Diane Miller
07-02-2016, 04:33 PM
Canon 1DX Mk II, ISO 1600, f/6.3, 2 minute exposures (30) tracked with an Astrotrac. Shot at 38mm and cropped to about 50mm equivalent as star shapes in the corners are funky with this lens. Stopping down helped a little with some of the lens aberrations.
This is just a study – the skies were pretty good last night at a nearby dark sky site, but at our latitude the galactic core region of the Milky Way (the most interesting part) is fairly low on the horizon, putting a lot of air and light pollution in the path. And my only option for the needed focal length for this shot is far from ideal for stars – the old classic 24-70 f/2.8. I’ll rent a Sigma Art 50mm f/1.4 if I can get to a good sky next new moon. Hoping for Joshua Tree NP.
This is just a stack of 10 images to average out noise – I have 30 and will try the larger stack later today. It will tax the computer. But this one came out better than expected. If I want to tax myself, I’ll try processing with PixInsight. It makes LR + PS look like preschool.
The Milky Way is the view we have of our galaxy’s more distant stars from near an edge of the saucer-shaped mass. The orange star near the center right is Antares and above it at its 11:00 position is Saturn. The dark areas are clouds of dust.
Do you realize that almost every atom in your body was created in an early-generation star, and dispersed into space when it died? The exception is hydrogen, which was created at the birth of the universe.
Anyone who is fascinated by the beauty and mystery of the night sky should check out the writings of Timothy Ferris: http://www.timothyferris.com/
This is just a study – the skies were pretty good last night at a nearby dark sky site, but at our latitude the galactic core region of the Milky Way (the most interesting part) is fairly low on the horizon, putting a lot of air and light pollution in the path. And my only option for the needed focal length for this shot is far from ideal for stars – the old classic 24-70 f/2.8. I’ll rent a Sigma Art 50mm f/1.4 if I can get to a good sky next new moon. Hoping for Joshua Tree NP.
This is just a stack of 10 images to average out noise – I have 30 and will try the larger stack later today. It will tax the computer. But this one came out better than expected. If I want to tax myself, I’ll try processing with PixInsight. It makes LR + PS look like preschool.
The Milky Way is the view we have of our galaxy’s more distant stars from near an edge of the saucer-shaped mass. The orange star near the center right is Antares and above it at its 11:00 position is Saturn. The dark areas are clouds of dust.
Do you realize that almost every atom in your body was created in an early-generation star, and dispersed into space when it died? The exception is hydrogen, which was created at the birth of the universe.
Anyone who is fascinated by the beauty and mystery of the night sky should check out the writings of Timothy Ferris: http://www.timothyferris.com/