The constellation of Orion and the bright star Sirius in Canis Major, down my country road, on a very cold and frosty moonless January night, with the temperature at -25° C. But no wind! This a stack of 5 x 15-second exposures, untracked, for the ground, stacked with mean combine mode to smooth noise, plus a single exposure for the sky, to keep the stars as pinpoint as possible. All at f/2 with Sigma 24mm Art lens and the Nikon D750 at ISO 3200. The image serves as a good workshop example of Rule of Thirds composition.
Orion rising at right, with Sirius, the Dog Star, just clearing the treetops amid the glow of light pollution, while Procyon, the bright star in Canis Minor, shines to the left, having risen before Sirius, thus its name - Pro-Cyon — before the Dog. At upper left are the twin stars of Castor and Pollux in Gemini the Twins. Sirius was rising about 8 pm. The Beehive star cluster, M44, is at the left of frame. Some bands of red airglow add red streaks in addition to the red nebulas in the frame. Taken from home in southern Alberta on a very clear night January 2, 2016. This is a stack of 5 x 2-minute exposures plus another 3 x 2 minute exposures with the Kenko Softon filter to add the star glows, each set Median combined stacked to eliminate aircraft trails. The ground comes from one image. All were tracked, at f/2.8 with the 24mm lens and Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1600.
