Grand Plateau mission 2.0.
This incredible place never fails to deliver!
Last week I had another overnighter at Plateau Hut as a social hiking trip with friends and again we were blessed with perfect conditions, day and night.
For those of you who follow my feed on a regular basis, you’ll recall I recently posted an image from November 2021 near Plateau Hut during an insanely strong Aurora display.
Being the biggest critic of my own work, I was still not completely satisfied with the fact that the Milky Way core had already dipped behind the skyline, which in this case was Aoraki – Mt. Cook.
Conveniently, our most recent trip was both earlier in the “Milky Way season”, and approaching the new moon phase.
In summary, this is an image that I’ve lusted after for nearly a year, so I’m glad to have finally nailed it.
Centre frame is Aoraki – Mt. Cook, and to the right is Mount Tasman. They are the two tallest mountains in NZ reaching altitudes of 3724 masl & 3497 masl respectively.
Our home galaxy, the Milky-Way forms an arch over the horizon to the west.
Two satellite galaxies of the Milky-Way the large & small Magellanic Clouds hover in the upper left of the image.
The red & green glow on the horizon is not Aurora, but another atmospheric phenomenon known as Airglow.
Below and slightly left of centre is our accommodation for the night, Plateau Hut, cantilevered on a rock outcrop above the stunning yet intimidating Hochstetter glacier.
This image is a stitched panorama consisting of 28 images (2 rows & 14 columns).
EXIF: 15sec, F/3.2, ISO12800, 28mm.
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