Badlands, Good Skies

An extended Labor Day weekend provided a "mini vacation" for my wife and me to Badlands National Park in South Dakota, a 10 1/2 hour drive from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Evident right away were the dark skies of the area, shown above from our White River KOA Holiday campground site (43°41'30.74"N, 101°55'39.26"W) at 9:26 pm MDT, Friday, September 4, 2020. The Milky Way is at center with the bright planets Saturn and Jupiter toward the left. Below the planets is our "yurt" cabin where we stayed for three nights. 

5:12 am MDT, Saturday, September 5. Setup at the Big Badlands Overlook (43°47'5.08"N, 101°54'0.86"W), awaiting sunrise. This image looks southeast. The bright object in the sky is the -4.17 magnitude planet Venus. Land features are dimly illuminated by a three-quarters moon. 10 second exposure at f/3.5, ISO 640, 18mm focal length. 

5:14 am. Similar panorama image. 10 second exposure at f/3.5, ISO 500, 18mm focal length.

5:24 am. Looking southeast. Foreground land features are illuminated by the moon. 15 second exposure at f/3.5, ISO 160, 18mm focal length.

5:28 am. Sue Alliss sits on a Badlands promontory with headlamp on while eastern skies brighten before sunrise. Official sunrise on this day here was 6:18 am. 5 second exposure at f/3.5, ISO 160, 18mm focal length.

5:50 am. Looking southwest. Three-quarters moon, with the -1.91 magnitude planet Mars above and left. 4 second exposure at f/9, ISO 160, 18mm focal length.

5:56 am. Sunrise observers gather at the Big Badlands Overlook, 22 minutes before sunrise. Camera was positioned on a long promontory. 0.5 second exposure at f/9, ISO 100, 18mm focal length.

6:22 am. Similar view four minutes after sunrise. 1/25 second at f/9, ISO 100, 18mm focal length.

7:04 pm MDT, Saturday, September 5. Waiting for sunset at Hay Butte Overlook (43°52'33.43"N, 102°15'22.36"W) along Sagecreek Rim Road. Golden hour image looks SSW. High temperature this day in the Badlands was a sizzling 104 degrees F! 1/25 second at f/9, ISO 160, 18mm focal length.

7:10 pm. Looking west just seven minutes before sunset. Brisk breezes were buffeting the overlook. 1/40 second exposure at f/9, ISO 160, 18mm focal length.

7:24 pm. Underway again and eastbound on Sagecreek Rim Road, but with a quick stop here (43°52'25.01"N, 102°14'31.15"W) to capture the brilliant post-sunset sky. 1/8 second exposure at f/9, ISO 160, 18mm focal length.

5:59 am MDT, Sunday, September 6. Ready for sunrise at the Door Trail area (43°45'48.91"N, 101°55'29.80"W). Image looks northeast at brightening sky, 20 minutes before official sunrise. 0.6 second exposure at f/9, ISO 100, 18mm focal length.

6:20 am. Looking east from Door Trail area one minute after sunrise. 1/20 second exposure at f/9, ISO 100, 55mm focal length.

6:21 am. Similar shot and identical camera settings.

6:23 am. Similar capture with more sky. 1/30 second exposure at f/9, ISO 100, 55mm focal length. 

6:29 am. Looking ENE, ten minutes after sunrise. 1/60 second exposure at f/9, ISO 100, 55mm focal length.

6:31 am. Sunrise with brilliant rays. 1/80 second exposure at f/9, ISO 100, 18mm focal length.

6:32 am. Similar capture with same camera settings.

The evening of Sunday, September 6 brought brief crystal clear skies over the Badlands. With an open window of about 1 1/2 hours, I was able to capture the Milky Way with its galactic core visible, the sky without clouds, and without moon interference (it rose at 10:32 pm MDT). The vertical image above looks southwest at 9:11 pm from Cedar Pass Viewpoint ( 43°45'0.58"N, 101°55'52.36"W). Left of the Milky Way is the 0.34 magnitude planet Saturn (left) and the -2.52 magnitude planet Jupiter. 13 second exposure at f/2.8, ISO 6400, 14mm focal length. 

9:16 pm. Landscape version of previous image. Toward the right are the lights of Cedar Pass Campground and the small town of Interior, about three miles distant. At lower right is a section of Highway 240. Illumination of the foreground features at center was created from an approaching vehicle on the highway. 13 second exposure at f/2.8, ISO 6400, 14mm focal length. Distant lights at right were captured using a four second exposure and blended into the image. Breezy winds persisted at this moment.

Moved on to the Door Trail area for more Milky Way captures, encountering a couple of plump porcupines just off road along the way. The image above looks southwest from the elevated observation walkway at Door Trail (43°45'50.69"N, 101°55'29.58"W) at 9:32 pm. 10 second exposure at f/2.8, ISO 6400, 14mm focal length. Slight illumination of foreground features was created by Sue Alliss light painting with a flashlight.

9:36 pm. Vertical capture. 10 second exposure at f/2.8, ISO 8000, 14mm focal length. Sue Alliss can be seen light painting at lower right. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.