The Center of our Galaxy featuring the Great Dark Horse Nebula and Rho Ophiuchi
....i waited a whole year to get this shot.
The Dark Horse Nebula or Great Dark Horse (sometimes called the Prancing Horse) is a large dark nebula that, ...
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....i waited a whole year to get this shot.
The Dark Horse Nebula or Great Dark Horse (sometimes called the Prancing Horse) is a large dark nebula that, from Earth's perspective, obscures part of the upper central bulge of the Milky Way. ... It is visible from Earth only on clear moonless nights without light pollution and with low humidity.
.....Rho Ophiuchi is the namesake of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex. It is a nebula of gas and dust, which the Rho Ophiuchi system is embedded in. It is one of the easiest star forming regions to observe, as it is one of the nearest, and it is visible from both hemispheres.
~ Heavens on Fire ~
Sized for Viewbug.....
YFA_4067 Color 16-2 for Viewbug
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The Dark Horse Nebula or Great Dark Horse (sometimes called the Prancing Horse) is a large dark nebula that, from Earth's perspective, obscures part of the upper central bulge of the Milky Way. ... It is visible from Earth only on clear moonless nights without light pollution and with low humidity.
.....Rho Ophiuchi is the namesake of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex. It is a nebula of gas and dust, which the Rho Ophiuchi system is embedded in. It is one of the easiest star forming regions to observe, as it is one of the nearest, and it is visible from both hemispheres.
~ Heavens on Fire ~
Sized for Viewbug.....
YFA_4067 Color 16-2 for Viewbug
Read less
Aug, 2020Views
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Awards
Top Shot Award 22
People's Choice in Star Beauty Photo Contest
Peer Award
Absolute Masterpiece
Magnificent Capture
Top Choice
All Star
Superior Skill
Virtuoso
Outstanding Creativity
Superb Composition
Genius
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richardpetersen
August 03, 2020
I have never heard that before...i like it,..Thank you very much RickL...!!!
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JPART7
February 08, 2021
Such a splendid picture! I just got a camera I hope to get pictures of the Milky Way in April...this is such a great picture!
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richardpetersen
February 08, 2021
Thank you very very much JPART7 ...!!! Yes Milky Way season is just around the corner ...I hope you get some good ones...it takes some patience ...and lots of errors ...or....you might be one of the lucky ones who get it right away....enjoy the journey...its the best part...!!!
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
First of all, I would like to thank ViewBug for the wonderful award, There are so many wonderful images here that i continue to learn from, and I enjoy looking at everyone's photos shared here, you all inspire me. On that note, the sky was clear as a bell so I drove about 5 miles over to the Wichita Mountains. Not quite in the darkest of sky's but, working within my constraints, it wasn't the worst of options.Time
This photograph here, which was only my second attempt working with a star tracker. was captured on July 25th 2020 at 10:51 pm. It was a dark night, no moon and quite spooky, There are coyotes and bison walking around, as well as rattlesnakes. Were i was sitting with my camera gear on that summer night, you could have heard a pin drop, and the Milky Way loomed overhead.Lighting
....Lighting and the Milky Way go hand in hand. No, I'm joking, that's a nerd joke. But more seriously, Anyone shooting or trying to capture the Milky Way has 2 options, neither of which require external lighting. One is to take a 10 second photograph on a tripod with your ISO bumped up to 64oo or so, and the other is to take 10 or 20 or even as many as 300 photographs of 1 minute each and stack them on one another to produce a more detailed richer photo. I choose another road. I decided to try and push the limits on my star tracker with a 3 minute exposure. Anyone shooting the sky needs to understand that the sky although appears to be standing still, is actually moving quite fast. The result of which can be seen in photographs taken for 20 or more seconds.....those amazing stars you have taken a photo of, suddenly appear as if someone just drew a bunch of white lines all over you wonderful picture. So in order to combat this, astrophotographers carry something called a Star Tracker. In essence, it really is nothing more than a clock, timed to rhythm of our sky. It requires some setup skills but, if executed correctly, produces amazing results. The only thing stopping you is clear sky's.Equipment
I have a Nikon D3500 and actually I used the kit lens that came with the camera. So, in short, Manual Mode, ISO 400, F4, 3 minutes of exposure time to the sensor with my lens at 21mm which is a 31.5mm equivalent on a full frame sensor. With longer exposures i can use darker ISO's. A Move Shoot Move star tracker fit my budget and isn't very heavy. Most importantly, a very small tripod that isnt very tall maybe 6 inches at best, which for me works great. If the camera gets knocked down in the darkness, then it doesn't have too far to fall. Also, there is less wind shake than on taller tripods. That tripod is as steady as a rock.Inspiration
I really enjoy nature. It's where i belong. The night is a part of that nature. I always wanted to be able to capture some of those moments.Editing
The whole game of astrophotography really comes down to the colors. And this is what makes astrophotography such a joy in that most photos that i have seen have never been the same color, those photographers really make it an artform. Some people enjoy the colorizing aspect and others find it quite painful. I am somewhere in the middle.In my camera bag
I shoot a lot of wildlife so I chose an affordable cropped sensor camera, which would give me an extra reach on any lens that I am using, which is way cheaper than dropping down 5 digit figures these wildlife lenses go for these days. And then if you factor in the weight element these lenses come with, add that to the weight of a full sensor camera you can be looking at carrying 5lbs or more on your shoulder. Which might not sound like much now, but on a recent outing I grabbed a photograph of a red-shouldered hawk, I stood motionless, arms and fingers at the ready for 25 minutes. My arms were very mad at me, but when the hawk finally did take off and flew across a stream, all that went away and I received quite a beautiful photo and a memorable moment. Could I have done that with a full sensor and a 5 figure lens? I'll never know, Wildlife photographers get amazing photographs all the time with that type of equipment. It's really up to the user in the end. So in my backpack I have a Nikon D70s, Nikon D5600, and a Nikon D3500. And of course the kit lenses that came with them, wide angle zooms and telephoto zooms.Feedback
Well, astrophotography has taught me more about my camera than anything, It can be a struggle understanding long exposures and that relationship to high and low ISO's. But, as I shared with a fellow photographer who commented on this photograph, it takes some patience ...coupled with lots of errors ...or....you might be one of the lucky ones who get it right away....enjoy the journey...its the best part...!!!
