Observer's Corner for June
Capture the Milky Way!
The Milky Way contains beautiful celestial treasures: Supernovae remnants, galactic dust, open star clusters, emission and planetary nebulae (interstellar medium or ISM).
Here are the Requirements:
Pleasant Title
As our own galaxy, the Milky Way and its splendors reach the meridian in midsummer, here are a few simple hints to image the grandeur.
1. Extremely dark night sky (desert or mountains). This is MANDATORY!
2. Digital single lens camera with interchangeable lenses.
3. Wide angle lens (35mm to 12mm focal length)
4. A sturdy tripod and cable release
5. Optional: Tracker device or piggyback on the telescope (for longer exposures and eliminating star trails)
6. Ball mount
Don’t get frustrated with expensive equipment. The first image in the carousel below was taken on a simple tripod with a 24 mm stock lens at 20 seconds at the Paramount Star Party in 2015!
Settings: Focus on a bright star (Jupiter will be available this summer too) and tape the focus ring with masking tape so it will not move between exposures.
......High ISO rating: I use 3200 ISO
Exposures: If you are shooting exposures less 30 seconds, a simple tripod will suffice. Longer exposures will require guiding.
.......Manual Focus (MF), and make sure to use a CABLE RELEASE to isolate vibration.
Experiment using exposures and f/stops. My Rokinon Wide Angle 14 mm has some vignetting at f/2.8 but eliminates this at f/4
Many images will allow you to pick the best for you. Also, the Milky Way allows many artistic views using foreground objects.
Here are a few of my Summer Milky Way Images. Enjoy!
Clear Skies
--Hal
I use a Sony A7 Mirrorless Digital Camera and a Rokinon Wide Angle Lens. Rokinon 14 mm lens is popular and inexpensive at $299.00!
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