Scorpius

This photo was submitted as part of the Hoohaa52 Challenge. This week's topic was "Your Choice."

 

I happened to step outside this night and saw a nice view of the night sky. Having recently been looking at some astrophotography and reading about some of the newer techniques (compared to when I last made a semi-serious effort), I thought I would try a simple shot. This picture is actually a composite of four separate images. It was more about testing the software and learning how it went wrong. For example, I took no flat fields or dark frames. I shot with foreground objects that would blur as I combined images due to the earth's rotation (the software does alignment based on the stars). I purposely left a light on to illuminate the trees though, so that is not a mistake.

 

This has me itching to try some more shots. However, I did learn that the hotspot problem on my camera has gotten worse so it is even more important that I take those extra shots to help make it easier to subtract out the hotspots. I know this is a problem that can develop over time with digital sensors, but I can't help but wonder why the problem started after getting my camera's sensor cleaned? I did take it in to someone at a camera repair shop, but it still makes me wonder.

 

This particular view does show the constellation of Scorpius but I am able to detect a deep sky objects as well. In particular, I can see M4, M6, M8 and M20. Here is a chart.

Done