The Hyades star cluster with the red giant star Aldebaran (looking yellow here) in Taurus the bull in the winter sky. The field is similar to what a pair of large binoculars would show. I shot this from home Nov. 25, 2019. This is a stack of 5 x 2-minute unguided exposures with the 200mm Canon telephoto at f/2.8 and stock Canon 6D MkII at ISO 1600. An additional exposure taken through the Kenko Softon A filter adds the star glows. All were with the camera on the Fornax LighTrack II tracker. There is some trailing in declination from inaccurate polar alignment, with accurate alignment difficult to achieve with the LighTrack’s outboard polar scope.
The tail of Scorpius, photographed with it high in the sky from Australia. The frame is oriented with the Milky Way running horizontally and the hook of the tail vertically. At right are the clusters and nebulas of the False Comet area around NGC 6124. At left 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 cluster NGC 6124 is at right. This is a stack of 4 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 total eclipse of the Moon on January 31, 2018 from the Crowsnest Pass area of the Alberta Rocky Mountains near the Continental Divide. The eclipsed Moon is in clouds wafting off the peaks. This was about 6:05 am MST, about 10 minutes after the start of totality when the bottom edge of the Moon was still quite bright. The star cluster right of the Moon is M44, the Beehive. This was from near Coleman, Alberta. The Moon and sky is a 7-image blend of short to long exposures (blended with luminosity masks) to better retain the Moon and its red colour during totality. The ground is a 4-image mean combined stack to smooth noise. All were with the 35mm Canon lens at f/2.8 and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 800, and untracked.
