The late winter evening Zodiacal Light, as shot at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, February 28, 2017. The Light is the glow from sunlight reflecting off cometary dust particles in the inner solar system. It is not an effect of twilight. It is best visible in the evening from northern latitudes in late winter and spring. Venus is just setting above the badlands landscape. The Andromeda Galaxy is at right, the Pleiades at left. The Milky Way runs across the frame at top. This is a stack of 7 x 30-second exposures for the ground, mean combined for lower noise, plus one 30-second exposure for the sky, all at f/2 with the 20mm Sigma Art lens, and Nikon D750 at ISO 6400.
Orion and the winter stars over the badlands of Dinosaur Provincial Park, in southern Alberta, on a very clear (and rare!) clear night, February 28, 2017. Recent warm weather got rid of most of the snow. So the foreground doesn’t look too wintery! Orion is at centre, Canis Major (with Sirius) below left, and Taurus (with Aldebaran) at upper right. The Milky Way runs down to the south. The clusters M41, M46 and M47 are visible and the Orion Nebula, M42. This is a stack of 8 x 30-second exposures for the ground, mean combined to smooth noise, plus one 30-second exposure for the sky. All at f/2.2 with the Sigma 20mm Art lens and Nikon D750 at ISO 6400.
