Milky Way Panorama Astrophotography

There are couple of Milky Way panoramas which I did previously. There are Milky Way Rainbow from West and East of North America, Panorama in South America Chile and Milky Way Bow in Equator Galapagos. The photos of panoramas done during of couple of years. All places have best dark sky on Earth, photos were done during new moon. I used about the same technology – about 20-30 photos for one panorama. It took about 30 – 40 minutes (one photo was about 30 second, Canon 60Da with Canon Lens EF16-35mm, F/2.8). For post processing I used Photoshop to stitch all photos to one panorama. Challenge were that it was new places, when I never bean before, and very limited time.

Milky Way Panorama - Utah USA, Arches National Park Astrophotography

This is panorama of 40 images which were done during my trip to Arches National Park. I really like this trip, and I believe that   Arches National Park is one of the best place for landscape astrophotography. It is paradise for astrophotography – really dark sky (during new moon) and fantastic landscaping.

Milky Way Panorama - Maine USA, Acadia National Park Astrophotography

While Mount Desert Island is not heavily populated and is remote, but some light pollution exists. So, some places in Acadia National Park are just with good dark sky. But some places are having amazing sky! Sand Beach, while just a 290-yard-long beach inlet between granite mountains, has a spectacular view of the night sky. On the Bortle Dark-Sky Scale, this place has “Class 1” (out of 9) is absolutely, naturally dark — the darkest skies on Earth!

Milky Way Panorama - Galapagos Astrophotography

This sea is my sea, this land is my land, this sky is my sky, this Milky Way is my Milky way.

Not so much were changes on Galapagos Islands during last 3 millions years!

The marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus), also known as the sea iguana, saltwater iguana, or Galapagos marine iguana, is a species of iguana found only on the Galápagos Islands (Ecuador) that has the ability, unique among modern lizards, to forage in the sea, making it a marine reptile.

Panorama - Milky Way Shadow - Chile Astrophotography

Milky Way casting shadows – for all my live don’t see many times. Need very dark sky, no moon, no light pollution. Also, when doing the photo of Milky Way panorama, I usually add extra light to see landscape. This was exception. Very dark sky – Chile Atacama Desert has one of the best skies for observation. On the astronomical tour had one request – no light. Location is desert oasis with trees. Scorpius and Sagittarius and Jupiter are close to zenith. As result on the photo you can see diffuse shadows from trees casing by Milky Way. Really, there is the place where the Milky Way casts a shadow!

First Canon Ra Milky Way Rainbow - Catskill  NY

This is my first photo of Milky Way Rainbow with Canon EOS Ra. I am continue testing Canon Ra astrophotography camera. Canon Ra has High ISO performance with reasonable low noise levels (Topaz DeNoise AI allow minimize noise level). So even 5 sec photos with ISO 20,000 gives very nice result for night landscaping. Because of 5 sec shots – photo time is pretty fast. Special filter gives good contrast for Milky Way. Photoshop allows combine all 20 photos to one Milky Way rainbow panorama.

Milky Way and Zodiacal Light over Bolivia - Black and White Astrophotography

The photo captures a view of the night sky over the Bolivia. 2 hours after sunset (elevation: 4020 m / 13190 feet). Canon EOS 60Da, 25 sec., Canon Lens EF16-35mm, f/2.8, ISO 6400, panorama of 20 images. 

Because our eyes are less sensitive to color in low light conditions, a black and white photo more closely approximates what our eyes can see at night (compared to a color photo).

The black and white photography highlights the stark contrast between the dark night sky and the glowing band of the Milky Way. The Milky Way, a dense band of stars and interstellar dust, stretches across the sky in a white arc. 

If you look closely, you can also see a faint, diffuse glow stretching up from the horizon. This is the Zodiacal Light, a ghostly band of light caused by sunlight reflecting off interplanetary dust particles in our solar system. 

Taken together, the Milky Way and Zodiacal Light create a breathtaking scene that reminds us of the immense scale and beauty of the universe we inhabit. It is a testament to the power of nature and the wonders that can be discovered by simply looking up at the night sky.

The photo of the Milky Way and Zodiacal Light is an example of the beauty that can be found in the natural world. It is a reminder that there is always more to discover and explore, both here on Earth and beyond.

Milky Way over Yellowstone National Park Old Faithful geyser Night Sky Landscape Astrophotography Canon 60Da

Do you believe that the Milky Way was not created by a geyser?

Night Sky Yellowstone National Park Old Faithful geyser and Milky Way - Nightscape Astrophotography

Old Faithful Geyser located in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Green colors of sky near horizon also does not result of the geyser, this is sky Airglow.

Milky Way over Yellowstone National Park Old Faithful geyser Night Sky Landscape Astrophotography Canon 60Da

 Canon 60Da, Wide Angle Lens EF16-35mm f/2.8L II USM, Exposure 30 sec; f/2.8; ISO 3200- Yellowstone Night-scape Astrophotograpgy

There are a lot of legends about origin of the Milky Way all over the Word. Every culture spoke about the Milky Way in terms of allegories that have special meaning to each individual culture. Definitely it should be legend about Milky Way from Yellowstone. However Yellowstone was very special land for Native Americans and they don’t trust white people and don’t like that they know about it. So only little Yellowstone myths we know now. Last year my daughter learned about Native American and I asked her to write the “missing” legend about geyser and the Milky Way.  There is the legend.
      
                                         The geyser, crow, corn, and the Milky Way

During fall the Native Americans were harvesting corn. One day a crow came, it wanted back some of the corn it gave to the Native Americans. It kept stealing the corn until the village made noise shakers and scared the crow away. While the crow was flying away holding corn in its beak, a geyser erupted and the corn kernels flew out of the crow’s beak. The crow chased it into the sky. From this day forward the corn kernels became the stars, and the dust has become the Milky Way.

Pretty much it is very close to what you see on picture above.

Interesting, recently, astronomers founded giant geysers in the center of our Galaxy. So such legend about connection the Milky Way and geysers even make sense but only on other level of understanding of the nature.



There is supervolcano night sky video on youtube. A supereruption of Yellowstone volcano will affect all word. Nobody knows when it happens. Geyser eruptions show that the Yellowstone giant volcano is still active, it just sleeping under wide and starry sky.

Grand Teton Astrophotography Wyoming National Park

Philosophy is written in that great book which
ever lies before our eyes — I mean the universe
— but we cannot understand it if we do not first
learn the language and grasp the symbols,
in which it is written.
--Galileo Galilei

Milky way over Grand Teton National park. There is combination of three photos.

Grand Teton Astrophotography  Wyoming National Park Canon 60Da

Canon 60Da; Lens EF16-35mm f/2.8L II USM; Exposure 30.0 sec; f/2.8; ISO 4000

Two interesting effect are visible on this photo. If sky stars don't have big trails, reflections of stars have pretty much visible "star roads". Actually every star reflection has its own "star path" like Moon reflection has moonpath. When stars more close to horizon than "star path" of reflection is longer. Reflection stars near horizon also looks brighter because of near horizon light from starts more parallel to water surface and has bigger reflectivity.