This is the Milky Way of the autumn season in the Northern Hemisphere, on a late September night, from the very dark site of Red Rock Canyon, in Waterton Lakes National Park, Canada. The scene is a crop from the full 360° rectangular panorama, taken about 11:00 pm. Illumination is solely by starlight. Being autumn, the larches and aspens are in autumn colours. Snow is on Mount Blakiston at left, while the sharp peak at centre is Anderson Peak. The galactic centre is toward the southwest at left of centre, though Sagittarius itself had set by the time I shot this panorama. The bright star cloud of Scutum is above the mountains. The Milky Way stretches up through Aquila, through the Summer Triangle stars, and across the top as the Milky Way was then passing through the zenith. At right, the sky is red from airglow and a dim aurora. At left is the dim glow of the Gegenschein. My other camera is in the scene, shooting a time-lapse of the Milky Way motion. This is a multi-tier panorama, with the full 360° panorama consisting of 48 segments (!), in 4 tiers of 12 segments each, taken with the iPano motorized panning unit. Each exposure was 30 seconds at f/2 with the 24mm lens and Canon 6D at ISO 6400. Stitching was with PTGui, which did it flawlessly. The original of this image is 12,800 x 5,600 pixels.
A panorama of the sweeping arc of the auroral oval across the northern sky, with the stars of the winter sky to the south at left, over the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, in Churchill, Manitoba. I shot this February 7, 2019. This is an 8-segment panorama shot with the 12mm Rokinon full-frame fish-eye lens (in landscape orientation) and Nikon D750. Each was 20 seconds at f/2.8 and at ISO 3200. Stitching was with PTGui. The panorama extends over about 300° – not a complete 360°.
A 180° panorama of the Northern Lights exhibiting classic concentric ars across the north, with an isolated arc to the east at far right. It extended up across the sky overhead and had a faint arc to the west as well, not seen here. This shows how a typical aurora display is made of nested arcs created by incoming electrons raining down the magnetic field lines in concentric arcs. Often, an isolated arc far to the south of the main group forms, and often appears red, though can have normal green components as well, as here. Is this a “proton arc?” It would seem this is a normal electron-induced aurora but clearly with a slightly different origin in the source region for the electrons. The most northerly and distant curtains exhibit a slight tint of pink on the lower fringes, from nitrogen glowing. This was the night of September 2, 2016, from near home in southern Alberta. The Big Dipper is at upper left. The bright star reflected is Capella. Perseus and Andromeda are right of centre. This is a stitch of 10 segments, each 2-second exposures with the 20mm Sigma Art lens at f/1.6 and Nikon D750 at ISO 3200. Stitched with PTGui.
