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Weather lately has been touch and go, and
I wanted to get a wide eye shot of the winter Milkyway before
it went behind the house. This image, although short in duration
shows off the decent optical quality of the Sigma lens and is
a useful tool for all sky surveys for aurora, zodiacal light
and airglow.
Image Features
From Canis Major
in the south at the bottom of the frame, to the pole star to
the north top of the frame, the visible part of the sky from
our balcony is shown. On the lower right edge is the roof of
the house, and just above it is the zodiacal light cone. The
skyglow of Phoenix is below the house, and the entire bottom
and left edge of the frame had extensive skyglow from Payson.
Also shown below
the main image is small snippets of the original frame to show
individual features, including one with the California nebula
and the now barely visible Comet Holmes, near a magnitude of
5.5 or so.
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Auriga
Beehive cluster
Canis Major
Cassiopiea
Hayades/M44
California neb/Comet Holmes
M44
Orion
Perseus/Holmes/Calif
Double cluster