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The Zodiacal Light.  This is the second time I have woken at 3am to start my drive toward Rocky Knob in hopes of being able to see the Zodiacal Light.  The first time I headed up there, I was looking right into a bright 3rd quarter moon.  So bright that even trying to identify the Zodiacal Light would have been fruitless, as the sky must be very dark to see it well. 

Up on Rocky Knob, the wind HOWLS!  But it is well removed from any city, and one can see bajillions of stars!  It's a perfect place for the Zodiacal light.  And today, I had clear skies and a moon that was not set to rise until right before dawn(and even then it was a 1% crescent or something like that, photo further down)

The Zodiacal Light can be seen during late summer before twilight.  It is caused by the sun lighting up a big cloud of dust in our solar system. It can also be seen in the early spring after sunset, which I gotta say, makes way more sense than getting up this early.

I could spot the 'cone' of light right away, there really is no mistaking it.  It takes up a huge section of the sky, the photo below is taken with a 17mm focal length, which is considered 'superwide'. 

If you focus on the cone of light, you can see a small meteor that streaked through during the exposure.  I used the Magic Lantern's intervalometer feature on the Canon 5d ii to continuously shoot until twilight(in hopes of catching a larger meteor, but oh well).

After twilight set in, it was a waiting game for the moon and sun to rise, with the moon coming in just before the sun.  It is hard to photograph the moon like that, as the contrast during that time of the morning is off the charts.  If you look to the right of the following image, you can still see the moon well after its rise and getting very near the sun's own rise.

Rocky Knob Recreation Area

After this I cruised up to the north end of Rocky Knob and enjoyed a photo of the sun amongst some trees before heading home.  Thanks for looking.

Rocky Knob Recreation Area