By a streak of good luck, I managed to see both the brightest star in the Northern Hemisphere in Canis Major and the brightest star in the southern constellation Carina at the same time.
The two stars, Sirius and Canopus respectively, were found and identified using a planetarium program - Safari - installed on the mini iPad. Then, a special iPhone Xs Max app MILKYCAM was used to take a confirming photo at the extremely fast ISO rating of 1,856. The single image was processed to remove noise grain and city core light pollution, using the app, PhotoScape X, and the iMac operating system. To the right of Canopus is a very tall lighted skyscraper on the horizon that spreads considerable light pollution in all directions. To the right is sky glow from downtown Taipei. The two star-like objects directly above it are red warning lights on the top of the massive crane boom arms being used to build the skyscraper. With the unaided eye, 25 stars were visible in the sky on this clear night. At the top right of the photo is the constellation Orion with the three belt stars clearly visible, along with the Great Orion Nebula. It was considered very lucky to see the southern star Canopus because farther south is obstructed by the horizon and buildings. The raw color photo is unprocessed and shows Canopus near the blazing new skyscraper. This photo shows the city lit by its own light pollution. As 22 photos were captured, it's possible to use other programs to minimize grain and noise by stacking images, for another project.
Photo Data
CAM1 0X15 SEC SUM, 1224X1632, ISO1,856, RATE2 BIN 2 MILKYCAM 2.15, NOV 22 2020 00:54 LOCAL TIME
