Although it looked clear when I was taking the photos, there were actually some high, quick moving, thin clouds which long exposures unveiled.

It'd been awhile since I'd been astrophotographing - felt great to be out under the stars and a smokeless sky. Fall is a excellent time for widefield astrophotography in the western US - there's a decent amount of astronomic dark, plenty of clear nights, temperatures aren't too cold, and quite a few interesting widefield subjects are available.

My goal with this small mosaic (only 2 panels) was to capture both the Fireworks Galaxy (NGC 6946, tiny here, bottom left) and the Elephant Trunk Nebula (IC 1396) in the same extent, with all of the interesting nebulosity in between, most notably the dark nebula Barnard 150 (AKA the Seahorse Nebula) in the lower left, one of my favs.

Surprisingly, I didn't detect much of the red emission Flying Bat Nebula (Sh2-129, center), part of which actually appears bluish (?, at first I was excited that I might have detected the Giant Squid Nebula (OU4), but nope, the blue is not in the right place). Previously I had captured Sh2-129, albeit faintly, with this same set up in the same location.

Part of the reason for this is that I stopped my Samyang 135mm down a half stop to f 2.4 (which I usually shoot wide open at f 2), not to tighten up stars, but to flatten out the heavy vignetting a tad. It did make a difference, but I did also notice that the Elephant Trunk Nebula didn't show up as strongly as expected based on my previous imaging of it. I'm still undecided whether I'll stay with f2 or move to f2.4, might depend on the subject.

There is a decent amount of what appears to be blue reflection nebulosity around star HD 198793 in the upper left quadrant; looking at widefield images of others, I can also see this faintly, but I haven't been able to find any closer images of it yet and it isn't cataloged in my astronomy app (SkySafari 6 Plus). It's possibly a processing artifact although it doesn't appear to be one.

Acquisition details: Fujifilm X-T10; Samyang 135mm f/2.0 ED UMC @ f2.4, ISO 1600; tracking with iOptron SkyTracker Pro; two panel mosaic - 42 x 60 sec and 44 x 60 sec; stacking with DeepSkyStacker; editing and mosaicking with Astro Pixel Processor; and curves adjustment/star reduction/editing with GIMP; taken on Aug. 31, 2021 under Bortle 3/4 skies.

I have photographed the Triangulum Galaxy over the years, but this is the first time I have attempted it with my Meade 12″ telescope. The galaxy extends further than what is shown in this image. I’ll attempt a mosaic image as I add more data to this view. Technical details: Total exposure time was 26 minutes using 20 second subs at ISO 6400. Images were stacked using DeepSkyStacker and adjusted using the software packages ImagesPlus, Adobe Lightroom and Corel PaintshopPro X5.

Fujifilm X-T10, Samyang 135mm f/2.0 @ f2.0, ISO 1600, 54 x 60 sec, tracking with iOptron SkyTracker Pro, stacking with DeepSkyStacker, editing in GIMP, taken Aug. 26 under Bortle 2/3 skies.

I'm somewhat, not completely happy, with this one. Pulling out the dark nebulae and dust among all of the stars, with a not-completely-flat field and a light pollution gradient from shooting fairly low, was tricky.

I plan to shoot this extent again 1) when it is higher in the sky later this year, 2) possibly with 90 sec subs instead of 60 sec (although tracking was spot on with a 90% keeper rate at 60 sec), and 3) I might experiment with PixInsight to better emphasize the dark nebulae while deemphasizing the stars.

April 26 update: Cropped

Aug 8 update: Reprocessed using raw instead of out-of-camera jpeg. Definitely some advantages to using raw.

Aug 26 update: Reimaged when closer to zenith, 54 x 60 sec this time, the two versions are extremely similar (so I just replaced the older with this one) although this one has the edge in that dust cloud representation is more accurate. Processing with this cleaner data was much easier, and involved much less manipulation.

Sept 13 update: Reprocessed with Astro Pixel Processor. I like the colors a bit better, and after several reprocesses I've decided to leave the dust cloulds fairly dim, since I don't like how it turns out when I stretch too far. This is just a tricky extent - the dust is so dim. Maybe I'm finally going to leave it alone. I'm excited to tackle the Dark Shark and Wolf's Cave nebulae widefield again, but am going to reshoot since I don't have raw files.

