Recently while researching about how to photograph the Northern Lights I ended up getting obsessed about photographing the Milky Way. I started researching more and more about it and then yesterday I finally felt comfortable about going out to give it a try. I live in a place where I’m just a bit exposed to the city lights, which is of course still not ideal, but perhaps it’s ok for practicing purposes.
So I sat there with my gear, 2am, and started shooting some photos playing with some camera settings… the Orion’s Belt was there, easily spotted, so I knew the Milky Way was around. I took about 20 to 30 photos and quickly ran to the computer as I was so excited to see them in a big screen.
Unfortunately as we can see no Milky Way was captured and there’s some more homework to be done, still we can see in the photo:
- Jupiter (the biggest “star”) very close to the constellation Gemini
- the constellation Orion and its famous Orion’s Belt (the three bright stars Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka – also known in Brazil as “The Three Marys”) as well as the brightest stars Rigel and Betelgeuse
- the Pleiades or Seven Sisters, the open star cluster located in the constellation of Taurus in the top right corner
- the small constellation Canis Minor (the 2 brightest stars below Jupiter)
Hope I can also get the Milky Way next time! :)
by Felipe Pitta