Hi guys! Are you ready for another trip into the Universe? I'm sorry but lately I have not really been in the game. I'm hardly working on my master thesis... what a stress! Luckily sometimes I can find time to get in the car and travel as far as possible to capture the ancient faint lights of the place that host us since time immemorial...
Because of this game between orbits, summer nights (winter in the Southern Hemisphere) allow us to observe thousands of fascinating astronomical objects belonging to the Milky Way.
A few nights ago, taking advantage of the favorable weather, I decided to head to one of the least polluted skies in Sicily (and Italy): the Madonie Park. And that's what cames out (click to enlarge)...
A 35 megapixel mosaic of 2 shots taken at about 1500m a.s.l. from the heart of the Madonie Park. I must admit that during this photo session I did not feel alone: I was surrounded by horses, cows, wild boars and foxes. A very nice company... The field of view is very large and includes up to three constellations: the Scutum (the Shield), the Sagittarius, the Serpens (the Snake) and the Ophiuchus arm (the "snake-bearer" from the greek).
The top area is full of dark nebulae obscuring the light that travels from the galactic center. These are part of the Great Rift (sometimes called Dark Rift). A huge fracture that cuts in two the entire Milky Way.
The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules (M13). Shot with a TS APO and a Canon EOS 60D.
There are also many Open Clusters and Globular Clusters such as M11, M14, M21, M22, M23, M24, M25 and M26. These are groups of thousands of stars orbiting around galaxies like the Milky Way. Our neighborhood is much more busy than we think, we currently discovered more than 150 clusters revolving around us. Any massive galaxy owns dozens and dozens of clusters.
Here you can see M13 (called The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules), the brightest globular cluster of the Northern Hemisphere. It is estimated to be 300,000 times brighter than the Sun and to has an age of just 13 billion years.
The Lagoon (left) and the Trifid Nebulae (right). M21 open cluster on far right. Shot with a TS APO and a Canon EOS 60D.
In addition to clusters and dark nebulae you can see some very famous Emission Nebulae such as the Omega Nebula, the Eagle Nebula, the Lagoon Nebula zone and the Trifid Nebula. As already mentioned in the previous articles, emission nebulae are areas of intense and violent star activity.
The huge energy released by these physical-chemical processes "lights up" in red/magenta nearby inert interstellar clouds, giving us these incredible and beautiful shapes to observe.
We will talk about the Emission Nebulae in the next articles. Stay tuned, the fun is just starting... ;)
For the most curious: for the mosaic I've used an unmodded Canon EOS 60D and a Canon 50mm f1.8 STM on a guided HEQ5 mount. The mosaic is composed by two vertical panels. Each panel is a stack of 12x 180 seconds photos. Them were acquired with AstrojanTools, stacked with Deep Sky Stacker and post-processed with Photoshop.
50mm - f/3.5 - ISO800
Light Frames: 2x 12x 180''
Alessio Vaccaro
Follow @ilvacca and upvote if you want more contents like this one. Thank you.
Absolutely spectacular @ilvacca. You made it a level up from simple astrophotography!
Thank you lighteye
Stunning! I absolutely love these images (there is a reason why for every new suit I buy, I need a matching astronomy tie. Nerd alert)
We're so lucky to be alive in a time where we can truly enjoy the Universe in this way. And open our eyes to other worlds that we could never have imagined otherwise! Keep it up! I just started my own series 5 Beautiful Satellite Images of our Planet you won’t believe are real #1 for the same purpose, namely to share the pure beauty our eyes in space provide us!
Bet you'll agree with my statement that it is about time one of our telescopes win an art award!
Upvoted and Followed you, and look very much forward to engaging with you more on this topic and grow the space community here on steemit :)
Nice to meet you. Followed ;) Very nice remote sensing posts. My master thesis is about the calibration of an hyperspectral camera for UAV.
It's incredible how much is achieveable with (relatively) inexpensive mount. I had no idea "guided" mounts were in an affordable price range for the average consumer. Your posts has really inspired me to begin looking into this hobby. It's incredible to think that you can peek at things thousands of light years away from your own backyard.
Yes, you can find something very interesting for more than 800$ ;) Looking forward to your astrophotos...
This is incredible - I love the stars and space has always intrigued me - thank you for sharing these images are amazing! I also appreciated seeing what you used to capture these shots :)
Canon EOS 60D.Nice shoot
Thank you man!
Thank you for the tour! Beautiful and informative!
Wow !! awesome and great pictures!! followed and upvoted
Woah this photos are beautiful!
Sky is really our home <3
Loved it!
awesome and beautiful shots
The best post i've seen for a last few days! Interesting, informative and such a good pictures!
Thank you travelmuse ;)
beautiful pictures, and your very informative. hopefully the pigs didn't mess with you to much. great post! i'm following you for sure!
Ahah no, they don't... thank you! ;)
Amazing! Beautifully done! WOW!
GIF with a sky map and detailed technical explanation makes this post something more than just a beautiful celestial photography. Excellent job @ilvacca. Upvoted, resteemed & DPS.
Please state clearly how would you like to be featured in the “Daily Photo Selection”: with a linked photo, or with link only without a photo. We are making a list of photographers who are ready to improve the visibility of their work through the DPS. Thank you.
Thank you very much. It'a great pleasure for me! With a linked photo it would be better ;)
Thank you @ilvacca.
Woaw. Yesterday I was making a bit of astronomy but we didn't see a lot of things because of the clouds and the pollution. When it was about 11:30pm we saw Saturn, Jupiter and its moons. And the Moon but it was full so we didn't see a lot of things.
Well done. Yes, the Moon is very annoying if you're observing the deep sky...
Wow, pretty amazing, I've tried to shoot astrophotography a few times but with no success, I have Lumix G3 and use the kit lens
Well done! Try to use a simple tripod, your lens (perfect to start) and to set not too high ISO and long exposures. ;)
really great pictures those are beautiful thanks a lot for sharing and keep on posting ;)
yes
Wow, that looks mindblowing, love it!
Stunning photography. My brother loves to take photos of the milky way, and he does a great job as well
These are absolutely amazing! Do you think i could take such images with a 5D MkIII ?
Sure. The 5D mkII is a little more sensitive than mine 60D. It has a full frame sensor also... You DO have to try astrophotography with it ;)
The only thing i tried are those startrails. I guess i have to get me some more equipment for tracking the stars ^^
Yes, the movement of the sky is the greatest enemy for the astrophotographers... :/
Thanks for the information. I am interested in a guided mount and got useful information here
Thanks. I'm glad of that. If you have any doubt we can talk about it...
Absolutely stunning work! Those are some next level techniques. I think I'm gonna have to follow you now :)
We have common interest ^_^
https://steemit.com/earth/@johnnie/a-guy-from-future
Interesting Astrophotography.
Very nice, Will be looking forward to your posts.
Up-voted :-)
RightWithin
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