Oct. update: Alright, I wasn't done. I couldn't help but give it another try. The nebulosity is now a bit brighter, the color of the iris is bluer, and the stars slightly more reduced. I also upped the contrast and saturation of the Ghost Nebula. Maybe I'm done now.

April 2020 edit: Still wasn't done. I upped the brightness and contrast of the dark nebulae a bit more.

NGC 4449, also known as Caldwell 21, is an irregular Magellanic type galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici, being located about 13 million light-years away. It is part of the M94 Group or Canes Venatici I Group that is relatively close to the Local Group hosting our Milky Way galaxy. This galaxy is similar in nature to the Milky Way's satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), though it is not as bright nor as large. NGC 4449 has a general bar shape, also characteristic of the LMC, with scattered young blue star clusters.

Observation data (J2000 epoch)

Constellation: Canes Venatici

Right ascension: 12h 28m 11.9s

Declination: +44° 05′ 40″

Distance: 13.08 ± 0.98 Mly

Apparent magnitude (V): 10.0

Tech Specs: Orion 8” RC Telescope, ZWO ASI2600MC camera running at -10F, 162 x 60 seconds (2 hours and 42 minutes), Celestron CGEM-DX pier mounted, ZWO EAF and ASIAir Pro, processed in DSS and PixInsight. Image Date: February 4, 2024. Location: The Dark Side Observatory (W59), Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).

An unspectacular view of the comet between the trees at the bottom of our garden, just before midnight on 17/18 July.

This is a revised stack of six images in DeepSkyStacker, colour-corrected to remove the orange glow of tungsten lighting. Stacking followed the tutorial by Dave Eagle at www.skyatnightmagazine.com/astrophotography/astrophoto-ti....

The software looks impressive and is free to use. Unfortunately it depends on a library to work with RAW files that has not yet been updated to include the camera I used here ... so I worked with 4k res JPG files.

Canon 135mm f/2 lens (stopped down to f/2.8),QHY168C OSC with Altair dual band filter,CEM60.

15 subframes of 300 seconds each stacked in Deepskystacker and processed in Photoshop CS2. Image cropped due to gradient.

Taken on night of 10th Dec 2021

Here is my latest Cocoon Nebula - this time using the ZWO ASI294MC Pro in place of the DSLR.

The IDAS NGS1 (Night Glow Suppression) Filter did a great job of blocking much of the white LED street lamp glow that surrounds my little house.

Shooting broadband RGB from the city (Bortle Class 6/7) is challenging - but check out the star colors in this image!

More Info: astrobackyard.com/ic-5164-cocoon-nebula/

65 x 3-minutes

Stacked and Calibrated in DeepSkyStacker with Darks & Flats

I know I've not long since imaged this but, I'd setup in hope of the clouds clearing over my local observatory.

Just as I was about to pack everything away, we got a gap in the clouds. M27 was ideally placed right in the gap, so I managed to get 30 exposures of 2 minutes each and some calibration frames with them.

Boring techie bit:

Skywatcher Quattro 8" Newtonian Reflector steel tube with the f4 aplanatic coma corrector, Skywatcher EQ6 R pro mount, Altair Starwave 50mm guide scope, ZWO asi120mm guide camera mini, ZWO asi533mc pro cooled to -10c gain 110, Optolong L'enhance 2" filter, ZWO asiair plus.

Darks, Flats & Bias.

Stacked with DeepSkyStacker and processed in StarTools and Affinity Photo

Horsehead Nebula (IC434) in Orion. captured using LB-0001 (lightbuckets.com 24" f/8 R-C telescope). camera is the Apogee Alta U42: 2Kx2K pixels.

11/19/2009-11/23/2009 in Rodeo, New Mexico, USA.

Filters: L(RGB) = Ha(R:G:B)

Exposure: 3360s(960s,1080s,1440s) = 8x420s(4x240s,6x240s,8x240s)

CCD Binning: L = 1x1 bin; RGB = 2x2 bin

L and R, G, B stacks using deepskystacker.

L and R, G, B histogram stretches using pixinsight core 1.5

L: curve and a trous wavelets for sharpening.

