From the Omega nebula to the Wild Duck cluster, this image spans the somewhat discreet asterism of the Scutum constellation, buried in the Milky Way. The Eagle nebula also prominent, accompanied by a more timid Sh2-54 , and near the center the reflection nebula IC1287 seems to be confortable in the middle of dark spot. Seen the other way around, this framing seems to emphasize the dark structures that stretch way beyond the obscure nebulas B95, B97 and B314. When I plan these widefield images I look for a framing that takes into account both shadows and lights, at least as I see them, they are all equally prominent and interesting for me. 

The subs for this one showed somewhat elongated stars, and the field slowly drifted from sub to sub. I was quite sure polar alignment was right, so having a look a the mechanics it seems that the Astrotrac wedge has developed some backlash that I need to solve. All images I took with this setup suffer from this problem since summer... Looking for some advice at the forums I found that the Astrotrac arm also tends to develop flexure on the RA bearing, something that I found that is also present in mine, not very bad, but definitely there. So it seems that is time for some tinkering. As always!

I tried to do my best to manage the elongated stars and the correlated/rain noise.

95x 60s, ISO 1600, f/2.8