Mars, the bright object at right, with Saturn to the left and Antares below Saturn, in Scorpius, all above Mt. Rundle, with the Milky Way at left. The area of the galactic centre in Sagittarius is just above the horizon. Note the glitter path on the water from Mars! It was then just past closest approach and so near its maximum brightness. This is from the shore of Two Jack Lake in Banff, Alberta. Lights from Banff and Canmore light the mountain and clouds. I shot this June 3, 2016, so the sky was not completely dark, with the northern still lit by perpetual twilight. Light cloud fuzzed the images of the planets and stars near the southern horizon, enlarging their images. This is a stack of 4 x 20-second exposures (mean combined to smooth noise) for the ground and a single 20-second exposure, untracked, for the sky. All with the 24mm Sigma Art lens at f/2 and Nikon D750 at ISO 3200.
Mars (at right) shining brightly near its May 22, 2016 opposition in the head of Scorpius over the badlands of Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta. Saturn is to the left of Mars, with Antares in Scorpius below the two planets, forming a triangle of “stars” in the moonlit sky. A waxing gibbous Moon off frame at right supplies the illumination. The Milky Way is barely visible at left in the moonlit sky. Dinosaur Provincial Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site, preserving the world’s richest collection of late Cretaceous fossils from the end of the age of dinosaurs. I shot this the night of May 16/17 from The Trail of the Fossil Hunters trail. This was with the Nikon D750 and Sigma 24mm lens. I shot this at the end of a 3-hour time-lapse sequence.
Orion rising behind the iconic Hoodoos on Highway 10 east of Drumheller, Alberta, near East Coulee, on a moonless January night, with illumination by starlight and by a nearby yardlight providing some shadows and warmer illumination. Clouds are beginning to move in and are providing the natural star glows. This is a stack of 10 x 10-second exposures for the ground, mean combined to smooth noise, plus one 10-second exposure for the sky to minimize trailing. All at f/2.8 with the 24mm Sigma Art lens and Nikon D750 at ISO 3200. Taken January 10, 2016.
