the milky way

[rdking647]

i wend to big bend national park again to shoot the nightsky

[trusty elf]

1. Glorious!

Thanks for sharing them!

[Solly Mack]

2. I agree. Glorious!

[mnhtnbb]

3. Just beautiful!

[Surya Gayatri]

4. Spectacular! Breathtaking...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. Oh, WOW! Thank you! n/t

[eppur_se_muova]

6. Technical info ? Exposure time, aperture, tracking or not ? nt

[rdking647]

7. info

exposure time was 30 seconds on one 40 seconds on the other. f2.8 16mm lens
no tracking. iso 3200

shot in raw ,edited in photoshop to adjust white balance and bring out galaxy details.

[eppur_se_muova]

9. Wow. Didn't know fast ISO would accomplish that much.

Figured it had to be short, since no star trails (w/o tracking) and no blurring of objects visible on horizon (with tracking), but I was expecting a super-duper wide aperture lens (like a Schmidt).

GOT to get myself a digital camera. I mean, one that works.

[rdking647]

10. there are cameras that will go to much higher iso's

my a7ii will shoot at iso 6400 or even 12800 with a moderate amount of noise.
a sony a7s can shoot at iso 1million +

a rule of thumb for no star trails is maximum exposure = 600/focal length. plus it helped to be at the darkest sky location in the US

[rdking647]

8. in teh bottom photo both mars and saturn are easily found

mars is the brightest "star" in the photo in the top right.
if you head down from mars more toward the middle of the photo there are 2 bright stars near the top of galaxy. saturn is the one closest to the center just to the right of center

[trusty elf]

11. The Origin of the Milky Way (Tintoretto)

(from Wikipedia) According to myth, the infant Heracles was brought to Hera by his half-sister Athena, who later played an important role as a goddess of protection. Hera nursed Heracles out of pity, but he suckled so strongly that he caused Hera pain, and she pushed him away. Her milk sprayed across the heavens and there formed the Milky Way. With divine milk, Heracles acquired supernatural powers.

[img][/img]

[gregcrawford]

12. STUNNING!

It's hard to find someplace far enough from ambient light to even see something so awesome, let alone photograph it.

[BB1]

13. Wow!

That's really marvelous!

[Dem_in_Nebr.]

14. And we're on the out skirts of that!!

Just think of what it would be like closer in . . .

Great shots!

[midnight]

15. When I'm looking at this beautiful sky, is the milky way the brightest light-thanks

[rdking647]

16. every star you see with the naked eye is park of the milky way

the "core" of the milky way is all the bright dust clouds. you see them during the summer because at that time of year we are facing the center of the galaxy during the night. during winter we face the center during the daytime so its not visible

[midnight]

17. Thank you for such a great explantion.

[BoyBlue2]

18. There's a Lot Going on at Big Bend

Besides looking up at night. It is one of my favorite places, I camped there over Christmas a few years ago to get away from it all and met some great people at the summit of the trail (they had the same idea I did and they were from NY!)

[mahatmakanejeeves]

19. If I am not mistaken, I see Mars, Antares, and Saturn in the second photograph.

Last edited Sat Jun 11, 2016, 04:20 PM - Edit history (2)

If it's clear tonight, maybe I'll lug my rummage sale Newtonian reflector outside to see if Saturn still has the rings I saw a month ago.

Jupiter is too far west by sunset for me to see it, due to trees, houses, and so forth. It's right next to (you know what I mean) some star. The star is positioned so closely that it could be mistaken for one of the four Galilean objects.

I'm in northern Virginia, so I'm lucky I can make out the moon at night.

Nice pix. Thanks.

ETA, on Saturday: The Sky and Telescope SkyWeek app on my Samsung tablet says that star is Chi Leonis. On Friday night, it will be displaced a mere 0.1 degrees from Jupiter.

[rdking647]

20. your correct.

mars saturn and antares form a nice triangle.
Jupiter should be easily visible.
its pretty much due south around 11-12 pm. its the brightest "star" in the sky

[mahatmakanejeeves]

21. Not for me. It transits at (I have to look this up)....

Last edited Sat Jun 11, 2016, 03:22 PM - Edit history (1)

I have an astronomy app on a few mobile devices. They're all turned off now.

I'm Googling, but I'm getting a bunch of astrology sites....

From the Wednesday Washington Post:

Jupiter rises, 12:36 p.m.
Jupiter sets, 1:29 a.m. (the following day)

So it transits at about 7:00 p.m. I'd have to set up my telescope in the street to see it after dark.

[awoke_in_2003]

22. I need to go to Big Bend one day. nt

[demigoddess]

23. if it weren't for light pollution we would all see skies like that!

[valerief]

24. Amazing! nt

[PJMcK]

25. You're an artist, rdking647 (n/t)

[mindfulNJ]

26. Amazing!