The southern Milky Way with the Dark Emu rising over the OzSky Star Party on April 5, 2016. This is the section of the sky and Milky Way that cannot be seen from northern latitudes. The Milky Way extends from Puppis and Vela at top to Centaurus at bottom, with Crux and Carina at left of centre with the Southern Cross and the Carina Nebula at centre. The Small and Large Magellanic Clouds are at lower right. The South Celestial Pole is at lower centre. Canopus is the bright star upper right. The telescopes are from the Three Rivers Foundation Australia for use by visiting amateur astronomers at the annual OzSky Star Party, held on the grounds of the Warrumbungles Motel near Coonabarabran, NSW. This is a stack of 4 x 5 minute exposures with the Rokinon 14mm lens at f/2.8 and Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1600, all tracked on the iOptron Sky Tracker, plus one 5-minute exposure untracked of the ground to prevent it from blurring. The trees are blurred at the boundary of the two images, tracked and untracked.
Circumpolar star trails over the OzSky star party near Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia, on April 3, 2016. This is a small annual star party attended by about 35 observers from around the world on a limited registration basis and put on by the Three Rivers Foundation in Australia. The view is looking due south here to the South Celestial Pole, with the southern Milky Way arching overhead, with Crux, the Southern Cross at top. The LMC is at bottom right. The field is filled with telescopes for observers to use to explore the wonders of the southern hemisphere sky. The stars are turning around the blank area that is the South Celestial Pole in Octans. This site is at a latitude of 32° South. This is a stack of 49 frames, each 45 seconds at f/2.8 with the 15mm fish-eye lens on the Canon 6D at ISO 4000. The ground comes from three frames in the sequence. Stacked with Advanced Stacker Plus actions using Streaks mode.
The sweep of the southern Milky Way from Vela at far right, to Sagittarius at far left, over the grounds of the Warrumbungles Motel, near Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia at the 2016 OzSky Star Party. Some astrophotographers are in the foreground. Most of teh southern sky’s finest sights are in this view: The Southern Cross and Carina Nebula are at upper centre. Scorpius, with bright Mars and Saturn, is at far left. Mars is the brightest object at upper left. The Magellanic Clouds are at lower right, setting. This is a stack of 5 x 3 minute exposures all at f/2.8 with the 14mm Rokinon lens and filter-modified Canon 5D MkII at ISO 2000. The foreground comes from just one of the exposures to minimize trailing. All shots were taken with the camera on the iOptron Sky Tracker.
