The centre of the Galaxy region in Sagittarius and Scorpius skimming the southern horizon on June 9, 2013 from home at a latitude of +51°. M6 and M7 clusters are just on the horizon. The sky was moonless but lit with perpetual twilight. Ground illumination is from starlight. This is a single 15-second exposure at f/1.4 with the 24mm lens and Canon 60Da at ISO 1600. Taken as part of a comparison pair with a 60 second exposure.
This area in Cygnus that contains the circular Cocoon Nebula, aka IC 5146, located at the end of the long dark nebula called the Dark Cigar but officially is Barnard 168. The nebulas are flanked by two open star clusters: NGC 7209 at far left just over the border in Lacerta, and Messier 39 at far right. NGC 7209 barely stands out amid the rich starfield here, just below an orange star, while M39 is bright but sparse at right. The clusters and dark nebula stand out well in binoculars but the Cocoon Nebula is a challenge to see in telescopes. This is a stack of 6 x 6-minute exposures with the William Optics RedCat 51mm astrographic refractor at f/5 and the Canon EOS Ra at ISO 800 with LENR on as it was the warmest night of the summer, August 18, 2020. Aligned, stacked and median combined in Photoshop to eliminate some satellite trails. Autoguided with the ZWO ASIAir and ASI120MM guide camera with the RedCat on the Astro-Physics Mach1 mount. No filters employed here.