RGB merge, histogram stretch/align and curves in pixinsight

L-RGB registration and LRGB merge in pixinsight (L=0.63,R=0.82,G=0.88,B=0.88)

lots and lots of cleanup in photoshop CS - to fix internal reflections and ccd bleed.

final tweaks and color balance in lightroom 2

comments: color subexposures were way too long, resulting in a ridiculous amount of star halo and ccd bleed on the 3 largest stars. this took a lot of work in photoshop to undo, and it's still obvious that there was a big problem there. this was especially bad in the blue channel, hence the purple cast around the big stars.

M42 Orion Nebula and Running Man Nebula

Vixen Polarie + Standard Tripod

modified Canon 500d

Lights: 35 x 1 minute

Darks: 12 x 1 minute

iso 1600

f/5.6

70-300mm (300mm)

Aligned and stacked in DeepSkyStacker

Processed in Pixinsight and cs5

Location: Vancouver, BC

Temp: 2°C

...featuring... Err... Starring M45 Pleiades open star cluster and some of its ghostly nebulosity.

Sad note: my camera got plagued by a good lot of red hot pixels. They are nasty.

Good note: Astronomik CLS-CCD clip-in filter for Canon EOS APS-C cameras is a light pollution killer :]

Acquisition time: JD2456984.32694 (22.11.2014 23:50:47 MSK).

Image orientation: something like straight.

Equipment:

Canon EF 70-200 f/4L USM backed by Astronomik CLS-CCD clip-in filter on Canon 60D (unmodded) riding #Polarie.

Aperture (effective) 40 mm

Focal length 200 mm

Tv = 120 seconds (risky business, trailing is apparent)

Av = f/5

ISO 3200 (overdone, perhaps)

Exposures: 40 (plus 22 dark frames, plus master bias from the library plus 100 flat-field images)

Processing:

Images were converted into Adobe .DNG with Abode converter and stacked in DSS.

Final adjustment was made in Photoshop.

I collected as many images as I could in one night to create this image of the handsome California Nebula in the constellation Perseus.

The final image includes 90 x 5 minutes through this ultra-portable astrophotography rig featuring the mighty William Optics RedCat 51.

While the nights are now very cold, they are also much longer and allow me to start shooting a LOT earlier

GEAR DETAILS:

Camera: bit.ly/3YXbE3u (Air Version)

Telescope: bit.ly/3M6fiAK

Filter: bit.ly/3SxH7Gl

Mount: bit.ly/3YE7CeO

IMAGE DETAILS:

Light Frames: 90 x 5 minutes (7.5 hours)

Captured using the ASIAIR mobile app

Stacked in DeepSkyStacker

Processed in PixInsight and Photoshop

Orion nebula photographed with 2.8/300 mm lens.

Yes, that works quite well!

0.8 sec exposure time, aperture 2.8, ISO 6400, approx. 5x digital magnification.

29 best photos out of 100 selected and calculated with DeepSkyStacker, with 15 darkframes (calculation of image noise) and 15 biasframes (calculation of transmission noise)

Without tracking!

Tripod low, no wind.

Here is a view of C/2025 R2 (SWAN) taken on October 27, 2025. This is a stacked 50-minute exposure and was stacked on the moving comet (resulting in streaked stars).

Tech Specs: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120ED Telescope, ZWO ASI071MC camera running at -10F, 50 x 60 second exposures, EQ6R-Pro Mount, ZWO EAF and ASIAir Pro, processed in DSS and PixInsight. Image Date: October 27, 2025. Location: The Dark Side Observatory (W59), Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).

A few pictures taken with Nikon D7500 & Sigma 100-400 lens at 400mm, mounted on Skywatcher Staradventurer, stacked using Deepskystacker.

This clearly shows that the comet is moving fast!!

Unfortunately the clouds rolled in after only 10x 20s subs. Would have liked an awful lot more to bring out the detail in M81. Reprocessed data using 20 flats, 20 bias and 10 darks. Canon EOS 450D ISO800 prime focus Skywatcher 150 Explorer Newtonian. Stacked in DeepSkyStacker, processed in PixInsight and Photoshop CS5

Aqr M2 Cúmulo globular

Fecha: 23-07-2022, de 23h39m a 01h11m U.T.

Lugar: Las Inviernas, Guadalajara

Temperatura ambiente: de +19.0ºC a +18.5ºC

Cámara: ZWO ASI071MC Pro

Óptica:

Telescopio Newtoniano TS, 200mm de diámetro f/4.

