Trying to click Milky Way

[ritb]

Friends,

I live in north India. I can't see the milky way with naked eyes. I can only see the black sky. I captured a few shots and tried to bring out the milky way from single exposure, but failed. Tomorrow I am going to a jungle a very little light polluted area near my city. My question is, is it only light pollution which prevents seeing of milky ways from bare eyes or air pollution is also preventing to see it?
According to Stellarium, milky way rises at around 8PM in SE direction.
Should I click multiple shots and stack them?

I have Nikon D3s and 20mm f2.8 lens.
The multiple exposure you take for stacking are the same exposure?

Should I use intervalometer to click 30 sec shots?

Thanks in Advance

Rit

[LukeSkywatcher]

Hi Rit, Welcome to SGL. 

I dont do any imaging but i think i have learned enough to answer your questions. I would say that its mainly light pollution which is stopping you from seeing the Milky Way. If your air pollution is extremely bad then this might have a bad effect on seeing it also. If the jungle you are going to has really dark skies then you should be able to get some nice pictures of the Milky Way. It depends on how dark it is there. If its not as dark as you think then you can take many shorter pictures and stack them. They dont really have to be the same size but it helps. If it is as dark as you think then you can take longer images of about 30 seconds. You can then decide if you will stack those also.

Its dinner time here in Europe and most of the imagers will be coming home from work and eating. There will be some on here later who can help you better then i can. You might also want to ask the same questions in the Imaging section of the forum.

Hope this helps and look forward to seeing your images.

[ritb]

Thx I have posted in the imaging section also.

I have a doubt, because I do not have a tracking mount will the stacking software align them accurately?

[LukeSkywatcher]

Thx I have posted in the imaging section also.

I have a doubt, because I do not have a tracking mount will the stacking software align them accurately?

Good question. Because you dont have any way of tracking, you will be better to take many short images and then stack them. You do have a tripod for the camera?. It will be important not to move the camera which taking the images. The software you use to stack them will align them as best it can. It may not use all of the images. I cant remember which software is the correct one to use. I am going to say that DSS (Deep Sky Stacker) will be the right one. There is also another called Registax, but i think that is used to stack single frames from movie clips taken using a webcam. 

If i am wrong, someone will correct me. You are in good hands here on SGL with regards to imaging (not my hands though). SGL has what i think are some of the best astro-imagers in the world. Not only astro-imagers, but photographers in general. Check out the "Photography" section. Stunning images there of all kinds.

[ritb]

Thx, Yes I have a Manfrotto tripod.
I went to outskirts of my city y'day with lesser light pollution, I could see more stars but there was no trace of the Milkyway. Will I be able to see the milkyway if I take 400, 5 sec shots in SE direction and stack them in DSS. I shall try to point my camera towards the milkyway according to Stellarium. Pls. advise.

[kalasinman]

Hello from Thailand. Namaste. I started out doing this one year go last month. All the negative things of the atmosphere get worse closer to the horizon, so use Stellarium to time your session so the MW is standing more nearly vertical. I use as a guide for exposure length the FL of your lens divided into 400=seconds, so start with 10 second exposures. Try stacks of 30 each, try both ISO 400 and 800. Check the histogram of the subs the light peak should be over 1/4 of scale and less than 1/2. If you are at ISO 400 for 10 seconds and the histogram is too high go to the next larger F number.After you have some success, if you notice odd colors at the fringes of stars, reduce shutter f stop (go to the next higher number).

[kalasinman]

Ohhh, always shoot in RAW also. Stack in Deep Sky Stacker.