Latest Images - Last 6 Months
The Wizard Nebula and Delta Cephei Region
The area in Cepheus containing NGC 7380 (upper left), aka the Wizard Nebula, as well as the famous double and variable star Delta Cephei, at top centre. The star at upper right is Zeta Cephei. The brighter nebula between the two stars is Sharpless 2-136. The large nebula at lower right, containing both red hydrogen-alpha and green oxygen-III emission regions, is Sharpless 2-132. The field of view here is 6° by 4°. This is a blend of a stack of 8 x 12-minutes at ISO 1600 through an IDAS NB1 narrowband filter, with a stack of 14 x 6-minute exposures at ISO 800 with a "clear" Astronomik UV-IR Cut filter, all with the Canon EOS Ra camera through the SharpStar 76mm apo refractor at f/4.4 with its field flattener/reducer. Autoguided and dithered with the MGEN3 auto-guider. No darks or LENR employed. Faint nebulosity brought out with the aid of luminosity masks created with Lumenzia.
The Andromeda Galaxy, M31 (2021)
Time for my annual image of the Andromeda Galaxy! This is M31, the spiral galaxy in Andromeda, with its two companion elliptical galaxies, the very small M32 below, and larger M110 above. North is up in this framing, in a set of images taken from home September 6, 2021. I shot this as a test of the Canon R6 mirrorless camera. It is a stack of 8 x 8-minute exposures at ISO 800, blended with a stack of 8 x 2-minute exposures at ISO 400 for the core, to prevent it from overexposing too much, all with the SharpStar 76mm apo refractor at f/4.4 with its field flattener/reducer, and autoguided with the MGEN3 autoguider, with interframe dithering applied, and no darks or LENR employed. It was on the Mach 1 mount. Some light haze added mild star glows. The faint arms and outer glows were brought out with luminosity masks created with Lumenzia and Zone System Express 7. All stacking, alignment and blending with Photoshop.
North America and Funnel Cloud Nebulas in Cygnus
A contrasting region of the Milky Way — with the bright emission nebula, the North America (aka NGC 7000), below the dark mass of the Funnel Cloud Nebula at top, aka LeGentil 3, an obvious naked-eye sight under a dark sky. To the right of the North America below bright Deneb is the less obvious dark region known as the Northern Coalsack. This is a stack of 10 x 3.5-minute exposures with the 135mm Canon L lens at f/2.5, on the old (2009-vintage!) Canon 5D Mark II camera at ISO 1600. The 5D II is a filter-modified camera from AstroHutech. The camera was on the Star Adventurer tracker. About 1/3 of the frames were slightly trailed. I used the best 10 for this stack. Light cloud or haze added the natural star glows, However I did have a NiSi Natural Night light pollution filter in place to further enhance the contrast and nebulosity. Faint nebulosity brought out with luminosity masks. A mild Orton Glow artistic effect added with Luminar AI. Taken from home September 7, 2021.
The Cocoon Nebula and Messier 39
Several types of deep-sky objects are represented here: an emission nebula, dark nebulas, and star clusters, in this rich field in Cygnus. The field frames the bright and magenta Cocoon Nebula (at lower left), aka IC 5146, at the end of the dark nebula B168, aka The Dark Cigar, which itself is southeast of the bright but sparse star cluster Messier 39 at upper right. The field is also wrapped in faint red emission nebulosity. A dimmer smaller star cluster, Platais 1, sits above M39. This is a rich field about 6° by 4°, embedded in the main band of the Milky Way in northern Cygnus. This is a blend of: a stack of 8 x 6-minute exposures at ISO 1600 through a clear Astronomik UV-IR cut filter, layered with a stack of 11 x 12-minute shots at ISO 2000 through an IDAS NB1 narrowband filter for the red H-alpha nebulosity. All were with the 76mm SharpStar apo refractor with its matching flattener/reducer for f/4.4, and with the red-sensitive Canon EOS Ra camera. Autoguiding and inter-frame dithering was with the MGEN3. No darks or LENR were applied here on this cooler autumn night. All stacking, alignment and blending with Photoshop. I brought out the faint nebulosity with the use of luminosity and color range masks created with Lumenzia and Zone System Express 7. Diffraction spikes added for artistic effect with Astronomy Tools Actions. A mild Orton glow added with Luminar AI for fun.