Corrector de coma Baader MPCC Mark III.

Filtro: Omegon Light Pollution Filter.

Montura: Skywatcher EQ6 Pro Synscan v.3.25

Guiado: Automático con QHY-5 mono y PHD Guiding v.1.14.0, utilizando un

telescopio refractor SvBony 60mm de diámetro a f/4.

Exposiciones:

18 imágenes de 300s cada una, a -05ºC y 100 de ganancia

en total, 1h30min.

30 darks de 300s, a -05ºC y 100 de ganancia

30 flats de 60s, a -05ºC y 100 de ganancia

30 bias de 0.001s, a -05ºC y 100 de ganancia

Software: DeepSkyStacker v.4.2.6

PixInsight LE 1.0

Adobe Photoshop CC 2019

Astronomy Tools v.1.6

#astronomia #astronomía #astronomy #astrofotografía #astrofotografia #astrophotography

I took some time to collect some additional data on the galaxies Messier 81 and Messier 82 (M81 and M82) in the constellation Ursa Major on the evening of February 28, 2016. I used my wide-field setup which includes my Canon 6D and Canon 400mm lens mounted on an iOptron ZEQ25 mount. I collected 28-minutes of data using 60-second sub frames at ISO 3200. I also took the time to clip and process some of the background galaxies in my large 3 x 5 degree image, you can view them on my blog at: www.leisurelyscientist.com/?p=1592

Among the astrophotographs I made, this is, at the moment, the one with the longest total exposure time, totaling 19 hours and 35 minutes (captured in four nights).

"The beautiful spiral galaxy Messier 83 is located in the constellation Hydra and is also known as NGC 5236 and as the Southern Pinwheel galaxy. Its distance is about 15 million light-years, being about twice as small as the Milky Way". Source: eso.org

Sky-Watcher 203mm F/5 EQ5 reflector with Onstep and electronic focuser ZWO EAF, Canon T6 (primary focus) modified, Optolong L-eNhance filter (in part of the frames). 50mm guidescope with ASI 290MC. 235 light frames (116x300 "ISO 800 + L-eNhance: 119x300" ISO 1600), 40 dark frames, 64 flat frames. Processing: DeepSkyStacker and PixInsight.

@LopesCosmos

www.instagram.com/lopescosmos

telescopius.com/profile/lopescosmos

A few things came together for this one...

After a lot of experimenting, I can say I'm finally happy with some of the results. And aside from all the technique, it took me quite a bit of patience to catch a long exposure with a truck on the road making colorful light trails in front of mountainous scenery without getting the shot ruined with oncoming headlights. Then up top, I got the stars including Rigel and a few constellations to appear as points of light. Best of all, it looks good large!

This image, coming from several exposures taken in sequence, was captured on Loveland Pass, near the Arapahoe Basin Ski Area and Keystone, Colorado. Oh and those glowing clouds at the top of the mountains... That glow comes all the way from Denver - some 50 miles away!

On the tech side, I used Deep Sky Stacker to reduce noise in the stars by combining 10 8 second exposures (ISO 3200, f/3.2). Then I used a homemade approach to extrapolate the settings needed for a long exposure of the foreground. It allowed me to test in 8 seconds and shoot something cool in 8 minutes (ISO 200, f/4)... sweet!! Oh yea, and I figured out how to (finally) use my live view in the dark for precision focus. On that I'll have to say when I first saw this mostly focused 8 minute exposure taken at ISO 200, I smiled really wide! So after combining the short frames in Deep Sky Stacker, I just blended the results with the foreground in PS.

______________________________

Like to see more? Please visit my portfolio at www.coloradocaptures.com.

19.07.20.

Fujifilm X-T20 camera

Jupiter-37A 135mm f/3.5 Lens

10 * 30s,

ISO 3200.

Stacking - DeepSkyStacker.

Edition in PS.

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS), photographed at 500mm f/4, 27 frames stacked uusing DeepSkyStacker. The 'anti-tail' can just be seen at lower right of frame. Frames exposed 1 sec at f/4, ISO 1600.

