View allAll Photos Tagged DeepSkyStacker
Stacked image from 14 shots using Deep Sky Stacker. Sony a6000 F1.4 16mm, each with 3-4 second exposures (short exposure times as the shots were taken on a cruise ship with very still waters).
#my_astrophotography
The #Fishhead_Nebula
IC 1795 - The Fish Head Nebula, also known as the Northern Bear Nebula, is part of a huge star forming system of gas and dust located along the Perseus spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy.
The nebula is located in the constellation Cassiopeia approximately 6000 light-years from the Earth and is adjacent to the much larger Heart Nebula. The brighter region of IC 1795 is designated NGC 896 and is the home to many massive, young, stars.
Distance from Earth 6000 Light years.
Equipment :
152mm David H. Levy Comet Hunter
Mount
AZ-EQ5 GoTo Mount
Camera
ZWO ASI294 mc pro
Guide Camera
ZWO ASI120MC
Imaging Software
Astro Photography Tool
Stacked
DeePSkYStacker
Pixinsight
Lightroom
40 Light images
180 sec. Each
15 Flats
20 Dark
100 bias
Borlt 4/5
No filters
The Whirlpool Galaxy in Canes Venatici: astrobackyard.com/m51-whirlpool-galaxy/
This was an exciting project for me!
I've never had enough reach to do M51 justice before. This image was created by collecting LRGB exposures (5-minutes each) over several cold nights in March and April, 2020.
36 x 300-seconds Lum
9 x 300-seconds Red
12 x 300-seconds Green
15 x 300-seconds Blue
The images were stacked in DeepSkyStacker and processed entirely in Adobe Photoshop 2020.
I've recorded a 30-minute image-processing tutorial of the techniques used for this image that will be live in my image processing guide by the end of this week. If you've already downloaded it, remember to update to the new version (for free) this weekend to find it!
Clear skies!
The Orion Nebula (NGC 1976, M42) taken on a cold November night.
> The Orion Nebula is a diffuse nebula situated in the Milky Way, being south of Orion’s Belt in the constellation of Orion. It is one of the brightest nebulae, and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. — Wikipedia
This image was created from around 30 exposures between 40 seconds and 3 minutes long, at ISO 800, Stacked in AstroPixelProcessor. I used the same data as in the original I shared, but using AstroPixelProcessor instead of DeepSkyStacker and some alternative processing. I prefer the colours in this one!
I used a SkyWatcher Esprit 100 telescope on a HEQ 5 Pro tracking mount, and the Nikon z 50 which coped admirably.
Finally an M31 image that isn't total garbage! This is 159 frames x 1.6 s, f/2.8, 6400 ISO (4 minutes 14 seconds total exposure). Shot at 125 mm, but should have been all the way at 200...I ended up applying a 2x drizzle in the processing. Not quite poster-worthy, but I'm improving.
18 x 1-minute exposures at ISO 6400.
Modified EOS 600D & Revelation 12" Newtonian reflector telescope.
Frames registered and stacked in DeepSkyStacker software; curves adjusted in Canon Photo Professional; noise reduction in CyberLink PhotoDirector.
Here I've added 9 x 4-minute frames obtained on 23 April to those I'd taken in previous sessions, giving a total of around 2 hours and 45 minutes exposure.
All frames manually guided, f/4 and ISO 1600. Modified EOS 600D & Revelation 12" Newtonian reflector telescope.
Registered and stacked using DeepSkyStacker; curves adjusted in Canon Photo Professional; noise reduction via Cyberlink PhotoDirector.
I recently looked at my previous image of the Witch Head nebula (flic.kr/p/2hd49Qs), and thought I could improve upon it with the additional data from my recent Orion mosaic (flic.kr/p/2k5jMXc). This is a reprocessing and crop of the mosaic.
Fuji X-T10 + Samyang 135mm + iOptron SkyTracker Pro. Bortle 3/4 skies. Data acquired in 2019 and 2020. More acquisition and processing details at flic.kr/p/2k5jMXc.
Here is a view of C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) taken last evening, October 27, 2025. This is a stacked 30-minute exposure and was stacked on the moving comet.
