u/igneisnightscapes

While hiking, I found these cool rocks with Cygnus on top. At 50mm this is a target with so many details, but I've taken it so many times over the years that this time I wanted to do something different and capture the dust nearby. I took 4 panels with 4 hours of integration each. It surprised me how faint the dust in this area is. The Hydrogen Alpha is another story, there's so much and some OIII, specially in the North America Nebula. 

https://www.instagram.com/igneis.nightscapes/

NO generative AI involved.

GEAR:

Sony a7IV astromodified x2, twin setup

Sony 50mm GM f/1.4

ZWO AM3N

https://www.instagram.com/igneis.nightscapes/

We usually talk about the summer or winter arch, but this is the one we tend to forget. This arch consists of the Cygnus constellation on the left of the image, with Andromeda on top, up to Orion on the right. It actually has much more detail hidden, like galactic dust, but for this one I didn't get enough integration time, and a wide lens doesn't help either. This place has trenches, part of the story of Spain almost one hundred years ago. The Milky Way core is an easy photo compared to this region of the sky, as the signal is much stronger.

The photo was taken  in 2024, NO GENERATIVE AI INVOLVED.

EXIF:

Sony a7 IV (foreground)

Sony a7 III Astro mod (sky)

Sony 20mm f1.8 G (foreground and sky)

iOptron Skyguider Pro

RGB: 1 row panorama, 6 panels x12 60s, ISO 640, f/1.8

Ha: 1 row panorama, 4 panels x20-30 120S, ISO 2.500, f/1.8

Foreground: 1 row panorama, 6 panels x60s, ISO 2.500 f/3.2

Cassiopeia and the dust in the Milky Way, often a forgotten region, eclipsed by others with stronger emissions.

https://www.instagram.com/igneis.nightscapes/

Years ago, when I shot it quickly, I noticed a lot of dusty structures: the Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN), high galactic latitude dust illuminated not by nearby stars, but by the combined light of the whole Milky Way. I thought: I have to revisit it with a 50mm and proper integration time.

Now, with 44 hours of integration, so many nights of driving, staying there, looking north, shooting... nothing. An empty field of stars. The dome stood there with me, another eye pointed at the same darkness, waiting for something neither of us could see yet. The routine was: check the weather, drive, stay the whole night shooting, and come back home wondering what I'd get out of this.

Now, with all the dust revealed, seeing it for myself makes me wonder how we can see so little, just stars, when in that direction there is so much, so much dust, so much nebulosity. We cannot see it, as if our eyes were lacking insight. But a camera, combined with patience... how curious.

It's not only about the dust, the Hydrogen Alpha, the Oxygen III. It's about the ambition and the resistance to just keep going. That's the result of this image.

It took 44 hours of exposure to see what was always there. Some things only reveal themselves at a cost.

Some things wait in the dark not because they are hidden, but because nothing has looked long enough to find them.

EQUIPMENT:

Sony a7IV astromodified x2, twin setup

50mm f/2 APO Sony

ZWO AM3N

https://www.instagram.com/igneis.nightscapes/

One of the places that has impressed me the most, with its stunning views of endless dunes and lagoons. Nothing but that for miles and miles. To get this view, I used the drone in a spot where the arch naturally aligns. I wanted the perspective of the endless lagoons and the vastness of this place.

Not everything was so easy, though. When I arrived, my suitcase got lost, so I was missing important parts of my equipment: no cables, no tripod, no clothes. Most nights I could do nothing more than stare at the sky, just hoping that tomorrow would be better. One morning my suitcase finally appeared, and in the last few days I was able to take this shot and a few more. Even under difficult circumstances, I just wanted to go back home with the amazing sky from this place… and now it’s just a fun memory of Murphy’s law.

Equipment:

Sony a7IV astromodified

Sony 20mm f1.8G

DJI mini 5 pro

Benro Polaris