A panoramic mosaic of bright starclouds and dark stardust in the rich region of the Milky Way around the centre of the Galaxy in Sagittarius. This panorama extends from the tail of Scorpius at far right to Serpens at far left, with the bright Sagittarius Starcloud near the direction of the galactic centre at centre. The Milky Way here is populated by a rich collection of nebulas and star clusters, including - from right to left - the Cat’s Paw and NGC 6337 in the tail of Scorpius at right, the Lagoon and Trifid Nebulas in Sagittarius (left of centre), and the Swan and Eagle Nebulas in Serpens at far left. The Small Sagittarius Starcloud, M24, is at left, flanked above and below by the star clusters M23 and M25. The star clusters M6 and M7 are at right of centre in Scorpius, with M7 lost in the starclouds. The bright “clouds” are masses of stars. The dark regions are obscuring regions of interstellar dust hiding the more distant stars. The actual centre of the Galaxy near the centre of the frame is not visible here in this or any visible light image as it is hidden by dust. The nebulas at right in Scorpius are much redder as they are obscured by dark interstellar dust which absorbs the shorter blue wavelengths which add to the pink colours of the other nebulas which glow in red and blue wavelengths of hydrogen alpha and beta as well as cyan oxygen III wavelengths. The mosaic runs along the galactic equator. I present this as a horizontal landscape image with north to the left and south to the right. This is the way you generally see this area in the southern hemisphere. But in the northern hemisphere this region of sky is seen running vertically from south to north, so the mosaic should be turned 90° CW to match that view. However, I shot this from Australia, on April 13, 2016 on a near perfect night for astronomy. This is a mosaic of 6 segments, each segment being a stack of 4 x 3-minute exposures at f/2.8 with the 135mm Canon L-Series telephoto lens, tracked on the AP 400 mount, and with the filter-modified Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1600. Stacking and stitching in Photoshop CC 2015. The original is 11,100 by 3,800 pixels.
A mosaic of the region around the centre of the Milky Way in Sagittarius and Scorpius. The field takes in the Milky Way from the Cat's Paw Nebula at bottom edge to the Eagle Nebula at top left. In between from top to bottom are the Swan Nebula (M17), the Small Sagittarius Starcloud (M24), the Trifid and Lagoon Nebulas (M20 and M8) and the open clusters M6 and M7. The prominent dark nebula at right is the large Pipe Nebula (B78) with the small Snake Nebula (B72) above it. The whole complex is visible to the naked eye as the Dark Horse. This is a mosaic of 6 panels, each a stack of 5 x 3 minute exposures with the 135mm lens at f/2.8, and with the filter-modified Canon 5D Mark II at ISO 1600 tracking the sky on the iOptron SkyTracker, with no guidind. Images were stacked and stitched in Photoshop CC. Taken from the Four Bar Cottages near Portal Arizona, May 4/5, 2014.
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.
