Deep Sky - Milky Way
Night Panorama of Waterton Lakeshore
A 180° panorama from Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, of the scene in the Waterton townsite looking across the Upper Waterton Lake to Vimy Ridge and the Milky Way rising in the east. To the south, at right, the galactic core area is rising down the lake but is obscured here by clouds moving in. The bright star over Vimy at centre is Altair. The north, at left, are bands of green airglow prominent this night to the camera. Those glows are not aurora. Haze adds the natural star glows. The yellow sky glow in the far distance at right must be urban glow from Whitefish and Kalispell, Montana. I shot this June 3, 2021. This is a blend of two 6-segment panoramas: one for the ground shot without the tracker motor on and one for the sky with the tracker motor on. The exposures for the ground were 2 minutes at ISO 3200, and for the sky were 1 minute at ISO 3200, all with the Sigma 20mm lens at f/2.8 adapted to the Canon EOS Ra camera, on the Move-Shoot-Move MSM tracker. As is the MSM's habit, it stopped tracking for one of the segments. It is not a reliable device to use for critical time-sensitive shoots.
SAR Arc of Red Aurora (May 11-12, 2021)
An auroral arc at left across the northern horizon with a faint red SAR — Stable Auroral Red — arc to the east. The SAR arc was not visible to the eye. The camera was the red-sensitive Canon EOS Ra so that helped pick up the dim deep red glow. The wide lens captures the broad sweep of the summer Milky Way rising, arcing from NE at left to SE at right, with the galactic core area at far right. This is a single tracked exposure for 2 minutes at f/2.8 with the TTArtisan 11mm full-frame fish-eye lens, on the EOS Ra at ISO 1600, and on the MSM tracker.
Observing with Sky-Watcher Dobsonian Telescope
A selfie of me observing with the 20cm Sky-Watcher Dobsonian telescope on a June night in the backyard. Shot for a book illustration of accessories and observing. The sky is blue from solstice twilight as this was June 18, 2020. The galactic core is at centre; Jupiter is rising at left. This is a blend of a single exposure for the sky, a stack of six exposures for the ground to smooth noise, and a separate single exposure for me. All 15 seconds at ISO 3200 with the Canon 6D MkII and 35mm lens at f/2.8 focused for the foreground. This can be exported in a version without me in it, with just the telescope!
Orion and the Winter Milky Way
Orion and the winter stars and Milky Way in a wide-angle scene sweeping up from the horizon to past the zenith. Sirius and Canis Major are at bottom left while Cassiopeia and Perseus are at upper right. Orion is below centre. At centre are the Taurus Dark Clouds and the constellations of Taurus and Auriga. Gemini is at left. The Winter Hexagon stars are all framed in this scene, and more! The glow of Zodiacal Light is at right. Betelgeuse was then at a record minimum brightness. This is a stack of 8 x 4-minute tracked exposures with the Canon 15mm full-frame fish-eye lens at f/2.8 and stock Canon 6D MkII camera at ISO 800, on the iOptron SkyGuider Pro tracker. Thus the blurry ground. Taken from home at latitude 51° N. on a perfect winter night, January 25, 2020.
The Milky Way through the Perseus to Auriga area, populated by clusters and nebulas of the next spiral arm out from ours, in the Perseus Arm. The Double Cluster is at right, with the Heart and Soul Nebulas above it, while the Auriga clusters and nebulas are at left. At bottom is the California Nebula and Messier 34 cluster. The Perseus OB Association of hot blue stars is at centre. Capella is the bright star at upper left. The Taurus Dark Clouds are at lower left. This is a stack of 8 x 3-minute exposures with the 35mm Canon lens at f/2.8 and Canon EOS Ra at ISO 800. 4 shots were through the NISI Natural Night light pollution reduction filter and 4 were through the Hoya Red Enhancer filter, taken as part of testing. An additional exposure through the Kenko Softon filter adds the star glows. Taken from home on a very clear night, December 29, 2019 on the iOptron SkyGuider Pro.
