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A deeper view into the Summer

"Piggybacking" my camera to the optical tube assembly of my refractor telescope while the scope is set to follow the movement of the night sky allows the camera to record long periods of time in the night sky without creating star trails. It was something i wanted to try for awhile however never attempted. This weekend i packed up my astronomy equipment along with my camera gear in the car and headed for the mountains to darker skies. My goal was to practice deep sky imaging while gazing which required my astronomy tools. My arsenal is modest most would say, an Orion 120mm skyview pro refractor with electronic tracking equipment(GOTO) on a german equatorial mount. My telescope is great, sharp and beautiful views with a 1000mm focal length at F8 and ED glass. technical stuff aside it decided to practice by pointing the camera toward different regions of the milky way and see what detail is revealed. I was quite impressed with the results.In this image you see the summer triangle region of the milky way cropped just above the constellation scutum and the star Altair. the cygnus region of the milky way is striking in this image. You can begin to see the pink colors ot the North American Nebula near the star Deneb. this is a composite of 5 images shot at different lengths of exposure and settings blended together in post processing using a manual stacking process.

Image details_

(3)x30 seconds ISO3200

(1)186 seconds at ISO1600

(1)128 seconds at ISO 3200

focal length 14mm

aperture F2.8

Rokinon 14mmF2.8 lens

Sony Alpha a390 DSLR

Orion Skyview Pro 120mm refractor Dual axis motor driven EQ3 GEM mounted using GOTO tracking

Orion Dynamo pro 12amp rechargeable power tank.

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Uploaded on June 17, 2013
Taken on June 16, 2013