64 ASTRONOMY • DECEMBER 2021
READER GALLERY
Cosmic portraits
- GATEWAY TO THE GALAXY
The natural limestone arch of
Durdle Door on England’s
Jurassic Coast lies at the end of
the Milky Way in this composite
image. The photographer used
two cameras to capture this
scene: 15 one-minute exposures
with a 24mm lens at f/2.8 and ISO
1600 on a tracking mount to
image the sky, and 15 fifteen-
second exposures with a 14mm
lens at f/2.8 and ISO 3200 for the
foreground. • Emil Andronic - APPARENT NEIGHBORS
The edge-on spiral NGC 4217
glows from 60 million light-years
away, appearing next to a colorful
array of foreground stars in Canes
Venatici. NGC 4217 may be a
gravitational companion to M106,
which lies roughly ½° east-
northeast (outside the frame). The
image was made with one hour,
45 minutes of exposure and a
5-inch scope. • Kasra Karimi
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