Constellations - Orion
The full array of northern winter stars and constellations, including Orion, setting in the evening twilight at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, on April 20, 2021, so about the last opportunity to shoot the scene for the season. Light from the waxing quarter Moon just off frame at top illuminates the scene, plus the sky is still bright with twilight colours in the west. Orion is just all visible but with Rigel about to set. The Hyades and Pleiades in Taurus are just over the formation at right. Sirius in Canis Major is over the formation at left. Procyon in Canis Minor is at left of centre. Castor and Pollux in Gemini are the two stars at top. Capella in Auriga is at upper right. Perseus is at far right. Mars is dim at centre frame as an "extra star" between Gemini and Auriga. This is a stack of 4 x 30-second tracked exposures for the sky at ISO 800 and 4 x 1-minute untracked exposures for the ground at ISO 200, at f/4 with the 14mm Samyang SP lens on the Canon EOS Ra camera. The tracker was the Star Adventurer 2i. This is not a multi-segment panorama but is a multi-exposure stack. Stacked, masked and blended in Photoshop.
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.
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.
Winter Sky Panorama — 360° Rectangular
A 360° panorama of the entire late winter/early spring sky from northern latitudes, with the winter Milky Way stretching across the sky, from south (at left) to north (at right). West is at centre. Orion and the northern winters stars are left of centre to the southwest. Just below the prominent Pleiades cluster at centre is Mars, then near the Pleiades in early March 2021. To the far left in the eastern sky the spring stars are rising. The Beehive star cluster stands out to the left of the Milky Way,. The Big Dipper is at upper right. Arcturus is rising at far right just above the horizon. Sirius is above the southern horizon left of centre. The faint glow of Gegenschein is at far left below Leo, opposite the Sun. I shot this from home on March 7, 2021 on a very clear night with no aurora to the north. This is from a latitude of 51° N. This is a stitch of 21 segments, in 3 tiers or rows of 7 segments each, with the Sigma 24mm Art lens at f/2 and Canon EOS Ra camera at ISO 1600. Exposures were 30 seconds each, all untracked. The camera was moved automatically from frame to frame by placing it on the Sky-Watcher AZ-GTi motorized alt-azimuth mount, programmed with the hand controller from the old Sky-Watcher All-View mount. Stitching was with PTGui using equirectangular projection. The original is 28,000 by 8,000 pixels.
Winter Sky Panorama — 360° Spherical
A 360° panorama of the entire later winter/early spring sky from northern latitudes, with the winter Milky Way stretching across the sky, from south (at bottom) to north (at top). Orion and the northern winters stars are at bottom to the southwest. Just below the prominent Pleiades cluster at right is Mars. To the left in the eastern sky the spring stars are rising. I shot this from home on March 7, 2021 on a very clear night with no aurora to the north. South is at bottom; north is at top. East is to the left; west is to the right, toward the major source of light pollution. Polaris is at top centre; the Big Dipper is at upper left. Arcturus is rising at left. Sirius is at bottom, above the southern horizon. This is from a latitude of 51° N. This is a stitch of 21 segments, in 3 tiers or rows of 7 segments each, with the Sigma 24mm Art lens at f/2 and Canon EOS Ra camera at ISO 1600. Exposures were 30 seconds each, all untracked. The camera was moved automatically from frame to frame by placing it on the Sky-Watcher AZ-GTi motorized alt-azimuth mount, programmed with the hand controller from the old Sky-Watcher All-View mount. Stitching was with PTGui. The original is 17,000 by 17,000 pixels.
Orion, Sirius, and the winter stars over my home in southern Alberta, with a bright waxing Moon in Taurus. Taken February 19, 2021.
Orion, Sirius and the winter stars over my home in southern Alberta, with a bright waxing Moon in Taurus. Taken February 19, 2021.
Winter Sky Rising (January 2021)
This is a portrait of the winter sky rising in the southeast on January 9, 2021, taken from home in Alberta. The constellation of Orion is at centre with blue-white Sirius in Canis Major below and reddish-yellow Aldebaran in Taurus above. Castor and Pollux in Gemini are at left. Procyon in Canis Minor is between the Castor-Pollux pair and Sirius. Bright star clusters flank the scene, with the Pleiades (M45) at top and the Beehive Cluster (M44) in Cancer at far left. Several other smaller star clusters in and along the Milky Way are also visible, even at this scale with an ultra-wide lens. This is a stack of 10 30-second tracked exposures with the 15mm Venus Optics Laowa lens at f/4 on the Sony a7III at ISO 6400. and taken as part of lens testing this night.
