The Milky Way in the region of the Galactic Centre in Sagittarius, photographed with it high in the sky from Australia. The actual centre of the Galaxy lies near centre of the frame. The dark clouds that form the Dark Horse and the Pipe Nebula are at right. The clusters Messier 6 and Messier 7 are at bottom, with M7 lost in the star clouds of the Milky Way. The Lagoon and Trifid Nebulas, M8 and M20, are at top. Saturn is the bright star at top right. The Dark Horse region of dark dust is at right, with the darkest part below being the Pipe Nebula, B78. The small Snake Nebula, B72, 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 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. Some haze in one of the frames added the natural star glows.
A portrait of the complex of emission nebulas in central Cygnus near the bright star Gamma Cygni (at left). The field includes the IC 1318 complex around Gamma Cygni itself and the Wolf-Rayet arc of nebulosity, NGC 6888, aka the Crescent Nebula, at right. The sparse star cluster Messier 29 is at bottom. This was through the SharpStar 94mm apo refractor at f/4.4 and with the Canon EOS Ra. It is a blend of 6 x 6-minute exposures at ISO 1600 through an Astronomik UV-IR-Cut filter for the base image, and a stack of 4 x 12-minutes at ISO 3200 through IDAS NB1 and Optolong L-eNhance filters for the enhanced red nebulosity, plus 6 x 12-minutes at ISO 3200 through Optolong L-eXtreme and IDAS NBZ filters which contribute only the enhanced cyan OIII emission, all taken as part of testing the filters. Normally, using four filters would not be required! Autoguided and dithered on this warm summer night with the Lacerta MGEN3 autoguider. No darks or LENR applied as the dithering effectively eliminated the thermal noise speckling which was prominent on the individual sub-frames. Taken from home August 13, 2021. All stacked, aligned, and blended in Photoshop.
Gamma Velorum (aka Suhail al Muhlif) in Vela and the open cluster NGC 2547, a bright binocular cluster. The field is also rich in faint nebulosity from the Gum Nebula. The field simulates a binocular field. A stack of 4 x 2-minute exposures with the 20mm telephoto at f/2.8 and Canon 5D MkII at ISO 2500. Tracked on the AP 400 mount. Shot from Coonabarabran, Australia.
