How many sources of skyglow can you pick out here? • The Milky Way • Airglow • Light pollution (too much!) • Perpetual northern twilight • Aurora The Milky Way (at left) arches over an old pioneer farmstead from the 1930s and 40s near home in southern Alberta. Mars (very bright and in some clouds) and Saturn shine at lower centre, while Jupiter is the bright object in clouds at right just above the old house. Arcturus is the brightest star here at upper right of centre, made more obvious here by shining through the clouds. The Big Dipper, distorted by the map projection used in the this panorama, is at upper right. Light pollution from Strathmore and Calgary lights the clouds coming in from the west. Green airglow is visible below the Milky Way. Twilight provides the blue to the northern sky at either end. There’s a very slight aurora low in the north but hardly noticeable. This is a 360° horizon to zenith panorama taken with the iPano motorized panning unit, using the 24mm lens at f/2.8 and Nikon D750 at ISO 6400, for a stitch of 28 panels, in 4 tiers of 7 segments each. Stitched with PTGui. South is at centre, north to either end. The original is 25,700 x 7,700 pixels.
The Milky Way over Maskinonge Lake at Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada, on June 17/18, 2018. This was an unusually calm night, allowing the reflections of the stars in the lake waters. Jupiter is in Libra at far right. Saturn is Sagittarius in the Milky Way at left of centre. Scorpius is in between. The sky is deep blue from solstice twilight. The Maskinonge area is a sacred site to the Blackfoot Nation. This is a two-section panorama, with the ground a stack of 5 exposures for each section to smooth noise, with the sky and stellar reflections coming from one exposure for each segment to minimize trailing. All 25 seconds at f/2.2 with the 20mm Sigma Art lens and Nikon D750 at ISO 3200. Stiching with Photoshop Photomerge.
The arch of the Milky Way over the Red Deer River valley and badlands at Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park, Alberta, on May 19/20, 2018 just after moonset of the waxing crescent Moon. The park is the site of an ancient buffalo jump, where Cree native people drove bison over the cliffs in large numbers to provide for their tribes. The hills also contain unique flora and fauna that are not found this far east of the Rocky Mountains in as large numbers as at Dry Island. The park contains the most important Albertosaurus bone bed in the world, which was first discovered by Barnum Brown in 1910 and rediscovered by Dr. Phil Currie in 1997. Jupiter is the brightest object, shining above the Red Deer River at right to the southwest. A faint aurora is on the northern horizon at left, while faint bands of airglow colour the sky. The glow of Calgary is at right of centre to the southwest, while sky glows from Red Deer and Edmonton light the horizon at far left and far right. My other camera shooting a time-lapse is at far right. This is a 360° panorama made of 3 tiers of 7 segments each to cover the scene from well below the horizon to the zenith. All exposures 30 seconds at f/2 with the 20mm Sigma Art lens and Nikon D750 at ISO 6400. I used the Syrp Genie Mini to automate the azimuth motion and shutter firing from segment to segment.
