My Ten Favorite Sky Photos Of 2020

This is always a category that I have trouble naming. By saying sky I guess I could include sunsets and sunrises, but I really mean things out of the norm. This year I might have had a little more fun with these than normal early on in the pandemic. With people staying home the skies were much clearer making star trails much more fun to make. It didn’t last long, but I tried to make the most of that time. I spent a lot of late nights up making many photos to stitch together. The big news of the year though had to be the Neowise comet. At first I had no luck with the thing, but then I started to get really lucky making cool images of it. This is always a topic that I want to make more images of. I love the sky and finding the cool things in it. I had always been busy with something else though. This year I could focus on it a little more. My goal for 2021 is to find a dark sky and make a really cool milky way photo. Hopefully that shows up on next years countdown. Here are my favorite images from this year. It might be a tad bit over ten photos.

10. It doesn’t get simpler than photos of the sun and the moon. This year I had some fun using my long glass to get as close to the moon as I could. I liked this little section of it. The photo of the sun is one where I was doing a bit of testing. With an eclipse coming up in 2021 I wanted to get gear to make photos of it early. The last eclipse I waited too long to get the things I needed to make a photo of it. If you plan on making eclipse photos then I suggest you find what you need now. Of course we all know that planning ahead like this means that it will be cloudy here, but at least I have what I need.

9. Lightning is always fun to capture. The bottom photo is one where I just set up my camera in an upper window of the house as a storm approaches. The photo at the football stadium was one that I made on my way home from trying some lightning photos. I decided to try for one more and it really worked out for me.

8. As I said in the open this was a great year for star trail photography. I had more time to do it for one, and the skies were very cooperating. Here are three of my favorites from this year.

7. Here are two more photos of the comet Neowise. For a brief moment this summer we had a cool object in the sky that was fun to try and place among other objects. It really gave me something to plan for and look forward too.

6. This was a fun photo to make. I drove out to the windmills to try something there. It was getting late, but things worked out to make a pretty cool photo. I need to try this more with other objects in the sky.

5. This photo is why I set up two cameras when I make star trail photos. The first camera that I set up is the idea that I went to the place in mind. The second camera is an idea that I come up with once I am on the scene. That second camera is usually the photo that I like the most. This star trail photo is one that I really like and the bright stars helped make it.

4. These two photos were part of an amazing morning in Lafayette watching the comet Neowise as it moved through the sky. The morning light along with the comet made for some amazing photos that I will not forget.

3. This is my favorite star trail photo of the year. I resisted making photos from this angle for a long time. I always felt it was photographed too much. This year though I had fun making photos there. The lawn allowed me to be far away from anyone walking by as I sat and watched the world spin.

2. This was a photo that had a lot of luck involved in it. I knew that the supermoon would rise near the bell tower, but I didn’t have an exact idea of where I needed to be. I lucked out that the parking garage that I picked to make the photo gave us a clear view of the event. That is right I said us. This might be the last collaborative photo that I made in 2020 because of the virus. It was a fun night and I am sure that I made that noise that I often make when things work out.

1. This is my list and this is number one because of the luck involved. I went out that night intending to have the comet in the photo along with the space station. My goal was to do this at the Union and the new campus gate. About fifteen minutes before the space station pass the lights at the gate flipped on ruining the idea. I then had fifteen minutes to get somewhere and make the photo. I ran to the car thinking about the spot as I did. I realized that from center field of Bittinger Stadium I could see both of these events in the sky. I spotted the space station starting its pass just as I finished setting up my camera. It took a lot of luck to make this photo and that is why it shows up at number one.

Looking back this might be my best year ever for these types of photos. You can put some of that on the fact that I was stir crazy because of the virus. You also had a few events that transpired that were noteworthy and made for good photos. With a total eclipse this summer things could work out well for another good list at the beginning of next year. Time will tell and it will be fun trying to top this list.