Montana and North Dakota Provide Sunsets, Stars and Noctilucent Clouds

Recent vacation to western North Dakota and eastern Montana provided for some beautiful captures, and in one case, a rare sky capture. Above, the Milky Way spans a Badlands horizon toward the east as seen from the Little Missouri State Park campground north of Killdeer, North Dakota. Image was captured at 12:00 am MDT on Monday, May 31, 2021 and is a 2.5 second exposure at f/2.8, ISO 10000, 11mm focal length. The distant horizon lights are burning gas flares.

12:14 am MDT. Milky Way behind our Little Missouri campsite. 3 second exposure at f/2.8, ISO 8000, 11mm focal length.

8:34 pm MDT, May 31, 2021. Makoshika State Park, just southeast of Glendive, Montana. Sunny skies had given way to gathering dark clouds. The sky was mostly obscured until the moment of this capture, when a gap in the clouds briefly allowed a shaft of sunlight through, illuminating the top of these Badlands features. Sunset was at 8:35 pm. 1/320 second exposure at f/3.5, ISO 200, 18mm focal length.

8:36 pm. The (north) western horizon took on a fiery look as the clouds slowing closed the gap. 1/320 second image at f/4.5, ISO 320, 34mm focal length.

8:36 pm. Similar shot. 1/320 second exposure at f/4, ISO 320, 26mm focal length.

8:39 pm. Fading light and thickening clouds. 1/320 second exposure at f/5, ISO 320, 45mm focal length.

8:40 pm. 1/320 second exposure at f/4.5, ISO 500, 32mm focal length. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

Same location, now 9:38 pm MDT. The sun had been below the horizon for just over an hour. Small gaps through the clouds just above the hillside remained, showing an unusual illumination, which at first I dismissed as the lights of the nearby town on Glendive. It soon became apparent the town of just over 5,000 could not be causing this curious bright phenomenon. I soon remembered something called Noctilucent Clouds, though I had never actually seen them myself. 

9:41 pm. Arrows point to three separate areas of noctilucent clouds looking northwest. Noctilucent clouds form by the sun's interaction with ice crystals at extremely high altitudes (250,000-280,000 feet). They are commonly seen in the summer months when the sun is 6-16 degrees below the horizon and from latitudes 50-70 degrees north.

9:44 pm. Glendive is 47 degrees north latitude, and that is probably why the glowing clouds are low on the horizon--being seen higher in the sky farther north. Shortly after this image was captured, clouds began covering the spectacle, and in less than a half-hour a short rainfall ensued. iPhone 11 camera.

8:33 pm MDT, Wednesday, June 2, 2021. Sunset as seen from the Skyline Vista Overlook in the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. 1/500 second exposure at f/9, ISO 200, 18mm focal length. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.