After attending the astrophotography camp at Foxton, organized by the Horowhenua Astronomical Society. Jonathan and i decided to stop at Opotaka, which is an historic maori site in New Zealand in the Tongariro national park, also called the land of two dwellings. Last time we were here, we had amazing clear sky and was hoping for the same.

We got our camera and other gear setup and were waiting for sundown. As, the sun went down the clouds started rolling in and we thought we might have to call it a night, but luckily the clouds cleared up and we were back in business.

I recently bought an iOptron ZEQ25 mount from AstroNZ and was eagerly waiting to use it. After a while and bit of challenge to get the balance right, the mount was ready to track. I looked around and the only patch of clear sky was overhead around the LMC and SMC (Large and Small Magellan Clouds). so, i pointed my camera overhead and started shooting, but unfortunately before i could get enough shots the clouds rolled in and we had to call it a night. I ended up getting 5 amazing 2 minute exposures of that region, which i stacked to get an amazing image with total exposure of 10 minutes.

Exif for each frame:

Camera: Canon 6D
Lens: Canon 50mm f1.4 / stopped at 2.8
Exposure: 120sec
Tracking: iOptron ZEQ25

Processing:

Colour correction and Median stacking in Photoshop CC