In processing this image, I probably took a bit more artistic license than normal (whatever normal is). It was just fun and I was trying to add some additional drama.
Imaging Session
The imaging session where I collected this data was special for a few reasons. For one, I was joined by my son, Josh, on the top of Whitetop Mountain, Virginia. This is near the western end of Virgina and is fairly remote. The skies overhead are quite dark and the altitude is something over 5400 feet. The night turned out to be cool, clear, and spectacular. Setup was great and things went well. We had a nice time catching up. There are few places that you can go that are any quieter than this location when there is no wind.
The second bonus from this session was that it was first light for my new (well new to me, anyhow) SBIG ST8300C. While it probably bears a separate entry to discuss my impressions of this camera, I would like to think the pictures speak for themselves, to a point. Because the pixels in this camera are much smaller than my old camera (5.4 microns compared to 7.9), I will be able to capture additional detail through my refractor telescope.