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Generations of painters have been drawn to New Mexico for the unique qualities of our light, but the darkness here is equally exquisite.

鈥淲e have less light pollution here than a lot of other places,鈥� said Sarah McIntyre, who organized the exhibition, 鈥淓yes in the Dark,鈥� at The Groove Artspace. The juried exhibition, which runs through May 30, features nearly 70 images of the night sky by 29 astrophotographers.

鈥淎nd we are very fortunate in the winter to most of the time have very clear skies. Winter is the best part of the year to do nighttime photography anyway, because we have a lot of hours of darkness,鈥� McIntyre said.

New Mexico鈥檚 unique combination of dark skies and minimal cloud cover make it an astrophotographer鈥檚 paradise.

The Groove Artspace is a community art center, which, in addition to exhibiting local artists, offers art classes and low-cost studio spaces. Community building is a big part of The Groove鈥檚 mission, and 鈥淓yes in the Dark鈥� successfully brought together a community of astrophotographers, who, for the most part, had been unaware of each other鈥檚 existence. While a few of them had met previously through local stargazing clubs, most had been quietly pursuing their work in solitude.

鈥淭he majority did not know each other beforehand,鈥� McIntyre said.

Some participants came to astrophotography from the science side and others from the artistic side. They also represent different specializations, with some focusing on wide-angle nightscapes and others on deep space photography, which requires a different set of equipment.

鈥淚 really wanted this to be a celebration of all the different kinds of astrophotography,鈥� McIntyre said. 鈥淭he deep space imagery, the wide-angle nightscapes, the star trails images, images of the aurora, solar eclipse images 鈥� all of these are amazing parts of our universe, and I thought it was worth celebrating all of it.鈥�

McIntyre has been fascinated by the stars from a young age.

鈥淚 was one of those nerdy 10-year-olds, sitting in front of the magazine rack at Barnes and Noble with a copy of an astronomy magazine and a foldout star chart,鈥� she said.

McIntyre has only been shooting nightscapes for the past 鈥渇ive or six years,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd it was just over a year ago that I started doing deep space imagery.鈥�

Prior to that, she had been photographing historic adobe churches in rural New Mexico. As part of a Catholic family with deep roots in the state, tracing back nearly 600 years, McIntyre felt 鈥渁we and wonder鈥� at seeing centuries-old churches bathed in 鈥渞eally ancient light coming from the stars.鈥�

A few of McIntyre鈥檚 photographs appear to show a church glowing with a halo of stars and the Milky Way rising from its steeple.

Her images of the aurora borealis are just as otherworldly. She said she keeps track of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration鈥檚 geomagnetic storm reports to know when to look for auroras.

鈥淚f you see a G3 or G4 geomagnetic storm coming in and you鈥檙e in sa国际传媒官网网页入口, you know you鈥檙e probably going to have a shot at seeing an aurora,鈥� she said.

Some of the deep space photographs in the exhibition look like abstract paintings.

鈥淎 lot of Greg Marshall鈥檚 work has real psychedelic colors,鈥� McIntyre said, referring to a fellow astrophotographer in the show who shoots mostly deep space images of nebulas. 鈥淗e shot those in what鈥檚 called the SHO palette, which is typically referred to as the Hubble palette, but you achieve it with an SHO 鈥� sulfur, hydrogen, oxygen 鈥� filter set. You get a different kind of color palette depending on how you process them, and that gets really crazy really quick.鈥�

The technical aspects of deep space photography can sometimes overwhelm novices, but McIntyre said she鈥檚 always happy to share her knowledge with anyone who鈥檚 interested.

鈥淚 take people out and teach them how to shoot wide-angle nightscapes and things like that. They usually find me through social media or here at The Groove,鈥� she said.

鈥淭he real point at the end of the day is, you look up at the night sky, and it鈥檚 amazing. There is that sense of awe and wonder about the universe. That鈥檚 the most important thing about this by far,鈥� McIntyre said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not the shutter speeds. It鈥檚 not the ISO (the camera鈥檚 sensitivity to light). It鈥檚 not the hours of grueling processing of deep space images. It鈥檚 just a way to be thoroughly engrossed with the universe and to be amazed by everything that鈥檚 out there.鈥�

Despite the growing popularity of astrophotography in New Mexico, there have been few exhibitions dedicated to the practice. McIntyre said 鈥淓yes in the Dark鈥� is the first major group exhibition of astrophotography in sa国际传媒官网网页入口 in recent memory.

鈥淪o, this is a really important way of sharing our wonder and awe about the universe with everybody else who鈥檚 around,鈥� she said.

Astrophotography brings 'awe and wonder' to The Groove Artspace