A constellation portrait of Auriga (upper left), Taurus (bottom), and Perseus (top), framing the large finger-like Taurus Dark Clouds in this dusty region of the outer Milky Way. Included are several of the bright pink emission nebulas in this part of the Milky Way, notably the California Nebula at top and the Flaming Star complex at centre. At bottom left is the star cluster Messier 35 in Gemini and several of the bright nebulas near it. At right is the blue Pleiades star cluster. At bottom right is the large Hyades star cluster. The trio of Messier clusters in Auriga, M36, M37, and M38, also show up on this scale. Aldebaran is at bottom; Capella is at top. This is a stack of 22 x 4-minute exposures with the 28-70mm Canon RF lens at f/2.8 and 35mm, on the Canon Ra, shooting through an URTH Night broadband light pollution filter. A final exposure through an Alyn Wallace/Kase StarGlow filter added the glows on stars. The camera was on the Star Adventurer Mini tracker (every frame was usable). Bands of red airglow drifted through the frame during the sequence of shots but the stacking smoothed out their discolouration of the sky.
Venus above the Pleiades star cluster, M45, on April 4, 2020, in the twilight and moonlight. Light from the gibbous Moon illuminated the sky, so no long exposure would reveal much detail in and around the Pleiades. Venus passes close to the Pleiades only every 8 years. It was closer the night before, but alas, there were clouds! Some light cloud this night added the glow. This is a stack of multiple exposures of varying lengths: 2 minutes, 30 seconds, 10 seconds and 2 seconds, blended with masks to prevent Venus from being too blown out while still recording the stars. All were with the SharpStar 140mm PH apo refractor with the 0.73x flattener/reducer for f/4.8 and at ISO 400 with the Canon EOS Ra.
A wide-field image of the Coma-Virgo Galaxy Cluster (mostly in Virgo) including the Messier galaxies of Markarian’s Chain at right, and to Messier 59 and 60 at bottom left, adn up to M91 and M88 at top. The field is about 4 degrees high and 6 degrees wide. This is a stack of 8 x 8-minute exposures through the SharpStar 76mm EDPH refractor and with the SharpStar flattener/reducer for f/4.5, and with the Canon EOS Ra at ISO 800.
