Landscape Deep Sky Photography

This single-exposure image through a telephoto lens has captured star cluster NGC 6231 in Scorpius. The large cosmic cloud of glowing hydrogen captured above the cluster is known as the Prawn Nebula (IC 4628). Looking carefully to the image you will notice several more star clusters. The combination of landscape and deep sky objects in one exposure (and not by composite or montage technique) is challenging because the long star-tracking exposure needed to record faint deep sky objects result in a trailed and blurred landscape. Click on the second photo to see a wide-field photo of Scorpius and the Milky Way at the same time and location on Mount Uludag, Turkey.