Constellations - Big Dipper
Big Dipper Over Moonlit Hoodoos
The Big Dipper and Ursa Major over moonlit formations at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta. Illumination is from the waxing gibbous Moon, setting in the southwest so it is providing a warm "bronze-hour" light. The scene provides a nice contrast of warm earth and cool sky tones. Taken July 8, 2022, this is a blend of tracked (for the sky) and untracked (for the ground) exposures — a stack of 2 for the ground and 2 for the sky: 2 minutes at f/5.6 and ISO 800 for the ground and 1 minute at f/2.8 and ISO 400 for the sky, all with the RF28-70mm lens at 28mm and Canon R5. A mild Pro Contrast effect filter added to the ground with Nik Collection 5 and a mild Orton glow added to the sky with Luminar AI. The tracker was the Star Adventurer Mini. The mosquitoes enjoyed my presence here this warm July night!
Northern Sky Panorama in Summer Twilight
A panorama of the northern summer sky on an early July night from latitude 51° N with the sky blue with perpetual twilight all night. The Big Dipper is at upper left, Polaris is at upper centre (due north), and Cassiopeia is at right. Andromeda is rising at lower right. Capella is due north just above the horizon. The waxing Moon is setting at lower left. This was from Crawling Lake in southern Alberta, Canada, at midnight daylight time on July 5/6, 2022. It is a stitch of 8 segments, each 30 seconds untracked, with the RF15-35mm lens at f/2.8, with the Canon R5 at ISO 400 and in portrait orientation. Stitched with some effort with PTGui. Another panorama taken later up the road made of 12 segments to cover a wider scene but looking over more of the water refused to stitch.
The Tau Herculids Meteor Shower (15mm)
The rare Tau Herculids meteor shower predicted for May 30/31, 2022 as a possible meteor storm, but produced a modest "normal" meteor shower. The meteors appeared yellowish (as in the bright meteor) and were slow-moving, and often had a sparkling effect as they moved, again as per the irregular brightness of the bright meteor streak. The meteors are from remnants of the Comet 73P/Schawassmann-Wachmann 3 which broke apart in 1995. This is a blend of exposures taken over 90 minutes from 11:24 pm MDT to 12:52 am MDT, capturing 15 meteors, including a very bright one, the best of the night, which left an orange ionization "smoke" trail expanding away from the meteor over the next few minutes. Another fainter meteor below centre also left a short "smoke trail." This shows the radiant point of the Tau Herculids, actually located in Boötes above the bright star Arcturus below centre. The Coma Berenices star cluster is below the bright meteor. Corona Borealis and Hercules are left of Arcturus, while bright Vega in Lyra is at far left. The Big Dipper is at top. This is a blend of 29 exposures for the meteors and smoke trails, stacked onto the sky background taken just before the very bright meteor occured earlier in the night when the sky was still blue from lingering twilight. All were with the Canon R6 for 15 seconds each but at ISOs from 800 to 3200, increased through the night as the sky darkened, and with the 15mm Venus Optics lens wide open at f/2. The camera was on a tracking mount to keep the stars stationary over the sequence to aid in aligning and stacking the images, so the meteors appear in their correct positions relative to the background stars. Shot from home in Alberta on a very clear and fine night, a pleasant change for a celestial event!
Big Dipper and the Northern Spring Constellations
A wide-angle image of the main northern spring sky constellations — with the Big Dipper and Ursa Major at top, and Leo below it. At left is Arcturus in Bootes and at bottom left, Spica in Virgo. Leo is flanked by two large star clusters: Mel111, the Coma Berenices cluster at left of Leo (but in the centre of the image), and M44, the Beehive cluster at right of Leo in Cancer (at lower right in the image). This is a good image for illustrating the "Arc to Arcturus and Speed to Spica" expression, as well as the placement of Leo below the Bowl of the Dipper. And the location of the North Galactic Pole and Realm of the Galaxies. This is a stack of 4 x 2.5 minute exposures with the RF15-35mm lens at f/2.8 and Canon EOS Ra at ISO 800. The camera was on the Star Adventurer 2i tracker. Taken from home April 27, 2022.
