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Milky Way & Comet A3 at Sugarloaf Rock, Western Australia

Nikon d810a

50mm

ISO 3200

f/2.0

Foreground: 10 x 25 seconds

Sky: 50 x 25 seconds

H-Alpha: 8 x 60 seconds

iOptron SkyTracker

 

This is a 68 shot panorama of the Milky Way and comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) as they both set above Sugarloaf Rock, 3 hours south of Perth in Western Australia. Venus can be seen shining very brightly just to the right of Rho Ophiuchi, enveloped by the Zodiachal Light. The red parts of the sky are hydrogen alpha emitting regions, captured with a filter that isolates that part of the spectrum, the most prominent of which is to the right around Cygnus.

 

Airglow was also quite strong, thanks to the fact we are at solar maximum which not only produces more active aurora but also airglow. The cloud on the horizon quickly caught up to us and put an early end to the night, but not before we did what we drove 2.5 hours to do, thankfully.

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Uploaded on April 17, 2025
Taken on October 25, 2024