Constellations X: Spring Triangle Fever

Starlog May 4th, 2018, 09:50 p.m. local time

For the record, I have had amazingly clear skies ever since late last week.  Each night I have tried to take advantage of these viewing opportunities, especially since the aging Moon has been rising well past midnight.  On Friday night, the first adventure I undertook was the photographing of the Spring Triangle – Arcturus, Regulus, and Spica.

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I was not sure if I could capture this asterism in one picture.  The Spring Triangle is much larger than the Summer Triangle.  But I was successful.  It is worth noting that normally, I crop my raw images to focus on whatever the subject of the picture is.  For the Spring Triangle, you are seeing the complete and full dimensions of the source image.  This required the widest setting of my widest lens.  It is a very large patch of sky.

This is not a stacked image.  I went with only 25-second images and different ISOs.  The picture above was at ISO 200.  It was post-processed to remove light pollution and accentuate stars.

So aside from the technical details, what exactly are you looking at?  You can see all of Leo to the right.  Find Regulus and you should be able to trace Leo.  With Arcturus and Spica you can see parts of the constellations Bootes and Virgo, respectively.  In the top middle you see the packed stars of Coma Berenices.

This photography session increased my constellation total to 32. Bootes, at least partially, is seen.  Also, correcting my previous records, I should have acknowledged earlier that Coma Berenices is a recognized modern constellation.  It was an ancient asterism, originally considered to be part Leo, being the lion’s great and magnificent tail.

• Ursa Minor
• Draco
• Leo the Lion
• Aquila
• Sagitta
• Delphinus
• Velpecula
• Lyra
• Cygnus
• Taurus
• Perseus
• Camelopardalis
• Auriga
• Cassiopeia
• Cepheus
• Scorpius
• Ophiuchus
• Virgo
• Cancer
• Leo Minor
• Lynx
• Ursa Major
• Pegasus
• Andromeda
• Orion
• Canis Minor
• Lepus
• Monoceros
• Eridanus
• Gemini
• Bootes
• Coma Berenices

References:

• Constellations I: Testing Ursa Minor, Snagging Draco
• Constellations II: Leo the Lion
• Constellations III: Of the Summer Triangle
• Constellations IV: Scorpius Rising
• Constellations V: Leo the Lion (Remastered)
• Constellations VI: Pegasus, Andromeda, Cassiopeia, and the Quest for the Andromeda Galaxy
• Constellations VII: Orion and Taurus
• Constellations VIII: Gemini
• Constellations IX: Not Just Auriga
• Constellations X: Spring Triangle Fever (this post)
• Meteor Hunting, 2017 Edition