Spring All-Sky Panorama (April 2022)
A 360° "all-sky" panorama of the northern spring sky, taken when the North Galactic Pole was almost due south high in the sky, so we are looking up out of the plane of our galaxy. The Milky Way is visible but only as an arc low across the north, and on this night (April 27, 2022) an arc of a dim green and magenta aurora nicely coincided with the location of the Milky Way. The North Galactic Pole is located just left of the Coma Berenices star cluster below centre. Due south is at bottom; west toward the city is at right; east is at left. The Big Dipper and Ursa Major are directly overhead at centre. Polaris and Ursa Minor/Little Dipper are above centre. Leo is below centre partly in a faint band of Zodiacal Light. The Handle of the Dipper arcs down to yellowish Arcturus, while buish Spica is at bottom low in the south. Vega is rising in the east at left. Capella, and the pair of Castor and Pollux in the winter sky are setting at right. Leo is flanked by the star clusters M44 the Beehive at right and the Coma Berenices Mel111 cluster at left below centre. This is a stitch of 24 segments: 8 segments 45° apart horizontally in 3 tiers 30° apart vertically, for 40 seconds each, with the RF15-35mm lens at 24mm and f/2.8, and Canon EOS Ra at ISO 2000, on the Star Adventurer 2i tracker, using the Alyn Wallace V-plate to place the camera on a horizontal plane for panning around. I moved the camera manually between frames. Stitched with PTGui. Taken from home in southern Alberta at latitude 51° N. The original is 16,500 by 16,500 pixels.
Northern Auroral Oval from Churchill (Feb 28, 2022)
The arc of the auroral oval across the north, from the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, in Churchill, Manitoba, February 28, 2022. This is looking north during a low-level Kp2 display. The Big Dipper is at top, with Polaris below at centre. This is a single 13-second exposure with the TTArtisan 11mm lens at f/2.8 and Canon R6 at ISO 1600.
Dim Red & Green Auroral Arcs (Feb 26, 2022)
A dim aurora from the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, in Churchill, Manitoba on February 26, 2022. This aurora was at Kp1 level (very low) and appeared only as featureless grey arcs to the eye. But the camera picked up unusual red colouration, and even some yellow-oranges, along with the more normal greens. The reds are odd for such a low-level aurora as the oxygen reds typically appear only when the aurora gets very active and energetic. The display did brighten later this night when it took on the more classic green arcs, with occasional lower fringes of nitrogen pinks. But at the start of the night the reds dominated. The Big Dipper is at top centre. Vega is at bottom left. Arcturus is a bottom right. This is a single frame with the TTArtisan 11mm full-frame fish-eye lens at f/2.8 for 30 seconds with the Canon Ra at ISO 3200.
Dim Red Auroral Arc (Feb 26, 2022)
A dim aurora from the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, in Churchill, Manitoba on February 26, 2022. This aurora was at Kp1 level (very low) and appeared only as featureless grey arcs to the eye. But the camera picked up unusual red colouration, and even some yellow-oranges, along with the more normal greens. The reds are odd for such a low-level aurora as the oxygen reds typically appear only when the aurora gets very active and energetic. The display did brighten later this night when it took on the more classic green arcs, with occasional lower fringes of nitrogen pinks. But at the start of the night the reds dominated. The Big Dipper is at top centre; Leo is at right to the east. Vega is at far left. This is a single frame with the TTArtisan 11mm full-frame fish-eye lens at f/2.8 for 30 seconds with the Canon Ra at ISO 3200.
Northern Sky and Zenith Aurora over CNSC
A fish-eye image of the northern constellations and an auroral arc at the zenith over the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, Feb. 24, 2022. The Big Dipper is at top, with Polaris and the Little Dipper left of centre. Cassiopiea is at far left over the tower.
Aurora Panorama from Home (Nov 3, 2021)
The early stages of a G3 solar storm and aurora show on Nov. 3/4, 2021, with the aurora as a bright glow across the north amid cloud reflecting light pollution. Orion is rising at right. Vega is setting at left. The Big Dipper is at centre. Capella is bright at upper right, to the left of the Pleiades. This is a stitch of 6 segments with the 15-35mm RF lens at 15mm on the Canon R6, each 30s at f/2.8 and ISO 1600. Stitched with ACR.
