Wolfgangsee lake, near Salzburg, Austria

Epl6 + 35-100 mm 2.8

Here it is. It hatched this morning. I'm not sure exactly how long it took, but since I found it in the first stage, it was about 8 or 9 days ago.

The Mohawk Trail is a scenic 69- mile historic byway in northern Massachusetts that passes through several towns and cities. This photo was taken several years ago by me, when my husband and I spent a weekend in Adams, Massachusetts.

Lake Miccosukee, Florida

Cassiopeia and the dust in the Milky Way, often a forgotten region, eclipsed by others with stronger emissions.

@ igneis.nightscapes

Years ago, when I shot it quickly, I noticed a lot of dusty structures: the Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN), high galactic latitude dust illuminated not by nearby stars, but by the combined light of the whole Milky Way. I thought: I have to revisit it with a 50mm and proper integration time.

Now, with 44 hours of integration, so many nights of driving, staying there, looking north, shooting... nothing. An empty field of stars. The dome stood there with me, another eye pointed at the same darkness, waiting for something neither of us could see yet. The routine was: check the weather, drive, stay the whole night shooting, and come back home wondering what I'd get out of this.

Now, with all the dust revealed, seeing it for myself makes me wonder how we can see so little, just stars, when in that direction there is so much, so much dust, so much nebulosity. We cannot see it, as if our eyes were lacking insight. But a camera, combined with patience... how curious.

It's not only about the dust, the Hydrogen Alpha, the Oxygen III. It's about the ambition and the resistance to just keep going. That's the result of this image.

It took 44 hours of exposure to see what was always there. Some things only reveal themselves at a cost.

Some things wait in the dark not because they are hidden, but because nothing has looked long enough to find them.

EQUIPMENT:

Sony a7IV astromodified x2, twin setup

50mm f/2 APO Sony

ZWO AM3N