The galactic centre area of the Milky Way in Sagittarius behind the grand old barn near home in southern Alberta, on June 30, 2019. Illumination of the barn is from twilight to the north, but also from light pollution skyglow from the west off frame at right. The sky is blue from the perpetual summer twilight at this time of year. Jupiter is at centre. The nebulas and starclouds of the Milky Way show up well here. The southerly Messier clusters, M6 and M7, in Scorpius just skim the horizon at left. The very red star in the “eye” of the Dark Horse is TW Ophiuchi. This is from my latitude of 51° N. This is a blend of tracked (for the sky) and untracked (for the ground) exposures, with a stack of 3 for the ground and 5 for the sky, stacked to smooth noise. All at ISO 1250 and one minute each, but with the sky exposures at f/2 and ground exposures at f/2.5, with the Sigma 24mm Art lens and stock (not modified) Nikon D750. The sky exposures were through a NiSI Natural Night light pollution filter. The sky exposures are at f/2 to make up for the light loss from shooting thru the filter while keeping exposures short for ease of blending later. The tracker was the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer. I added a mild Orton effect glow layer to the image using Luminar Flex.
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 Milky Way through the region of the tail of Scorpius and up into Sagittarius, photographed with it high in the sky from Australia. At bottom are the red nebulas of NGC 6334, the Cat’s Paw, and NGC 6357 (sometimes called the Lobster Nebula, for a “Paws and Claws” pairing). The clusters Messier 6 and Messier 7 are at left, below centre, with M7 lost in the star clouds of the Milky Way. The Galactic Centre lies at left centre. The Lagoon and Trifid Nebulas, M8 and M20, are at top left. Saturn is the bright star at top centre. The Dark Horse region of dark dust is at right, with the darkest part below being the Pipe Nebula, B78. This is a stack of 5 x 2-minute exposures at f/2.8 with the Rokinon 85mm lens, and filter-modified Canon 5D MkII at ISO 2500. Taken from Tibuc Gardens Cottage near Coonabarabran, Australia. The image could be turned 90° CCW to better resemble its orientation in the sky in which it was photographed in the southern hemisphere, This orientation matches the view in the northern hemisphere.
