We had been home only two weeks from our 2-month trip. It was time for another camping trip because, well just because.
Most years we are camping on Halloween to avoid the little beggars and extortionists who knock on our door on October 31st. Last year, due to COVID there were none. This year we can’t go camping that weekend due to my son getting married that weekend.
So we headed to the high desert for a pre-Halloween trip.
The fall is a great time of year to visit the desert. Spring can be better if the desert flowers are in bloom. For us, the deserts beckon no matter what time of year it is. Living in Southern California we are close to millions of acres of desert camping — remote desert camping with few, if no, people around. This trip didn’t disappoint.
Weather
I brought my telescopes. Clear nights are necessary for astronomy and astrophotography. We had 10 wonderful clear nights and 4 days/nights with clouds and a little rain, although clouds in deserts are not to be a detriment to an enjoyable trip. One just has too appreciate whatever Mother Nature provides.
Cactus and Spikes and Spiders, oh My!
Daytime conditions we perfect for hiking. And hike we did.
The Witch
The Witch Head Nebula is somewhat difficult to image from our home. It is a faint reflection nebula that glows from light reflected by the star, Rigel, and is in the constellation Orion. The color of this nebula is caused not only by the blue color of the star, but also because the dust grains reflect blue light more better than red.
Although it is faint, our dark location in the Mojave made this a perfect target.
Triangulum Galaxy
This time of year, the Witch Head Nebula is below the horizon in the early evening, and it isn’t until around 1:30am that it is high enough to image with a telescope. So each night of imaging the Witch Head, I captured the Triangulum Galaxy.
The Heart Nebula
During the time we were celebrating our 19th Wedding anniversary at a campground this past September, I took pictures of the Heart Nebula, which seemed appropriate for the occasion. On this last trip, I took a few more images of the Heart to finalize the image.