Panorama of the Auroral Storm of October 11, 2021
A 120° panorama of the initial arc of Northern Lights at the start of an evening of aurora during a G2 storm on October 11/12, 2021, Thanksgiving Day in Canada. This was from home in southern Alberta, Canada. Moonlight from the waxing crescent Moon tints the sky. Note the subtle shades of red and variations of green in the arc. The panorama shows off the classic auroral oval centred on the direction of the north magnetic pole, to the northeast of true north at my longitude in western Canada. The Big Dipper is at left and its Pointer stars in the bowl point up to true north (Polaris is off the frame). This is a panorama of 13 segments at 15° spacings, with the RF 28-70mm lens at 28mm and at f/2 on the Canon R6 at ISO 1600 for 4 seconds each. Stitched with Adobe Camera Raw.
The Zodiacal Light at Dawn (Fish-Eye)
The Zodiacal Light in the dawn sky, September 14, 2021, from home in Alberta, with the winter sky rising. The Big Dipper is at far left. Orion and the winter stars are at right, with the Milky Way rising vertically across the frame. The Zodiacal Light is the pyramid-shaped glow angled to the right rising out of the eastern sky. Dawn twilight colours the sky. This is a stack of 4 x 30-second exposures for the ground to smooth noise, and a single 30-second exposure for the sky, all with the TTArtisan 8mm fish-eye lens at f/2 and on the Canon R6 at ISO 1600.
The Zodiacal Light in the September Dawn v1
The Zodiacal Light in the dawn sky, September 14, 2021, from home in Alberta, with the winter sky rising. Orion and the winter stars are at far right with Sirius rising. The Big Dipper is at far left. The winter Milky Way appears vertically across the frame. The Zodiacal Light is the pyramid-shaped glow angled to the right rising out of the eastern sky. Dawn twilight colours the sky. This is a stack of 5 x 30-second exposures for the ground to smooth noise, and a single 30-second exposure for the sky, all with the TTArtisan 11mm full-frame fish-eye lens at f/2.8 and on the Canon R6 at ISO 3200. All untracked on a static tripod.
Alberta Star Party 2021 - Observer at SCT
An observer at a Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope at the Alberta Star Party, September 3-4, 2021, in the Starland County Recreation Area on the Red Deer River. The Big Dipper is at upper left. A mild aurora brightens the northern horizon.
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.
Bands of green airglow in the northern sky through the area of the two Dippers (Big and Little), on a June night. This was from Red Rock Canyon road in Waterton Lakes National Park, June 3, 2021. Clouds coming in add the glows on the stars. The Big Dipper is at top; the Little Dipper is at right. All of Ursa Major is visible above the peak. This is a single tracked 2-minute exposure with the MSM Tracker, and 20mm Sigma Art lens at f/2.8 adapted to the Canon EOS Ra at ISO 1600.
The Two Dippers in Moonlight (April 2021)
A portrait of the Big Dipper and Little Dipper high in the northern spring sky on a moonlit April night. Polaris is at lower left at the end of the handle of the Little Dipper. This is a stack of 4 x 1-minute exposures at f/2.8 with the Sigma 24mm Art lens adapted to the Canon EOS Ra at ISO 400, blended with a single image taken through an Alyn Wallace/Kase StarGlow filter plus an exposure taken through a Tiffen 6-point Star filter for added effect. Filter layers blended in with Lighten mode and masked to just the stars to prevent them from affecting the background sky illumination and uniformity. Taken April 20, 2021 from Dinosaur Provincial Park with the camera on the Star Adventurer 2i tracker with the quarter Moon off frame at top.
