Milky Way in Sagittarius West

CLICK HERE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION - (2400x1592)

Scope: Tamron AF28-75 at 60 mm FL  f/3.5; Location: Laguna Mountains, CA;  16 August, 2009; Camera: Canon XT 350D (Baader ACF modified)

Exposure: 18 x 6 min  (no filters) ISO 800 , 8 Darks, no Flats 

Processing: Images were captured with DSLR Focus  and saved as RAW file format. Images were decoded and dark corrected in IRIS. Images were aligned and stacked in IRIS with Sigma Median.  Dark point equalization and rough color balance  were done in IRIS. Gamma adjustments also done in Iris. Linear gradient removal was done in Photoshop with a mask and levels adjustment. The 6 minute  exposure stacks were saved as Tiff.  Luminance was extracted  in Photoshop. The color channels were softened and saturated before being recombined with the Luminance with luminance layer. Final stretching and touch up was done in PhotoShop.     Final Image size is approximately 3458x2294 - re-sampled to 2400x1592.

North is up in this image.  This image is guided.  This is an image of the central region of our Milky Way galaxy. The region is the Western side of Sagittarius. The  notable astronomic objects readily visible in this field are (from top left) M16, M17, M25, M24, M23, M22, M21, M20, M8, M6 and part of M7  There are also numerous dark nebula which are clouds of dust which block light from background stars and give the appearance of holes in the sky. The dark diagonal region from upper left to lower right is the Milky Way galactic plane. It is also a dark region due to the extensive amount of dust within the galaxy. It is the main reason we cannot "see" in the visible spectrum to the center of our galaxy. The center of our galaxy (through this dust) is about 26,000 light years distant from Earth.   The Vertical FOV is about 21 deg.

Image Center is approximately - Equatorial 2000: RA: 18h 04m 48s Dec: -24°20'00"

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All images and content remain the property of Jim Thommes - copyright 2003 - 2012

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