Knowing where the eruption was and that the park would close the entire area, I headed to the highest legally open point, set up my camera, and shot across the landscape to the line of fissures 2.5 miles away.

And I lucked out!! The Milky Way was out, and there was no thick fog for a few moments. I even captured a meteor in my shot.


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I could see nothing most of the time, but this was the money shot I was after. It was worth it.
Especially after the eruption stopped after 12 hours. I knew it would be a very short eruption. In that area, they are only a few hours long, so I lucked out even more.

I actually had a backcountry permit for dispersed camping in the area of the eruption for today. Well, this trip will not happen for a while, but I was not disappointed. I got a nice shot of the eruption, which barely anyone was able to see due to its short duration.
 
Fascinating description, @Yvonne. I don't know anything about this and loved learning about your experience. Yes, that shot is fantastic! Your homework and preparation really paid off!
 
Janice said:
Fascinating description, @Yvonne. I don't know anything about this and loved learning about your experience. Yes, that shot is fantastic! Your homework and preparation really paid off!
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Iʻm a hobby volcanologist, so I definitely know a lot about the signs and signatures to look for.
However, even that threw me completely off when I picked up my permit on Saturday, planning to go on a dispersed camping trip in the area on Tuesday.
I followed the volcanic unrest for quite a while, and all the seismicity was on the opposite park site.
I guess, even USGS was a bit surprised when seismicity increased from zero to 100 percent within hours.

There is never a boring moment out here in our park and on our volcano
 
There was a soft opening of parts of the backcountry in the Kaʻu Desert. So, I got a new permit for the Kamakaiʻa Hills.
I lost my permit the week earlier because of the eruption, so I was more than happy to go a week later.
It was a much longer journey, and I had to carry all my water—a total of 12 pounds—in addition to my camera gear.
But it was my last window to shoot the Milky Way above the Kamakaiʻa Hills, so I took the chance.

And I was happy with what I got even though it was a hot, rugged, and slow trip, I was walking for 12 miles across lava fields.

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Southern Cross low on the horizon between the cinder cones during the blue hour

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Milky Way rising above Kamakaiʻa Uka

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Milky Way above the Cinder Cone of Kamakaiʻa Uku, lit up by the setting moon

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Desert Milky Way after moonset
 
Titans said:
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) next to Navajo Mtn last evening. The comet was visible to the naked eye, but it was better captured by Rick’s camera:


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Here’s round two, last evening. The comet was much higher in the sky and barely, barely visible with the naked eye. The woman in the center of the photo first located the comet by using her iPhone. Then Rick switched lenses and captured it:

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Titans said:
Here’s round two, last evening. The comet was much higher in the sky and barely, barely visible with the naked eye. The woman in the center of the photo first located the comet by using her iPhone. Then Rick switched lenses and captured it:

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Considering all the clouds in the lower part of the sky, it's very nice that the comet was higher in the sky this time. :) Around what time did you see it? Cool shot with the Needles in the background.
 
Yeah that thing is really cruising - approx 2 million miles a day. I went out taking some pics tonight and was surprised how much higher and dimmer versus just a few nights ago. Full moon isn’t helping either.
 
Clouds and snow here now....I got the one good night for my pic....no seconds, it will be gone.
 
Janice said:
Considering all the clouds in the lower part of the sky, it's very nice that the comet was higher in the sky this time. :) Around what time did you see it? Cool shot with the Needles in the background.
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Rick’s photo is taken 8:15pm I think.
We first saw it around 7:40pm and we left shortly after Rick’s photo. He might dig up more photos today.
 
The clouds finally gave way here in Ohio to allow visibility to the comet. The moon rose a little later tonight which made finding it a little easier.

Towards the top and center in the wide angle.

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Swapped out to the big lens for a closer view.

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