I tried to capture the milkyway last night...

I'm a bit surprised with 60ish stacked shots you have not got more stars even with the effect of the Moon.

Last night the Moon was around 90% full and at the time you took your shot the Moon was close to the southern horizon but also close to the Milky Way which is not going to help.

I can't see any light from the Moon in your shot. This suggests it was taken in a direction well way from the Moon which last night also means well way from the MW.

Just about the worst thing for MW shots is having a close to full Moon nearby.

Have a look at Stellarium - http://www.stellarium.org/en_GB/ - it is a free download and will help a lot in getting MW shots


Dave
 
Yeah moon was about 180 degrees and MW was supposed to be about 220 degrees and between 0 deg - 5.7 deg up from the horizon.

Out of the shot on the left, I cropped out a pontoon / which was heavily lit up and to the right was streetlighting - nightmare.

I should have gone up the south downs and tried from there but I was paranoid I wouldn't see the MW centre from up there due to it being so low on the horizon.

I need to move to the Southern Hemisphere, I think! (or become neighbours with @swag72 ) where there is little light pollution.
Or wait until there is a new moon.

I have stellarium and PlanIt for Android. Both really useful, but didn't help my cause last night.
 
Could you actually see the Milky Way, as it looks like there's some high cirrus around? Although with the lack of stars it's hard to tell my gut feel is you're pointing at Ophiuchus, a bit too far west for the Milky Way (although I could be very wrong). If you couldn't see the Milky Way you probably weren't going to come away with an image of it.The brightest bit is in the Summer Triangle (around Cygnus), which is also a very easy constellation to find and high up. What was your iso, btw?
 
See below for full post!! I blame my fat fingers..... :oops: :$
 
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Jannyfox said:
Could you actually see the Milky Way, as it looks like there's some high cirrus around? Although with the lack of stars it's hard to tell my gut feel is you're pointing at Ophiuchus, a bit too far west for the Milky Way (although I could be very wrong). If you couldn't see the Milky Way you probably weren't going to come away with an image of it.The brightest bit is in the Summer Triangle (around Cygnus), which is also a very easy constellation to find and high up. What was your iso, btw?
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No not by eye - I was hoping 18 second exposures stacked may reveal it!

But I am aware that it's pretty late in the Milkyway season now.
 
The two bright lights near the horizon are Mars on the left and Saturn on the right. Unfortunately, the Milky Way is just to the left of Mars at the moment, so it seems as though you didn't quite get it in shot! If you can't see the Milky Way with the naked eye, set up with Mars in the right half of the frame and you shouldn't go far wrong! :)
 
fuzzyfelt30 said:
The two bright lights near the horizon are Mars on the left and Saturn on the right. Unfortunately, the Milky Way is just to the left of Mars at the moment, so it seems as though you didn't quite get it in shot! If you can't see the Milky Way with the naked eye, set up with Mars in the right half of the frame and you shouldn't go far wrong! :)
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Ah Poo!

I thought I was pointing in the correct direction!

Well I feel a little sheepish.

Oh well, here's to another day (or night)

Would one recommend portrait or landscape orientation on their camera? (17mm lens on APS-C, thus about 26mm)
 
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I'd go for a night when you can actually see it, then you can decide how to frame it. I'd go for the brightest part through Cygnus for a first attempt. If you can't recognise Cygnus get the Skymap app on your phone. You are aware that even if you do capture the Milky Way you'll need to do a far amount of pp (histogram stretching etc) to really bring it out?
That's definitely Ophiuchus you've got, and Mike's right - that's where Mars and Saturn lie at the moment. So well done on capturing two planets! Just bear in mind they're not going to stay there.
 
Just for my own interest, what does a stacked set of exposures do which a single exposure can't?


Steve.
 
mr.si said:
I should have gone up the south downs and tried from there but I was paranoid I wouldn't see the MW centre from up there due to it being so low on the horizon.
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The South Downs would be good. There might be some glow from coastal towns but it shouldn't affect the shot too much.

The centre of the Milky Way (ie the part in the direction of the galactic centre) isn't visible from the UK so moving from the coast to higher ground would not cause a problem and I'd guess the horizon you would see from the Downs would be the sea anyway.

Around now is a good time to see the MW as (a) what is probably the best part of the MW as seen from the UK is easily visible and (b) the MW cuts the horizon at a steep angle so shows a huge arc in the southern sky.

Dave
 
Steve Smith said:
Just for my own interest, what does a stacked set of exposures do which a single exposure can't?


Steve.
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Hi @Steve Smith, as far as I know, it's supposed to bring out more detail.


Tringa said:
The South Downs would be good. There might be some glow from coastal towns but it shouldn't affect the shot too much.

The centre of the Milky Way (ie the part in the direction of the galactic centre) isn't visible from the UK so moving from the coast to higher ground would not cause a problem and I'd guess the horizon you would see from the Downs would be the sea anyway.

Around now is a good time to see the MW as (a) what is probably the best part of the MW as seen from the UK is easily visible and (b) the MW cuts the horizon at a steep angle so shows a huge arc in the southern sky.

Dave
Click to expand...


Time to pray for clear skies!
Also, the moon is rising later and later again, which will help.
 
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