I wish we could see the Milky Way down here in Alabama. I can see where it is in the sky by just a long area of many more stars than any other area in the sky,..but nothing like this,..nothing with light like that. In fact it's barely even recognizable in the sky,..so much so that some people would argue with you if that was really it..lol. :-) People who can see this are truly blessed. :-)
Matthew Woodall Alabama skies are not much different than Arkansas skies though there are a few places that are more ideal. ;) The key is to get out somewhere dark. Your eyes cannot see the color in MW under the very best of conditions. but once you point your sensor at it for 25 to 30 seconds with no light pollution, you'll get results! There are several sites for it but I use darkskyfinder.com to find dark spots. It looks like the southwest portion of AL is your best bet with some dark spots just southwest of Montgomery. I'll tag you in one of my first tries from a few weeks ago on the FL Pan Handle. It was NOT dark there as I was right between Destin and Panama City. You'd be surprised! Aside from a somewhat dark sky, you need a tripod and a camera with manual settings. A tripod is a must! You also need the ability to set your lens to about f/4 or brighter and your exposure time to 25 to 30s and the ability to set your ISO manually (around 2200 or higher).
Hmm,..didn't know that about Alabama in the southwest. I was on Lake Hardin, which the Chattahoochee River helped to make and was out on the lake in a john boat fishing, ..no lights around of anything, dark as could be, and could barely see a stretch of stars where it was the MW. ..and I mean barely could see it. How you can see it further south amazes me. :-)
Great capture David. :-)
ReplyDeleteI wish we could see the Milky Way down here in Alabama. I can see where it is in the sky by just a long area of many more stars than any other area in the sky,..but nothing like this,..nothing with light like that. In fact it's barely even recognizable in the sky,..so much so that some people would argue with you if that was really it..lol. :-) People who can see this are truly blessed. :-)
ReplyDeleteMatthew Woodall Alabama skies are not much different than Arkansas skies though there are a few places that are more ideal. ;) The key is to get out somewhere dark. Your eyes cannot see the color in MW under the very best of conditions. but once you point your sensor at it for 25 to 30 seconds with no light pollution, you'll get results! There are several sites for it but I use darkskyfinder.com to find dark spots. It looks like the southwest portion of AL is your best bet with some dark spots just southwest of Montgomery. I'll tag you in one of my first tries from a few weeks ago on the FL Pan Handle. It was NOT dark there as I was right between Destin and Panama City. You'd be surprised! Aside from a somewhat dark sky, you need a tripod and a camera with manual settings. A tripod is a must! You also need the ability to set your lens to about f/4 or brighter and your exposure time to 25 to 30s and the ability to set your ISO manually (around 2200 or higher).
ReplyDeleteMatthew Woodall and thank you very much my friend!
ReplyDeleteHmm,..didn't know that about Alabama in the southwest. I was on Lake Hardin, which the Chattahoochee River helped to make and was out on the lake in a john boat fishing, ..no lights around of anything, dark as could be, and could barely see a stretch of stars where it was the MW. ..and I mean barely could see it. How you can see it further south amazes me. :-)
ReplyDelete