The amazing area of the southern Milky Way in Carina and Crux, the brightest part of the Milky Way after the galactic core region. At right is the Carina Nebula, with the Southern Pleiades cluster, IC 2602, below it. The Football Cluster, NGC 3532, is at upper left of the Carina Nebula. At centre is the region of Lambda Centauri, with the star cluster NGC 3766, the Pearl Cluster, above the emission nebulosity. At left is the Southern Cross, with the dark Coal Sack at bottom left of the Cross, with thin tendrils extending to the right. To the left of Alpha Cruxis at the bottom of the Cross is the star cluster NGC 4609; aboive Alpha is NGC 4649. To the left of Beta Cruxis at the left side of the Cross is the Jewel Box Cluster, NGC 4755. This is a stack of 6 x 2.5-minute exposures with the 85mm Rokinon lens at f/2 and filter-modified Canon 5D MkII at ISO 2000, plus one exposure layered in that had some natural haze from high cloud to add the accentuated star glows. On the iOptron Sky-Tracker, from Tibuc Gardens Cottage at Coonabarabran, Australia.
A wide-angle image of the main northern spring sky constellations — with the Big Dipper and Ursa Major at top, and Leo below it. At left is Arcturus in Bootes and at bottom left, Spica in Virgo. Leo is flanked by two large star clusters: Mel111, the Coma Berenices cluster at left of Leo (but in the centre of the image), and M44, the Beehive cluster at right of Leo in Cancer (at lower right in the image). This is a good image for illustrating the "Arc to Arcturus and Speed to Spica" expression, as well as the placement of Leo below the Bowl of the Dipper. And the location of the North Galactic Pole and Realm of the Galaxies. This is a stack of 4 x 2.5 minute exposures with the RF15-35mm lens at f/2.8 and Canon EOS Ra at ISO 800. The camera was on the Star Adventurer 2i tracker. Taken from home April 27, 2022.
A framing of the group of large binocular-class star clusters in Serpens and Ophiuchus: notably, the pairing of IC 4756 (left) and NGC 6633 (right) at upper left, sometimes known as the S-O Double Cluster, or Tweedledum and Tweedledee (really!), and the cluster IC 4665 at right above the bright star Cebelrai, or Beta Ophiuchi. At centre is the V-shaped asterism known as Poniatowski's Bull, from a defunct constellation created in 1777 by polish astronomer Marcin Poczobut to honour the king of Poland at the time. The grouping is also catalogued as Melotte 186 and Collinder 359. The asterism was marked as a constellation on Bode's Uranographia star atlas of 1801. The bright star at upper right is Rasalhague in Ophiuchus. This is a stack of 8 x 1-minute exposures at f/2.8 with the Rokinon RF85mm lens on the Canon R5 at ISO 800, blended with a single exposure through an Alyn Wallace/Kase StarGlow filter to add the star glows! The camera was on the Star Adventurer tracker. Taken from home Sept. 25, 2022.
