A self-portrait of me standing under the dark skies of the Gila National Wilderness, in New Mexico, while taking images of the Milky Way, March 10, 2015. The northern winter Milky Way stretches from horizon to zenith. Orion is at centre, with Canis Major and Sirius below. The bright object at upper left is Jupiter near the Beehive star cluster in Cancer. Procyon is between Jupiter and Sirius, while Caster and Pollux in Gemini are at top. Some green bands of airglow are visible near the horizon. This is a single 30-second exposure at f/2.8 with the 14mm Rokinon lens and Canon 6D at ISO 6400.
A vertical sweep with a 15mm ultrawide lens from the horizon to past the zenith, taking in a large part of the northern winter Milky Way. Orion is right of centre; Canis Major and Sirius (the night sky’s brightest star) are below and to the left of orion. The second brightest star in the night sky, Canopus, is just above the southern horizon at right. It just clears the horizon at 32° North latitude. Jupiter is the bright object at left, just left of the Beehive star cluster, M44, in Cancer. The Pleiades star cluster, M45, is at upper right in Taurus. The larger Hyades star cluster is below it. The small light dome on the horizon at left is from Las Cruces and El Paso. Otherwrise the site was perfectly dark and free of any man-made light sources. I shot this March 10, 2015 from the summit of the Trail of the Mountain Spirits Highway, Hwy 15, in the Gila Wilderness of southern New Mexico, at an altitude of 7900 feet. I shot this in the last of the deepening twilight before the sky was completely black. Some twilight blue remains. The bright glow at upper right is from the top of the Zodiacal Light cone in the western sky - a natural form of “light pollution.” The image is a stack of 4 x 3-minute tracked exposures, with the 15mm lens at f/3.5 and Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1600. The camera was on the Star Adventurer tracker.
The Zodiacal Light in the February evening sky, looking west. The northern autumn Milky Way is at right, the Zodiacal Light at left, with Venus about to set and Mars above it. The Andromeda Galaxy is at centre. I shot this from the City of Rocks State Park, south of Silver City, New Mexico. This is a stack of 5 x 2 minute exposures with the 14mm lens at f/2.8 with the Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1600, tracked on the Star Adventurer tracker.
