Black Rock after Dark:
Night Photos taken at Black Rock
As twilight approaches, the wind usually calms down, and
everyone relaxes. Now that the launching has stopped, lots of
families, kids, bicyclers, and dogs begin to enjoy the endless
open space. Barbeques are fired up and beers are popped
open. Sometimes, me and Timothy break out the UNO cards.
Some of us stay at the hotel in the nearby town of Gerlach. But may
others camp out on the lakebed. As the darkness sets in, the launch
area is soon peppered with the light of lanterns and campfires. And,
depending on the calendar, some moonlight may also be in the mix.
Far from city lights, Black Rock is a stargazer's dream-come-true.
Here, Venus, adorns the evening sky.
But we often contribute some celestial objects of our own. Here,
rocketeers are preparing rockets with light-beacons for night-launching.
The time-exposure shows the ghostly images of moving people.
Special rocket motors, with names like "Silver Streak", spew out
brilliant sparks for visual effect. They are hoarded and saved
for use in night launches, since they are even more spectacular
after dark. Here are the trails of two such motors, caught by
time exposures.
Rockets launched at night are required, for safety, to have some
sort of light in order to see where they are. Usually, a blinking
strobe light is attached somehow into the nose cone. In this time
exposure, the blinking of the light beacon can be seen as a rocket
touches down under parachute. The constellation Cassiopia can be
seen at the top.
For those of us who drive back into town, there is one more treat
in store, the trains. Gerlach originated from a train stop, and
today the trains still barrel through the town like clockwork.
These time exposures show the passing train lights. The trains
usually wake us up at night, but I kind of like it...