In this timelapse video, the Milky Way rises and sweeps across Mount Adams, Mount Hood, and Mount St. Helens. The view is from Smith Creek Viewpoint on the night of June 13/14. Actual time elapsed, 7 hours starting at 21:40 local time. Nikon Z8 body, 7Artisans 10 mm lens, f2.8, ISO 3200, 13 sec exposure every 15 sec. Processed with Adobe Photoshop, CapCut PC, and Microsoft Clipchamp software.

Milky Way Arch over Crater Lake, Oregon, on the night of May 19/20, 2026, from near Merriam Point . Composite of 5 images, Nikon Z8, 7 Artisans 10 mm lens.

The Milky Way galactic center rose above Mount St. Helens during the early morning hours of March 22, 2026. It was an impressive display, made all the better by an appearance of the aurora borealis.

Dynamic weather made it difficult to observe the March 2026 total lunar eclipse from many parts of the Pacific Northwest, but a vantage point east of Vancouver, Washington, along the Columbia River offered a mostly clear view.

Following a memorable first attempt at photographing Crater Lake at night (see earlier post), I returned two months later for another try.

Built as the nation’s first World War I memorial and located near the eastern gateway of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Maryhill Stonehenge is a full-scale replica of England's prehistoric megalithic Stonehenge.

Following my memorable after-dark experience on Mauna Kea Volcano in May 2025 (see post below), I returned two months later hoping to capture images and time-lapse video of both W.M. Keck Observatory telescopes’ lasers in action.

Native Americans living in the U.S. Pacific Northwest about 7,700 years ago witnessed the cataclysmic eruption of Mount Mazama, a towering volcano in southern Oregon.

The summit area of Mauna Kea Volcano on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi is considered sacred by many indigenous Hawaiians.