A 360° panorama of the summer sky and Milky Way over the historic 76 Ranch Corral in the Frenchman Valley, in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan. The 76 Ranch was once the largest in Canada. Today, it is incorporated into the National Park. This was August 7, 2018, on a night with some haze and smoke obscuring the horizon. Mars is to left of the Milky Way at centre to the south in Capricornus. Saturn is embedded in the Milky Way in Sagittarius. The Big Dipper is at top to the northwest, with Arcturus at right. The Andromeda Galaxy at far left rising in the northeast. Some green airglow tints the sky. This is a stitch of 26 segments: 12 in a lower tier, 8 in a mid-level tier, and 6 in an upper tier, manually positioned, and taken with the 20mm Sigma lens and Nikon D750. All exposures 30 seconds at f/2.8 and ISO 6400.
The arch of the northern spring Milky Way across the eastern sky, as seen on a beautifully clear and mild spring night at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta on May 14, 2018. The galactic centre in Sagittarius is at right to the south. Jupiter is the bright object in the southwest at far right; above it Arcturus. The Summer Triangle stars are rising in the east at centre, including bright blue-white Vega at top centre. The Big Dipper is at far left. Due north and the North Star are at left toward the faint yellow-green and magenta glow of aurora on the horizon. Little of the aurora was visible to the eye. Bands of green and red airglow colour the sky at centre and at right to the south. The distinct and sharp-edged band of airglow was present all through the shooting session. This is a stitch of 21 segments, in 3 tiers of 7 each, taken with the Syrp Genie Mini controller in panorama mode, but with the camera manually raised from 0° to 30° to 60° altitude for each of the three tiers. The Mini did the azimuth panning and shutter control automatically. All exposures were 30 seconds at f/2.8 with the Sigma 20mm Art lens and Nikon D750 at ISO 6400. Stitching was with PTGui which did the job fast and seamlessly.
The light pollution of the city of Medicine Hat, Alberta vs the natural sky glows of the Milky Way at right and a dim aurora. The urban sky glow looks like a sunset or sunrise but this was taken after midnight when the sky was very dark, from the Horseshoe Canyon viewpoint in Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, Alberta, a Dark Sky Preserve within its boundaries. The Big Dipper sits above the urban sky glow. The Pleiades is rising at right. This is a 2-segment panorama with the 14mm Rokinon lens and Canon 6D.
