The “river of stars” – the Milky Way – arching over the scenic bend of the Red Deer River, Alberta, from the Orkney Viewpoint overlooking the Badlands and river valley, in a 270° panorama. To the north at left, a weak aurora shines along the horizon. Bands of airglow also colour the sky to the east at centre, and perpetual twilight lights the sky at far left. To the south at right, the Milky Way becomes lost amid the light pollution from Drumheller, Alberta, made more obvious by some clouds drifting through. So this is a study in skyglows: aurora, twilight, airglow, Milky Way and urban skyglow, and of the contrast between the natural sky and light polluted sky. And of course, I like the way the curve of the Milky Way is mirrored in the curve of the river, which is why I picked this spot and this night in spring, when the Milky Way is still arching across the east and not overhead as it is later in summer. The most prominent stars reflected in the still waters of the rive are the stars of Delphinus the Dolphin, but there are no dolphins in this river! Only ones made of stars. This is a stitch of 8 segments with the Sigma 20mm Art lens, in portrait mode, and Nikon D750. Each 30 seconds at f/2 and ISO 3200. Stitched with Adobe Camera Raw. Taken on a mild and moonless night, May 20, 2017.
A mosaic of the rich region in Sagittarius and southern Serpens, from the Small Sagittarius Starcloud (Messier 24) at bottom to Messier 16, the Eagle Nebula, at top, with a fainter nebula above it around the cluster NGC 6604. At centre is the Swan or Omega Nebula, Messier 17. The dark nebula below centre is Barnard 92. The differences in the colours of the starclouds and nebulas is due to different amounts of intervening interstellar dust, with denser dust clouds absorbing more of the blues and making the objects appear redder or more yellow. This is a mosaic of two vertical segments, each segments a stack of 5 x 2-minute exposures with the 200mm lens at f/2.8 and filter-modified Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1600. Tracked on the AP 400 mount, unguided. From Tibuc Gardens Cottage.
The formation of dark lanes called the Dark Emu in Australian aboriginal sky lore, seen here in its entirety with it overhead in the April pre-dawn sky. The head is at right in Crux, as the Coal Sack, the body is around the Galactic Centre, the tail is at left in Scutum. Some airglow discolours the sky. This is a stack of 5 x 2.5-minute exposures with the 14mm Rokinon lens at f/2.8 and filter-modified Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1600. On the iOptron Sky-Tracker. From Tibuc Gardens Cottage near Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia, Aoril 28, 2017.
