Milky Way Rising

[shalaka143]

this view will definitely be breath-taking.. :)

[TheGreenMonkeyMHFC]

I can actually see in THROUGH!!! its dynamic, a disc in the FAR!

[TheGreenMonkeyMHFC]

Yes, Our galaxy disc, after all the stars we see they create this giant disc which is in the FAR that we can see!

[CalebMush]

Oh man too many city lights! I want to see the Milky Way so bad!

[chunksloth]

Without light pollution I think that's what we would see.

[jscotti]

Well, we do have some light pollution on Kitt Peak, but it is certainly a lot darker than most places.

[anonymousstormchaser]

light polution everywhere. :(

[elellilrah]

Nice work. It would be great to have a 24mm 1.8 instead of 2.8. This would be the first time I ever wanted a Canon product rather than Nikon. :)

[jscotti]

My 24mm f/1.8 lens is a Sigma which I believe you can buy in a Nikon mount. If I were to buy a similar lens again, I'd probably look at a 20mm lens - the 24mm is just not quite wide enough sometimes....

[spencerKblack]

Awesome video! I'm trying to do something similar with my nikon d200 but it looks like my iso is going to have to be way up there because f/4 is the fastest I can go with my tokina 12-24. Beautiful work!

[jscotti]

Yes, my images were taken at f/1.8, so I could get away with only ISO 400 or so to get the images I got with only 30 second exposures. If you can up the exposure to 60 seconds you'll get a little trailing but could back off on the ISO a bit....

Good luck! - Jim.

[CryWolf346]

WoooooooooooW

[dLimboStick]

Love it. Beautiful.

[jjj7477]

cool...

[aimhelix]

So if I go out to the boondocks and setup my SLR for a long exposure, would I actually be able to capture the galaxy or trails of it?

[jscotti]

If you shoot a single long exposure, you will trail the stars and galaxy. Should be pretty, though, but it won't look like what my movie shows. I used my DSLR here with 30 second exposures, one after the other with an ISO around 400 and f/1.8, 24mm lens on my Canon 20D.

[aimhelix]

Thanks jscotti, I will try that when I get far from the city. I forgot to comment on your vide btw, which is beautiful. Hopefully I'll come across some clear winter night skies upstate NY and try taking pictures this way. Keep up the good work.

[jscotti]

If you have a digital camera, you can do some really cool stuff, especially if it is an SLR. Even a point and shoot, though might give you some interesting results, especially if it has a timelapse (also called intervalometer) function. In any case, use a tripod & a cable release if you can. Good luck!

[Drewboy64]

If I were trying to take a still picture of the galaxy, could i use a point and shoot so long as I wasn't holding it myself?

[jscotti]

It depends a bit on the P&S camera itself. You'll need a tripod to mount the camera on. If the P&S has a long enough exposure of at least about 15 seconds (preferably around a minute), then you ought to be able to get a shot of the Milky Way. If you can use manual focus to set the focus at infinity, you will have a better chance to get a good picture. And then use the 2 or 10 second delay to take the picture with the widest aperture. Also try the higher ISO settings around 400 should work.

[judyb1169]

Really beautiful!

[mp5sd5]

is the milky way that clear in real life? like with color and everything?

[jscotti]

These images are definitely more spectacular than what you would see from a good dark site and dark adapted. But you can certainly see the Milky Way quite clearly and easily from a good site away from cities. You won't see much color except for in the brighter stars. - Jim.

[obsessong]

Beautiful!

[madcow2005]

You have chosen the intervals just right otherwise there could be star trails

[hhanatarouu]

You can see a shooting star at the top left hand corner at one point, hehe

[dave577hele]

ok.

[mrbowling300]

Awesome, simply awesome! This is something I've always wanted to see, but since I live in the city, I cannot.

[jimbo1000]

thanks for your response Scotti

jim

[jimbo1000]

terrific video. How did you do it? What equipment is needed? Jim, northampton

[jscotti]

I use a Canon 20D with a Sigma 24mm f/1.8 lens (usually) and take consecutive images, usually 30 seconds exposure each with the cable release locked. Later, I use a freeware program called JPGVideo to combine the frames into an avi movie.

[jimbo1000]

Thanks for the information scotti. There must have been many images. Is the system automated?

jim

[jscotti]

You can set the 20D in "burst mode" so it will continue taking pictures as fast as it can if you continue to press the shutter button (or lock the cable release). There is no more automation than that. There is a timer cable release available that can control the camera to take a picture at other intervals and with variable exposure times that are not available in burst mode. I had several hundred images that went into this timelapse.

[jerryku]

Ymm... space dust..

[suttsteve]

Very nice.