Solstice Sky with Perpetual Twilight
Taken by Alan Dyer on June 14, 2026 @
near Gleichen, Alberta, Canada
Click photo for larger image
| |
Camera Used: Canon Canon EOS Ra
Exposure Time: 117/1
Aperture: f/1.8
ISO: 800
Date Taken: 2026:06:14 22:01:41
|
|
| More images
Details:
This is a 180º by 360º "all-sky" view of the night sky a week before the summer solstice in June 2026. This was from home in rural southern Alberta at a latitude of 51º N. So the sky is not astronomically dark and is lit a deep blue by all-night perpetual twilight. To the north at top the sky is brighter with reddish-yellow twilight but also with green and magenta from a dim aurora that peaked in brightness at about the time I shot these images, but briefly this night. This was at about 2 am MDT, so about in the middle of the night with the sky at its darkest.
South is at bottom, with east to the left and west to the right where the sky is illuminated by light pollution from towns to the west and the city of Calgary. At bottom, the southern sky has bands of natural green airglow.
The northern summer Milky Way runs across the sky from Cassiopeia at top in the northeast, through the Summer Triangle stars left of centre, down to the galactic centre in Sagittarius and Scorpius at bottom low in the south from my latitude. The Milky Way is muted by the bright sky background. The orange star Antares is above the trees at bottom. In the west at right is bright Arcturus. At top right in the northwest is the Big Dipper. Polaris is above centre.
Technical:
This is a stack of 8 x 2 minutes with the AstrHori 6mm fish-eye lens wide open at f/2.8. The lens presents a circular field of view of 220º – so it includes the ground below the horizon. The ground comes from one exposure to minimize blurring. Star glows added manually and with the AstroTools effects panel. No filters were employed here and can't be used on a fish-eye lens like this.
This was with the Canon Ra at ISO 800. The camera was tracking the sky for all exposures on the MSM Nomad tracker. Taken from home on a very clear night June 13, 2026. There were no noctilucent clouds this night! None!
Photographer's website:
https://www.amazingsky.com
|
|
|
