Taken 24/08-01/09-02/09/2014 9x600 secs Ha 8x600 secs OIII. Ha used for red channel OIII used for green,blue channels

Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Mono Cooled to -10C

Guiding: PHD ,ST80 Scope, Lodestar X2

Optics: Altair Astro 8" RC Astrograph fitted with a Astro Physics CCDT67 0.67x Reducer. Reducing down from F8 to F5.3

Filter: Baader H-alpha 7nm OIII 8.5nm,Astronomik CLS Filter

Mount: Skywatcher AZ EQ6-GT EQ & Alt-Az Mount connected to the Sky X and Eqmod via HitecAstro EQDIR adapter

Image Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro

Stacking and Calibrating: DeepSkyStacker

Processing: Pixinsight 1.8

Equipment

Imaging Telescopes Or Lenses

Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED

Imaging Cameras

ZWO ASI 183 MM PRO

Mounts

Sky-Watcher NEQ6-Pro

Filters

Baader B 1.25'' CCD Filter · Baader Ha 1.25" 7nm · Baader G 1.25'' CCD Filter · Baader R 1.25'' CCD Filter

Accessories

TSOptics TS Off Axis Guider - 9mm · Skywatcher Field flattener for Esprit 80mm

Software

Luc Coiffier DeepSkyStacker (DSS) · PHD2 Guiding · PhotoShop CS5 · FitsWork 4 · CCDCiel

Guiding Telescopes Or Lenses

Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED

Guiding Cameras

Astrolumina Alccd5L-IIc

Acquisition details

Dates:

May 30, 2021

Frames:

Baader B 1.25'' CCD Filter: 8x300" (40') (gain: 53.00) -20°C bin 1x1

Baader G 1.25'' CCD Filter: 8x300" (40') (gain: 53.00) -20°C bin 1x1

Baader Ha 1.25" 7nm: 8x300" (40') (gain: 200.00) -20°C bin 1x1

Baader R 1.25'' CCD Filter: 8x300" (40') (gain: 53.00) -20°C bin 1x1

Integration:

2h 40'

Several other galaxies are visible in the background.

This is the first of a series of images taken during several clear nights last week.

13 x 4-minute, manually guided exposures at 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.

M42 - THE GREAT ORION NEBULA AND RUNNING MAN - Jan 2021

Ok, this is my final version of this subject for this year. I added another 2 and a half hours of data, to make this a total final exposure of 5 hours.

This is an HDR image created by blending 3 different exposure lengths after stacking and initial processing in Photoshop. It is the first time I've really tried to complete a full HDR image and I think the core of M42 has turned out OK. You can still see detail in the bright Trapezium core region, as well as still seeing fainter details in the outer nebulosity.

I am super happy with the look of this final image, it's muted and has a slightly dreamy colour balance, some will say I've pushed the data too far, but I like it.

Thanks for looking and sharing, comments always welcomed.

Clear skies.

Ed

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

136 x 10 secs = 22 mins

28 x 60 secs = 38 mins

80 x 180 sec = 4 hours

Total = 5 hours

350 x Dark frames

250 x Bias frames

230 x Flat frames

230 x Dark flat frames

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

www.instagram.com/edholtastro

www.flickr.com/photos/edholtastro/

twitter.com/edholtastro

www.astrobin.com/users/EdHoltAstro/

This, I am reliably informed by my software, is the cluster M34 aka NGC 1039, chillin' up there somewhere in Perseus. With some spikes of course, to make it a little less uninteresting. Charles Messier must have had bloody good eyesight!

17 down, 93 to go. At my present rate, I should have them all just before my 132nd birthday. :)

My latest attempt at The Andromeda Galaxy. 2.5 Million light years away..

51x60sec

48x90sec

Canon XSi

Orion 80ED Telescope

Atlas EQ-G

Telescope: William Optics ZenithStar 81 Refractor

Mount: Losmandy GM811G

Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI 2600MC Pro

Filter: Optolong L-eXtreme Dual-band Filter

Site: Elk Grove, California, USA

Calibration Files: None

Guiding: None

Integration Time: 3h 10m

No of Frames: 190

Sub Exposure Timne: 60 seconds

Bortle Zone: Class 6

Date Taken: February 10, 2021

Processing:

DeepSkyStacker:

- stacked 90% of frames

- enabled 2x drizzle to get double the resulting size from default

- aligned RGB final imaged

- saved 32bit image

SiriL:

-Histogram Transformation

-Photometric Color Calibration

-Background Extraction

Photoshop:

