Milky Way Over Fairyland Canyon

From the photographer: “In this view standing on the edge of Fairyland Point overlooking Fairyland Canyon in Bryce Canyon National Park the Milky Way and colorful Airglow light the sky above the interesting looking Hoodoos and other beautiful geologic formations of this area. Taken on 7/2/2022 around 10pm 58 single images were used to create the final panoramic result.

Bryce Canyon National Park is an amazingly beautiful and often less busy National Park in Utah making it an enjoyable place to visit. The most striking features in this area are the colorful orange/reddish Hoodoos which are the rock formations that look like spires sticking out of the landscape. This particular area appropriately called Fairyland Canyon is located on the north end of the park. The Hoodoo’s here are younger than the rest of the park, these irregularly eroded rock spires are shaped erosion over the eons associated with the Paria River.

Above the landscape the Milky Way arches over the horizon with some colorful green/blueish airglow closer to the horizon. Airglow occurs high up in planetary atmospheres causing the night sky to never be completely dark even at a location with no light pollution. Also while this image was taken the 4 day old Waxing Crescent Moon was setting to the West directly behind where this image was shot. This illuminated the tips of some of the Hoodoos and other features far off in the distance adding to the overall drama of the scene.”

Technical details: ~58 frame panorama 13 sec @6400 ISO, Canon 6D Hutech UV/IR Mod, Canon EF 35mm f/1.2L II USM, Reveal Focus Filter by David Lane, Processed in Photoshop CC and PTGui