A 360° panorama of the OzSky Star Safari 2014, at the Warrumbungles Mountain Motel near Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia, taken April 1 2014. The centre of the Galaxy area in Scorpius and Sagittarius is rising just left of centre (east); the Southern Cross and Carina Nebula area is at the peak of the arch of the Milky Way, at their highest for the night (south); Canis Major is setting at right (west). The Magellanic Clouds are above the trees at centre. At upper left is Mars, a week away from opposition. The Gegenschein is visible as a diffuse glow just left of Mars, the brightest part of the Zodiacal Band which runs from the Milky Way and Antares up tp Mars then off the frame at upper left. The Dark Emu figure made of dark clouds in the Milky Way is almost all above the horizon with his head in the Coal Sack at top centre, and his neck and bodt running down the Milky Way to the left toward the horizon. This is a 6-section panorama with the Canon 60Da at ISO 3200 and 60 second exposures, untracked, with the 8mm fish-eye lens at f/3.5. Lighting and movement between segments produces some blending issues. But PTGui spliced the frames together very well and effortlessly. Taken after it had clouded over for a time then cleared, so some scopes had been covered up.
NGC 281, the Pacman Nebula, in Cassiopeia, taken from home November 21, 2016, as part of testing of the Explore Scientific FCD100 102mm apo refractor. This is a stack of 5 x 6-minute exposures at f/7 with the ES field flattener, and filter-modified Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1600. The bright star is Alpha Cassiopeiae, aka Schedir. North is to the left here, to produce a nice composition in portrait mode and with the “pacman” figure more obvious.
The Lambda Centauri complex, also known as the Running Chicken Nebula IC 2948 (at left) and above it the Pearl Cluster (NGC 3766). Just right of centre is the open cluster IC 2714 ad below it the small barely resolve cluster Mel 105. To the upper right is the nebula complex NGC 3576/81. This is a rich area of sky to explore with binoculars or a low-power telescope with exccellent contrasts between rich starfields and dark nebulas. This is a stack of 4 x 10 minute exposures at f/4.3 with the Borg 77mm astrograph (330mm focal length) and Canon 5D MkII at ISO 800. Taken from Coonabarabran, Australia, March 2014.
