Uluru – Milky Way in the Australian Outback

Uluru (Ayers Rock) is the largest monolith on earth and is listed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site. As one of the great natural wonders of the world, Uluru/Ayers Rock towers above the surrounding landscape. It lies 335 km (208 mi) south west of the nearest large town, Alice Springs. The sandstone formation stands 348 m (1,142 ft) high, rising 863 m (2,831 ft) above sea level with most of its bulk lying underground, and has a total circumference of 9.4 km (5.8 mi). Uluru is notable for appearing to change colour at different times of the day and year, most notably when it glows red at dawn and sunset.

My wife has wanted to visit Uluru since she was a little girl. We had a trip to Egypt canceled at the last minute and decided that we still wanted to go somewhere. It was finally time. We flew into Darwin and commenced a 1215+ mile (1956km) drive through the barren outback with the goal of seeing this ancient behemoth. During this drive, we saw the milky way like I’ve never seen it before. You could watch it move on it’s celestial dance with just your bare eyes. The remoteness of the Australian outback makes light pollution a distant memory.

The iconic images from this area generally show Uluru/Ayers Rock at sunset. The glowing red rock in the desert. I had an idea to do something a bit different. I wanted to see the milky way rising (like this image of Black Canyon). We spent the day exploring the area and I did take the traditional sunset picture. As everyone else was leaving I found the perfect foreground for the shot I wanted. I used a technique called focus stacking to get some sharp detail throughout the frame. As a result, I was able to pull off a unique shot of Uluru/Ayers Rock!