TBerwick Loc: Houston, Texas

My brain has completely fried. Within the last few days I read an article, somewhere, about photo stacking Milky Way shots with relatively short exposures. I thought to myself, I need to remember this article but either did not comment on it if was on UHH or bookmark it if it was on some other website. A search here didn't turn up anything based on what I remember so my plea is do any UHHer's know of such an article, or something similar? Thanks in advance. A mind is a terrible thing to lose at inopportune times.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

And -

https://photographylife.com/landscapes/photographing-the-milky-way/3
https://www.outdoorphotographer.com/star-stacking-for-pinpoint-stars-and-low-noise/
https://photographingspace.com/stacking-vs-single/
https://www.stevenjmagner.com/blog/2018/6/20/basic-photoshop-milky-way-stacking-blending-tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H330G83xyRo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzVSm64zq44

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

We're like the link kings. So, Jerry, how big is your Favorites folder?

TBerwick Loc: Houston, Texas

Thanks guys. I was on Youtube last night digging away but never found the article I had read. I will take a look at these links in a bit.

Ed Greding Loc: Texas

I've seen lots of spectacular shots of the Milky Way; many are really beautiful. Still, I have to wonder about some. Stacking produces wonderful images, but the truth is (it seems to me) that the Milky Way is never that bright. Many such photos show thousands of stars that cannot be seen by the human eye without optical aid e.g. binoculars, telescope etc.)---in fact so many stars are shown that picking out those stars that from constellations within the Milky Way (such as Sagittarius, Scorpius, Scutum, Cygnus--- in the summer evening) can be difficult or not possible. In other words, the Milky Way, although in every sense beautiful and awe-inspiring, does not look like the photos, even under the darkest sky. The photos are lovely, but they show only the structure of the Milky Way---not the way it really appears to the person standing under it.

TBerwick Loc: Houston, Texas

Ed; you are right in the fact that most all Milky Way shots you usually see are enhanced I was in some truly dark sky at elevation in New Mexico and the Milky Way was spectacular to the naked eye. I had an 8" mirror telescope that night and when trained on the galactic center, it was spectacular. The human eye simply cannot resolve the Milky Way in any significant manner without the aid of some type of light gathering mechanism. I think that the stacked night shots give us an idea of what it out there, to some extent, and the stacked shots are simply another tool available to us.

Ed Greding Loc: Texas

Well, you are correct about that. Throughout the history of science our inventions---microscopes, telescopes, etc. have often shown us what really is there, and it's usually more amazing than we could have imagined. I suppose I am thinking mostly of ads for telescopes. The most reputable manufacturers will use lovely photos taken through the very instrument being advertised; often, though, the detail and colors shown could never be actually seen by the human eye with any instrument. Yet, said detail and colors are certainly there, and surely worth showing. I just think maybe some kind of disclaimer, especially for beginners in astronomy, should be included. As to the Milky Way, I have always loved to "sweep" up and down it, watching the seemingly infinite host of stars, nebulae and other objects enter and leave the field. I encourage my friends to begin with good binoculars, lying back in a comfortable reclining outdoor chair. --Ed

TBerwick Loc: Houston, Texas

I agree on the disclaimer. Every shot of the Milky Way are pretty much color enhanced. Never looked that way when I still had my 8" Celestron.