The Crown Range is a name usually associated with a road, rather than a range of majestic mountain peaks. To view this often overlooked range is fairly straight forward from Wānaka or Queenstown. At night it offers a beautiful perspective into the Northern regions of the sky.

Here in the Deep South of Te Wai Ponamu (The South Island of Aotearoa) we are treated with the most beautiful air glow. This is the most beautiful display of light resultant from the interactions of cosmic rays and our upper atmosphere. The physics isn’t too far away from that which explains aurora, only in the case of air glow it’s produced from cosmic rays bombarding us in every direction rather than being sucked into the magnetic fields of the poles.

For many astronomers it’s an absolute pain, often skewing observational data. For a wide field astrophotographer they are a joy to behold. At first appearing as faintly coloured clouds on the back of the camera, and as eyes adjust and human night vision really kicks in, you can start to make oout the colour with much less definition. Agani, just like the appearance of Ngā Kurakura o Te Hinenuitepō.

This mesmerising photograph is one of the few night time images that beautifully lends itself to printing outstandingly on the Cotton based Hahnemühle photo paper, the colours are so soft and comforting, this piece really does sing.

Printed on Hahnemühle Cotton Rag - 308gsm - 543 x 413mm