Winter Stars Rising at Dawn in August
The stars of the northern winter sky rising at dawn on the morning of August 14, 2020, from home in southern Alberta. The waning crescent Moon is overexposed here, shining above bright Venus , then in southern Gemini as a bright “morning star” in the east. Mars is also bright and reddish, to the south at upper right. Orion is rising over the ripening wheatfield at centre. Above Orion is Taurus with the Hyades and Pleiades star clusters. The bright star to the left and above the Moon is Capella in Auriga. Castor and Pollux are rising at far left. This is a stack of 4 images for the ground to smooth noise and 1 image for the sky, all with the 14mm Sigma Art lens at f/2.5 and Nikon D750 at ISO 800 for 25 seconds each. I added a mild Orton Glow effect with Luminar Flex.
Orion and Venus at Dusk (March 25, 2020)
This is the evening sky on March 25, 2020, with brilliant Venus high in the west just after the date (March 24) of its greatest elongation in the evening sky for 2020. It appears here about as high as it can get with the ecliptic tipped up to a high angle in spring. To the left is Orion and the winter stars in the twilight. Just above the horizon at bottom right in the bright twilight is the day-old thin crescent Moon about to set. Above Venus are the Pleiades and Hyades star clusters. This is a single exposure with the Nikon D750 and 24mm Sigma lens, at 8 seconds at ISO 400 and f/2.8.
The Constellation of Orion with Dim Betelgeuse
A portrait of Orion and the northern winter Milky Way, on a February night, 2020. The Orion Nebula is the bright, overexposed pink glow below the Belt of Orion, while the curving arc of red is Barnard’s Loop, now thought to be a supernova remnant. The bright red glow at upper left is the Rosette Nebula. Red Betelgeuse was at its minimum then, at about the same brightness as Bellatrix to the right — Betelgeuse is usually about as bright as blue-white Rigel at lower right. However, Betelguese began to re-brighten in the nights after this. This is a stack of 8 x 2-minute exposures at ISO 800 with no filter and 6 x 3-minute exposures at ISO 1250 with a NISI Natural Night light pollution filter, all with the Sigma 50mm lens at f/3.2 and red-sensitive Canon EOS Ra camera on the iOptron SkyGuider Pro tracker. An additional exposure without the NISI but through a Kenko Softon A diffusion filter adds the star glows. Taken from home in Alberta on February 24, 2020.
Orion and the Winter Milky Way
Orion and the winter stars and Milky Way in a wide-angle scene sweeping up from the horizon to past the zenith. Sirius and Canis Major are at bottom left while Cassiopeia and Perseus are at upper right. Orion is below centre. At centre are the Taurus Dark Clouds and the constellations of Taurus and Auriga. Gemini is at left. The Winter Hexagon stars are all framed in this scene, and more! The glow of Zodiacal Light is at right. Betelgeuse was then at a record minimum brightness. This is a stack of 8 x 4-minute tracked exposures with the Canon 15mm full-frame fish-eye lens at f/2.8 and stock Canon 6D MkII camera at ISO 800, on the iOptron SkyGuider Pro tracker. Thus the blurry ground. Taken from home at latitude 51° N. on a perfect winter night, January 25, 2020.
Defocused Orion with Dim Betelgeuse
Orion, purposely shot out of focus to show the difference in star brightnesses better, in particular reddish Betelguese at upper centre, then at a record dim magnitude looking similar in brightness to magnitude 1.6 Bellatrix at right, and dimmer than Rigel at lower right which it usually rivals in brightness. This was January 25, 2020, taken with the Sigma 50mm lens for a stack of 4 x 1-minute exposures with the Canon 6D MkII on the iOptron SkyGuider Pro tracker. No filters were used here.