Starclouds and Nebulas in Central Cygnus
The bright Cygnus Starcloud (at right) and collection of red emission nebulas in central Cygnus, including the North America Nebula (NGC 7000) at left near the bright star Deneb. The dark Northern Coalsack is to the right of the North America Nebula. The IC 1318 emission nebula complex is at centre. The star cluster NGC 6819, aka The Foxhead, is at far right. The cluster NGC 6866, aka The Kite, is to the left of 6819. At top right is the cluster NGC 6811. This is a stack of 4 x 2-minute exposures at f/2.8 with the Rokinon 85mm RF lens on the Canon EOS Ra camera at ISO 1600, and through the Kase Neutral Night broadband filter, with an additional exposure layered in taken through a Kase/Alyn Wallace StarGlow filter for the glows. Taken from the Alberta Star Party site on September 3, 2021, with the camera on the Star Adventurer Mini tracker. Stacked, aligned and blended in Photoshop. Luminosity mask adjustments applied with Lumenzia and Zone System Express v7.
Jupiter and Saturn over Hoodoos
Jupiter (bright at left) and Saturn (dimmer at centre) over hoodoo formations at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, August 29/30, 2021, with the foreground illuminated by moonlight from the rising last quarter Moon. The planets are in or near the constellation of Capricornus framed at centre. This is a blend of two images: a single tracked 1-minute exposure for the sky at f/2.8 and ISO 800 plus a single untracked 3-minute exposure for the ground at f/4 and ISO 800, both with the Canon 15-35mm RF lens at 29mm and Canon R6 camera on the Star Adventurer Mini tracker. I added a mild Orton effect with Luminar AI. Long Exposure Noise Reduction applied to the ground image in camera.
Waning Moonrise at Dinosaur Park
The waning last quarter Moon rising at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, on August 29, 2021. Capella is at left, Perseus is at top left, and the Andromeda Galaxy is at top. The Pleiades are just above the Moon, then in Taurus. This is a blend of a stack of 2 x 4-minute untracked exposures for the ground with a single tracked 2-minute exposure for the sky, all at ISO 800 with the Canon R6, and the Canon RF 15-35mm lens at 15mm and f/2.8. The camera was on the Star Adventurer Mini tracker. A mild Orton glow effect added with Luminar AI.
Summer Stars at Fossil Hunters Trail
The summer Milky Way in the southwest with the planets Jupiter (brightest) and Saturn (centre) to the east, over the Badlands formations at the Trail of the Fossil Hunters site at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta. The illumination of the sky and ground is from the rising last quarter Moon off frame to the east at left, adding the warm lighting naturally. Lights from the town of Brooks to the southwest adds the skyglow at right. This is a blend of tracked exposures for the sky and untracked for the ground: 2 x 2-minutes tracked for the sky at f/2.8 and ISO 1600, plus 2 x 5-minutes at f/4 and ISO 800 for the ground, all with the Canon 15-35mm RF lens on the Canon R6 camera, and on the Star Adventurer Mini tracker. Taken August 29, 2021. A mild Orton glow added with Luminar AI and some dodge/burn contrast enhancements brushed onto the foreground with TK Actions Paint Contrast action.
The Big Dipper over hoodoo formations at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta. Arcturus is at left. Illumination of the foreground is from starlight. This is a blend of 2 x 3-minute stacked exposures for the ground at f/2.8 and ISO 800 with a single 30-second untracked exposure at f/2 and ISO 6400 for the sky, all with the 24mm Canon L lens on the Canon EOS Ra camera. A mild Orton glow added to the foreground with Luminar AI. ON1 NoNoise applied to the sky. Taken August 29, 2021.
Planets Rising in Badlands Twilight
Jupiter (brightest) and Saturn (at right) rising in the southeast in Capricornus, amid the deepening evening twilight over the Badlands of Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, on August 29, 2021. This was from the Trail of the Fossil Hunters site. This is a blend of a stack of 4 x 25-second exposures, untracked, for the ground, and a single 25-second untracked exposure for the sky, all at f/6.3 and ISO 800 with the Canon EF 24mm lens and Canon R6 camera. A mild Orton glow added with Luminar AI. LENR used on all exposures.