Tech Specs: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120ED Telescope, ZWO ASI071MC camera running at -10F, 30 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).
My first BiColor Image is done!
I made some new O3 images and took the Halpha from my last image.
/// Setup
- Camera: Moravian G2-8300
- Telescope: Omegon 126/880 f/7 Triplet Apo
- Corrector: TS 2.5" Fullframe Corrector
- Mount: Losmandy G11 on Pier
- Guiding Camera: Starlite Xpress Lodestar X2
- Guiding Scope: TS Photoline 80/500 f/6.25 Triplet Apo
/// Software
- Capturing Software: Sequence Generator Pro / PHD2
- Processing Software: DeepSkyStacker / PixInsight 1.8
/// Image Integration
- Date: 24.09.17
- 5x900" O3 / bin 1x1 / -20°C
- Date: 21.09.17
- 7x900" H-alpha / bin 1x1 / -20°C
(3h 00min)
An unguided, black and white image of the Andromeda Galaxy taken last night over Monticello, NY through a Canon 400mm f/5.6 L lens using a Canon 7D MKII dslr camera on a Celestron AVX mount. Thirty 60 second images, twenty dark frames, and thirty eight bias frames were stacked using DeepSkyStacker, then enhanced with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop Elements.
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Check out the worlds smallest and most portable star tracker!
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Manual: www.ioptron.com/v/Manuals/3322_SkyTrackerPro_Manual.pdf
Phone/iPad app for accurate polar alignment (itunes.apple.com/us/app/ioptron-polar-scope/id564078961?mt=8) or Android phone polar finder app (play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.techhead.polarf...)
Stacking Software
Deep Sky Stacker (PC): deepskystacker.free.fr/english/index.html
Sequator (PC): sites.google.com/site/sequatorglobal/download
Registax (PC): www.astronomie.be/registax/
Starry Landscape Stacker (Mac): itunes.apple.com/us/app/starry-landscape-stacker/id550326...
pixinsight (mac): pixinsight.com/
Nebulosity (mac): www.stark-labs.com/nebulosity.html
Orion Nebula / Nebulosa de Orión (M42, Messier 42, NGC 1976)
Primer intento de captar la nebulosa de Orión sin montura guiada. Durante el mes de agosto la nebulosa hace su aparición a partir de las 4 de la mañana. El esfuerzo mereció la pena al obtener una definición decente al lanzar solo con montura estática.
First attempt to capture the Orion Nebula without a tracker. During the month of August the nebula makes its appearance from 4am. The effort was worth it, I got a good definition despite shooting with static mount.
- Date/Fecha: 19/08/2021
- Location/Lugar: Ermita Virgen del Madrigal - Villahoz (Burgos) (42°05'38.5"N 3°54'16.5"W)
GEAR/EQUIPO
- Manfrottto 190XPRO
- Camera Sony ILC3-A7M3 APS-C Mode
- Lens Sony FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS
IMAGE/IMAGEN:
- 200 Lights at 600mm, ISO 10000, 0,6seg, f6.3
- 88 Darks at ISO 10000, 0,6seg, f6.3
SOFTWARE
- Stacked with DeepSkyStacker
- Image viewer Adobe Bridge
- Image processing with Adobe Camera Raw and Adobe Photoshop CC
©2021 All rights reserved. MSB.photography
Thank all for your visit and awards.
On Explore 04/10/2021
I added some new exposures to my stack.
Total integration time is 155 minutes.
7x20 Sek. ISO3200
55x60 Sek. ISO800
29x120 Sek. ISO800
41x45 Sek. ISO800
30x20 Sek. ISO1600,
Darks, Bias, Stacking in DeepSkyStacker
TS-Optics APO 72, 432mm, Canon 550D (stock)
Camera – Fujifilm X-T20.
Lens – Jupiter 37A.
Mount – Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Mini.
ISO – 3200.
Stack of 108 lights 30" each.
30 darks.
30 biases.
------
Stacking in DeepSkyStacker.
Editing in SiriL and Adobe Photoshop.
Colour from the Andromeda Galaxy at 2.5 Million lightyears distance that is...
