A 360° fish-eye panorama of the winter sky in mid-February, shot from home in southern Alberta. Orion is to the south at bottom, with the winter Milky Way arcing across the sky from southeast, at bottom, to northwest, at top. A faint glow of Zodiacal Light extends across the sky from west (right) to east (left). Urban sky glow lights the sky to the west. To the north at top, an auroral arc extends along the horizon. The Big Dipper is at upper left in the northeast. Polaris is at top centre. Venus is bright and setting low in the west at right. Leo is rising in the east at left. This is a stitch of 6 segments, each shot with the Rokinon 12mm full-frame fish-eye lens at f/2.8, for 30 seconds each at ISO 6400 with the Nikon D750. Stitched with PTGui.
A panorama of the western sky in deep twilight at Reesor Lake in the Cypress Hills of southeast Alberta, in the Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, a Dark Sky Preserve. The sky is still deep blue with twilight and the sky to the northwest bright with the last of the sunset glow. The bright object at left to the southwest is the 5-day-old waxing crescent Moon, overexposed. Jupiter is just below the Moon. Spica is below and to the left of the Moon. Arcturus is the bright star at upper left. The Big Dipper is at upper right, distorted slightly due to the equirectangular map projection of the panorama stitching. Polaris is at upper right. Shot from the east end of Reesor Lake, near the dam and causeway over to the campground. This is a 6-panel panorama with the 20mm Sigma Art lens and Nikon D750, with the camera turned portrait for more vertical coverage. Stitched with PTGui.
Comet Hyakutake, from Big Dipper to Coma Berenices with its maximum tail length this night at closest approach to Earth. This was on March 25, 1996, shot with the 28mm Nikkor lens at f/2.8 on Fuji Super G 800 film for about a 5 minute tracked exposure. I also have a 105mm telephoto lens image shot at the same time. Re-processed in 2020.
