2016 August 5 ~ Lyra, and the Milky Way in the constellations Cygnus & Vulpecula [WITH LABELS]

******************************************************************************

Photographed at Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, between 22.25 and 22.38 EDT

(285 km by road north of Toronto)

* Temperature 17° C.

 

* Total exposure time: 7 minutes.

___________________________________________

 

Description:

 

Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, runs through the constellations Cygnus (the Swan), Vulpecula (Little Fox) and 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.

 

At the top of the frame, just to the right of centre, is the brilliant star Vega and the small distinctive group of stars of the constellation Lyra (the Lyre).

 

One of the most distinctive red hydrogen gas clouds is the aptly named "North America Nebula", near the edge of the frame. For a close-up view of this nebula made with a 400 mm lens, click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/19933485213

 

For a version of this photo WITHOUT labels, click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/28770269331

___________________________________________

 

Technical information:

 

Sigma 50 mm f/1.4 DG HSM ART lens on Nikon D810a camera body, mounted on Astrophysics 1100GTO equatorial mount with a Kirk Enterprises ball head

 

Seven stacked frames; each frame:

50 mm focal length

ISO 3200; 1 minute exposure at f/4; unguided

(with LENR - long exposure noise reduction)

 

Subframes registered in RegiStar;

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

******************************************************************************

Done