The Milky Way over the old corral at the site of the 76 Ranch in the Frenchman Valley in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan. I shot this Aug 26 on a perfect night, with aurora beginning to kick up but still low in brightness when I shot this so the sky was dark. The foreground is lit by starlight, by the aurora brightening in the north, and by the occasional flashes of spotlights from naturalists down the valley spotting for nocturnal ferrets. The green bands in the sky are from natural airglow. This is a composite stack of 5 images: 4 tracking the sky on the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer for the sky and 1 untracked shot with the motor off, which supplied the sharp ground. The blurred ground in the tracked shots was masked out in Photoshop. All images were 3 minutes at f/2.5 with the 24mm lens and Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1600.
The summer southern Milky Way over Reesor Lake in Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, a Dark Sky Preserve. Only July 28/29, 2017, just after moonset with Sagittarius in the southwest, and Saturn just about to go behind the treeline. Wind rippled the water and prevented a reflection of stars and the Milky Way. Some airglow tints the sky. This is a composite of four untracked exposures for the ground (mean combined to smooth noise) and four tracked exposures for the sky taken immediately afterwards (again, mean combined to smooth noise). The ground shots were 2 minutes each at f/2.8 and ISO 3200, The sky shots were 1 minute each at f/2 and ISO 1600. All with the 20mm Sigma Art lens and Nikon D750. The tracker was the Star Adventurer Mini.
The galactic centre region of the Milky Way in Sagittarius and Scorpius, over the upper field of the Texas Star Party, near Fort Davis, Texas, May 13, 2015. About 600 people gather here each spring for a star party under very dark skies near the MacDonald Observatory. Sagittarius is left of centre and Scorpius is right of centre with the planet Saturn the bright object at the top edge right of centre. The dark lanes of the Dark Horse and Pipe Nebula areas lead from the Milky Way to the stars of Scorpius, including Antares. The semi-circular Corona Australis is just clearing the hilltop at left of centre. This is a composite of 5 x 3 minute exposures with the camera tracking the sky for more detail in the Milky Way without trailing. Each tracked exposure was at ISO 1600. The ground comes from 3 x 1.5-minute exposures at ISO 3200 taken immediately after the tracked exposures but with the drive turned off on the tracker. All are with the 24mm lens at f/2.8 and filter-modified Canon 5D MkII camera. The ground and sky layers were stacked and layered in Photoshop. The tracker was the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer. High haze added the natural glows around the stars — no filter was employed here.
