Outback Scene

A wonderful sight to be seen in the outback, and a wonderful memory of the Big Red Bash.

Outback Run

The Outback to the Stack run was held this morning. A 21 kilometre run/walk from Lake Moondarra into town. Here, two competitors finish their race.

Limb Of Moon

A close up of the Moon's limb and terminator (day/night boundary) on a rather turbulent seeing night.

Pink PANSTARRS

And there in the pink hue of scattered light below the Moon was Comet PANSTARRS 2014 Q1.

PANSTARRS Sunset

Somewhere in the wonderful band of colour below the Moon, but above the horizon, lies the comet C/2014 Q1 PANSTARRS. This shot gave a nice context to frame where the comet should be.

Comet

I went chasing a comet last night and all I got was this photo! But seriously, this is Comet C/2014 Q1 PANSTARRS. It was hiding in the sunset glow just below the moon. If you click to view the large version you will see two distinct tails. The vertical ion tail and the dust tail to the right.

Rise Sun

Photographers and early risers watch the Sun as it traverses the horizon, from the top of Big Red (the sand dune).

Sunup

The sleepy campground below Big Red is veiled in a haze of smoke and dust at sunup on a cool Monday morning last week in Birdsville.

Drone

A ubiquitous sight at many large events these days is the drone camera. I snapped this one catching some footage of the four wheel drives climbing Big Red.

Onlookers

The onlookers were even in helicopters to see all the action from a higher angle.

Sand Hill Climb

Part of the entertainment at the Big Red Bash involved watching many members of the public almost literally throw their expensive 4x4 rigs at the steep track up the Big Red sand dune. Some of the cars got a bit more of a bash than others. I remember hearing this land cruiser hit the bump stops on landing.

Big Red Laser Show

The night time laser show on the Big Red sand dune was a remarkable sight from anywhere in the sprawling camp ground.

Jimmy Barnes

The Big Red Bash music festival finished with a show by classic Aussie rocker Jimmy Barnes. Wilbur Wilde, the host for the day, made a cameo appearance on saxophone.

Moonrise

The Moon rises above a very low and flat plain 100 kilometres south of Boulia. The Moon is extremely orange because of the thick layers of atmosphere the Sun's light has to go through after reflecting from the Moon back to us.

Silhouette

One of my favourite photographic techniques is silhouette. With the sunsets visible on a low horizon it makes them very easy to find. This is from a lookout halfway between Boulia and Bedourie.

Technological Silhouette

The signs of a society that communicates using electromagnetic waves with dishes and aerials for collecting and transmitting signals.

Tree Purple

That tree on Telstra Hill that perfectly captures the town and sky behind it.

Moon Trails

In this conjunction of Jupiter and Venus the four Galilean Moons, Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, can be seen shepherding the gas giant across the sky. If you look closely you can see the apparently slightly wavy paths of the moons. This is due to atmospheric turbulence altering the path of light from the moons as it passes through Earth's atmosphere.