Night Sky Paradise

I've said it countless times before and I'll keep saying it over and over. I am so grateful for where I live. There are many things to love about the Heart of the Continent region but my favorite of all is the night sky. The quality of our night skies are just incredible. From the darkest nights with the stars and Milky Way glowing brightly overhead, to awesome aurora displays that sometimes stretch across the entire sky, it's all magical and I never tire of it. As we prepare for another winter storm set to hit us tomorrow, its a great time to look back and reflect on the beauty that this week has given us. 

Late March Winter Storm

 

We just received a major winter storm that dumped over 12 inches of heavy, wet snow in some areas. It snowed for almost a full 24 hours and by the time it was done our world had been transformed into a winter wonderland once again. Some had thought that winter was done with us for another year. Indeed, the snow had been almost completely gone from the Lake Superior shoreline. But, I suspected that winter wasn't quite finished with us yet. 

I've seen too many of these late-winter storms dump 1 to 2 feet of snow on us to think we were out of the woods for the winter of 2024-2025. The storm gave me an opportunity to photograph a MNDOT plow truck with this Grand Portage, Minnesota mountain in the background. I've been wanting to catch a plow truck in this scene for quite a while. It's nice to have finally captured it!

Joyce L. VanEnkevort passing by 5 Mile Rock

Yesterday was a beautiful day, a stark contrast to the heavy snow that is falling today.  I had to make a quick trip to Grand Marais to pick up some things from the hardware store. Along the way I was lucky enough to see one of the first freighters of the year on lake Superior. This is the Joyce L. VanEnkevort passing by 5 Mile Rock just north of Grand Marais. The temps got down to the single digits the previous night and the lake was pretty calm so there was some surface ice that had formed, which made the foreground a little more interesting than if it had just been all open water. 

Awesome 22-degree halo over Lake Superior today!

 

As I was driving to work yesterday I quickly noticed that there was a very obvious, prominent ring around the sun. As soon as I saw it I wondered if it would line up with Hollow Rock, so I took a quick detour there to see and sure enough, it was pretty much perfectly aligned! These photos were taken with my iPhone 16 Pro Max. 

A great night for recording sky quality readings!

 

Last night was a great one for recording sky quality readings. Only one day past the new moon and it was clear and cold. Zero cloud cover, but the humidity at 65% may have affected the clarity of the sky a little bit. Temps hovered between 2 degrees above zero and 2 degrees below zero. I took readings at a variety of locations, some in areas relatively near to artificial lights and some out where there are no artificial lights at all. There was one location where I saw a low level of aurora activity on the northern horizon, along with some lights from the village of Grand Portage. This location yielded results right around 21.0 and the locations I sampled within the village of Grand Portage were between 20 and 21. My best reading of the night was 21.57 and the worst was 20.10.  According to the meter manufacturer, the reading range typically falls between around 16 for bright urban skies to 22 for the darkest skies on Earth. Values in the 21-22 range indicate exceptionally dark skies. 

February Moon over Lake Superior

 

I was driving home this evening just as the sun was setting on the horizon behind me. To the east the moon was rising over Lake Superior, just above this impressive bank of clouds. As the sun dipped below the horizon, the pink clouds gave way to a purple sky and the moonlight began to shimmer on the surface of Superior. How could I not stop and make some photographs...

Some objects are further than they appear

 

On some days, Isle Royale looks like it's not that far away at all. Yesterday was one of those days. I made these photos on my way to work. The Island hovered above the horizon and certainly appeared to be closer than 20+ miles away. When I drove past the Susie Islands overlook, Rock of Ages lighthouse looked like it was only a couple of miles beyond Big Susie Island, when really its between 13 and 14 miles from Big Susie. Of course, these photos were made with a telephoto lens, which further aids in distant objects appearing closer than they do with the naked eye.