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.
The “Dark Horse” region of dark nebulosity near the galactic centre in Scorpius and Ophiuchus, also known as the Pipe Nebula. The small squiggly Snake Nebula is above centre. This is a single frame, made of a stack of 4 x 3-minute exposures with the 135mm telephoto lens at f/2.8 and filter-modified Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1600. Taken from Tibuc Cottage, Australia, April 13, 2016.
Scorpius rising over a telescope and observers at the annual OzSky Star Party in Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia on April 5, 2016. Mars is the bright reddish object outshining Antares and to the left of Antares. Saturn is below Mars above the trees. This is a stack of 2 x 2 minute exposures at f/2.2 with the 35mm lens, both tracked on the iOptron Sky Tracker, plus a blend of another 2 minute exposure through the Kenko Softon A filter to add the star glows, plus a 2-minute untracked exposure for the sharp foreground illuminated only by starlight. All with the Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1600. The camera and mount were set and polar aligned at this location for a 360° panorama and the difficulty of polar aligning down under prevented me from choosing a location with a better composition and foreground for this image. You don’t just grab the tripod and tracker to move it where you want and quickly re-align as in the north.
