The Milky Way’s dusty heart glows eerily in a brand new high-resolution image from Portugal.
Photographer Miguel Claro captured a large, deep-sky view of the Milky Way on the Dark Sky Alqueva Reserve, specializing in the dark heart of our home galaxy and the glowing gas clouds in that region, referred to as nebulas.
“Besides showing a background completely filled with stars and immersed in cosmic dust, we will easily recognize many well-known deep sky objects,” Claro wrote on his website. Examples include the Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8) and the Prawn Nebula (IC4628). There are numerous more objects visible besides.
Alongside the 2 emission nebulae, where gas is hot enough to glow with its own light, sharp eyes can even spot the reflection nebula of Trifid M20. Reflection nebulas include quite a lot of dust, which may reflect nearby starshine to make the dust visible.
The image also features a single distinguished star, 3 Sagittarii, within the constellation Sagittarius that’s “very near the true galactic center of the Milky Way galaxy,” Claro wrote.
Claro took the shot using a modified Canon 6D, with a set prime lens of 300mm f/2.8 set to f/3.5. The exposure was for 70 seconds per panel, with six panels combined to make the ultimate large image.
To see more of Miguel Claro’s work, please see his website or follow his stories on Instagram at www.instagram.com/miguel_claro .
Editor’s Note: