Taken around midnight last week in Karval, Colorado, near the reservoir, a really dark site that ranks as a Class 2 site on the Bortle Scale, located about an hour and a half east of Colorado Springs.

Besides the Milky Way, you can see Jupiter rising above the horizon, and a shooting star in the upper left. The three lights on the horizon are the towns of Pueblo, La Junta, and Trinidad, all in southeast Colorado.

I used a Canon 6D DSLR camera and a Rokinon 14mm F2.8 ultra wide lens.

Last night, my wife and I ventured east to Karval, Colorado, located in the high plains about an hour and a half from Colorado Springs, to the Karval Reservoir. This was our first time shooting in Karval, and we were impressed with how dark and desolate the area is. Other than a few cattle farms, it's surrounded by nothing but endless plains. We walked around the reservoir while we waited for the Milky Way to rise, and then began taking pics around midnight.

Last night was new moon, and the perfect occasion to get a shot of the Milky Way rising around midnight. The red lights in this photo are from a nearby wind farm. The green in the sky is an atmospheric phenomenon known as "airglow". I took this photo with a Canon 6D DSLR camera and a Rokinon 14mm F2.8 ultra wide lens.

Another shot of the Milky Way from the Paint Mines Open Space in Calhan, Colorado, last night, my favorite and most visited site for photographing our galaxy. I light painted the foreground with an iPhone and blended it with a second exposure of the sky. This shot was taken with a Canon 6D DSLR camera with a Rokinon FE14M-C 14mm F2.8 Ultra Wide Lens.

After having not imaged the Milky Way all summer, I went to the Paint Mines Open Space in Calhan, Colorado, last night, determined to get a photo before the core sets for the year. Here is our home galaxy rising above two hoodoos in the Paint Mines. Interestingly, we ran into another Milky Way photographer already set up in the park. He wasn't sure how to get into the rockier sections of the Paint Mines, so we all went together and ended up spending a couple hours imaging together.

Here is the Milky Way, our home galaxy, as seen from a field near the Paint Mines Open Space in Calhan, Colorado. I took this long exposure photo with a Canon 70D DSLR camera and a Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X116 Pro DX lens.

The Milky Way as seen from within the rock formations at the Paint Mines Open Space in Calhan, Colorado, about 30 miles east of Colorado Springs. I took this photo using a Canon 70D DSLR camera a Rokinon HD8M-C 8mm f/3.5 HD fisheye lens. This image consists of two exposures, one long exposure for the Milky Way itself, and a second, light painted shot of the rock formations. 

The fall Milky Way as seen from within the rock formations at Paint Mines Open Space in Calhan, Colorado. This image is a composite of two photos taken with a Canon 70D and a Rokinon HD8M-C 8mm f/3.5 HD fisheye lens, one of the the Milky Way and a second, light painted shot of the foreground. 

The Milky Way rising above the Paint Mines Open Space in Calhan, Colorado. This was my first successful attempt at light painting, back in 2015. This is a composite image made from two exposures, one for the Milky Way and a second for the foreground. The rocks in the foreground were light painted with a flashlight to illuminate them and add interest to the image. The Paint Mines Open Space is a wonderful spot in eastern Colorado that's perfect for hiking in the daytime and astrophotography at night.

A photo of an Orionid meteor and the winter Milky Way taken at the Paint Mines Interpretive Park in Calhan, Colorado, October, 2017. We saw 15 meteors over the course of two hours that not, but I only managed to capture one on camera. The sky was filled with airglow, too, which you can plainly see above the horizon in this photo. I took this photo with a Canon 70D and a Rokinon HD8M-C 8mm f/3.5 HD fisheye lens.