A panorama of the centre of the Galaxy portion of the southern hemisphere Milky Way, from Crux at right to Aquila at left. This was taken from Atacama Lodge near San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, on May 2, 2011. It is a 6-segment mosaic, each segment being 4 x 6 minutes + 1 x 6 minutes with a Kenko Softon filter, all at f/4 and ISO 800 with the Canon 5D MkII and Canon L-series 35m lens. Note the sweep of bright blue stars from Scorpius to Orion but angled above then across and below the Milky Way — this is Gould's Belt of new hot stars near us.
A panorama of the centre of the Galaxy portion of the southern hemisphere Milky Way, from Crux at right to Aquila at left. This was taken from Atacama Lodge near San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, on May 2, 2011. It is a 6-segment mosaic, each segment being 4 x 6 minutes + 1 x 6 minutes with a Kenko Softon filter, all at f/4 and ISO 800 with the Canon 5D MkII and Canon L-series 35m lens. Note the sweep of bright blue stars from Scorpius to Orion but angled above then across and below the Milky Way — this is Gould's Belt of new hot stars near us. This version of the image has been processed to make the view better resemble what you see with the unaided eye, in a largely monochrome and softer view than the colourful and high-contrast views commonly presented in astrophotos. Even at that there is more fine structure present in the Milky Way than the unaided eye usually sees, though binoculars beging to reveal that smaller detail. I have left some colours in some stars and in the foreground of landscape scenes.
Alpha and Beta Centauri and Crux, taken from Atacama Lodge, Chile, March 2010, with Canon 5D MkII (modified) and Sigma 50mm lens at f/4 for stack of 5 x 4 minute exposures at ISO 800, plus 2 x 4 minutes with Kenko softon filter. Shows the head and neck of the "Dark Emu."