120 exposure stacks in Deep Sky Stacker, Vaonis Stellina

Orion Nebula (M42 & M43) (south)

NGC2024 (Flame Nebula) (north)

Part of constellation ofOrion

Canon 80D / EF 100 F/2.8 macro USM

90sec / f/2.8 / ISO200 / Star Adventurer

Stack of 14 pics / 21 min total

North America nebula is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus 2590 light years from Earth. It's size across is 90 light years. Pelican nebula is on the right side of the image.

⏱️ 10h (147 x 4min ISO 800 frames)

Kaunas, Lithuania (Bortle 8 skies)

📅 October, 2021

Setup:

📷 Canon EOSR unmodified

🔭 Skywatcher Explorer 150PDS

️ Baader MPCC and IDAS LPS-D2 filter

⚙️ Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro

↖️ Guiding with ZWO ASI 120MM Mini + ZWO 30mm Mini Guide Scope + PHD2

💻 Stacked and edited with DeepSkyStacker and PixInsight

A picture of the open star cluster M67 in Cancer and variable star 60 Cancri (lower left) created by stacking 19 30 second images taken by a Canon 400mm f/5.6 telephoto lens on a Canon 7D MKII dslr camera processed using DeepSkyStacker, Gimp, and Lightroom.

****************************************************************************

Photographed at Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada

(285 km by road north of Toronto)

* Altitude of centre of the frame at time of exposures: 18°, declining to 16°

* Total exposure time: 15 minutes

* 1253 mm focal length telescope

* Field of view: 1° wide x 0.6° high

___________________________________________

Description:

One of the most prominent, largest, brightest and well known nebulae in the sky is the Lagoon Nebula, which is a favourite target of amateur astronomers with modest telescopes.

From Wikipedia: "The Lagoon Nebula ... is a giant interstellar cloud ... classified as an emission nebula and as an H II region. [It] was discovered by Giovanni Hodierna before 1654 and is one of only two star-forming nebulae faintly visible to the eye from mid-northern latitudes. Seen with binoculars, it appears as a distinct oval cloudlike patch with a definite core. Within the nebula is the open cluster NGC 6530.

The Lagoon Nebula is estimated to be between 4,000-6,000 light-years away from the Earth. In the sky of Earth, it spans 90' by 40', which translates to an actual dimension of 110 by 50 light years. ... The nebula contains a number of Bok globules (dark, collapsing clouds of protostellar material), the most prominent of which have been catalogued by E. E. Barnard as B88, B89 and B296."

For a version of this photo WITH LABELS, click on your screen to the RIGHT of the photo, or click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/54766429840

__________________________________________

Nikon D810a camera body on Explore Scientific 152 mm (6") apochromatic refracting telescope, mounted on a Sky-Watcher EQ6-R PRO SynScan mount

Fifteen stacked subframes - each frame:

1253 mm focal length

ISO 8000; 1 minute exposure at f/8, unguided

Stacked in DeepSkyStacker

Processed in Photoshop CS6 (brightness, contrast, levels, colour balance)

Mount: Skywatcher EQ6 Pro

Camera: Canon 550D unmodified

Lens: 18-55mm Kit Lens @ 18mm

Guiding: None

Software: APT, DeepSkyStacker, PixInsight

Images: 25x120sec ISO1600 Lights; 25x Darks

bit.ly/1cIu4ot

M74 is a Grand Design Spiral, face-on, galaxy in the constellation of Pisces located about 32 million light years from Earth. A grand design galaxy has arms of the galaxy that are well defined and extends clearly around the galaxy.

This was imaged using a combination of cameras and telescopes. I imaged the luminance with the QSI 683 wsg-8 and the color data was imaged with a modified Canon T1i in 2011.

Imaged from Ocala, FL

Six min exposures stacked in DeepSkyStacker for a total of 5 hours 43 min using a modified Canon Ti1 (RGB data).

Six minute exposures totaling 1 hour and 30 min in Luminance using a QSI 683 wsg-8 CCD camera.

Processed in Photoshop CS5

Imaging telescopes: Astro-Tech 6" Ritchey-Chrétien (RGB from 2011) and Astro-Tech 8" Ritchey-Chrétien (Luminance from 2013)

Imaging cameras: Modified Canon T1i (RGB data from 2011) and the QSI 683 wsg-8 (Luminance from 2013)

Losmandy G 11 with Gemini II

A photo of the Andromeda Galaxy (M 31, NGC 224) captured in my backyard with a 200mm lens. The small elliptic Galaxy M 110 accompanying M 31, as well as M 32 is also visible in the photo. The distance of the Andromeda Galaxy is about 2,5 million light-years. What sounds like yet another dry scientific fact, actually means that the light captured by the camera CCD started its journey about 2,5 Million years before some clever guy invented DSLR cameras.

