A True Image From the False Kiva

By Alex in Pictures, Travel on Sep 29, 2008 at 11:22 pm


Photo: Wally Pacholka

A bad thing about living in a city is the light pollution that prevents us from seeing spectacular sights like this: the Milky Way galaxy, as seen from the False Kiva in the Canyonlands National Park in Utah.

APOD, one of my favorite sites, has the larger pic:

Is there any place in the world you could see a real sight like this? Yes. Pictured above is single exposure image spectacular near, far, and in between. Diving into the Earth far in the distance is part of the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy, taken with a long duration exposure. Much closer, the planet Jupiter is visible as the bright point just to band’s left. Closer still are picturesque buttes and mesas of the Canyonlands National Park in Utah, USA, lit by a crescent moon. In the foreground is a cave housing a stone circle of unknown origin named False Kiva. The cave was briefly lit by flashlight during the long exposure. Astrophotographer Wally Pacholka reports that getting to the cave to take this image was no easy trek. Also, mountain lions were a concern while waiting alone in the dark for just the right exposure.

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  1. Edward
    Sep 29th, 2008 at 11:30 pm

    I bow before the master.

    If I had taken this photo, I would retire my equipment and die knowing my life had not been in vain.

  2. myleti
    Sep 29th, 2008 at 11:49 pm

    Wow. I took astronomy in high school and aside from the somewhat odd and creepy teacher, I enjoyed that class so much. I wish I could see things like this. This is absolutely amazing.

  3. Dani
    Sep 29th, 2008 at 11:50 pm

    Great shot! I wonder if they have another one where they didn’t light up the cave.

  4. Ali S.
    Sep 29th, 2008 at 11:59 pm

    @ Edward

    You and me both! I would kill to get an opportunity and the right kit to go out and do this kind of photography.

  5. MrPumpernickel
    Sep 30th, 2008 at 12:40 am

    Nice shot, but ultimately he’s a liar.

    “Is there any place in the world you could see a real sight like this? Yes.”

    No, no there isn’t. He said himself that it’s a long duration exposure, so unless you can somehow trim your eyes into becoming a hell of a lot more light sensitive you’re never going to actually see that.

  6. Alex
    Sep 30th, 2008 at 12:52 am

    It’s a composite, no doubt, but that doesn’t take away from the beauty of the view/place/photo.

  7. Tweeker
    Sep 30th, 2008 at 2:10 am

    Makes me want to bust out the BB guy right now. I so enjoyed the power out.

  8. tripleX
    Sep 30th, 2008 at 4:13 am

    Amazing picture. I installed it right away as my new desktop image.
    I’m a man, but I like the female symbolism: the cave, the circle, moonlight, the milkyway.

  10. Kevin
    Sep 30th, 2008 at 7:21 am

    I’m afraid I agree with those who call “fake”, though I also love the picture.

    To gather enough light for that shot you would need a long exposure. However, the earth is turning, so a long exposure would simply give you star trails unless you tracked the sky — in which case the cave would be a smear. Actually, I don’t believe you can get that sky shot at all with a consumer (or possibly any) ground-based scope. It looks like a Hubble shot.

  11. Craig Single
    Sep 30th, 2008 at 8:27 am

    Definitely a fake/composite…the light on the earth doesn’t jive with everything else…nice image though.

    http://www.singleexposure.com

  12. Edward
    Sep 30th, 2008 at 8:33 am

    Wally Pacholka, the photographer, has credentials and awards that are sufficient for me to judge that his description of how the photo was taken are accurate.

    http://www.twanight.org/newTWAN/photographers_about.asp?photographer=W ally%20Pacholka

  13. Alberto
    Sep 30th, 2008 at 8:36 am

    This is FAKE!

    Take a close look at the clipping path on the horizon. Look at it’s color. The same for the sharp, shadowless opening of the cave.

    Not only is it FAKE, it’s not even a good one. I do image manipulation for a living.

    Look at the “large version” – questionable at best.

    The color is the giveaway

    Sorry suckers. You have been had.

    FAKE FAKE FAKE
    FAKE FAKE FAKE
    FAKE FAKE FAKE
    FAKE FAKE FAKE
    FAKE FAKE FAKE

  14. Xopl
    Sep 30th, 2008 at 10:49 am

    I’d say it is at least plausible. Go take a long exposure shot of the night sky way out in the country. The Milkyway really is there.

  15. jumping on the fake train
    Sep 30th, 2008 at 10:50 am

    this is a bad fake, long exposure of star field + earths rotation = not this

  16. rgmb
    Sep 30th, 2008 at 11:03 am

    Fake! Yep, nice shot but has to be a composite as others noted! If you don’t believe us, just check out other long exposure night sky shots on his website. :) They demonstrate the earth’s rotation accurately.

    http://www.twanight.org/newTWAN/galleries.asp?Sort=Country&Value=Canad a&page=1

  17. CLWTYG
    Sep 30th, 2008 at 1:02 pm

    I’m from southeastern utah and really thought this was fairly close to how the night sky looked for everyone (minus the milky way, you can see it but it isn’t that well-defined). I miss star-gazing at home terribly (and I only live 2 hours away).

  18. CheeseDuck
    Sep 30th, 2008 at 2:00 pm

    I’m loving this picture, even if it is fake.

  19. DOJ
    Sep 30th, 2008 at 3:08 pm

    cool picture, but i noticed the missing star trails too. Alas I was hoping someone would have an explanation.

  20. rw
    Sep 30th, 2008 at 4:07 pm

    Okay all you skeptics – just do a Google search on Milky Way photography, and you will see plenty of non-streaky photos of said galaxy.

    After you do that, head west to the high and dry regions of the Four Corners area. The Milky Way can seem so bright sometimes that you will think it is illuminating the landscape.

    Not. A. Fake.

  21. mds
    Sep 30th, 2008 at 6:45 pm

    RW – Do a search for astro-photography and Milky Way. You’ll find it’s not only done with long exposures but stacking those pictures to isolate details. It’s no less beautiful because of the technique used, but it doesn’t represent how you would perceive galaxy.

  22. bill
    Oct 2nd, 2008 at 4:37 pm

    well man, you need more practice to photoshop, keep on man you can do it, good luck

  23. ehaight
    Oct 4th, 2008 at 11:47 pm

    two things came to my mind when i saw this…
    1. that’s pretty amazing
    2. that looks like a vagina


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