Fine Art Images from the American Southwest

Tag: moon

Super, Blue Moon Rise, San Cristobal, NM 09-06-2023

Greetings from San Cristobal, NM. This week the Super, Blue Moon Rise from the deck at home in San Cristobal. I said I would share the moon rise if the skies were clear. They cooperated fully, with the thin veil of clouds adding an air of mystery.

I’ll begin with the first glow I saw about five minutes before the moon appeared. It gave me time to adjust my settings and anticipate the next few shots.

Super Blue moon rise San Cristobal
Super Blue Moon Rise San Cristobal, NM

Full moon rising over the ridge San Cristobal
The full moon’s appearance over the foothills.

Super Blue moon rising San Cristobal
Moon and trees on the ridge.

Full moon over the ridge San Cristobal
Super, Blue moon rise, in all its glory.

Of course, every moon rise is a sight to see. I am always excited as the moon clears the mountains where we live. Also, there is nothing like having a bright moon that you can drive with your headlights off and see the driveway ahead and the whole valley beyond lit up. The upside is that it’s like daylight in the house, so no nightlights are needed. The downside, sleep may be elusive on such a night.

Moon
Full Moon.

The next full moon will be the Harvest Moon on September 29. Here’s a Harvest Moon nearly full with a rainbow for added glory. Read more here about the Super Blue Moon.

As always, thanks for looking and for all the comments and compliments. Have a great week. G

Venus, Crescent Moon, Rising, Sangre De Cristo Mountains, NM

Venus and a waning crescent Moon rising over the Sangre De Cristo Mountains, northern New Mexico. I got out there early this morning, but only as far as the driveway. That’s as far as was needed. The silence was palpable save the crunching snow underfoot, and as is the case it got the coldest right before dawn and the frost built up thick on my tripod. The neighbor’s dog stirred up a couple of other hounds in the ‘hood. Happily, I was done by then and only had to walk a hundred feet to a steaming pot of tea, toast, and marmalade. Thanks for looking. G

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Taos Plateau Volcanic Field, Northern New Mexico

Taos Plateau Volcanic Field, moon setting, northern New Mexico. From left to right, Cerro Chiflo, Cerro de la Olla, Ute Mountain, San Antonio Mountain. The road heads west across the plateau, over the Rio Grande, with the waxing moon, and beyond into the sunset. Thanks for looking. G

Taos Plateau Volcanic Field, Northern New Mexico

Mars, Moon, Night And Day, San Cristobal

Mars, Moon night and day from the deck in San Cristobal New Mexico. This morning I looked out the window, decided I liked what I saw, so I got up and walked across the deck to get this shot of the red planet Mars and our Moon to the west. Below is the scene in the eastern sky yesterday evening. Thanks for looking. G

Mars, Moon night and day San Cristobal

Moon Mars San Cristobal, NM

Sunset Cloud, Moon, Taos, New Mexico

Sunset cloud and moon over Taos, New Mexico. Confronted by this cell last week. I had to stitch a few images together to get it all in. Taken on the same evening as yesterday’s ‘bear’ cloud image, thirty minutes apart. Click on the image to enlarge. Thanks for looking. G

Sunset clouds, moon, Taos, New Mexico.

Craters, Moon, San Cristobal, Sky

Craters of the Moon in a San Cristobal, early morning sky. I went out to photograph Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE this morning. I was up early but not early enough to get a good shot of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE). I could see it just fine, but the sky was too bright around it. So, I had a cup of tea and checked out the moon in the opposite part of the sky. I was transfixed observing her craters, my tea got cold. Slightly west of the la luna, Jupiter and it’s moons were equally mesmerizing. I’ll get up much earlier tomorrow and see what I can do with the comet. Never a wasted moment. Thanks for looking. G

Craters, Moon, San Cristobal, Sky

If you’re interested here are a few links to Comet PANSTARRS I photographed in March 2013 over a period of two weeks

https://geraintsmith.com/potd/pages/archive/march_13/mar_13_13.html

https://geraintsmith.com/potd/pages/archive/march_13/mar_14_13.html

https://geraintsmith.com/potd/pages/archive/march_13/mar_18_13.html

https://geraintsmith.com/potd/pages/archive/march_13/mar_26_13.html

Sunflower Pods, Moon Rise

Sunflower pods, Moon rise, from the meadow. I just got back in and decided this image from earlier this evening, when the moon first rose over the mountains, would make a good post. The colors were pretty cool and the moon was bright when it cleared the hazy clouds. It’s a composite exposure. I shot last years sunflowers in focus in the first image and racked focus to the moon in the second. Same exposure in both images. Combined them in Photoshop®. Thanks for looking and happy moon watching. G

Sunflower pods, Moon rise, from the meadow.

Mars, Crescent Lunar Occultation 02-18-2020

Mars with Lunar occultation (covered), 02-18-2020. Mars crept out from behind the Moon and appeared through the clouds this morning. Shortly after I made this image at 5:57am the clouds dispersed. Had I stirred from my sleep a couple of hours earlier I would have been able to observe Mars get swallowed up by the bright crescent. Thanks for looking. G

Mars with Lunar occultation, 02-18-2020.

Update For The Times, Ladder To The Moon

Update for the times, “Ladder To The Moon” inspired by the Georgia O’Keeffe painting. I hope you don’t mind. I figured change happens along with a few decades of deterioration in the New Mexico desert.  Thanks for looking. G

Update for the times, "Ladder To The Moon"

Snow Geese, Flashback 2009, Bosque Del Apache, NWR

Snow Geese and moon, flashback to 2009 in the Bosque Del Apache, NWR. There were so many snow geese flying overhead, so I had a lot of opportunities to catch them in front of the moon as it was rising. I’m looking forward to making a number of trips to the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge again this winter. As always thanks for looking. G

Snow Geese, moon, flashback 2009 Bosque Del Apache, NWR