The core of the Milky Way in Sagittarius low in the south over the Frenchman River valley at Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan. This is from the 76 Ranch Corral site. Grasslands is a Dark Sky Preserve. The frame takes in the openj star clusters M6 and M7 just above the horizon in Scorpius, on up through the Sagittarius Starcloud and galactic core, then up past the red nebulas M8 and M20, the Small Sagittarius Starcloud M24 flanked by the clusters M23 and M25, then the nebulas M17 and M16 at top in Serpens. The globular cluster M55 is visible at far left. Jupiter is bright at right above reddish Antares, Saturn is dimmer at left, to the left of the globular cluster M22. I shot this August 27, 2019. This is a stack of 5 x 3-minute tracked exposures for the sky (to avoid star trails) blended with a stack of 5 x 3-minute untracked exposures for the ground, all with the 35mm Canon lens at f/2.8 and filter-modified Canon 5D MkII camera at ISO 1600. The tracker was the Star Adventurer.
The galactic centre area of the Milky Way in Sagittarius behind the grand old barn near home in southern Alberta, on June 30, 2019. Illumination of the barn is from twilight to the north, but also from light pollution skyglow from the west off frame at right. The sky is blue from the perpetual summer twilight at this time of year. Jupiter is at centre. The nebulas and starclouds of the Milky Way show up well here. The southerly Messier clusters, M6 and M7, in Scorpius just skim the horizon at left. The very red star in the “eye” of the Dark Horse is TW Ophiuchi. This is from my latitude of 51° N. This is a blend of tracked (for the sky) and untracked (for the ground) exposures, with a stack of 3 for the ground and 5 for the sky, stacked to smooth noise. All at ISO 1250 and one minute each, but with the sky exposures at f/2 and ground exposures at f/2.5, with the Sigma 24mm Art lens and stock (not modified) Nikon D750. The sky exposures were through a NiSI Natural Night light pollution filter. The sky exposures are at f/2 to make up for the light loss from shooting thru the filter while keeping exposures short for ease of blending later. The tracker was the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer. I added a mild Orton effect glow layer to the image using Luminar Flex.
A wide panorama of Orion and the winter stars setting on a spring evening at Dinosaur Provincial Park, with the Zodiacal Light rising out of the twilight and distant yellow sky glow to the west at centre. Sirius is at left to the southwest, with Orion setting behind the badlands hill, while the Pleiades is in the Zodiacal Light band at centre, with Mars just below the Pleiades. Perseus, Cassiopeia, and the Andromeda Galaxy are setting at right in the northwest. High haze and aircraft contrails (one at centre) add the natural star glows. The lingering twilight adds the sky colour. This is a 240° panorama stitched from 17 segments, all with the 24mm Sigma Art lens and Nikon D750 in portrait orientation, each segment 20 seconds at f/1.4 and ISO 3200. Stitched with Adobe Camera Raw. A mild Orton glow effect was added to the landscape with Luminar 3 plugin.