Reprocessed to crank more Colour out without strange side effects...... 100mm Esprit triplet APO Refractor telescope and Canon 6D full spectrum modified + Astronomik L (IR/UV cut) filter. 60x180sec at iso1600. 20 dark frames,20 flat frames and 20 bias frames used in Deepskystacker. Further processing in Pixinsight 1.8 (Dynamic background extraction, Background and Colour Calibration, Masked Stretch, HDRMultiscale Transform and curves transformation.)
Cropped to 16:9 aspect ratio.
Knight Observatory, Tomar
Press L (followed by F11) for the best view.
This was just a quick 2 hours of data that I grabbed on a whim, as my actual target was too close to the moon to gather any useful data.
Quite happy with this process, even though, again, this was just a quick effort I smashed together at 1 AM when frankly I really should have been in bed ready for work at 7 AM.
This is my first attempt at an HDR image, so be kind.
10-sec subs for the core and 180-sec for the DSO.
All comments welcome.
Thanks
Acquisition Equipment
Camera - CANON EOS 60D (Mod)
Filter - Astronomik CLS-CCD EOS Clip
Telescope - SkyWatcher 80ED
Reducer/Flattener - 0.85x
Focal Length - 510mm
F Ratio - F6.3
Mount - Celestron CG-5 Adv GT GEM
Guide Scope - Celestron 9x50
Guide Camera - QHY 5 Mono
Image Capture
L 10 sec x 90 = 15min
D 50
F 30
FD 30
B 50
180 sec x 41 = 123mins
D 40
F 30
FD 30
B 50
Total = 138mins
Acquisition Software
Capture/Sequence - N.I.N.A.
Plate Solving - ASTAP
Guiding - PHD2
Planetarium - Stellarium
Processing Software
Stacking - DeepSkyStacker
Post - Adobe Photoshop / Bridge / Camera Raw
Links
Around 120, tracked, 60 second exposures of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), stacked in Deep Sky Stacker and processed in Adobe Photoshop.
Still very much a beginner at astrophotography, and honestly, it's the hardest thing I've ever done in photography.
First attempt of a stacked long time exposure and panorama of 60 frames.
Software: DeepSkyStacker + AutoPano
----------------------------
Erster Versuch einer gestackte Langzeitaufnahme und Panorama aus 60 Einzelbildern.
Software: DeepSkyStacker + AutoPano
This is my third attempt at photographing the Orion Nebula. Over the years I’ve used different star trackers and lenses with different results, and this is by far my best attempt, but I still have a lot to improve upon. I recently purchased a small telescope, the William Optics Zenithstar 61 refactor. That plus the iOptron SkyGuider Pro have worked out quite well, the telescope is small and light enough to work with the lightweight tracker. This is actually heavily cropped from the original framing. The Z61 telescope has a focal length of 360mm, which isn’t enough to really zoom in on the nebula, so I had to crop in significantly. But I did use 2x drizzle upscale resampling with DeepSkyStacker, so the file was 2x resolution from the original 24MP Nikon Z 6 file, so cropping in dramatically wasn’t as bad as it would have been without the upscaling.
The Orion Nebula (M42) is the big one, with Mairan’s Nebula (M43) sort of sticking out the top left side of M42, and then the Running Man Nebula (NGC 1975) is the other nebula in the top part of the frame. Lots of dust clouds are also visible in the background.
This image is a blend of 2 main images, both acquired on different nights. The Orion Nebula is difficult to photograph with one capture because the core of the nebula is easily blown out with the bright stars blocking the view, so two captures with different settings are often used to get a good exposure of the whole scene, with one capture blowing out M42’s core, and another capture to get a good exposure of just M42’s core.
Nikon Z 6 with FTZ lens adapter
William Optics Zenithstar 61 telescope
William Optics Flat61A flattener
iOptron SkyGuider Pro star tracker
Darker exposures for M42 core: 188 x 30 seconds @ ISO 100 — 94 minutes total
Brighter exposures: 84 x 60 seconds @ ISO 3200 — 84 minutes total
The 30s exposures were taken on a night with an almost full moon, so the ISO was much lower because the sky was so bright. The 60s exposures were taken without moonlight and so the signal needed to be boosted dramatically (very high ISO) to get above the noise.