Actually, this photo is the result of an experiment which started as an crazy idea some weeks ago when I got hold of an old RET 45 4.5" Newton Reflector.

The photo has been stacked together from 44 individual 29 Second exposures, which results in an effective total exposure time of about 21 Minutes. Stacking has been performed with DeepSkyStacker (DSS). For post processing, Fitswork and AfterShotPro has been used.

To avoid star trails, I retrofitted the EQ2 mount of the RET 45 with a crystal controlled stepper motor, and replaced the counterweight bar by a self-made camera mount. In this way, the camera is used as counterweight of the mount which sufficient to track the camera for about 30 Seconds.

The Whirlpool Galaxy, with it's companion galaxy NGC 5195, is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy with an active galactic nucleus. It is located in the constellation Canes Venatici. It was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy. The gravitational interactions between the two galaxies have distorted the spiral arms of Messier 51 and triggered bursts of star formation. Faint clouds and streamers of stars that have been disturbed from their orbits can be seen in the space surrounding the two galaxies.

20 60-sec images, ZWO ASI290mm camera, Optolong CLS filter, Explore Scientific ED 80APO refractor, Celestron Advanced VX EQ mount.

7 dark frames for calibration

.AVI file converted to .FITS files via PiPP

Stacking with DeepSkyStacker

Post-processing with Photoshop CC2017

من تصويري

#مجرة_الألعاب_النارية

(بالإنجليزية: Fireworks Galaxy)‏ وتعرف ايضًا بـ NGC 6946 أو كالدويل 12، ترى بين كوكبة الدجاجة و كوكبة الملتهب، اكتشفت من قبل ويليام هيرشل في 9 سبتمبر 1798.

مجرة الألعاب النارية تبعد عنا حوالى 22.5 مليون سنة ضوئية.

المجرة إن جي سي 6946 هي واحدة من أقرب المجرات الحلزونية العملاقة خارج المجموعة المحلية، تحتوي على مستوى عال من تكون النجوم في جميع أنحاء القرص الخاص بها، بالإضافة إلى منطقة انفجار نجمي قوي.

ولهذا سميت هذه المجرة مجرة الألعاب النارية، تتسم المجرة NGC 6946 بمعدل عال في حدوث مستعرات عظمى فيها بالمقارنة لمجرتنا، مجرة درب التبانة ، حيث يحدث في مجرتنا مستعر واحد فقط تقريبا في كل مئة عام.

#my_astrophotography

The #Fireworks_Galaxy

Known as NGC 6946 is a face-on intermediate spiral galaxy with a small bright nucleus, whose location in the sky straddles the boundary between the northern constellations of Cepheus and Cygnus.

Distance to Earth: 22.5 million light years

المعدات Equipment :

152mm David H. Levy Comet Hunter

محرك استوائي Mount

AZ-EQ5 GoTo Mount

كاميرا Camera

ZWO ASI294 mc pro

كاميرة توجيه Guide Camera

ZWO ASI120MC

برنامج التصوير Imaging Software

Astro Photography Tool

التكديس Stacked

DeePSkYStacker

Pixinsight

Lightroom

45 Light images

120 sec. Each

Borlt 4/5

No filters

bit.ly/18Nr6Qt

NGC 891 is an edge-on barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Andromeda, located about 30 million light years from Earth.

This was imaged using a combination of cameras and telescopes. I imaged the luminance with the QSI 683 wsg-8 and the color data was imaged with a modified Canon T1i in 2011.

Imaged from Ocala, FL

Combination of 240 sec. and 360 sec. exposure stacked in DeepSkyStacker for a total of 5 hours and 23 minutes in the RGB channel

6 minute exposures stacked in DeepSkyStacker totaling 3.6 hours in the luminance channel.