A portrait of the complex of emission nebulas in central Cygnus near the bright star Gamma Cygni (at left). The field includes the IC 1318 complex around Gamma Cygni itself and the Wolf-Rayet arc of nebulosity, NGC 6888, aka the Crescent Nebula, at right. The sparse star cluster Messier 29 is at bottom. This was through the SharpStar 94mm apo refractor at f/4.4 and with the Canon EOS Ra. It is a blend of 6 x 6-minute exposures at ISO 1600 through an Astronomik UV-IR-Cut filter for the base image, and a stack of 4 x 12-minutes at ISO 3200 through IDAS NB1 and Optolong L-eNhance filters for the enhanced red nebulosity, plus 6 x 12-minutes at ISO 3200 through Optolong L-eXtreme and IDAS NBZ filters which contribute only the enhanced cyan OIII emission, all taken as part of testing the filters. Normally, using four filters would not be required! Autoguided and dithered on this warm summer night with the Lacerta MGEN3 autoguider. No darks or LENR applied as the dithering effectively eliminated the thermal noise speckling which was prominent on the individual sub-frames. Taken from home August 13, 2021. All stacked, aligned, and blended in Photoshop.
Perseid Meteor Shower over Dinosaur Park
A composite showing about three dozen Perseid meteors accumulated over 3 hours of time, compressed into one image showing the radiant point of the meteor shower in Perseus. This was August 12, 2021, from The Trail of the Fossil Hunters trailhead lot in Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta. A dim magenta aurora is visible to the northeast at left. Cassiopeia is at centre above the radiant point; the Andromeda Galaxy is just right of centre. Capella is rising at left. Airglow also tints the sky. This is a blend of: a single 30-second exposure for the background sky, one with the aurora at its most active, such as it was this night, with a stack of 8 x 30-second exposures for the ground to smooth noise. Then 32 x 30-second exposures for the individual meteors (a couple of frames have two meteors on them) are overlaid with Lighten blend mode onto the base sky image, each with masks to reveal just the meteors. All frames were with the Canon R6 at ISO 6400 and with the TTArtisan 11mm fish-eye lens at f/2.8. The camera was on a static tripod, not tracking the sky, so I hand-rotated all the meteor frames around Polaris at upper left, to bring them into close alignment to the base sky image, so the positions of all the meteors are close to their actual positions in the starfield when they appeared. A couple of exceptions were the meteors at bottom which appeared in Taurus, below the horizon at the time the sky image was taken, so those meteors are moved up artificially. ON1 NoNoise applied to the sky image. Ground illumination is from starlight.
The Radiant of the Perseid Meteors
A composite blend illustrating the radiant point of the Perseid meteor shower in Perseus at left, taken on the night of the peak, August 12, 2021, ffrom Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta. A couple of non-Perseid meteors also appear in the scene. The brightest Perseid, at bottom, left a yellowish ionized trail that appeared on several frames. Bands of red and green airglow tint the sky. The Pleiades are just rising at bottom, as is Capella in Auriga at lower left. Cassiopeia is above the radiant point. The Andromeda Galaxy is at centre. This is a stack of 27 x 1-minute tracked exposures at ISO 3200 with the Canon 6D and Rokinon 14mm SP lens at f/2.8, on the Star Adventurer tracker, for the sky and meteors, blended with a stack of 4 x 2-minute untracked exposures for the ground, taken at the beginning of the sequence. With all the sky images taken on a tracker, they all align and so the meteors do appear where they actually did against the background stars, preserving the effect of the radiant.
A selfie of me setting up to photograph the 2021 Perseid meteor shower on August 12, 2021 at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, as one camera captures the scene looking east while I finish setting up another camera in the foreground. The radiant of the shower is obvious, in Perseus, at lower left in the northeast. The Milky Way stretches from northeast to southwest (top right). A dim red aurora is on the horizon to the northeast. Cygnus is overhead at centre. Jupiter is the bright object above me. The Big Dipper is at upper left low in the northwest. This is a blend of 24 exposures taken over 3 hours, with the foreground coming from one image at the start of the sequence which had a meteor in it. The other 23 images add the other meteors, so this blend compresses 3 hours of meteor activity into one frame. All were with the TTArtisan 7.5mm circular fish-eye lens at f/2 on the Canon EOS Ra camera at ISO 3200 for a series of 30-second exposures, 316 in all over 3 hours, from which the 24 with meteors were extracted for stacking with Lighten blend mode. The camera was on the Star Adventurer Mini tracker to make alignment of the meteors easier in post-production, so the meteors are where they appeared in the sky relative to the background stars. This lens does not fill the frame; it is a circular fish-eye but at f/2 faster than any other fish-eye that fits on a full-frame camera, with the speed essential for picking up meteors. I was setting up another tracker to take shots with a 14mm lens.