I probably could have used significantly fewer darker exposures for M42’s core, but I captured those images when I was still figuring things out and thought the data might be good enough by itself to create the final image, but there was just way too much noise because I was exposing for the highlights, leaving the nebula and background buried in the electronic noise of the camera.
Both set of captures were stacked in DeepSkyStacker, running on a Windows 10 VM on my MacBook Pro. Then each resulting image was processed in PixInsight for color calibration and stretching, then they were blended in Photoshop, and final edits applied in Photoshop and PixInsight.
Visit my website to learn more about my photos and video tutorials: www.adamwoodworth.com
The Dumbbell Nebula is a planetary nebula and is in the constellation Vulpecula, It’s ~1227 light years away from us. “Plantetary nebubla” is kind of a misnomer because it doesn’t have anything to do with planets, the gasses and colors come from a star that has shed its outer layers. If you squint or zoom in, you can see the white dwarf star in the middle. Charles Messier first noted it in his catalog of objects in the night sky as Messier Object 27 in 1764. The Dumbbell Nebula gets its name from English Astronomer John Herchel, who thought its shape resembled a dumbbell. - You can view this object with a small telescope, or even binoculars.
Equipment:
Celestron CGEM Mount
Nikkor 500mm f/4 P Ai-s at +1.4x Teleconverter (700mm) at f/8
Sony a7RIII (unmodified)
Altair 60mm Guide scope
GPCAM2 Mono Camera
Acquisition:
Taos, NM: my backyard - Bortle 3
25 x 180" for 1 hour 15 min and 25 sec of exposure time.
6 dark frames
15 flats frames
15 bais frames
Guided
Software:
SharpCap
PHD2
DeepSkyStacker
Photoshop
My mount was polar aligned with SharpCap (what an amazing system for aligning). I'm not comfortable using my SCT as my lens yet. My solution is to piggyback my Sony a7RIII and adapted Nikkor 500mm f/4 P Ai-s on a ADM dovetail rail on the top of my optical tube. For this I used a 1.4x teleconverter making the focal length 700mm at f/8. I used DeepSkyStacker to combine all frames and then processed the TIFF file in Photoshop. I stretched the 32 bit file and used Gradient XT on the image. I then made it a 16 bit file and stretched in level, then curves. I used the color sampler tool and levels to do my best to keep the background space black. I did mask the nebula and bring some color out on it, while not adding the color to the stars and deep space. I then using my skillset and relyed on Astronomy Tools Action Set, and dodging and burning a bit to give the image the finishing touches.
The object is rather overshadowed by its more famous neighbour, the Great Orion Nebula, M42, the edge of which is seen at bottom right here
11 x 4-minute manually off-axis guided exposures at ISO 1600.
Modified EOS 600D & Revelation 12" Newtonian reflector telescope.
Frames registered and stacked in DeepSkyStacker software; curves adjusted in Canon Photo Professional; noise reduction in CyberLink PhotoDirector.
2016 aug 12 03:00hr. Canon 5Dmk2 with 24mm f1.4 @ f4. 120 second exposure iso1600 tracked. Calibrated with Darks, Flats and Bias in Deepskystacker and processed in Pixinsight. The following 6 images (after this one) that i made show the dissolving smoke trail and i made a "video" that has to be watched in 720P :
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCrCTBNghvo
This was also Astrobin image of the day 19-aug-2016:
(Explore)
I spent 3 evenings trying to get this composition, and while the conditions were not ideal, this was the best result. Not only were thin clouds moving across the frame, especially where the comet is, but these were lit by light pollution from a town a few miles away. Plus, strong winds meant I had to stand as close and as still as possible to shield the tripod without touching it throughout each exposure!
15 x 2-min exposures at f/4.5 and ISO 3200 with an astro-modified EOS 600D and Samyang 24mm f/1.4 lens on a Vixen Polarie star tracker. The frames were stacked in DeepSkyStacker software, and the result post-processed to increase contrast and to reduce noise and colour gradients caused by light pollution. I also used Starnet++ to temporarily remove the stars (which otherwise dominate after stretching the contrast).
