Fullmoon over Alpstein

Posted on Juli 12th, 2014

After an awesome sunset, the fullmoon was rising in the eastern sky. And because I was on the peak of the Faehnerenspitz while the sunset, I had enough time to look out for the best places with sightseeing, while I was walking down.
Whereas the moon was already high in the sky and his light was falling over the Appenzell and the residents were preparing for bed time, there was one jerk up on the hill making images of a really clear fullmoon night…

Looking for the Milky Way – Part 3

Posted on Juni 19th, 2014

Today on the third part will come to the final end with the starscape image. on the first part I showed you the requirements for the best sight and on the second part I wrote about hiking up to the destination.

The work begins

As everything looked great I quickly went back inside toput on warm clothes, because outside was a nasty, cold wind. Bubu the little rascal was quite restless, as he was the whole evening. I think in the restaurant it was just too loud for him and he could not lie down to sleep.
But now we went out and walked the short path to the lookout hill next to the building. Backpack on the bench, Bubu bound to the bank with the 10m leash, and off you go.
Build tripod, put camera on it, and take a test shot at 6400 ISO with 30 seconds exposure time, to see what there is to see.

Wow, there it was, our galaxy, the Milky Way. It was still a little far in the east, but in the end, it should be directly above the Säntis at 2 o’clock. Right now, it could not be seen very bright because of light pollution in the region of Lake Constance. But we still have plenty of time.
Camera back down and mount the tracking device for the real shots. Bubu is still whining. So, camera back on and off you go with a long time recording over 120 seconds.

Unexpected events

While waiting, I noticed that my little furry friend still whines and shivers. What is his problem? Also caressing and cajolingdid not help. If he continues this way, it’s going to be a problem.
Wow, cool, I see it, the Milky Way. Still a little far to the left in the light pollution, but really good to see. And yet another shot, this time for the foreground without tracking. And Bubu is still unhappy. I start realising that this dog isn’t really suited for mountain trips.
But I’d like to have at least one more nice picture. So I change the lens and mount the Samyang 14mm on the camera.. Now another 3 pictures of about 3 minutes. Slowly Istart worrying about my little friend.

He’s still whining, so we start packing our stuff quickly and head for our two-hour return trip. Aaaand behold, as soon as we are walking on, everything seems to be absolutely OK for this little stinker! I think this little rascal had just been bored.
After two hours we were back at the car. Thanks to my good hiking shoes my feet kept dry, but Stefan has gotten a big load of water and dirt inside as he stepped into a mud hole.

Conclusion

Nearly everything was correct, the weather was exactly as it should be, even at the right time. The viewing angle was also perfectly chosen. Were it not for someone who didn’t like the whole thing. Well, next time might probably stay at home. For sure!

So I wasn’t able to get as many pictures as I wanted, and the ones I’ve got are not as perfect as they could have been an hour later, but … just look at the results. No more words needed…

Ah yes, my furry monster spent the next 24 hours sleeping, except for a really short walk he didn’t want to do anything else

Looking for the Milky Way -Part 1
Looking for the Milky Way -Part 2
Looking for the Milky Way -Part 3

 

Looking for the Milky Way – Part 2

Posted on Juni 18th, 2014

Today in In the second part I will write about the hike up to the destination. Yesterday in the first part I showed you the requirements for the best sight and part three will come to the final with the starscape image.

Here we go

Finally, at 16:00 o’clock I went off . First pick up Stefan, and then head toward the Alpstein Mountains in the region of Appenzell. At about 17:30 we were on the Schwägalp our starting point to the Kronberg. Actually, there’s a cablecar up, but it only runs until 18:00. One can also stay at the Kronberg, but only on weekends, without a dog. As my friend Bubu was also with us, we had to walk up and down again.
So at 18:00 we went finally walking off towards Kronberg. The Santis was still enveloped by a huge black cloud. But in the other directions we could see the blue sky between smaller clouds.

So no reason to be concerned.
The march went first on an alpine meadow and then continued slightly uphill to the Chammhaldenhütte. Then it went down moderately but the way is pretty muddy. Shortly before the Schutzenälpli it goes a little upwards.

But now it’s getting hairy

When we arrived at Langälpli there came the first problem, as a bull was standing in the middle of the pasture and we were with Bubu on a leash! If this is gonna work out …Thankfully it went well. But then the way got harder and harder. Now it goes uphill steeply and I had my heavy backpack full of equipment. Why do I always have to carry so much stuff with me? Eventually, after what felt like 10 hours, we arrived at the top, but I had to be extremely careful not to stand on my own tongue.

Finally on the top

Now we had earned us a big dinner. Although we could not stay over the night, we were allowed to use the guest house.
After an opulent meal, I could make a few beautiful shots of the sunset before the dessert. However, there hung still a thick cloud over the Säntis, it did not look good for the Milky Way. After a little dessert and we had to wait until 23:00 when it was quite dark.

Then I went outside for a short weather check to look at how bad it was with the cloud situation. And what was that? I could see the beacon on the Santis and and yes, YES are the stars around it! Just as told by the weather service earlier, the sky over the Santis was perfectly clear!

Read tomorrow in third and final part, whether we found the Milky Way or not.

Looking for the Milky Way -Part 1
Looking for the Milky Way -Part 2
Looking for the Milky Way -Part 3

A spring sunset in Appenzell

Posted on Juni 14th, 2014

It was a warm and sunny day in April, when I decided to stay a night in the nature at the Appenzell region in Switzerland. After I drove as far as I can up to the hill, I had to walk another several hundert meters of altitude difference up the hill to the peak of the Faehnerenspitz.
This time I was early enough to take pictures of the sun, the sun setting, the dusk and of course the starry night. This image was taken on the highest point and you can see the Säntis on the left and the city of Appenzell on the right. On the peak of the Säntis you can already see the light of to rising fullmoon.

Toggenburg

Posted on März 28th, 2014

During my stay on the mount Selun I took also an image of the Toggenburg, the valley from where we climbed up the mountain. You can see on the opposite side the mount Saentis with the glowing antenna.
And farther away you can see the light pollution of the Bodensee region and probably a part of Germany. The way up was not a piece of cake, I can tell you, especially when you carry the havy camera gear…