This is a stack of ten shots with Canon EOS 40D, Canon EF 85mm ƒ/1.2L II USM prime, all 10 shots @ ƒ/1.2, ISO 3200, 4 sec exposure, tripod, 2sec shutter holdoff. Levels and clipping in Aperture, with stacking for a noise reduction of 10x performed in WinImages.

Taken the evening of Sunday, April 6th, 2008 (or early morning of the 7th, if you prefer) at 4:37 AM.

All ten original images are out of focus, because I had (finally) figured out how to have the 40D focus in "live view" mode, and I was determined to let the camera and lens combo set the focus and evaluate the results when I got home. I did this because this lens was showing significant chromatic aberration when I focused it manually to what seemed to me to be critical focus at ƒ/1.2. The AF did not achieve anywhere near the degree of focus that I could manually, though there was less CA using AF. I prefer the tight focus and the CA to a slight case of "the blurs", though. I have since traded off the lens, and replaced the 40D with a 50D.

April (2009) is approaching, and I wanted to take a shot at the best processing I could do for this one, as it is my hope to get a sharper, higher resolution take when these rise enough, same time this year. I'm *really* looking forward to it, so I hope the weather co-operates!

#astro

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