Panorama of the Milky Way-less Spring Sky (with Labels)
A 360° all-sky panorama of the northern spring sky with the Milky Way as absent from the sky as it can get for the year and from my latitude of 51° N. I shot this April 14/15, 2021 about 12:30 to 1 am MDT with the North Galactic Pole (NGP) in Coma Berenices due south and as high as it gets. So we are looking up out of the plane of the Galaxy, placing the band of the Milky Way along the horizon, visible here only as an arc low across the north at top, where it is obscured by the glow of Northern Lights that appeared this night. South is at bottom; north at top. West is to the right; east to the left. Zenith is at centre. I have added labels to this version. The Big Dipper is directly overhead at the zenith in the centre of the image. Polaris is above centre high in the north, close to the North Celestial Pole (NCP). Arcturus is the brightest star in the spring skly, and is here below centre and below the handle of the Dipper. Spica is at bottom low in the south. Castor and Pollux in Gemini are low in the west, the last of the winter stars setting. Capella in Auriga is at top right in the northwest, circumpolar from my latitude. Regulus in Leo is at bottom right high in the southwest. Flanking Leo are the naked-eye star clusters Melotte 111 (east, left, of Leo) in Coma Berenices, and M44, the Beehive (west, right, of Leo) in Cancer. Vega and Deneb are rising in the east at left, heralding the arrival of the summer stars. The head of Scorpius is just rising low in the southeast at bottom left, but Antares had not yet risen. While the aurora is prominent there was very little airglow banding apparent this night. It was a very clear transparent night. I shot this for book illustrations. This is a multi-segment panorama made of 24 segments (3 tiers of 8 each) for the sky, all tracked on the Star Adventurer 2i tracker, blended with a tier of 8 segments, untracked for the ground, masked in and aligned to the tracked segments. All were 45-second exposures at f/2.8 with the Sigma 24mm Art lens on the Nikon D750 at ISO 1600. Stitching was with PTGui which required a lot of tedious manual assigning of control points in adjacent images to get sky segments to align. It did not perform well automatically for this scene. And finding matching stars was tough as the spring sky contains so few bright stars and notable patterns to match up. The original is 15,000 pixels square.
Panorama of the Milky Way-less Spring Sky
A 360° all-sky panorama of the northern spring sky with the Milky Way as absent from the sky as it can get for the year and from my latitude of 51° N. I shot this April 14/15, 2021 about 12:30 to 1 am MDT with the North Galactic Pole (NGP) in Coma Berenices due south and as high as it gets. So we are looking up out of the plane of the Galaxy, placing the band of the Milky Way along the horizon, visible here only as an arc low across the north at top, where it is obscured by the glow of Northern Lights that appeared this night. South is at bottom; north at top. West is to the right; east to the left. Zenith is at centre. The Big Dipper is directly overhead at the zenith in the centre of the image. Polaris is above centre high in the north, close to the North Celestial Pole (NCP). Arcturus is the brightest star in the spring skly, and is here below centre and below the handle of the Dipper. Spica is at bottom low in the south. Castor and Pollux in Gemini are low in the west, the last of the winter stars setting. Capella in Auriga is at top right in the northwest, circumpolar from my latitude. Regulus in Leo is at bottom right high in the southwest. Flanking Leo are the naked-eye star clusters Melotte 111 (east, left, of Leo) in Coma Berenices, and M44, the Beehive (west, right, of Leo) in Cancer. Vega and Deneb are rising in the east at left, heralding the arrival of the summer stars. The head of Scorpius is just rising low in the southeast at bottom left, but Antares had not yet risen. While the aurora is prominent there was very little airglow banding apparent this night. It was a very clear transparent night. I shot this for book illustrations. This is a multi-segment panorama made of 24 segments (3 tiers of 8 each) for the sky, all tracked on the Star Adventurer 2i tracker, blended with a tier of 8 segments, untracked for the ground, masked in and aligned to the tracked segments. All were 45-second exposures at f/2.8 with the Sigma 24mm Art lens on the Nikon D750 at ISO 1600. Stitching was with PTGui which required a lot of tedious manual assigning of control points in adjacent images to get sky segments to align. It did not perform well automatically for this scene. And finding matching stars was tough as the spring sky contains so few bright stars and notable patterns to match up. The original is 15,000 pixels square.
Late Winter/Early Spring Sky 360° Panorama (with Labels)
A 360° all-sky or fish-eye panorama of the late winter and early spring sky from a latitude of 51° N. This was March 13, 2021, from home in southern Alberta. This was a test of new panorama gear, using an Acratech Pan Head on top of a Alyn Wallace/MSM Z-Plate mounted to a Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i tracker, to allow taking tracked segments for the panorama, to prevent star trailing. The Z-Plate allowed the Pan Head to mount and move horizontally and vertically in azimuth and altitude despite being on a polar aligned tracker. It worked! This night there was a bright aurora across the northern sky, so I have oriented the view to place due north at bottom. South is at top. High clouds and haze, partly lit by light pollution here, add the natural glows to the stars, emphasizing the bright stars and constellation patterns. No filter was used here. The ground is a stitch of 8 segments shot with the tracker motor off, then blended with a stitch of 20 segments for the sky, in 3 tiers of 8 + 6 + 6 segments, all with the Sigma 24mm lens at f/2.8 and for 1-minute with the Nikon D750 at ISO 1600 for all shots. Stitched with PTGui v12 which at last saves camera metadata when exporting PSD files. The original is 16,000 pixels square.
