William Bay Astro

During the day Greens Pool in William Bay near Denmark, Western Australia is a popular spot for locals and tourists to swim. The multitude of rocks just off the clean beaches breaks up the waves forming a nice and calm swimming area. However, at night one can have the entire bay all to oneself. A wonderful night, standing on the rocks and looking up at the galaxy as it wheeled overhead. No sounds of civilisation, only the wind and the waves breaking in the distance.

My favourite shot of the night is this wide panorama of the galaxy arching over Green Pool:

| IMG_2391 | 2021-09-06 | William Bay, Western Australia | EOS6D modified | Canon 50mm f1.2 lens | @f/2.8 | IDAS cut-filter | ISO1600 | 60s | 65 x panels | Skywatcher StarAdventurer mount |

With the long exposures through a sharp lens one can make out a multitude of bright and faint nebulae along the length of the Milkyway arching overhead. Starting from the left is the fantastic Carina nebula and the Running Chicken nebula, then the Coal Sack dark nebula alongside the Southern Cross constellation. Alpha and Beta Centauri shine prominently before reaching the NGC6188 Fighting Dragons nebula towards the top of the arc. The Cat's Paw and Lobster nebula shine bright red at the top of the arc, along with the very bright Lagoon nebula. Underneath the arc is the multi-coloured nebulas around Antares and Rho Ophiuchi. One can also barely make out the Blue Horsehead nebula and the big but dim Kobold nebula. Just to the right of the top of the arc are the Eagle and Omega nebulas, and at the very bottom right are the nebulas around Cygnus. One can even make out the Veil nebula above the Milkyway arc on the right.

I used a Skywatcher StarAdventurer sky tracking mount to take this 65 panel mosaic. A Canon EOS6d (modified) was used through a Canon 50mm f/1.2 lens stopped down to f/2.8. All camera and lens settings were kept the same for all panels, and all shots were taken one immediately after the other. The tracking mount was used for the sky and turned off for the foreground panels. Stitching in PTGui, colour balance, noise reduction, saturation and some brightness / contrast adjustment in Photoshop.

During this capture I saw another intrepid astrophotographer lower down the beach - Jason, who hails from Denmark. Great chatting and hope to see more of your work in the future.

During the night whilst waiting for the galaxy core to get lower in the sky I took the following quick shots, one an attempt to get some good reflections of the sky from a rock pool (not really successful), and the other a three panel widefield of the core:

| IMG_2356 | 2021-09-06 | William Bay, Western Australia | EOS6D modified | Canon 50mm f1.2 lens | @f/2.8 | IDAS cut-filter | ISO1600 | 30s | 20 x panels | Skywatcher StarAdventurer mount |

| IMG_2379 | 2021-09-03 | Denmark, Western Australia | EOS6D modified | Canon 50mm f1.2 | f/2.8 | IDAS cut-filter | ISO800 | Each panel 3x60s | 3 x panels | Skywatcher Star Adventurer mount |

Nearby in walking distance to William Bay is a small break in the rocky coastline called Elephant Cove. The cove has a small beach with a narrow opening to the southern ocean. At night it is a wonderfully peaceful spot, quite a different feel to the usual places at night where the landscape is wide and expansive. However, the closed-in rock walls do constrain your possible views of the night sky to pretty much looking south.
The gentle waves soak the beach causing some reflection of the Milkyway galaxy as it arcs overhead. I didn't quite catch it vertical unfortunately - just a bit late in the season for that. Maybe next time.

| IMG_2306 | 2021-09-06 | Elephant Cove, Western Australia | EOS6D modified | Sigma 24mm f1.4 lens | @f/2.8 | IDAS cut-filter | ISO1600 | 30s | 45 x panels | Skywatcher StarAdventurer mount |