A mosaic of the region around the centre of the Milky Way in Sagittarius and Scorpius. The field takes in the Milky Way from the Cat's Paw Nebula at bottom edge to the Eagle Nebula at top left. In between from top to bottom are the Swan Nebula (M17), the Small Sagittarius Starcloud (M24), the Trifid and Lagoon Nebulas (M20 and M8) and the open clusters M6 and M7. The prominent dark nebula at right is the large Pipe Nebula (B78) with the small Snake Nebula (B72) above it. The whole complex is visible to the naked eye as the Dark Horse. This is a mosaic of 6 panels, each a stack of 5 x 3 minute exposures with the 135mm lens at f/2.8, and with the filter-modified Canon 5D Mark II at ISO 1600 tracking the sky on the iOptron SkyTracker, with no guidind. Images were stacked and stitched in Photoshop CC. Taken from the Four Bar Cottages near Portal Arizona, May 4/5, 2014.
The centre of the galaxy area of the Milky Way toward Sagittarius and Scorpius, with the Sagittarius Starcloud right of centre, and the Lagoon Nebula (M8) left of centre. The Cat's Paw Nebula (NGC 6334) in Scorpius is at upper right, the Swan Nebula (M17) and Eagle Nebula (M16) are at lower left. To the right of them is the Small Sagittarius Starcloud (M24). At the very top is the Snake Nebula (B72). The main mass of dark nebula is the Pipe Nebula (B78). Above M24 at left is the open cluster M23 while below the M24 star cloud is the cluster M25. The globular M22 is at the bottom edge. At right of frame are the open clusters M6 (in the dark area of the Milky Way) and M7 (in the bright starcloud). I took this at about 3 am local time, Monday, March 31 from the Warrumbungles Motel grounds near Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia at the OzSky Star Safari 2014. This is a stack of 4 x 4 minute exposures at f/2.8 with the Sigma 50mm lens on the Canon 60Da at ISO 800. The camera was tracking the sky using the iOptron SkyTracker. I've oriented it horizontally as that's the way the camera was oriented to frame the area as it was rising in the east in the sky. However, from northern latitudes, this area would be framed vertically with the right side of the image in Scorpius (the area farthest south in the Milky Way) at bottom.
A portrait of the northern autumn constellation of Cepheus the King. The large red nebula at the bottom (to the south) is IC 1396. Mu Cephei is the red star, aka the Garnet Star, on its edge. This is with the filter-modified Canon 5D MkII camera at ISO 1600 and Sigma 50mm lens at f/2.8 for a stack of 13 x 60- and 90-second exposures with the Star Adventurer tracker (median combined to help eliminate thin clouds drifting through), plus an exposure through the Kenko Softon A filter layered in for the star glows.
