Space isn’t as empty as it looks.
This is the North Star, Polaris, and it’s surrounded by faint clouds of interstellar dust that usually get completely lost to light pollution. I captured this from Death Valley using a Rokinon 135mm and a Sony A7III, leaving the tracker and camera running all night under some of the darkest skies in the country.
This kind of dust is incredibly subtle, which is why it’s so hard to photograph—you really need pristine, moonless skies and a lot of patience. Shots like this are a good reminder that even the “empty” parts of the sky are full of structure, if you stay long enough to let it show itself.
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Gateway_Galactic
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Gear:
Camera – Sony A7iii
Lens – Rokinon 135mm
Mount – Skywatcher Star Adventurer
Acquisition:
570 x 60 Seconds
f/2.8
ISO640.
Total Integration – 9.5 hrs
Sky Quality: Bortle 1
Editing Software:
Pixinsight/Photoshop
Editing Process:
Stacked in WPBB
Seti Astro Automated DBE
Gradient Correction
Blur/Star/NoiseX
GHS
Move to PS
Camera Raw
Brightness & Contrast
Slight Vibrance boost
Screen Stars
by dunmbunnz
1 Comment
Thank you for sharing this image. It’s mind-boggling how empty, and not empty, space is. There’s beauty everywhere out there. I wish we could natively see this detail with our eyes.