Where it all begins. - a photo on Flickriver

            The Milky Way rises up over Cuyamaca Peak in San Diego's backcountry. 

The Cuyamaca name is a Spanish corruption of the Kumeyaay ( the Kumeyaay is a tribe of Indigenous peoples of the Americas who live at the northern border of Baja California in Mexico and the southern border of California in the United States.) phrase "'Ekwiiyemak", which means, according to Margaret Langdon's translation, "Behind the clouds".It has also been translated as "the place where it rains", a reference to the region's higher average precipitation than San Diego County's low coastal areas.

The San Diego River and Sweetwater River both have their headwaters in these mountains, which flow over 50 miles to the ocean.

If you look closely at the mountain peak you will see snow, and on my way out to this mountain the sky was clear everywhere else but the peak which was surrounded by clouds from the heat of the day as it evaporated the recent snow fall, but as the day ended the clouds disappeared and I had a clear view of the night sky. 

I started the night off shooting the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex as it rose up over the peak with my 50mm lens which really made the subject the mountain peak and the cloud complex, as the night whore on and more of the Milky Way rose into view I switched over to my 24mm lens giving me a much wider view of the Milky Way and making the mountain a more secondary part of the scene. The 24mm f/1.4 is one of my favorite "Milky Way Lens".

I tried to tap down the light pollution spilling in from the right side of the photo but its rather hard to control, in fact I would say the light pollution helps light up the foreground some what. 

Tracked, Stacked, and Blended. 

Sony A7R5 w/ Sony FE 24mm f/1.4 GM

Night Sky 
Tracked and Stacked
ISO 800, 24mm, f/2.0, 61 seconds x 20 exposures and 13 dark frames. 

Blended with one foreground exposure 
ISO 800, 24mm, f/4.0, 301 seconds exposure.

Taken on: April 6, 2024

Tags:

Cuyamaca

Peak

Way

San

Diego

Mountains

Snow

Night

Sky

Long

Exposure

tracked

Stacked

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Sets appears in: • Explored • Milky Way

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Camera: Sony ILCE-7RM5, f/2.0, 1220 sec, 24mm, ISO 800 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Sony ILCE-7RM5
Lens:	FE 24mm F1.4 GM
Aperture:	f/2.0
Exposure Time:	1220
Focal Length:	24mm
ISO:	800
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 13.2 (Windows)
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