The Milky Way

The Story

This panorama captures the dense and bright core of our home galaxy, the Milky Way, as seen from Earth. The Galactic Center is located in the direction of the constellations Sagittarius, Ophiuchus, and Scorpius, where the star clouds are thickest.

The bright band is furrowed by complex dark 'Rifts'—massive clouds of interstellar dust that obscure the light of billions of stars behind them. The reddish patches are emission nebulae, vast clouds of ionized hydrogen glowing like rubies against the diamond field of stars.

Capturing the Milky Way requires extremely dark skies away from light pollution, allowing the camera sensor to collect photons that have traveled for tens of thousands of years to reach us.

Technical Data

• Camera: Nikon D5300
• Mount: Tripod
• Integration: 20 min
• Software: TStar