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This image took a lot of planning and preparation. Taken in the Atacama Desert early July last year 6 days after the total eclipse in Argentina. At that time of year, the Milky Way rises before sunset and sets in the wee small hours of the morning. The scorpion does a "handstand" on the horizon at around 3am. On top of that, the near first quarter Moon did not set until just after midnight making early evening astrophotography impossible. This is an occupational hazard for solar eclipse chasers. You are always occupied preparing for, observing and travelling from the solar eclipse region at new moon, everything else has to be done nearer the quarter Moon's.
I returned to San Pedro before sunset and had a quick dinner after a day trip to Volcan Lascar. I grabbed a couple of hours sleep then set my alarm for 10pm. Back in the car and a couple of hours of very careful driving over a road with occasional patches of ice and I was back at this magical location. I'd driven the road a few times by now and GPS marked all the patches where the water flowed across the road that would form ice during the night. I set up a Vixen Polarie and mounted a Samyang 14mm set at f4 on my Pentax K1. I captured the sky with 4 x 4 minute exposures at ISO 800 tracked on the Polarie. I then removed the camera and Polarie, mounted the camera on tripod and captured the landscape with another 4 minute exposure. The car thermometer was reading -19C with a still slightly warm engine somewhere near the sensor. Despite being dressed very warmly with insulated pants and a ski powder jacket, I was well and truly chilled to the bone by this stage and I packed up, got in the car, heaters on max and after another slow and careful drive back to San Pedro, arriving at 530am, I crashed into my hotel bed for the day.
All the images were raw processed in Lightroom. The four sky images were then median stacked and blended with the landscapes in Photoshop.
I have been sitting on this image for a year waiting to enter it into my astro club annual astrophotography comp.
Amateur astronomer since 1978...................Web site :http://joe-cali.com/ Scopes: ATM 18" Dob, Vixen VC200L, ATM 6"f7, Stellarvue 102ED, Saxon ED80, WO M70 ED, Orion 102 Maksutov, ST80. Mounts: Takahashi EM-200, iOptron iEQ45, Push dobsonian with Nexus DSC, three homemade EQ's. Eyepieces: TV Naglers 31, 17, 12, 7; Denkmeier D21 & D14; Pentax XW10, XW5, Unitron 40mm Kellner, Meade Or 25,12 Cameras : Pentax K1, K5, K01, K10D / VIDEO CAMS : TacosBD, Lihmsec. Cam/guider/controllers: Lacerta MGEN 3, SW Synguider, Simulation Curriculum SkyFi 3+Sky safari Memberships Astronomical Association of Queensland; RASNZ Occultations Section; Single Exposure Milky Way Facebook Group (Moderator) (12k members), The Sky Searchers (moderator)
Canon T4i (astro-modified), EOS R
Skywatcher Quattro 8 CF, Skywatcher Quattro CC, Canon 300 mm f/4L IS
iOptron GEM45, iOptron Skyguider Pro, QHY mini guide scope, ZWO 120 mini
STC Duo-Narrowband, Astronomik L2 UV/IR cut, Skytech Tri-band
Astro and terrestrial photography at https://www.instagram.com/jonathan.sau.photography
Gabrielle See Far Sticks: Elita 103/1575, AOM FLT 105/1000, Bresser 127/1200 BV, Nočný stopár 152/1200, Vyrobené doma 70/700, Stellarvue NHNG DX 80/552, TAL RS 100/1000, Vixen SD115s/885 EQ: TAL MT-1, Vixen SXP, SXP2, AXJ, AXD Az/Alt: AYO Digi II, Stellarvue M2C, Argo Navis encoders on both Tripods: Berlebach Planet (2), Uni 28 Astro, Report 372, TAL factory maple, Vixen ASG-CB90, Vixen AXD-TR102 Diagonals: Astro-Physics, Baader Amici, Baader Herschel, iStar Blue, Stellarvue DX, Tak prism, TAL, Vixen Eyepieces: Antares to Zeiss (1011110) The only culture I have is from yogurt
Thanks for your kind words. Now lets see how I go in the comp. It's only a small astro club ~ 100 members but with a lot of very good astrophotographers. Competition is always stiff.
cheers
Joe
Amateur astronomer since 1978...................Web site :http://joe-cali.com/ Scopes: ATM 18" Dob, Vixen VC200L, ATM 6"f7, Stellarvue 102ED, Saxon ED80, WO M70 ED, Orion 102 Maksutov, ST80. Mounts: Takahashi EM-200, iOptron iEQ45, Push dobsonian with Nexus DSC, three homemade EQ's. Eyepieces: TV Naglers 31, 17, 12, 7; Denkmeier D21 & D14; Pentax XW10, XW5, Unitron 40mm Kellner, Meade Or 25,12 Cameras : Pentax K1, K5, K01, K10D / VIDEO CAMS : TacosBD, Lihmsec. Cam/guider/controllers: Lacerta MGEN 3, SW Synguider, Simulation Curriculum SkyFi 3+Sky safari Memberships Astronomical Association of Queensland; RASNZ Occultations Section; Single Exposure Milky Way Facebook Group (Moderator) (12k members), The Sky Searchers (moderator)
You are a very talented photographer/ astrophotographer and the planning that you put into this image along with the excellent processing shows in this top notch image.
Really nice work Joe!
Jim
Scopes: Explore Scientific ED102 APO, Sharpstar 61 EDPH II APO, Samyang 135 F2 (still on the Nikon).
Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro with Rowan Belt Mod
Stuff: ASI EAF Focus Motor (x2), ZWO OAG, ZWO 30 mm Guide Scope, ASI 220mm min, ASI 120mm mini, Stellarview 0.8 FR/FF, Sharpstar 0.8 FR/FF, Mele Overloock 3C.
Camera/Filters/Software: ASI 533 mc pro, ASI 120mm mini, ASI 220mm mini , IDAS LPS D-1, Optolong L-Enhance, ZWO UV/IR Cut, N.I.N.A., Green Swamp Server, PHD2, Adobe Photoshop CC, Pixinsight.
Dog and best bud: Jack
Sky: Bortle 6-7
My Astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/users/Juno16/
Juno16 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 26, 2020 11:56 am
What a beautiful limage Joe!
You are a very talented photographer/ astrophotographer and the planning that you put into this image along with the excellent processing shows in this top notch image.
Really nice work Joe!
Thank you Jim. You are too kind.
Amateur astronomer since 1978...................Web site :http://joe-cali.com/ Scopes: ATM 18" Dob, Vixen VC200L, ATM 6"f7, Stellarvue 102ED, Saxon ED80, WO M70 ED, Orion 102 Maksutov, ST80. Mounts: Takahashi EM-200, iOptron iEQ45, Push dobsonian with Nexus DSC, three homemade EQ's. Eyepieces: TV Naglers 31, 17, 12, 7; Denkmeier D21 & D14; Pentax XW10, XW5, Unitron 40mm Kellner, Meade Or 25,12 Cameras : Pentax K1, K5, K01, K10D / VIDEO CAMS : TacosBD, Lihmsec. Cam/guider/controllers: Lacerta MGEN 3, SW Synguider, Simulation Curriculum SkyFi 3+Sky safari Memberships Astronomical Association of Queensland; RASNZ Occultations Section; Single Exposure Milky Way Facebook Group (Moderator) (12k members), The Sky Searchers (moderator)
