2016 July 1 ~ Milky Way star clouds in the constellation Scutum

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Photographed at Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada

(285 km by road north of Toronto)

* Temperature 11 degrees C.

 

* Total exposure time: 10 minutes.

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Description:

 

Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, runs through the constellation Scutum (the Shield) high in the northern hemisphere summer sky. Dense clouds of stars are obscured in places by winding lanes of dark foreground gas.

 

In the middle of the frame, just below centre, is a tightly packed open cluster of stars, called M11, or the "Wild Duck" cluster, because of its appearance in a telescope.

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Technical information:

 

Nikkor AF-S 70 - 200 mm f/2.8 G ED VRII lens on Nikon D810a camera body, mounted on Astrophysics 1100GTO equatorial mount with a Kirk Enterprises ball head

 

Ten stacked frames; each frame:

145 mm focal length

ISO 5000; 1 minute exposure at f/4.5; unguided

(with LENR - long exposure noise reduction)

 

Subframes registered in RegiStar;

Stacked and processed in Photoshop CS6 (brightness, contrast, levels, colour balance, colour desaturation)

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Done