Panorama of the Auroral Arc and Milky Way (Nov 21, 2019)
A panorama of the arc of the Northern Lights across the northern sky at right, from home in southern Alberta on November 21, 2019. At far left is the summer Milky Way setting while in between is the urban glow from cities to the west (notably Calgary) with the skyglow now blue-white from LEDs lights — it used to be yellow from sodium vapour lights. So this is a study in sky glows, both natural and artificial. The Big Dipper and Polaris are at centre over my house.. Capella in Auriga, Aldebaran and the Pleiades in Taurus, and the stars of Perseus are at right rising in the northeast. Altair and Aquila are at far left, setting in the southwest. This is a 6-segment panorama with the 15mm Venus Optics lens at f/2 on the Sony a7III for 20 seconds each at ISO 1600, stitched with ACR.
Cygnus Nebulas with the Funnel Cloud (85mm EOS R)
Nebulas in Cygnus with the dark Funnel Cloud Nebula (aka Le Gentil 3) at left north of bright Deneb. The field also contains the North America Nebula (NGC 7000) and the complex of nebulas around Gamma Cygni at right, collectively known as IC 1318. To the right of the North America Nebula is the dark Northern Coal Sack. Some light cloud added the natural star glows. The 85mm RF lens is deadly sharp, and very clean to the corners even at f/1.4, with only minimal aberrations at the very corners. Made for portraits, this is a superb lens for deep-sky shooting. This is a stack of 5 x 60-second exposures with the premium Canon RF 85mm f/1.4 lens wide open at f/1.4 on the stock EOS R camera at ISO 400. Being a “normal” camera the EOS R records the red nebulas rather weakly, requiring boosting the reds in post to bring them out at all. The camera was on the Star Adventurer tracker.
The northern summer Milky Way setting over the mountains of Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada, with warm golden lighting supplied by the rising waning Moon (behind the camera) illuminating the landscape and sky in a “moonstrike” effect. Taken on September 21, 2019, in frames taken as part of a time-lapse. Faint bands of red airglow tint the sky, though the blue sky colour is from the moonlight. This is taken during the lunar “golden hour.” This is a stack of 8 images for the ground to smooth noise, one image from the set for the stars to minimize trailing. A mild Orton glow effect added to the sky with Luminar Flex. Each exposure in the set was 30 seconds at ISO 4000 and f/2 with the Venus Optics 15mm lens and Sony a7III. Part of a 360-frame time-lapse.
Milky Way and ISS over Waterton Lakes
The northern summer Milky Way setting over the mountains of Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada, with the Space Station rising at right, then fading into sunset, in a trail from the series of long exposures. This is from the Bison Compound viewpoint looking south and southwest, on September 21, 2019, in frames taken as part of a time-lapse. This is a stack of 8 images for the ground to smooth noise, one image from the set for the stars to minimize trailing, and a stack of 6 images masked to reveal just the ISS trail. The trail fades to deep red as the ISS travels into the Earth’s shadow as it rose here and experienced sunset at their altitude. A mild Orton glow effect added with Luminar Flex. Each exposure in the set was 30 seconds at ISO 4000 and f/2 with the Venus Optics 15mm lens and Sony a7III. Part of a 360-frame time-lapse.
The Constellations of Cygnus and Lyra
The constellations of Cygnus and Lyra in the northern summer Milky Way, shot from Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan, August 27, 2019. Dew intervened before I could shoot more frames or ones through the Softon filter. This is a stack of 3 x 3-minute exposures with the 35mm lens at f/2.8 and filter-modified Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1600 on the Star Adventurer tracker.
Aquila, Serpens and Ophiuchus in the Summer Sky
The constellation of Aquila (at centre) surrounded by Scutum and its starcloud (below) and Serpens and Ophiuchus (at right to the west). Altair is the bright star left of centre, with Tarazed above it. Albireo in Cygnus is at the very top Above Aquila and below Albireo are the small constellations of Sagitta, Vulpecula and Delphinus (the latter at left). The Coathanger asterism is visible at top in the Milky Way, as are the large open clusters IC 4756 and NGC 6633, the S-O Double Cluster, at right straddling the Serpens-Ophiuchus border. Taken August 20, 2019 during the brief interval of darkness before moonrise at 11 pm this night. This is a stack of 7 x 2-minute exposures with the 35mm Canon lens at f/2.8 and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 1600, with an additional exposure taken through the Kenko Softon A filter layered in to add the star glows. On the Star Adventurer tracker from home.
