What you see above is just a crop. Please click on the image to see the complete panorama.

The panorama is a composition resulting from taking well over 60 different frames - no, I didn't use them all in the final image!

I think it captures the breathtaking view that is to see that huge blanket of fog over the Silicon Valley.

Venus, Saturn and Mercury can all be seen, in the far right. Venus, the brightest point in the sky is hard to miss. The also bright point below Vnus is Saturn, and even lower and a tad brighter than Saturn, is Mercury. That's their position on Saturday morning (October 10th, 2009) around 6-6:30am.

The images were taken from this vista point on Friday and Saturday morning:  in Skyline Blvd., a road that cruises along the ridge of the Santa Cruz Mountains on the west of the Silicon Valley.

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DATE October 10th, 2009 PHOTO Exposure: Total: 0 minutes Focal: 17mm, f/4

EQUIPMENT Camera: Canon 40D Camera Lens: 17~85mm EOS Lens Mount: Tripod and EM-400

SITE & CONDITIONS Vista Point near Montebello OSP, California Seeing: Very Good Transparency: Good SOFTWARE Processing: Hugin and Photoshop

On the way to the place where the Golden State Star Party takes place, just about 20 minutes from Adin, there's one point in the way where you can get a panorama that goes all the way from Mount Lassen to Mount Shasta. What you see is precisely that panorama, in HDR form.

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DATE June 23rd, 2009 PHOTO Exposure: Total: 0 minutes Focal: 85mm f/5.6

EQUIPMENT Camera: Canon 40D

SITE & CONDITIONS GSSP @ Adin, California SOFTWARE Processing: Hugin and Photoshop

The last night at GSSP, right after sunset, we were rewarded with a beautiful view of a 1 day old Moon setting next to the impressive Mount Shasta. The Venus Belt (the grayish area bewteen the pinkish and bluish sky) is clearly visible, as if the Moon was resting right on it.

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DATE June 23rd, 2009 PHOTO Exposure: Total: 0 minutes Focal: 85mm f/5.6

EQUIPMENT Camera: Canon 40D w/EF 17-85mm Lens

SITE & CONDITIONS GSSP @ Adin, California SOFTWARE Processing: Photoshop

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COMMENTS
The idea was to take a photo of M45 and the Moon, as these last two nights they were rather close. So on Monday night, around 2:30am, while here in Sunnyvale the sky was overcast with low clouds, I decided to drive up to a place near Skyline and Montebello, at around 2,500~2,600 feet, hoping the fog wasn't that high.

As I was driving up, at around 1,350 feet I started to drive in fog. Ok... And I was a very happy fellow when the fog dissapeared at around 1700 feet. So I kept driving up until I reached my destination, and there they were (the moon and M45) but the blanket of fog over the valley was so outstanding (much darker than what you see in the photo below) that I decided to take several shots and make up a small mosaic that'd include the fog and my original target (m45 and the moon). I had to photograph my targets using a much larger FOV than what I was originally planning, but in the end I didn't regret.

Also, since the "astro" part of the photo is nothing out of this world and the mosaic was leaving the upper-right corner of the image empty, I decided to spice up the image and compose an "educational" photo with a closeup of M45 reusing the image I took from the Pleiades a couple of weeks ago, covering the black spot the mosaic had left :-)