Magical Moment at Réserve LaVerendrye

Description:

September 24, 2015 will be forever marked in my memory. I went to LaVerendrye Wildlife Reserve on a disused take-off runway, far from any light for 100km around. My friend Allan Rahill had brought his gigantic 28-inch telescope there and we were able to admire galaxies and nebulae in all their glory. I put my camera on a tripod and I climbed on the step ladder that allows you to put the eye to the telescope to immortalize what I affectionately call my magical moment. We can also see on the right a weak aurora borealis which fortunately did not activate too much. We wanted total black!

Technical details:

Camera: Nikon D90 and Nikkor fisheye 10.5mm lens
Fixed tripod
Exposure: 70 seconds at f/3.5 and ISO 1600. Allan lit the scene with a red light during the last 10 seconds of the exposure to illuminate the foreground.