Orion with Dim Betelgeuse (Jan 25, 2020)
The constellation of Orion with red Betelgeuse then at a record dim magnitude looking similar in brightness to magnitude 1.6 Bellatrix at right, and much fainter than Rigel at lower right, which it usually rivals in brightness. This is a stack of 4 x 4-minute tracked exposures through the NISI Natural Night filtter with the Sigma 50mm lens at f/2.8 and stock (not modifed) Canon 6D MkII camera at ISO 800. A fifth exposure taken though the Kenko Softon filter adds the star glows. Taken from home in Alberta with the iOptron SkyGuider Pro tracker.
Orion and Taurus with Filters (35mm EOS Ra)
Orion and Taurus (at top) beside the Milky Way, with Betelgeuse dimmer than usual at this time (about magnitude +1.3) during one of its fading episodes. The Taurus Dark Clouds are at top. Barnard’s Loop, apparently now thought to be a supernova remnant and not a bubble, is at lower left encircling Orion. The Rosette Nebula is at far left. The Auriga clusters and nebulas are at top, as is M35 in Gemini. This is a stack of 8 x 3-minute exposures with the 35mm Canon lens at f/2.8 and Canon EOS Ra at ISO 800. 4 shots were through the NISI Natural Night light pollution reduction filter and 4 were through the Hoya Red Enhancer filter, taken as part of testing. An additional exposure through the Kenko Softon filter adds the star glows. Taken from home on a very clear night, December 29, 2019 on the iOptron SkyGuider Pro. The red nebulas showed up better here than in a similar shot taken the night before due to the clearer sky and use of the filters. Even so, I had to remove a lot of sky gradients at the bottom (as that area of sky is low for me), so this image serves as a good demo of that process.
Orion and Sirius (35mm EOS Ra)
Orion and and Sirius in Canis Major low on my southern horizon from home in Alberta at latitude 51° N. Betelgeuse is dimmer here than usual as this was December 28, 2019 and the star was in a major downtown in brightness. The star cluster M41 is below Sirius. The stars of Lepus are below Orion. This is a stack of 6 x 1.5-minute exposures at f/2.8 with the Canon 35mm lens and Canon EOS Ra at ISO 1600, on the iOptron SkyGuider Pro, plus an additional exposure through the Kenko Softon A filter layered in for the enhanced star glows. However, thin haze and ice crystals added natural star glows. Plus haze and airglow added the bands of colour.
Orion and Taurus (35mm EOS Ra)
Orion and Taurus with their nebulas and clusters alongside the Milky Way at left. Betelgeuse is dimmer than usual here in this scene from December 28, 2019. The star clusters M35 in Gemini and M37, M36 and M38 in Auriga are prominent at top left,. as well as the Hyades and the large open clusters NGC 1647 and 1746 in Taurus at upper right. The red Rosette Nebula is at left, and the Orion Nebula, M42, is below the Belt of Orion. The large Taurus Dark Clouds are at top. This is a stack of 12 x 3-minute exposures at f/2.8 with the Canon 35mm lens and Canon EOS Ra at ISO 800, on the iOptron SkyGuider Pro, plus an additional exposure through the Kenko Softon A filter layered in for the enhanced star glows. However, thin haze and ice crystals added natural star glows.
Orion with Dim Betelgeuse (Dec 28, 2019)
Orion rising on December 28, 2019 with yellow-red Betelgeuse at centre dimmer than usual as it drops by nearly a magnitude from its normal brightness, during one of its occasional dim episodes as a long-period variable star. It is a red supergiant that varies between 0.0 and +1.3 magnitude. Here it definitely looks dimmer than yellow Aldebaran at top in Taurus, and blue-white Rigel at bottom in Orion. Betelgeuse loolks similar in brightness to blue Bellatrix to the right of Betelgeuse, with both stars forming the shoulders of Orion. This is a stack of 4 x 1-minute tracked exposures plus a single exposure through the Kenko Softon A filter to add the star glows. All on the iOptron Sky Guider Pro and with the Canon EOS Ra and 35mm lens at f/2.5. Taken from home in Alberta.
