It is with immense pride that I unveil what has been my most challenging high resolution panorama of the Milky Way in its native foreground to date.

3 summers ago, I attempted to capture an even larger mosaic in terms of resolution (almost a GigaPixel) using a 135mm lens. I was extremely happy with the results I got with only 1 minute per panel, times 73 panels. Conditions were windy but the air was really clean (2300m, La Palma island, Bortle 1). But as an astrophotographer, one always wants to push the limits of what is obtainable in terms of integration and go even further.

This year, I had something a bit different in mind. It was to create a similar mosaic at a slightly lower focal length (although using a higher resolution sensor, 30mpx vs 20mpx 3 years ago). That resolution would enable be to get fewer panels for approximately the same field of view. Most importantly, the lens I used opens at 1.4 vs 1.8 3 years ago. Those two facts would enable me to get more integration time per panel if I was to do it in one night. However, I didn’t want to ‘just’ get more resolution- I wanted to reveal all the H-alpha emissions from nebulae that populate the area around the core of the Milky Way in great numbers.

These nebulae are usually not well picked up with just astromodified cameras, and even less with stock cameras. That is why this rendition of the central bulge of our galaxy might seem quite weird and ‘unnatural’ to many. However I have performed on both single panels and pano: Background extraction, calibration - Linear fit with reference on red when combining the channels, Linear fit on the RGB pano, Background neutralization and color calibration. This is really what is out there (except for an area around the dark horse nebula that seems like an error with some faint red nebulosity but I need confirmation).By using a 12 nm narrowband H-alpha filter from astronomic and exposing each luminance panel with it on, I was able to paste the data on top and uncover what the Milky Way really looks like with all this data.

I was far from suspecting that there were A LOT more H-alpha in the core than I thought, looking at some of the best pictures of the Milky Way ever taken in literature. In fact, the only references I can find for H-alpha data were taken by astrophotographers that I can count on the fingers of one hand. However, it was either at lower resolution or the data was not combined to RGB. So it was a bit of a solo flight for me but I am EXTREMELY happy with the results of a LONG and HARD work process (one week). Not to mention the ton of calima (haze) that created a lot of environmental noise and haze on the image (you can see if you zoom in).

Easter Egg: Can you spot comet C/2017 K2 PanSTARRS?

EXIFS:

Canon R astromodded (Astromodifikationen.de) + Sigma 85mm f1.4Foreground: 8 panels untracked at 60’’, f/2, ISO 6400
Sky: 20 panels tracked with the Star Adventurer Pro2i. Per panel, RGB data was acquired by a stack of 3 x 1’, f/2.5, ISO 2500 and NiSi LP filter on. Ha data was acquired by a stack (generally between 10 and 15 for the center of the Milky Way and 60 for the right part of the image) of 90’’, f/1.8, ISO 6400.
Calibration frames (Dark, flats, bias).
Pre-Processed and stitched in Astro Pixel Processor, processed in PixInsight, Ps and Lr.

Taken at the Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma island 3 weeks ago.