NGC281 PACMAN NEBULA
Found in Cassiopeia the pacman is a emission nebula, and i think the designation 'NGC281' is the open star cluster in the middle :)
The image shows the emission from hydrogen alpha in red (Mapped to the red channel in photoshop) and double-ionised oxygen in blue (mapped to blue).
This was done with my 80mm refractor and mono camera with ha filter and OIII filter. Combined in photoshop.
8x 600s Ha + 9 x 900s OIII + 7x darks (mixed exp lengths)
ED80 ATK16HR - EQ6. 8x50 finderguider.
This image was created with 65 consecutive 30 second exposures stacked for the trails and 2 dark frames for noise reduction and 2 frames for the foreground detail. If you look carefully you can see Perseid meteors zooming through the frame as this was taken at the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower pointing towards the radiant. One my favorite yearly astronomical events!
Images were stacked with Max Lyon's stacker program and then merged in PS. If I had my superwide Tokina 11-16 for this I could have included the N. Star, that would have rocked. For free stacking options (Lyon's program is very affordable at $17) there is this free Photoshop action. Other freebies you might want to try, especially if you need a stand alone if you don't have PS are here and here.
I've been wanting to shoot this galaxy for awhile and I pulled out my gear last night to do it finally. It is to the south and pretty low, near the horizon. I have to shoot towards the town of Taos to get this galaxy. I was unaware of the star cluster, NGC 288 before I began shooting last night.
Equipment:
Celestron CGEM Mount
Nikkor 500mm f/4 P Ai-s at f/5.6
Sony a7RIII (unmodified)
Altair 60mm Guide scope
GPCAM2 Mono Camera
Acquisition:
Taos, NM: my backyard - Bortle 3
35 x 90" for 53 min and 5 sec of exposure time.
10 dark frames
15 flats frames
15 bais frames
Guided
Software:
SharpCap
PHD2
DeepSkyStacker
Photoshop
My mount was polar aligned with SharpCap (what an amazing system for aligning). I'm not comfortable using my SCT as my lens yet. My solution is to piggyback my Sony a7RIII and adapted Nikkor 500mm f/4 P Ai-s on a ADM dovetail rail on the top of my optical tube. I used DeepSkyStacker to combine all frames and then processed the TIFF file in Photoshop. I stretched the 32 bit file and used Gradient XT on the image. I then made it a 16 bit file and stretched in level, then curves. I used the color sampler tool and levels to do my best to keep the background space black. I then using my skillset and relied on Astronomy Tools Action Set, and dodging and burning a bit to give the image the finishing touches.
Stephan’s Quintet can be found in the constellation Pegasus, the apparent magnitude of these galaxies hovers around 14.0, making this a tough object to capture in a smaller telescope. This group of galaxies was discovered by Edouard Stephan in 1877 at Marseille Observatory. Although referred to as a quintet, only four of the five galaxies are interacting with each other at a distance of about 300 million light years! NGC 7320 is actually much closer at a distance of “only” 40 million light years.
The members in the group include NGC 7320, NGC 7319, NGC 7318a, NGC 7318b, and NGC 7317. The group is also listed in the Arp catalog as ARP319.
Observation data (Epoch J2000)
Constellation(s): Pegasus
Right ascension: 22h 35m 57.5s
Declination: +33° 57′ 36″
Number of galaxies: 5
Tech Specs: Meade 12” LX-90 SCT Telescope, Antares Focal Reducer, ZWO ASI2600MC camera running at 0F, 177 x 60 seconds, Celestron CGX-L pier mounted, ZWO EAF and ASIAir Pro, processed in DSS and PixInsight. Image Date: August 1, 2025. Location: The Dark Side Observatory (W59), Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).
Nikon D3300, Nikkor 10-24mm @ 10mm, F/3.5, ISO 3200, 20 second exposure. 10 lights stacked in DeepSkyStacker & post-processed in Photoshop
An unguided image of the Ring Nebula (M57) in Lyra taken with a ZWOASI183MC camera through a 130mm f/5 reflecting telescope and processed using DeepSkyStacker and Lightroom.