Processed in Photoshop CS5

Imaging telescopes: Astro-Tech 6" Ritchey-Chrétien (RGB from 2011) and Astro-Tech 8" Ritchey-Chrétien (Luminance from 2013)

Imaging cameras: Modified Canon T1i (RGB data from 2011) and the QSI 683 wsg-8 (Luminance from 2013)

Losmandy G 11 with Gemini II

Target:NGC 2023 LBN954 Horsehead Nebula emission and reflection nebule in the constellation of Orion at 1300 light years distance.

Location:Multiple nights Jan 2021 St Helens UK B8 passing clouds, moon 59% to 76%.

Aquisition:34x 180s Ha, 21x 180s (OIII), 17x 180s (SII), total integration 216 min.

Equipment:Capture: Skywatcher Esprit 100ED, HEQ5, ZWO ASI160MM Pro, EFWmini with Baader NB Filters.

Guiding: Skywatcher 9x50 Finder, ASI1200MM.

Software:Aquisition: NINA, PHD2.

Processing: DeepSkyStacker, Siril, Starnet++, Photoshop.

Memories:A few setbacks on this target. Obstructed view south so 4 shorter imaging sessions one of which, with the best data, was deleted off imaging pc by mistake before being transferred to processing pc. Clouds resulted in more lost frames and the moon affected the contrast on the (OIII). During processing, Photoshop crashed loosing 3 hours of work which had to be repeated. Still happy with the end result though.

This is the galaxy designated NGC 3206 in the constellation Ursa Major. The galaxy currently has a supernova designated as SN 2024bch. It was discovered on January 29, 2024 by Patrick Wiggins from the University of Utah (USA). During my 60-minutes of collected data, SN 2024bch showed a magnitude of 14.7, dimming from its peak magnitude in early February 2024.

Tech Specs: Orion 8” RC Telescope, ZWO ASI2600MC camera running at -10F, 60 x 60 seconds, Celestron CGEM-DX pier mounted, ZWO EAF and ASIAir Pro, processed in DSS and PixInsight. Image Date: March 7, 2024. Location: The Dark Side Observatory (W59), Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).

The Dumbbell Nebula (Messier 27, M27 or NGC 6853) is a bright planetary nebula in the constellation Vulpecula. It is easily seen in binoculars and wide-field photographs. The central star is an extremely hot blueish subdwarf. The nebula was created by a dying star ejecting a shell of gas into space.

Observation data: J2000 epoch

Right ascension: 19h 59m 36.340s

Declination: +22° 43′ 16.09″

Apparent magnitude (V): 7.4

Apparent dimensions (V): 8.0′ × 5.6′

Constellation: Vulpecula

Tech Specs: Meade 12” LX-90 SCT Telescope, Antares Focal Reducer, ZWO ASI2600MC camera running at 0F, 134 x 60 seconds, Celestron CGX-L pier mounted, ZWO EAF and ASIAir Pro, processed in DSS and PixInsight. Image Date: July 4, 2025. Location: The Dark Side Observatory (W59), Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).

Telescopi o obiettivi di acquisizione: Celestron 127/1500 Maksutov-Cassegrain

Camere di acquisizione: Svbony SV105

Montature: Celestron SLT

Software: Registax · DeepSkyStacker · AutoStakkert! · photoshop

Accessorio: 2.5x barlow

Data:31 Ottobre 2020

Ora: 21:26

Pose: 2500

FPS: 30,00000

Lunghezza focale: 3750

Seeing: 3

Trasparenza: 7

Risoluzione: 768x512

Luoghi: Terrazzo di casa (Sant'Agata li Battiati), Sant'Agata Li Battiati, CT, Italia

Origine dei dati: Giardino

Another star stack.

Taken during a full Moon with

Nikon d610(stock), iso800

TS-Optics 72mmf6

total of 280 minutes with 180sec subs

guiding:

ZWO asi120mcs

TS 50mm/f3.6 guidescope

Tracking: Skywatcher Star Adventurer

software:

guiding: phd2

Stacking: Deepskystacker 4.2.2

Processing: Adobe Photoshop, GradientXterminator, Nik software, HLVG, Adobe Raw

This is the cleanest photo I've taken of the Orion nebulae complex from the Flame and Horsehead nebulae to the Running Man and Great Orion Nebula (M42). This is a total of one hour's worth of exposure data (12 x 5 minutes) under a rural sky. I did use a light pollution filter to cut out the sky glow from the surrounding villages. I may tweak the colour saturation later. But I just wanted to show you how fairly clean it looks.

