Orion and the Dog Stars over an old rustice farmhouse near Vulcan, Alberta. Orion is at centre, while to the lower left is the “Dog Star” Sirius in Canis Major, while at upper left, at the edge of the frame, is the dog star Procyon in Canis Minor. The nearly full Hunter’s Moon in the morning sky off frame at right provides the illumination. This is a stack of 4 exposures, mean combined, to reduce noise in the foreground, with the sky coming from just one image to prevent star trailing. All were 8 second exposures at f/2.8 and ISO 800 with the Canon 6D and 24mm Canon lens.
Orion and Sirius rising in the moonlight over the rocky landscape of the Gila National Forest in New Mexico north of Pinos Altos and the Continental Divide. Orion’s three Belt stas point down to Sirius in Canis Major just rising. To the left is the other “dog star,” Procyon in Canis Minor. This is a two-image stack: a short exposure 25 seconds at f/4 and ISO 2000 for the stars to keep trailing to a minimum, and a long 4-minute exposure at f/11 and ISO 1600 for the ground to increase depth of field and sharpness from foreground to distance. Gound and sky masked and processed in separate layers in Photoshop. Taken January 27, 2015 on a partly cloud and hazy night, with a waxing quarter Moon providing the illumination.
Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2) at upper right near the Pleiades, with its long blue ion tail stretching back to the left past the Pleiades. This wide-angle shot takes in a wide sweep from Orion at bottom left up to Auriga and Perseus at top. At centre is Taurus and the Taurus Dark Clouds of interstellar dust. Some high haze drifiting through added natural star glows but also some sky gradient tints. This is a stack of 9 x 2 minute exposures at f/2.8 with the 24mm lens and Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1600, on the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer tracker. Taken from City of Rocks State Park, New Mexico, January 18, 2015.
