A 160° panorama taken July 5/6 of the summer Milky Way and the array of summer 2018 planets over the prairie pond near home in southern Alberta. Mars is bright to the left, Saturn is dimmer and at centre in the Milky Way, while bright Jupiter is at right. Mars and Jupiter nicely flank the Milky Way, and cast glitter paths on the water. The arcing line joining the planets defines the arc of the ecliptic, always low in the south in northern hemisphere summer. Mars was approaching Earth and brightening at this time heading for a late July opposition. The sky is deep blue with solstice twilight. Several satellite trails punctuate the sky. This is a panorama with 2 tiers of 6 segments each, stitched with Adobe Camera Raw. Each segment was 20 seconds at f/2 with the 20mm Sigma Art lens and Nikon D750 at ISO 6400. Glow effect and vignetting added with Zone System Express extension effects.
A 160° panorama looking south near summer solstice time in June 2018, with the bright planets Mars (left) and Jupiter (right) and their glitter paths on the water flanking the Milky Way and Saturn in Sagittarius above the pinkish Lagoon Nebula. The waxing Moon is setting off frame at right brightening the sky and lighting the landscape. The sky is also blue from the solstice twilight. The stars of Scorpius shine between Jupiter and the Milky Way. Some faint bands of red and green airglow are visible at left, despite the bright sky. This is a stitch of 8 segments, all for 25 seconds with the 35mm lens at f/2.2 and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 800. Stitched with ACR. An Orton effect with ON1 Photo RAW was added to soften the sky and add a sky glow. Taken June 19/20, 2018 from southern Alberta.
Mars (at left) and the galactic centre area of the summer Milky Way low over the southern horizon at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, Alberta, on June 8/9, 2018. Sagittarus is at centre, with Scorpius at right. The Messier 6 and 7 open star clusters are just above the horizon at centre, just right of the Sweetgrass Hills on the horizon in Montana. This is a stack of 12 exposures for the ground, mean combined to smooth noise, and 1 exposure for the sky, all 30 seconds at f/2 with the Laowa 15mm lens on the Sony a7III camera at ISO 6400. These were the last frames in a 340-frame time-lapse sequence. At this time of year, the sky is always bright with deep blue perpetual twilight.
