A mosaic panorama of the rich Galactic Centre region of the Milky Way in Scorpius and Sagittarius, from Messier 16, at left, to the False Comet region, at right. This is the most spectacular region of sky, with its dense bright star clouds contrasting with the swirls of dark dusty nebulas. The region includes the Lagoon Nebula, left of centre, and the Cat’s Paw Nebula, right of centre, and the large Pipe Nebula, at top centre. The actual centre of the Milky Way lies at the centre of the frame, though thr true centre is out of sight hidden by dust clouds. This is a mosaic of 3 segments, each 5 x 2-minute exposures with the Rokinon 85mm lens at f/2.8 and filter-modified Canon 5D MkII at ISO 2500. Tracked on the iOptron Sky Tracker. Shot from Tibuc Gardens Cottage at Coonabarabran, Australia, April 2017.
The field of clusters and nebulosity in Gemini, with Messier 35 the main open star clusters here. Below M38 is NGC 2158. The nebulosity at left between Mu and Eta Geminorum is IC 443, a supernova remnant, aka the Jellyfish Nebula. The nebula at bottom is IC 2174, just over the border in Orion and aka the Monkeyhead Nebula. The field is similar to that of binoculars. This is a stack of 10 x 3-minute exposures with the filter-modified Canon 5D MkII at ISO 800 and 200mm Canon L-Series lens at f/2.8. Some light haze passing through in some exposures added the natural star glows. I left those in as part of the stack to add the glows. Taken with the Fornax Lightrack tracker as part of testing. Taken from home on a rare fine and mild winter night, January 4, 2019. Diffraction spikes added with Astronomy Tools.
