A 200° panorama from northeast to west, and nearly to the zenith, encompassing the northern spring and winter stars and constell
A 200° panorama from northeast to west, and nearly to the zenith, encompassing the northern spring and winter stars and constellations. Ursa Major and the Big Dipper are at top left with Arcturus rising at lower left. Jupiter is the bright object left of centre. Above it is the diffuse glow of the Gegenschein, caused by sunlight reflecting off interplanetary dust opposite the Sun in the solar system and in the plane of the ecliptic. Jupiter is just east of the Gengenschein as it was then less then two weeks before opposition when it would sit within the Gegenshein, both then opposite the Sun. Leo is above Jupiter and Cancer with the Beehive Cluster just left of centre. At right are the panoply of winter constellations and stars around Orion right of centre. Sirius is lower right of centre. The Pleiades is at upper right. The light pollution glow from Strathmore and Calgary is in the west at far right. The Milky Way runs up the sky at right. I shot this from home on February 27, 2016, using the iPano motorized “gigapan” unit, taking 36 panels with the Canon 5D MkII and 35mm lens, in 4 rows high with 9 panels wide in each row from east to west. Each exposure was 25 seconds at f/2 and at ISO 3200. The camera was not tracking the sky. Stitching was with PTGui using the Spherical Fisheye projection, yielding the incomplete frame but a circular format more suggestive of a spherical dome of the the sky above and around you. Next time I shoot the zenith cap images as well!
Size: 5400px × 2257px
Photo credit: © Alan Dyer / VWPics / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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