The Milky Way through the region of the tail of Scorpius, photographed with it high in the sky from Australia. At bottom are the clusters and nebulas of the False Comet area around NGC 6124. Above and at centre 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 top left with M7 lost in the star clouds of the Milky Way. The Galactic Centre lies at top left. 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.
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.