Scutum Starcloud in the Milky Way
The Scutum Starcloud (at top) in the Milky Way, with the Milky Way also bright to the south in Serpens. The nebulas M16 and M17 are at the bottom of the field. The bright star cluster M11, the Wild Duck Cluster, is at the top on the northern edge of the Scutum Starcloud. The area is rife with dark nebulas and dust lanes. This is a stack of 6 x 3-minute exposures with the 85mm Rokinon lens at f/2.8 and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 800 plus an additional exposure taken through the Kenko Softon A filter to add the star glows. Tracked on the Star Adventurer tracker which tracked very well through all the exposures.
Panorama of the RAO Milky Way Night, July 26, 2019
A 180° panorama of the public stargazing session at the Rothney Astrophysical Observatory south of Calgary, Alberta, on July 26, 2019, one of a trio of Milky Way Nights this week. About 600 people attended on this perfect summer night, with many telescopes supplied by members of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Calgary Centre, providing excellent views of lots of celestial objects. This is a stitch of 8 segments, all 8 second exposures at f/2.8 with the 35mm lens, and Canon 6D at ISO 1600. Stitched with Adobe Camera Raw.
Aiming 80mm Scope at Milky Way
Me aiming the A&M 80mm refractor on the Astro-Tech Voyager mount at the Milky Way with its laser pointer finder showing the way. I am aiming at M11 in Scutum. A stack of 4 images for the ground and 1 for the sky and me, all 25 seconds at f/3.5 and ISO 6400 with the Nikon D750 and Sigma 24mm. From home on July 24, 2019. Luminar Flex Orton effects added.
Sagitttarius and Scorpius Above the Trees (with Labels)
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.
Sagitttarius and Scorpius Above the Trees
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. 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.
Geminid Meteors and Comet Wirtanen (Dec 12, 2018)
A composite of several exposures to stack images of five Geminid meteors into a wide view of the winter sky with Comet Wirtanen at upper right in Taurus, taken on December 12, 2018. The meteors are shooting away from the radiant point in Gemini near the bluish-white star Castor at left. The Milky Way runs vertically through the frame from Auriga at top to past Orion at bottom. All the images for the base sky layer and the meteors were shot as part of the same sequence and framing, with a 24mm lens and Nikon D750 on a Star Adventurer tracker. The camera is unmodified so the red nebulosity in this part of the sky appears rather pale. Capella and the Pleiades are at top, Orion is at bottom, Taurus is at centre, while Gemini and the radiant point of the shower is at lower left. The Taurus Dark Clouds complex is at upper centre. All exposures were 30 seconds at f/2 and ISO 1600. I started the sequence with the camera framing this area of the sky when it was just rising in the east in the moonlight then followed it for 4 hours until clouds moved in. So all the images align, but out of 477 frames shot only these 5 had Geminid meteors. Images layered and stacked in Photoshop.
Gazing skyward at a passage of the International Space Station as it flies from west to east (right to left) and passes into the shadow of the Earth at top left and fades out as it experiences sunset. This was December 5, 2018, two days after the arrival of Expedition 58 with Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques for a 6-month stay. I posed for two of the frames. This pass of the ISS started at 6:17 p.m. MST and was mostly sunlit but the late hour, while providing a dark sky background, meant that the ISS was going to go into our planet’s shadow and enter the night side of the planet. The view is looking south, with west to the right and east to the left. The ISS passed almost directly overhead, crossing the Milky Way. Mars is the bright object above my head. This is a stack of 4 x 2-minute tracked exposures at ISO 1600 for the sky and ISS path to keep the stars as pinpoint, and two untracked 1-minute exposures at ISO 3200 for the ground to minimize blurring, masked and blended in. All with the Sigma 8mm fish-eye lens at f/3.5 and Canon 6D MkII on the Star Adventurer Mini tracker.
