Sagittarius
The Constellation
This is the brightest part of the Milky Way
The area of the Milky Way in Sagittarius is the approximate core of our galaxy.
It burns with the fire of billions of suns. The area is a mass of bright stars many
of which aren't bright enough to resolve into dots on film, but together they add up to
form the browny gray area in the middle. The brown color I'm told is due to masses
of interstellar gas diffusing the light.
This image was taken using my home made Barn Door
Tracker and a Pentax K-mount SLR film camera with telephoto lens at 28 mm and
f/3.8. Delighted is a word that comes to mind when I remember how I felt getting
these pictures back from the developer.
I did a quick check of polar alignment prior to taking the shot, but I was able to nail
the tracking because in addition to the film camera I also attached my Mintron video
camera onto the board. I fed the video to TV and drew a small black square around a
bright guide star on the TV screen. I was able to keep turning the bolt in the
tracker at the right rate to keep the guide star near the box. It didn't actually
stay in the box but I was able to keep it close by, and the result was pretty fine.
I think I just invented the manually guided barn door tracker!
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