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Marleigh Leaman

@discover.explore.enjoy

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Retired, enjoying life 😎. Avid gardener 🌸, proud Mom & Grammy 😍, amateur photographer and bird watcher. OM System OM-1, OM-1 Markii.

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I’m lagging behind in my Milky Way posts. This is from our weekend adventure in August to Fundy-St. Martins, NB.

I chose this area of the province because of the town’s initiative to qualify the surrounding area for a dark sky designation.

We ran into a bit of a dilemma though. The Fundy Trail Provincial Park has a scenic coastal parkway that runs 30kms through the park. The Trail features 21 stunning views of the cliffs of the Bay of Fundy, and over 35kms of hiking, walking and biking trails. The only issue is the park closes at 8 pm! We talked to a visitor centre employee that said we could park before the entrance gates and walk in. Well that wasn’t going to happen due to safety concerns.

So, this is a composite photograph with the correct orientation of the Milky Way. The foreground was taken later in the afternoon and the Milky Way was captured at the beach in St. Martins 8km away.

If the dark sky committee really wants to register the area between New River Beach and Hopewell Rocks, it would be really great if it could include the Fundy Trail Parkway and its stunning lookouts!

#omsystem #milkyway #nightsky #astrophotography #parksNB taken in Fundy Trail Parkway by @discover.explore.enjoy

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5

7 days ago

In recognition of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, observed on September 30th each year in Canada, we hiked the Mi’kmawey Debert Interpretive Trail this past Friday. It was nice to see lots of people gathering to explore the area.

On this 4.4km, moderately difficult loop trail, you are guided through history with beautiful story boards created by the Mi’kmawey Debert Elders’ Advisory Council featuring artwork by Dozay Christmas.

This Mi’kmawey Debert National Historic Site is one of the most significant Indigenous archaeological sites on Turtle Island.

It was a perfect morning to explore this trail!

#exploremore #visitnovascotia #hiking #hikenovascotia #HikeNS20 taken in Mi'kmawey Debert Interpretive trail by @discover.explore.enjoy

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18 days ago

Beautiful morning for a 3.6km hike on the Nichols Lake Trail located in Prospect, NS.

The trees and ferns are just turning into stunning fall colours 🍂🍁

#HikeNS20 #waterfall #visitnovascotia #explore #hikeNS taken in Nichols Lake (sjö i Kanada, Nova Scotia) by @discover.explore.enjoy

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22 days ago

Can you see the ghost? 👻

🎯Target: IC63 Ghost of Cassiopeia
📍Location: Lucasville, NS, CA
🔭Equipment: Combined Seestar S30Pro + S50Pro
⚙️Mode: Equatorial
⏳Integration: 25.4 Hours (1651 x 30s on S30Pro +1373 x 30s on S50Pro)
🌌Sky Conditions: Bortle 4
🌙Captured from: 48.9% - 83.9% illumination
💻Processing: Naztronomy-OSC_PP.py script / AstroWizard

The blue halo or bluish glow associated with the Ghost of Cassiopeia is starlight reflected and scattered by microscopic interstellar dust particles within the nebula. taken in Cassiopeia Space by @discover.explore.enjoy

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22 days ago

Lower Horse Cove

This little beach is located just five minutes down the road from where we were staying in Paradise, NL. In all our years travelling to Paradise, we’ve never visited this little cove, so I didn’t really have a feel for how long the beach was because it was high tide. Next time we visit we will explore the area during low tide.

I tried to capture the rambling brook in the foreground that was flowing out of the woods into the ocean.

This was the only clear night during our visit this year. The night didn’t start out that great though. I had to wait for the clouds to move along.

I think this area is party central, as there were lots of makeshift fire pits scattered around and lots of garbage strewn everywhere, despite a garbage can located near by!

Too bad that the concept of ‘Leave No Trace’ was completely ignored.

#omsystem #milkyway #astrophotography #explore #nightsky taken in Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador by @discover.explore.enjoy

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25 days ago

Here again is the Heart Nebula, but with a combination of the files from the SeeStar S30Pro and the S50Pro smart telescopes.

IC 1805 Heart Nebula

It took me over 23.5 hrs using the Naztronomy-OSC_PP.py script in Siril to combine 2676 fit files from my S30Pro, and 857 fit files from my S50Pro into one combined stacked file! All files were 30 second exposures, with less than a 5% rejection rate with the S30Pro, and a 0% rejection rate with the S50Pro.

I’m going to try the SeeStar_Preprocessing.ssf script next time to compare the time it takes to combine the two focal lengths.

🎯Target: IC 1805 Heart Nebula
📍Location: Lucasville, NS, CA
🔭Equipment: Seestar S30 Pro + Seestar S50Pro
⚙️Mode: Equatorial Mode
⏳Integration: 38.5 Hours
🌌Sky Conditions: Bortle 4
🌙Captured from: 7.2% illumination
💻Processing: Siril/AstroWizard

#seestar #zwo #astrophotography #nightsky #heart by @discover.explore.enjoy

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a month ago

The Heart Nebula (IC 1805) is a vast emission nebula located approximately 7,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia.