Orion and the winter stars and constellations rising in the light of a first quarter Moon on December 3, 2019. The vertical format sweeps up the Milky Way. This was from a viewpoint overlooking the Bow River on the Siksika Nation in southern Alberta. Orion is above the river with Sirius in Canis Major just rising. Aldebaran in Taurus and the Pleiades are at top right. At top is the star Capella and the constellation of Auriga. At left are Castor and Pollux in Gemini. Above the lights is Procyon in Canis Minor. The Beehive Cluster is at left. The low Moon behind the camera to the right added a warm “bronze hour” tint to the landscape. This is a blend of untracked exposures for the ground and tracked exposures for the sky, using the Star Adventurer tracker. The ground and sky are each stacks of 4 x 1-minute exposures with the 15-35mm Canon RF lens at 15mm and f/2.8 and on the Canon EOS Ra camera at ISO 800. I had some fun with filters on this one, applying a Soft Glow filter with Luminar Flex to the ground and an Orton Glow effect to the sky with ON1 Photo RAW 2020.
Orion Rising over the Bow River
Orion and the winter stars rising in the light of a waxing Moon on December 3, 2019. This was from a viewpoint overlooking the Bow River on the Siksika Nation in southern Alberta. Orion is above the river with Sirius in Canis Major just rising. Aldebaran and the Hyades in Taurus are at top. At left are Castor and Pollux in Gemini. Above the lights is Procyon in Canis Minor. The Beehive Cluster in Cancer is at far left. The low Moon behind the camera to the right added a warm “bronze hour” tint to the landscape. This is a blend of untracked exposures for the ground and tracked exposures for the sky, using the Star Adventurer tracker. The ground and sky are each stacks of 4 x 1-minute exposures with the 15-35mm Canon RF lens at 15mm and f/2.8 and on the Canon EOS Ra camera at ISO 800. I had some fun with filters on this one, applying a Soft Glow filter with Luminar Flex to the ground and an Orton Glow effect to the sky with ON1 Photo RAW 2020.
Winter Sky Rising in the Moonlight
Orion and the winter stars and constellations rising in the light of a first quarter Moon on December 2, 2019. This was from home in Alberta. Orion is above the trees with Aldebaran in Taurus and the Pleiades above him. At top left is the star Capella and the constellation of Auriga. At left of centre are Castor and Pollux in Gemini. Just rising amid the trees is Procyon in Canis Minor. Sirius and Canis Major had not yet risen. The timing nicely captures 4 of the sky’s best star clusters in a row across the sky, with the Beehive just rising at lower left, the Hyades at upper right, and the Pleiades at top. Between the Hyades and the Beehive is the small binocular cluster in Gemini, M35, but visible in this wide-angle view. The low setting Moon behind the camera to the right added a warm “bronze hour” tint to the landscape. Tracks in the snow are from deer. This is a blend of untracked exposures for the ground and tracked exposures for the sky, using the Star Adventurer tracker. The ground and sky are each stacks of 4 x 1.5-minute exposures with the 15-35mm Canon RF lens at 15mm and f/2.8 and on the Canon EOS Ra camera at ISO 800. I had some fun with filters on this one, applying a Soft Glow filter with Luminar Flex to the ground and an Orton Glow effect to the sky with ON1 Photo RAW 2020. So, yes, this is processed to be “artistic!”
Orion and the winter stars rising on a late October night, with Sirius just clearing the horizon at centre bottom, Capella and the Pleiades are at top. M44 cluster is at far left. Taken with the Canon 15-35mm RF lens at 15mm and f/2.8 and the EOS Ra camera at ISO 800 as part of testing. A stack of 4 x 2-minute exposures on the Star Adventurer.
Aurora in Clouds Panorama from Home
A panorama of the Kp5 level aurora seen October 24-25, 2019 from home in a panorama across the north. The aurora always appeared as a diffuse glow and arc without much structure or motion this night, though the patchy clouds didn’t help! But it shows how a bright aurora can shine through the clouds. And this illustrates the difference between the aurora borealis and “aurora commercialis!” — the urban sky glows. The light pollution from Calgary and Strathmore to the west light the sky yellow at left. Orion and the winter stars are rising at right. Polaris is left of centre at top. Deneb and Vega are in the northwest at left. This is a 6-segment panorama with the 15mm Venus Optics lens at f/2 and Sony a7III at ISO 1600 for 20 seconds each. Stitched with Adobe Camera Raw.