2016 August 26 ~ The Milky Way, from Cepheus to Scutum

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Photographed at Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, between 21.46 and 22.03 EDT

(285 km by road north of Toronto)

* Temperature 15° C.

 

* Total exposure time: 6 minutes

* 20 mm lens

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130 degrees of the northern portion of our home galaxy, the Milky Way, and some 80,000 stars, are seen in this wide angle image, running from the constellation Cepheus at left, through Cygnus and Aquila, to Scutum at right. The Milky Way bulges noticeably at the right side, toward the centre of the galaxy in Sagittarius (out of view to the right).

 

A little left of and below centre is the shocking pink, distinctively-shaped North America Nebula in the constellation Cygnus. For a telephoto view of this nebula made with a 300 mm lens on the same night, click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/29220929561

 

Just to the right of the North America Nebula lies a region of glowing red hydrogen gas surrounding the star Gamma Cygni. For a telephoto view of this region, click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/27845511250

 

And near the left edge, just below centre, is a fainter circular area of glowing red hydrogen gas, called IC 1396. For a close-in view of this gas cloud, click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/19929294304

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Sigma 20 mm f/1.4 ART lens on Nikon D810a camera body, mounted on Astrophysics 1100GTO equatorial mount with a Kirk Enterprises ball head

 

Six stacked frames; each frame:

20 mm focal length; ISO 2500; 60 seconds exposure at f/4

(with LENR - long exposure noise reduction)

 

Subframes stacked in RegiStar;

Processed in Photoshop CS6 (brightness, contrast, levels, colour balance)

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Done