Smoky Sunset over the Bow Valley
Blue hour twilight with a waxing crescent Moon, over the Bow Valley, Banff, Alberta, on an evening with the air filled with smoke from B.C. forest fires to the west, muting the colours and clarity. This is from the Hoodoos Viewpoint trail on Tunnel Mountain Drive, looking back toward Banff. The lights of the Banff Springs Hotel are in the distance at left. The Bow River winds below. Tunnel Mountain is at centre with Sulphur Mountain to the left and at far left a portion of Mt. Rundle. Cascade Mountain is at far right. This is a panorama from 7 segments with the Canon EOS Ra and 15-35mm RF lens.
Smoky Moon over the Bow Valley
Blue hour twilight with a waxing crescent Moon, over the Bow Valley, Banff, Alberta, on an evening with the air filled with smoke from B.C. forest fires to the west, muting the colours and clarity. This is from the Hoodoos Viewpoint trail on Tunnel Mountain Drive, looking back toward Banff. The lights of the Banff Springs Hotel are in the distance at left. The Bow River winds below. Tunnel Mountain is at centre with Sulphur Mountain to the left. The Hoodoos are at the bottom of the frame. This is a single image with the Canon EOS Ra and 15-35mm RF lens at 20mm.
Smoky Sunset Panorama over the Bow Valley
A 180° panorama taken in blue hour twilight with a waxing crescent Moon, over the Bow Valley, Banff, Alberta. This evening the air was filled with smoke from B.C. forest fires to the west, muting the colours and clarity. This is from the Hoodoos Viewpoint trail on Tunnel Mountain Drive, looking back toward Banff. The lights of the Banff Springs Hotel are in the distance at left. The Bow River winds below. Tunnel Mountain is at centre with Sulphur Mountain to the left and at far left is Mt. Rundle. Cascade Mountain is at far right. This is a panorama from 6 segments with the Canon EOS Ra and 15-35mm RF lens at 22mm.
Smoky Sunset at Vermilion Lakes
Sunset at Vermilion Lakes, Banff, Alberta, over Mt. Rundle reflected in the still waters, on an evening with a smoke-filled sky from B.C. forest fires. This is a single shot with the Canon EOS Ra and 15-35mm RF lens.
The Milky Way over Blakiston Creek
The galactic core area of the northern summer Milky Way over the Blakiston Valley and Blakiston Creek in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta on a July night. Sagittarius is at left over Vimy Peak, with the bright Sagittarius Starcloud over the valley, with the Messier 6 and 7 star clusters low and left of centre. Scorpius with reddish Antares is at right. The pink Lagoon Nebula, M8, is at top, and the globular cluster M22 is at upper left. The dark Pipe Nebula is at top centre. This is a blend of tracked exposures for the sky and untracked exposures for the ground: a stack of 4 x 2-minute tracked at f/2.8 and ISO 1600 for the sky, blended with a stack of 2 x 5-minute untracked at f/4 and ISO 1600 for the ground. A tracked 2-minute exposure through an Kase/Alyn Wallace Starglow filter adds the star glow effect. An additional 8-minute exposure at ISO 400 and f/8 taken early in the evening during blue hour adds some illumination to the distant mountains. However, the majority of the landscape comes from untracked exposures taken just before the tracked ones when the sky was dark, with illumination just from starlight with a more normal colour balance. Forest fire smoke moving in added some haze and lowered contrast. The bright light is the Prince of Wales Hotel, and the light to the left is from the golf course clubhouse. The sky tracker was the Star Adventurer Mini which worked perfectly. The camera was the Canon ESO Ra and lens the Canon 15-35mm RF at 35mm.