Image 1 was captured with the Seestar S30Pro telescope, and Image 2 with the Seestar S50Pro.

Now I just need to find out how to combine the S30 files with the S50 files using Siril or AstroWizard!

Image 1

🎯Target: IC 1805 Heart Nebula
📍Location: Lucasville, NS, CA
🔭Equipment: Seestar S30 Pro
⚙️Mode: Equatorial Mode
⏳Integration: 22.8 Hours
🌌Sky Conditions: Bortle 4
🌙Captured from: 7.2 % illumination
💻Processing: AstroWizard

#seestar #zwoasi #astrophotography #rasc #nightsky

Image 2

🎯Target: IC 1805 Heart Nebula
📍Location: Lucasville, NS, CA
🔭Equipment: Seestar S50Pro
⚙️Mode: Equatorial Mode
⏳Integration: 7.18 Hours
🌌Sky Conditions: Bortle 4
🌙Captured from: 31% illumination
💻Processing: AstroWizard by @discover.explore.enjoy

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a month ago

Exploring the Mad Rock Trail in Bay Roberts, NL before we head to the Argentia Ferry.

This moderate to difficult 5 km trail follows the coastline with stunning views of cliffs, amazing rock formations, and steep climbs.

Glad we were following the Alltrails app because of all the side tracks.

Stopped by the Mad Rock Cafe to eat our lunch after the hike.

Newfoundland never disappoints, even the weather cooperated!

#neverstopexploring #newfoundland #coastalviews #hiking #explorenl taken in Madrock, Bay Roberts, Nfld by @discover.explore.enjoy

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a month ago

Spent a gorgeous morning exploring the Burma Road Trail around the Signal Hill National Historic Site.

The moderately rated 3.7 km trail begins at the Signal Hill Interpretation Centre, loops around the highest point on Signal Hill, connecting to the Ladies Lookout Trail and Lake, and continues around Georges Pond.

The views of the St. John’s Harbour and the rugged coastline never disappoints!

Special guests on this adventure included our son Gregory (@gregisnotworking) and his longtime furry companion Meeko. ❤️ taken in Signal Hill National Historic Site, Parks Canada by @discover.explore.enjoy

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2

a month ago

The stars whispered, and I followed-heart first, feet uncertain, soul wide open.
-Dede Hawkins-

Another night of clear skies while visiting Fundy-St.Martins, NB. But instead of hanging around the area, we drove an hour towards Saint John to the Cape Spencer Lighthouse.

The lighthouse was not particularly that photogenic, but the views certainly left an impression!

The 10 acre site situated on a steep coastal cliff looks out over the Bay of Fundy to the coastline of the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia about 50kms away.

We set up our cameras on an old foundation of the original lighthouse keeper’s residence which aligned perfectly with the path to the edge of the cliffs.

While enjoying the starry night we heard the strange calling of some sort of animal that was uncomfortably very close to us. A quick click of our head lamps revealed a mother porcupine and her adorable baby. The mother wandered off in another direction while the baby hung around for a bit. A short while later they were happily climbing a tree. 😆

OM System OM-1 Markii

#milkyway #exploreNB #nightsky #astrophotography #neverstopexploring taken in Cape Spencer Lighthouse by @discover.explore.enjoy

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a month ago

The Pacman Nebula (NGC 281), a diffuse red glowing emission nebula that gets its name from the classic video game character it resembles.

It might be hard to see, but it has dynamic dust lanes, and is part of the Milky Way’s Perseus Spiral Arm in the constellation of Cassiopeia.

Discovered by Edward Emerson Barnard in 1883, it’s located 9,200 light-years from Earth.

🎯Target: The Pacman Nebula
📍Location: Lucasville, NS, CA
🔭Equipment: Seestar S30 Pro
⚙️Mode: Equatorial
⏳Integration: 12.3 Hours
🌌Sky Conditions: Bortle 4
🌙Captured from: 77% - 67% illumination
💻Processing: AstroWizard

#seestar #astrophotography #nebula #nightphotography #outerspace by @discover.explore.enjoy

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2 months ago

Something totally different today.

This is Point Wolfe Beach, located in Fundy National Park, near Alma, New Brunswick. At high tide, the beach is totally immersed in salt water. Low tide reveals a vast, rugged expanse of sand, pebbles and dead vegetation.

What caught my eye was the dark scenery, creating a moody, mysterious vibe.

Hence, the composition of this Milky Way blended with this beach foreground.

Our camera sensors can capture vibrant colors in the Milky Way that human eyes cannot see because they use long exposures to accumulate faint light over time and possess higher sensitivity in the dark. Our eyes, however, use rods for low-light vision, which register shades of gray.

So when viewing the night sky, after our eyes have acclimatized to the dark, we can see the gray and white band of the Milky Way stretching across the sky.

This composite simulates the Milky Way as viewed through the naked eye. Kind of dramatic isn’t it!

Black and White Milky Way
Point Wolfe Beach
Fundy National Park
New Brunswick, CA
August 2026

OM System OM-1 Mark ii

#omsystem #nightsky #milkyway
#blackandwhitephotography #fundynationalpark taken in Point Wolfe by @discover.explore.enjoy

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10

2 months ago