Acquisition details: Fujifilm X-T10, Samyang 135mm f/2.0 ED UMC @ f2.0, ISO 1600, 48 x 60 sec, tracking with iOptron SkyTracker Pro, stacking with DeepSkyStacker, editing with Astro Pixel Processor and GIMP, taken just before astronomic dawn on Apr. 20, 2020 from Bortle 2 skies. At my latitude, 47 deg. N, this region of the sky is at about 20 deg above the horizon at its highest.
One of my favorite regions of the sky - the Dark Shark Nebula (LDN 1235), LDN 1251, and the Wolf's Cave Nebula (vdB 152). It's a tricky region to process - the dust is faint and the stars are plentiful. If I shoot this again with the my Samyang 135, I think I'll stop down to f 2.8 to flatten the field and shoot 90-120 sec subs. I had problems with the not-too-flat field in post processing. I've cropped it to minimize the non-flat-field color artifacts.
Acquisition details: Fujifilm X-T10, Samyang 135mm f/2.0 ED UMC @ f2.0, ISO 1600, 84 x 60 sec, tracking with iOptron SkyTracker Pro, stacking with DeepSkyStacker, editing with Astro Pixel Processor and GIMP, taken August 14, 2020 from Bortle 2 skies.
Nov. 2020 update: I added my Sept. 26 2019 imagery (50 x 90 seconds, better color) to my 2020 imagery (84 x 60 seconds, better skies). There's still some color weirdness, but the addition of the 2019 with better color helped modulate the color weirdness of the 2020 data. I might still end up cropping it, but at least the color is a bit better. Perhaps I'll shoot this area again next August or Sept.
Finally some good weather here. Almost 3 hours with a stock DSLR. :)
Setup:
Telescope: Long Perng S400M-C 66mm /400mm
Camera: Nikon D5000
Mount: iOptron CEM25P
85x120s ISO 400
I tried to capture the Heart Nebula before but results were quite poor with the stock 550D. So I decided to modify my camera and turn it into a 550Da. I removed the infrared filter and results on (hydrogen) nebulae are way more promising now. I am happy that I took the risk and even more that my camera is still working after putting all cables and stuff back into place. 😀
Clear Skies!
Tech. data:
Canon 550Da
TS 72, 432mm, guided
100x100 sec (RGB) with CLS Filter
56 bias
25 darks
DeepSkyStacker, Gimp, Lightroom
My first attempt of stacking photos
Negev desert, Israel
Nikon D610,
Samyang 14mm f/2.8
24 lights frames (f/3.5, ISO 3200, 25 sec.),
5 darks frames
14 biases frames
No flat frames
No guiding
Stacked in DeepSkyStacker
Used one of the -lately- rare clear skies nights to take some photographs of the Orion Nebula. Just used a tripod and a 300mm tele lens, so no real big "expenditure" ;-). No telescope, no tracking, For this result I have been taking some 70 shots (1 second exposure time each, at ISO 3200). Stacked these with DeepSkyStacker and applied a little fine tuning with Lightroom.
My son and I imaged Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) last night, just after astronomic dark around 7:30 pm. I could tell it wasn't as bright as it had been a week earlier, but it will still observable with the naked eye from Bortle 4 skies.
It was a nice night for astrophotography - clear skies, temps around 40 deg F, calm, and the moon was still below the horizon. It was my first time doing 'real' astrophotography with my son (or anyone else for that matter). I enjoyed explaining what I was doing the whole time - not sure if he did :) (he was there by his choice so I don't feel too bad).
I also showed him Polaris, some constellations, and star clusters, and we took a quick shot of the constellation Lyra, so I could show him the Ring Nebula (M57). It's pretty unimpressive at 135mm focal length, but you could tell it was different than a star - it looked like a tiny, bright donut.
Acquisition details: Fujifilm X-T10; Samyang 135mm f/2.0 ED UMC @ f2.0, ISO 1600; tracking with iOptron SkyTracker Pro; 30 x 30 sec; stacking with DeepSkyStacker; gradient (i.e. vignetting) removal with GraXpert; and curves adjustment/star reduction/editing with GIMP; taken on October 22, 2024 under Bortle 4 skies.