The Milky Way over Driftwood Beach
The northern summer Milky Way over Middle Waterton Lake at Driftwood Beach in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta on a July night. Sagittarius is at centre, with the pink Lagoon Nebula, M8, right of centre. The Dark Horse complex of dust lanes is over the peak at right. The Scutum Starcloud is at top centre. The bright object at far left is Jupiter, with dimmer Saturn to the right, with both over Vimy Peak and in Capricornus or thereabouts! This is a blend of tracked exposures for the sky and untracked exposures for the ground: a stack of 4 x 2-minute tracked at f/2.8 and ISO 1600 for the sky, blended with a single 8-minute untracked at f/5.6 and ISO 800 for the ground, taken with Long Exposure Noise Reduction on to eliminate most thermal hot pixels this warm night. A tracked 2-minute exposure through an Kase/Alyn Wallace Starglow filter adds the star glow effect. An additional short 30-second exposure at ISO 400 and f/4 is for the lights of the Prince of Wales Hotel and their reflections, to preevent them from overexposing too much which they would in the long ground exposure. Forest fire smoke moving in added some haze and lowered contrast. The sky tracker was the Star Adventurer Mini which worked perfectly. The camera was the Canon ESO Ra and lens the Canon 15-35mm RF at 15mm.
The Milky Way over Upper Waterton Lake
The summer Milky Way and galactic core region over Upper Waterton Lake and Waterton Townsite on a July evening. This was from the famous viewpoint of the Prince of Wales Hotel, looking south with Sagittarius and the Galactic Centre positioned over the lake. Scorpius is at right with reddish Antares. The M6 and M7 star clusters are low over the lake. The pinkish Lagoon Nebula, M8, is left of centre, with the M24 Small Sagittarius Starcloud above. Some forest fire smoke dampened the contrast and transparency this night. This is a blend of tracked exposures for the sky and untracked exposures for the ground: a stack of 4 x 2-minute tracked at ISO 1600 and f/2.8 for the sky and a stack of 3 x 4-minute untracked at ISO 800 and f/4 for the ground. LENR noise reduction applied in-camera to the ground images to reduce thermal speckling on this warm night. An additional short 30-second exposure at ISO 400 and f/5.6 masked in is for the town lights to subdue their brightness, though the result does better resemble the naked eye view, as the lighting has been reduced and shielded recently to make it much less glaring than before. An additional 2-minute tracked exposure at the end of the sequence taken through a Kase/Alyn Wallace Starglow filter blended in add the star glows! The tracker was the Star Adventurer Mini which worked perfectly and consistently. The camera was the Canon EOS Ra with the 15-35mm RF lens at 24mm.
Venus, Mars and the Moon (July 11, 2021)
The conjunction of bright Venus with much dimmer Mars (to the left of Venus), with the waxing crescent Moon nearby, above the mountains of the Continental Divide at Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, on July 11, 2021. Mars was very dim and showed up on camera but was not visible to the naked eye or even readily in binoculars. This is a single shot with the 200mm Canon lens on the Canon EOS Ra, a red-sensitive camera that picks up more of the sunset reds in such twilight scenes.
Summer Milky Way at Dinosaur Park
The summer Milky Way and galactic core region over the formations at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, July 9, 2021, on a warm moonless night. This is a blend of 4 tracked exposures (2 to 3 minutes each) at f/2.8 for the sky and 3 untracked exposures (4 to 8 minutes) at f/5.6 for the foreground. An additional tracked exposure through a Kase/Alyn Wallace Starglow filter adds some subtle glows to the bright stars. Two of the sky exposures were shot through a Kase Natural Night filter as a test, but it didn't make a big difference over the unfiltered images. All with the Canon Ra at ISO 1600 to 3200, and on the Star Adventurer 2i tracker, and with the Canon 15-35mm RF lens. No artificial lighting was employed here. Smoke from BC forest fires spoiled the transparency and contrast in the sky.
The Northern Summer Milky Way, with Jupiter & Saturn
A very wide angle image of the northern summer Milky Way from Cepheus (at top left) to Sagittarius (setting at bottom right), with the Summer Triangle stars at centre. The bright object at bottom left is Jupiter, with Saturn dimmer to the right at bottom centre. This is with the TTArtisan 11mm full-frame fish-eye lens wide open at f/2.8, in a stack of 7 x 4-minute tracked exposures at ISO 1600 with the Canon EOS Ra camera. Taken from home July 8, 2021. No filters were employed here.