Mike's Astro Photos

Catalina Mountains Tucson - February 5th, 2010

Here are a few astro photos I took from La Paloma, our Hotel in Tucson. I had originally wanted to drive out into the desert and shoot from there, but the timing wasn’t right so I decided to give it a try from the resort. I spent a few hours one night walking around to different spots trying to get a good vantage point on the stars. It wasn’t till the end of the night that I had discovered the golf course, which turned out to be the perfect place for observing and photographing. There were no street lamps and the course was very dark. The hotel is in the foothills of the Catalina mountains, the suburbs of Tucson, so the skies weren’t super black, but they were better than Baltimore County and the scenery was pretty awesome.

I really wanted to catch some meteor photos over the mountains and I thought about setting up the camera and leaving it running for the whole night, but the thought of sleeping on the golf course didn’t do much for me and I didn’t want to leave the camera unattended in such a public place. I shot 3-5 pictures from a dozen or so different spots. No meteors but the cacti, mountains and sky line all contributed to some cool photos.

Tucson Skyline - February 5th, 2010

Big Dipper & Cactus in Tucson - February 5th, 2010

Big Dipper Catalina Mountains - February 5th, 2010

Catalina Mountains Tucson

Orion From Tucson - February 5th, 2010

Orion Tucson - February 5th, 2010