The small constellation of Sagitta the Arrow, in the Milky Way. The small globular cluster, Messier 71, is between Gamma Sagittae and Delta Sagittae. Below M71 is the very sparse star cluster Harvard 20. The emission nebula Sharpless 2-84 is supposedly at centre but does not show up here except perhaps as a dim blue area of reflection nebulosity, though there is some faint red emission nebulosity at lower right. This is a stack of 10 x 5-minute exposures through the SharpStar 61EDPH II refractor with its flattener/reducer at f/4.6 and the red-sensitive Canon Ra, though with no filter employed here. The mount was the little Star Adventurer GTi portable GoTo mount undergoing testing, and autoguided with the ZWO ASIAir and its little 30mm guidescope, with the Air also controlling the Ra and performing dithering moves between each exposure. The guiding worked very well. No darks or LENR were applied here, but the stacking averaged out the thermal noise hot pixels on this fairly warm autumn night, September 27, 2022. All stacking and alignment with Photoshop. A mild Orton Glow effect added with Luminar AI.
The summer constellations of Sagittarius and Scorpius skimming low across the south from my latitude of 51° N, above the trees from my backyard site in rural Alberta. In this version I added in labels for the major stars, constellations and the deep-sky objects that are easily visible in binoculars, if not to the naked eye. I also included a binocular field of view circle for scale. The M objects are from the Messier catalogue. Jupiter is the bright object right of centre; Saturn is left of centre. Altair is at upper left. A number of deep-sky objects show up, particularly the Messier nebulas and star clusters, as well as the Scutum Starcloud left of centre, and above it several large binocular open star clusters. The constellation of Ophiuchus is at right of centre occupying most of the frame. Aquila is at far left along the Milky Way. This is a stack of 4 x 1-minute tracked exposures with the Nikon D750 at ISO 1600 and Sigma 24mm lens at f/2.2, plus one of those exposures blended in for the ground to minimize its blurring. Another exposure taken through the Kenko Softon A filter was blended in to add the star glows, though light cloud this night added some glows naturally.
The small constellation of Sagitta the Arrow at bottom, with the Dumbbell Nebula, Messier 27, at top left in Vulpecula, with the field framed to show how Sagitta can be used as a star hop pointer to M27. The star cluster M71 is at bottom. The 7.5 x 5° field is close to a binocular field of view. This is a stack of 10 x 6-minute exposures with the SharpStar 61mm apo refractor at f/4.5 and with the Canon R6 at ISO 800, and through an Optolong L-Pro light pollution reduction filter. Taken from home Oct 3, 2021.
