Countless Stars in the Milky Way
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Solved and annotated. Blue line shows Cygnus/Vulpecula border.
Of the estimated 100 billion stars in the Milky Way, my picture contains roughly 6600 of them; only 0.00007% of the total. Every star in this picture is too faint to be seen by the naked eye. Many of them require hours of stacked images taken with a highly sensitive CCD camera to appear.
To get a sense of scale, roughly 16 full moons could fit within the framing of this image.
When looking at distant galaxies, I try to remember that the diffuse glow is the result of an unimaginably vast sea of stars like the ones captured in this image.
Star count: 6626
Check out my image’s location in the sky with this link!
Image Information:
Constellation: Cygnus & Vulpecula
Coordinates: 19 44 47.438 +29 13 51.85”
FOV: 1d 54’ 29.8” x 1d 54’ 25.2”
Acquired: Astronomical twilight across nine nights in early and mid-September, 2024
Bortle Class: 6
Latitude: +43°
Equipment Info:
Telescope: William Optics Grand Tourismo 71 with 6AIII Flattener/Reducer
Focal Length: 335.2mm
f/4.2
Main Camera: ZWO 533MM-Pro
Guide Camera: ZWO 290MM-mini
Mount: Sky Watcher EQ6Ri-Pro on a home-made Todmorden pier
Filters: Astrodon 31mm (LRGB)
Integration:
Red - 68 x 180s
Green - 60 x 180s
Blue - 67 x 180s
Calibrated with flats & dark flats
Total Light Integration: 9h 45m
Processed in PixInisight using with the help of RCAstro and SetiAstro’s custom scripts.
