Testing out Nikon's new astro camera in Death Valley

I stood on Dante’s Peak in the dead of night, alone except for the stars. They were twinkling like the lights of Los Angeles from 30,000 feet. It was 3 a.m. and the Milky Way was high in the sky and 5,000 feet below me a vast expanse 100 miles across unfolded into Death Valley National Park and Badwater Basin, the lowest point in the United States

I setup my tripod and started shooting into the night.

I had ventured out to Death Valley in the throes of an obscene 118-degree heat wave to see the Milky Way with the new Nikon D810a astro camera I had just bought in an area with minimal light pollution. The camera boasts lower noise at higher ISOs, and a special IR Cut Filter, which allows certain wavelengths of light to shine through which normally wouldn't, producing surprisingly vivid images of space. Read more...