Space Travel

© Greg Gibbs. You may not use, replicate, manipulate, or modify this image without my permission. All Rights Reserved.


How cool would it be to make decisions like: "Hmmmm..... Should we go left and visit our friends at Alpha Centauri, stopping off at the Jewel Box in the Southern Cross? or Should we go right and visit Barnards Loop, home to the Great Orion Nebula, Horsehead Nebula and Flame Nebula, on our way to our other friends at Betelgeuse?"

I'm still not well enough, that I feel like lugging my telescope out into the backyard, but a pretty much moonless, clear night is not to be wasted. So I jumped in the car and went for a little drive looking for interesting photo ops. I have had this sign in mind for a while but the way it is positioned makes it hard to currently get an interesting piece of sky in frame. I really wanted to get the centre of The Milky Way in this shot. I'll need to wait a few months for that.

The distortion in the angle of the sign is caused by the positioning of my wide angle lens used for this shot. The sign was lightpainted using a small led torch with the batteries about to run out. The glows on the horizon are light polution from distant cities. The pinkish band above the horizon is caused by smoke haze and dew in the air. I tried everything I could think of to try and get rid of it, but to no avail. It's actually growing on me. I think it makes it look a bit like the shot is taken on another planet with a different atmosphere.

Featured in this shot is the Southern Cross or Crux (top left), between the Southern Cross and the sign is the Eta Carinae Nebula. The left arrow of the sign is pointed at the Large Magellanic Cloud and further along the same line is the Small Magellanic Cloud, which are irregular satellite galaxies of our own Milky Way
I did a star trail at the same location. Feel free to tell me which one you like the best.