2012 Photograph of the Galactic Center
I am so happy because last night – actually between 4 and 5 AM – I finally got a photograph of the galactic center. It is so cool!!!
You can see Sagittarius and the tail of Scorpio right beside it. And, there, glowing quietly, the galactic center.
The problem has been clouds and haze. I’ve woken up four mornings, crept around in the dark to the “berm” where you can see the whole sky . . . and have only seen haze covering the stars.
This morning, the big problem, even though the stars were visible to the horizon, was wind. I feared that with such long exposures – over 30 seconds – I would only get blurry light spots. However, I held tightly to my tripod so it would not quiver in the gusts. The result? I have at least one photograph that beautifully shows the constellations and the center of the Milky Way!
Yay!
On December 21, 2012, the earth and sun will line up with the galactic center. Some think this will create momentous events on earth. We shall see!
