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.
The southern Milky Way with the Dark Emu rising over the OzSky Star Party on April 5, 2016. This is the section of the sky and Milky Way that cannot be seen from northern latitudes. The Milky Way extends from Puppis and Vela at top to Centaurus at bottom, with Crux and Carina at left of centre with the Southern Cross and the Carina Nebula at centre. The Small and Large Magellanic Clouds are at lower right. The South Celestial Pole is at lower centre. Canopus is the bright star upper right. The telescopes are from the Three Rivers Foundation Australia for use by visiting amateur astronomers at the annual OzSky Star Party, held on the grounds of the Warrumbungles Motel near Coonabarabran, NSW. This is a stack of 4 x 5 minute exposures with the Rokinon 14mm lens at f/2.8 and Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1600, all tracked on the iOptron Sky Tracker, plus one 5-minute exposure untracked of the ground to prevent it from blurring. The trees are blurred at the boundary of the two images, tracked and untracked.