I like this one better. The colors are nicer, however I'm struggling to get this in sharp focus. Multiple tries and none of them were very sharp. Focusing in the dark on stars is not easy for me, that's for sure.
This is 17 frames stacked in Deep Sky Stacker (20s, ISO3200, 260mm) with two dark frames, then processed in PixInsight (trial version) and Lightroom.
By the way, you can also glimpse the Running Man nebula near the top of the frame.
Dreaming of M8...
As the lid continues to cover us here in the northeast - I reminisce of warm nights under a clear summer sky in the backyard.
Here is Messier 8, the Lagoon Nebula captured with the ZWO ASI294MC Pro back in August.
32 x 5-minutes at Unity Gain
Sky-Watcher Esprit 100: astrobackyard.com/sky-watcher-esprit-100-review/
ZWO ASI294MC Pro: astrobackyard.com/asi294mc-pro-review/
Optolong L-eNhance Filter: astrobackyard.com/optolong-l-enhance-filter/
Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro: astrobackyard.com/sky-watcher-eq6r-review/
DeepSkyStacker
Photoshop 2020
StarNet++
Telescope: William Optics ZenithStar 81 Refractor
Mount: Losmandy GM811G
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI 2600MC Pro
Filter: Optolong L-Pro Filter
Site: Elk Grove, California, USA Bortle 6
Processing: DeepSkyStacker, Photoshop 2020
Calibration Files: None
Guiding: None
Adding Color 📚 (Whirlpool Galaxy)
I've got a ways to go before I am happy with my LRGB process. It was REALLY satisfying to add color to the luminance data on this gorgeous galaxy.
Some seriously noisy areas - I went a little crazy with saturation without masking and just generally careless and wild in the processing.
Only about an hour in each color filter, but I couldn't resist bringing it all together.
8 x 300-seconds LUM
9 x 300-seconds RED
12 x 300-seconds GREEN
15 x 300-seconds BLUE
Starlight Xpress SX-42
SW Esprit 150
SW EQ8-R Pro
Astronomik LRGB set
DeepSkyStacker
Photoshop 2020
Thanks for looking guys, clear skies!
Amazing how much detail there is in the RAW data, but its extremely tricky to tease it out.
This is around an hours worth of exposure, taken on the amazing Samyang 135mm f2, and a Nikon D500, and tracked on a MoveShootMove tracker.
I photographed this handsome nebula about 2 weeks ago during a nearly full moon with the Optolong L-eXtreme filter.
NGC 7380 is a "must-shoot" object in Cepheus in my books. It's a fantastic target to try with a one-shot-color camera or DSLR, but a light pollution filter with narrow bandpasses will help keep those stars from taking over.
23 x 4-minutes (1.5 hours)
QHY 268C
Sky-Watcher Esprit 150\
DeepSkyStacker
Photoshop
Topaz DeNoise
This embarrassment has been reprocessed here!
First iteration. I'll fill in the details later :) (Pelican must be on holiday!)
LATER:
OK. The Deneb and Sadr region of the Constellation Cygnus, right smack bang in the Milky Way (hence all the stars). I got the North America Nebula, NGC 7000, which I was pleased with, but the Pelican Nebula is sadly missing (although astrometry seems to be able to see it!). This obviously needs more time. I had to stop at about 40 subs as half a moon had risen and the clouds rolled in. So, after ditching a few subs - but not, I'm happy to say, through tracking errors - this is 35 x 80 secs for about 47 minutes. At 55mm, I had no tracking errors at all at 80 seconds, but I'm getting very near the sky limit here, so 90 is probably going to be my max. Hey ho, we have to work with the tools we have! :)
Nikon D70 full spectrum, 55-200 at 55mm mounted directly on an EQ5, f5.6, 1600iso
35x80sec subs unguided
Darks, flats and bias
Stacked and processed in DSS and CS5, with a little help from Noel's tools.
Might have another crack at processing this later - looking a bit smudgy at the top there, which isn't in the subs. A setting in DSS no doubt needs tweaking :)