Today we're sharing a deeper look into João Prego (IG @pregoastro)'s work.

Little Ball of Light: Double Arch Edition captured using NOMAD.

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When I got into Astrophotography, two shots I came across that blew my mind was Dan Zafra's and Angel Fux's rendition of the Milky Way Double Arch.

I started dreaming about having the knowledge and tools to do something like that, so a year later, I tried my luck.

This is an image comprising 42 panels of 28mm, each tracked for 60s and stacked, only for the sky.

Probably the most challenging and rewarding shot I've created so far, and one of the factors that allowed my flow in the field to be as smooth as possible, was the accessibility and easiness of use of the NOMAD Star Tracker."

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When doing a Milky Way Double Arch you have 2 options: go easy with single exposures and a very wide focal length, or go all in.

And if you want to go all in, you need to track the sky so you can get the most amount of details, given the very limited time window you get to take this shot.

You have to be precise with your timings as the sky is constantly changing, the Outer/Winter Milky Way is setting after sunset, and the Inner/Summer Milky Way is rising on the opposite side about 2 hours before sunrise.

Add the mindset of perfectionism, the cold, the strange noises at night and 1h30 of sleep in between shots.

1 minute and 30sec is what it takes to set-up this device, ensuring no time lost.

I would recommend not spending more than 40 minutes shooting each Arch, as they rapidly go up and down in the sky.

After this amazing experience of photography, I then added a creative touch in post-processing, creating a "Little Planet" projection—one of the most challenging parts of the workflow due to its complexity and the final 234MP file, perfect for large-scale printing."

Gear List

• Sony a7 III Astro-modified
• Tamron 28-200mm f/2.8-5.6 Di III RXD
• Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC
• MSM NOMAD
• MSM Laser
• MSM Z Mount
• MSM Wedge
• Andoer VH 10 R tripod head
• Kenko PRO1D Prosofton Clear filter
• K&F CONCEPT Carbon Fiber D255C4