The Big Dipper over the iconic Castle Mountain in Banff National Park, Alberta, with a backdrop of a faint aurora in the northern sky. This was at 3 am on July 16, 2018, and taken from the Castle Cliffs viewpoint on the Bow Valley Parkway. The sky was also brightening with dawn twilight blue. This is a stack of 8 exposures for the ground, mean combined to smooth noise, and one exposure for the sky. All 30 seconds at f/2 with the Sigma 24mm Art lens, and Nikon D750 at ISO 3200. LENR dark frame subtraction applied in camera.
The Milky Way and Galactic Centre (right) and Mars (at left, near its brightest for 2018), over the Bow River and Bow Valley, looking south and west to Storm Mountain and the Vermilion Pass area of the Continental Divide in Banff National Park, Alberta. Saturn is amid the Milky Way at right. This was July 15, 2018. The lights at left are from the Castle Mountain interchange at Highway 1 and 93. This is a stack of 8 exposures, mean combined to smooth noise, for the ground and one exposure, untracked, for the sky. All 30 seconds at f/2.8 with the 24mm Sigma lens, and Nikon D750 at ISO 6400. The frames were taken as part of a time-lapse sequence. Dynamic Contrast filter from ON1 applied to the ground, and Soft and Airy filter from Luminar applied to the sky for a soft Orton effect.
The stars trailing as they move east to west (left to right), ending with the Milky Way and Galactic Centre (right) over Storm Mountain and the Vermilion Pass area of the Continental Divide in Banff National Park, Alberta. Mars is the bright trail at left. Saturn is amid the Milky Way at right. This was July 15, 2018. The lights at left are from the Castle Mountain interchange at Highways 1 and 93. This is a stack of 8 exposures, mean combined to smooth noise, for the ground, plus 200 exposures for the star trails, and one exposure, untracked, for the fixed sky taken about a minute after the last star trail image. All 30 seconds at f/2.8 with the 24mm Sigma lens, and Nikon D750 at ISO 6400. The frames were taken as part of a time-lapse sequence. Dynamic Contrast filter from ON1 applied to the ground, and Soft and Airy filter from Luminar applied to the sky for a soft Orton effect.
