Mars, Assiniboine, and the Milky Way

“Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable” Mary Olive Astrological alignments have a way of making us feel insignificant. This alignment of Mars over Mount Assiniboine was the result of years of planning, followed by several days hiking, then several sleepless cold nights on the side of the mountain running on little other than caffeine and creative determination. During 2018, Mars was on what is called a "close approach". As Mars is on a different orbital ellipse to earth close approaches vary. The next close approach where Mars will appear this large will not be until 2035. During 2018's approach Mars was a mere ~1/30th of the distance from earth compared to its furthest orbit. To pull off this shot the approach also needed to align perfectly with Mount Assiniboine during darkness, along with being in the right season for the Milky Way. This conjunction of events (before considering terrestrial weather) is unlikely to happen again in my lifetime. I spent the night just below Nub Peak (2,755 m or 9,039 ft) to capture this event. I wanted the perspective provided by a higher altitude vantage point, as from this position Mount Assiniboine (3,618 m or 11,870 ft) rightfully towers over Sunburst Peak (2,849 m or 9,347 ft) in the foreground which you don’t appreciate at the more accessible 'nublet' far below. Mount Assiniboine sits in Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada.