Milky Way from the Pulpit Rock Lookout

My Brother in Law has taken an interest in nightscapes and invited me along to take some nightscapes from the Pulpit Rock Lookout, near Blackheath, in the Blue Mountains National Park (NSW, Australia). We got there about an hour after we had anticipated so astronomical twilight had already passed but even 20 minutes before we got there we could already see how awesome the dark the skies were, while still in the car! We were certainly in for a treat when we finally arrived, I had never seen skies so dark before. Looking at the light pollution maps, this lookout was in a blue zone, and it was a welcomed improvement when compared to the skies at home which are in the ‘orange zone’.

Near the top of the lookout is a stone brick monument which took the foreground of the following shot. The red glow is a little light painting from a red headlamp, the Milky Way sits elegantly over the landscaped horizon.