I visited Winchester Mountain Lookout this last August, on the New Moon, hoping for some nice night sky images.

I was with two clients who had signed up for a Hike-In Night Sky Photo Tour.

We arrived early at the trail head so as to get to the Lookout early and so “reserve”it for the night.

The hike in is beautiful, less that 2 miles. We arrived and just lazed about until the sky got dark.

My first comp was this shot of the lookout with the Milky Way above…how awesome!

I got this image and mostly thought I was done, but figured, what the heck, I am out here anyway, might as well shoot some more. I went to the other side of the lookout to shoot, now facing north…and was shocked to see the green glow of the aurora borealis along the horizon!

I decided to do a time lapse image, I used a 20 minute exposure at 100 ISO and here is the result.

And here is one more shot, of Mount Larrabee.