Late Winter/Early Spring Sky Panorama with Aurora
A 360° panorama of the late winter and early spring sky with an arc of aurora, from a latitude of 51° N. This was March 13, 2021, from home in southern Alberta. This night there was a bright aurora across the northern sky, so I have oriented the view to place due north just right of centre. The Big Dipper is at right; Leo is rising at far right. The bright winter stars around Orion are at far left to the south. High clouds and haze, partly lit by light pollution here, add the natural glows to the stars, emphasizing the bright stars and constellation patterns. No filter was used here. The yellow arch at left is a band of cloud illuminated by light pollution. This was a test of new panorama gear, using an Acratech Pan Head on top of a Alyn Wallace/MSM Z-Plate mounted to a Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i tracker, to allow taking tracked segments for the panorama, to prevent star trailing. The Z-Plate allowed the Pan Head to mount and move horizontally and vertically in azimuth and altitude despite being on a polar aligned tracker. It worked! The ground is a stitch of 8 segments shot with the tracker motor off, then blended with a stitch of 20 segments for the sky, in 3 tiers of 8 + 6 + 6 segments, all with the Sigma 24mm lens at f/2.8 and for 1-minute with the Nikon D750 at ISO 1600 for all shots. Stitched with PTGui v12 which at last saves camera metadata when exporting PSD files. The original is 25,600 pixels wide.
Late Winter/Early Spring Sky 360° Panorama
A 360° all-sky or fish-eye panorama of the late winter and early spring sky from a latitude of 51° N. This was March 13, 2021, from home in southern Alberta. This was a test of new panorama gear, using an Acratech Pan Head on top of a Alyn Wallace/MSM Z-Plate mounted to a Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i tracker, to allow taking tracked segments for the panorama, to prevent star trailing. The Z-Plate allowed the Pan Head to mount and move horizontally and vertically in azimuth and altitude despite being on a polar aligned tracker. It worked! This night there was a bright aurora across the northern sky, so I have oriented the view to place due north at bottom. South is at top. High clouds and haze, partly lit by light pollution here, add the natural glows to the stars, emphasizing the bright stars and constellation patterns. No filter was used here. The ground is a stitch of 8 segments shot with the tracker motor off, then blended with a stitch of 20 segments for the sky, in 3 tiers of 8 + 6 + 6 segments, all with the Sigma 24mm lens at f/2.8 and for 1-minute with the Nikon D750 at ISO 1600 for all shots. Stitched with PTGui v12 which at last saves camera metadata when exporting PSD files. The original is 16,000 pixels square.
Auroral Arc with Big Dipper and Cassiopeia
A quiescent arc of Northern Lights, or aurora borealis, across the northern horizon from home on February 1, 2021. The W of Cassiopeia is at top left; the familiar Big Dipper is at top right. Polaris in the Little Dipper, or Ursa Minor, is above centre. Cassiopeia and the Big Dipper are nicely placed at this time on a February evening flanking Polaris at an equal altitude, in the northwest and in the northeast. The Milky Way runs down the left side of the frame This is a single 30-second untracked exposure with the Sony a7III at ISO 1600, and with the Venus Optics Laowa 15mm lens wide open at f/2.
A 180° panorama of a display of Northern Lights to the northeast, the first in many weeks for us in a Kp4 level display, with bright Mars amid clouds to the southeast, at right. Mars was near opposition and so nearly at its brightest at this time. The Big and Little Dippers are at left to the north; the Pleiades is right of centre to the east. Moonlight from the low gibbous Moon off frame to the southeast provides the illumination. Taken from home, Sept 25-26, 2020, in a stitch of 6 segments, all 20 seconds at f/2.8 and ISO 1600 with the Sigma Art 14mm lens and Nikon D750. Stitched with Adobe Camera Raw.