More from Mt John, Lake Tekapo.

After midnightI headed out once more, leaving my lovely warm room in the observatory building to face the cold wind on the mountain. After taking yesterday's image I decided to wait until the Milky Way was lower in the western sky.

Initially I walked up to the group of telescopes on the top of the hill (see the extras) where I was chilled to the bone by the biting wind. On my way back down to the warmth of my room decided to take this panorama of the Milky Way arcing over the 1m telescope building.

There's a little bit of auroral activity behind the telescope dome, but it wasn't visible with the naked eye. I think had the cloud not been obscuring the southern horizon it would have been even better, but you work with what nature provides!

This is a 178º panorama (I think), once again shot with the Samyang 12mm f/2 lens, 25 seconds for each exposure at ISO6400, and my Fuji X-T2 is attached to  a Syrp Genie Mini. The resulting 8 vertical shots are stitched together in Lightroom.