The Winter Sky and its Brightest Stars
A collage of the northern hemisphere winter sky, with a background mosaic of the sky, surrounded by telescopic close-ups of the brightest stars in that sky. The background mosaic is made of 8 segments, in two columns of 4 rows, with generous overlap. Each segment was made of 4 x 2.5-minute exposures stacked with mean combine stack mode to reduce noise, plus 2 x 2.5-minute exposures taken through the Kenko Softon filter layered in with Lighten belnd mode to add the star glows. Each segment was shot at f/2.8 with the original 35mm Canon L-series lens and the filter-modified (by Hutech) Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1600, riding on the iOptron Sky-Tracker. All stacking and stitching in Photoshop CC 2015. The soft diffusion filter helps bring out the star colours in this area of sky rich in brilliant giant stars. I shot the segments on a very clear night on December 5, 2015 from the Quailway Cottage at Portal, Arizona. The close-ups are each stacks of 2-minute and 30-second exposures with a 130mm f/6 apo refractor and Canon 6D Mark II at ISO 800. taken November 19, 2018 from home. A waxing gibbous Moon provided the blue background sky.
The Milky Way Through the Summer Triangle
The northern summer Milky Way through the area of the Summer Triangle, showing the change in colour as the Milky Way heads south toward the dustier regions around the galactic core. Deneb in Cygnus is at top, Vega in Lyra is to the upper right, and Altair in Aquila is at bottom. The dark lanes of the Cygnus Rift show up well, beginning in Cygnus and splitting the Milky Way in two on south. The most prominent deep sky objects all visible in binoculars are: - the dark nebula complex Le Gentil 3, aka the Funnel Nebula, at top left - the reddish North America Nebula beside Deneb - and the Serpens-Ophiuchus “Double Cluster” at bottom right consisting of IC 4756 (larger, at left) and NGC 6633 (right), good binocular star clusters. This is a stack of 10 exposures, each 3 minutes at f/2.8 with the Sigma 24mm Art lens, and Nikon D750 at ISO 1600. Exposures Median combined to eliminate satellite trails. The camera is not filter modified. It was on the new Mini Track LX2 wind-up tracker as part of testing. Taken from home July 14, 2018.
The constellation of Orion the Hunter, at right, and his two Hunting Dogs and their brightest stars: Procyon in Canis Minor (at left) and Sirius in Canis Major (at bottom). The winter Milky Way runs from top to bottom through Monoceros and Canis Major. The red arc is Barnard’s Loop, an interstellar bubble blown by hot stellar winds from young stars in the Orion complex. The red patch at upper centre is the Rosette Nebula in Monoceros. The Orion Nebula is overexposed right of centre. This is a stack of 3 x 2-minute exposures with the 35mm lens at f/2.5 and filter-modified Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1600, on the Star Adventurer Mini tracker. A 4th exposure through the Kenko Softon A filter adds the star glows for accentuating colour and the visibility of the brightest stars. Shot from Quailway Cottage in southeast Arizona, December 15, 2017.
The dark lanes of interstellar dust in Taurus known as the Taurus Dark Clouds, here in an image framing Taurus and Auriga, with some stars of Perseus at top. The area is filled wuth star clusters and nebulas, notably the California Nebula at top. This is a median-combined stack (to eliminate some satellite trails) of 7 exposures, each 2.5-minute at f/2.8 with the 35mm Canon lens and filter-modified Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1600. Tracked on the Star Adventurer Mini, and shot from the Quailway Cottage in SE Arizona, December 15, 2017. Another exposure through the Kenko Softon A filter and blended in with Lighten mode adds the star glows accentuating the colours of the stars and the prominence of the bright stars.
Milky Way over Milk River at Writing-on-Stone (2018 Version)
The Milky Way over the Milk River in southern Alberta at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, near the Montana border. The Sweetgrass Hills on the horizon are in Montana. The buidlings in the river valley are recreations of a 19th century North West Mounted Police post. Jupiter is the bright object in the Dark Horse area, while Saturn is dimmer to the left. This was July 25, 2017. This is a stack of four 2-minute tracked exposures for the sky and a stack of four 2-minute untracked exposures for the ground, all at f/2 and ISO 1600 with the Sigma 20mm Art lens and Nikon D750. The tracker was the Star Adventurer Mini. The version is re-proprocessed in 2018 from the original 2017 version.
The starcloud, or bright part of the Milky Way, in Norma, with the bright star cluster NGC 6067 at its heart. The field simulates a binocular field. This is a stack of 5 x 2-minute exposures with the 200mm lens at f/2.8 and Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1600. Tracked on the AP 400 mount but not guided. Taken from Tibuc Gardens Cottage,