Downloaded the trial version of PixInsight the other day (for the third time), and gave it a good going over, as much as I could. Finally came to the conclusion, rightly or wrongly, that there isn't a huge amount in PI that can't be done in PS, with one or two exceptions, one of which is DBE.

I used DBE on this as the gradient had caused problems in my previous iterations, then processed in PS. One other plus from PI was that, having studied a few tutorials, I learnt a bit more about noise reduction, and put that into practice.

This has to be my final version of this - I'm not going to get anything more out of it. I think it beats my previous one :) I saw a version of this the other day, probably better than this, that consisted of less than 3 hours of 5 minute subs - my skies got a verbal lashing that night, I can tell ya! :)

SW ED80/EQ5

Nikon D70 modded, Baader Neodymium filter

16 hours of 4 - 12 minute subs @ ISO 640 - 1600

Guiding: Quickcam Pro4000/9x50 finderscope, PHD

Stacked in DSS and processed in PI and CS5

cropped edited from the same data

Great area of sky, a little reflection nebula nestled in amongst a large region of emission nebulosity.

Details;

scope : ED80

Mount ; NEQ6

camera: 350Dmod

guided by 9x50finder/ASI120 - phd2 CdC

16 x 8mins

3 x 10mins

11darks.

DSS/PS

Here is Comet C/2021 Y1 (ATLAS) from last evening.

Tech Specs: Meade 12” LX-90, Antares Focal Reducer, ZWO AS071 running at -10C, Celestron CGEM-DX mount, ZWO ASIAir Plus, ZWO EAF, 60 x 60 second exposures, darks from the library and flats after the imaging session, DeepSkyStacker and Tycho Tracker. Image Date: December 14, 2022. Location: The Dark Side Observatory (W59), Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).

An unguided image of the open star cluster M52 in the constellation Cassiopeia taken with a ZWOASI183MC camera using an Explore Scientific 102ED refracting telescope. 100 twelve second light frames, 20 dark frames, and 10 flat frames were processed using DeepSkyStacker and Adobe Lightroom.

Taken with a TMB92L, Hutech-modified Canon T3i DSLR, Orion SSAG autoguider and 50mm guidescope, and Celestron AVX mount. Consists of 35 120-second light frames and 31 120-second dark frames, all at ISO 800, as well as 35 flat and 50 bias frames. Captured with BackyardEOS, stacked in DeepSkyStacker, and processed in Photoshop.

Taken with a TMB92L, Canon T3i DSLR, Orion SSAG autoguider and 50mm guidescope, and Celestron AVX mount. Consists of 59 90-second light frames, 40 90-second dark frames, 40 10-second light frames, 20 10-second dark frames, and 40 5-second exposures, all at ISO 800, as well as 15 flats. Captured with BackyardEOS, stacked in DeepSkyStacker, and processed in Photoshop.

The Perseus molecular cloud complex, about 1,000 light-years from Earth, contains two notable areas of star formation: the IC 348 star cluster on the lower left, and NGC 1333 (VdB 17) on the upper right. Other DSOs in this extent include: Barnards 1,3,5, 202, 204, 203, 205, 206; and reflection nebulae VdB 12 (yellow), VdB 13 (blue), and VdB 16 (blue).

Fujifilm X-T10, Samyang 135mm f/2.0 ED UMC @ f2.0, ISO 1600, 50 x 60 sec, tracking with iOptron SkyTracker Pro, stacking with DeepSkyStacker, editing with Astro Pixel Processor and GIMP, taken on Nov. 20, 2019 under Bortle 2/3 skies. This dust is faint - I pushed the data pretty hard; APP was great for maintaining good color despite the pushing.

Taken using Skywatcher 80ED Pro (.85XFR), Nikon D3300, 104x30" lights (ISO 1600), 100 flats, 110 bias. Stacked in DeepSkyStacker and processed in Photoshop.

Pelican, North American Nebulae narrowband 2 panel mosaic. Each panel was stacked, assembled, and processed with the following exposure times for each panel: 20X600"Ha, 20X600"OIII, and 20X600"SII.

Equipment used:

Canon 200mm f2.8 lens at f4, Atik 428ex camera, AP900 mount, DeepSkyStacker, Photoshop levels, curves, blending, guided with ZWO174mm and Stellarvue SVR90T.