- reduced 32bit to 16-bit

- cropped/rotated

- level/curve adjustment

- tweak color using HSL

Equipment

Imaging Telescopes Or Lenses

GSO 8" f/5 Imaging Newtonian

Imaging Cameras

ZWO ASI 183 MM PRO

Mounts

Sky-Watcher NEQ6-Pro

Filters

Baader B 1.25'' CCD Filter · Baader Ha 1.25" 7nm · Baader G 1.25'' CCD Filter · Baader R 1.25'' CCD Filter · Baader Planetarium O3 1.25" 8.5nm

Accessories

TSOptics TS Off Axis Guider - 9mm · Pal Gyulai GPU Aplanatic Koma Korrector 4-element

Software

Luc Coiffier DeepSkyStacker (DSS) · PHD2 Guiding · PhotoShop CS5 · FitsWork 4 · CCDCiel

Guiding Telescopes Or Lenses

GSO 8" f/5 Imaging Newtonian

Guiding Cameras

Astrolumina Alccd5L-IIc

Acquisition details

Dates:

March 14, 2020 · March 15, 2020 · Feb. 25, 2021 · Feb. 27, 2021 · Feb. 28, 2021 · March 1, 2021 · March 2, 2021

Frames:

Baader B 1.25'' CCD Filter: 20x300" (1h 40') (gain: 53.00) -20°C bin 1x1

Baader G 1.25'' CCD Filter: 20x300" (1h 40') (gain: 53.00) -20°C bin 1x1

Baader Ha 1.25" 7nm: 89x600" (14h 50') (gain: 200.00) -20°C bin 1x1

Baader Planetarium O3 1.25" 8.5nm: 43x600" (7h 10') (gain: 200.00) -20°C bin 1x1

Baader R 1.25'' CCD Filter: 20x300" (1h 40') (gain: 53.00) -20°C bin 1x1

Integration:

27h

East Veil Nebula is a cloud of gas and dust, a supernova remnant 2400 light years from Earth.

⏱️ 4h44min (71 x 4min ISO 800 frames)

Kaunas, Lithuania (Bortle 8 skies)

📅 September, 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

The Raspberry nebula is in the center.( SH2-263 is the red emission nebula and VDB38 is the blue reflection nebula.) The central star is HD34989. To the right is SH2-265 and lower left shows a section of the Lambda Orionis ring SH2-264. The blue light from the star Bellatrix "shines" from the lower right.

Image dates: 24,25,26,27 and 28 december 2016

Esprit 100 triplet APO with matching flattener/ Canon 6Da/ Optolong L filter/ 10 micron GM2000 HPS II in Scopedome 2M

201x240 seconds iso1600. Stacked in DeepSkyStacker with 34 Flats, 27 Darks and 150 Bias frames.

This is enough data so i could use only basic processing in PI: DBE, HistogramTransformation, a little SCNR to remove green and a little curves adjustment. So no BackgroundNeutralisation, no ColorCorrection, no Noise reduction etc.

Knight Observatory, Tomar

Telescope: William Optics ZenithStar 81 Refractor

Mount: Losmandy GM811G

Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI 2600MC Pro

Filter: Optolong L-eXtreme Dual-band Filter

Site: Elk Grove, California, USA

Calibration Files: None

Guiding: None

Integration Time: 5h 32m

Bortle Zone: Class 6

Processing:

DeepSkyStacker:

- stacked 90% of frames

- aligned RGB final imaged

- saved 32bit image

Photoshop:

- reduced size to 67%

- level/curve adjustment to stretch image

- hue/saturation to change color

- Camera Raw Filter to tweak Exposure, Contrast, Details (mainly for noise reduction)

M57 (NGC 6720) is probably one of the most recognizable Messier objects. It is a planetary nebula found in the constellation Lyra, referred to as the Ring Nebula, and lies about 2,300 light-years from Earth. M57 is the glowing remains of a sun-like star. The star expelled a vast envelope of ionized gas before becoming a white dwarf.

Observation data: J2000 epoch

Right ascension: 18h 53m 35.079s

Declination: +33° 01′ 45.03″

Distance: 2300 ly

Apparent magnitude (V): 8.8

Apparent dimensions (V): 230″ × 230″

Constellation: Lyra

Tech Specs: Orion 8" f/8 Ritchey-Chretien Astrograph Telescope, Celestron CGEM-DX pier mounted, ASI071MC-Pro, ZWO AAPlus, ZWO EAF, 111 x 60 seconds at -10C, processed using DeepSkyStacker and PixInsight. Image Date: April 13, 2023. Location: The Dark Side Observatory (W95), Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).

A stack of 10x10s images at ISO 800 taken with an Olympus PEN E-PL6 M4/3 camera body through a William Optics Megrez 72mm f/6 refractor with Baader coma corrector. Omegon clockwork tracking mount on a camera tripod. Stacked in DeepSkyStacker and processed in PixInsight.

Taken between 22:36 and 22:40 UT the comet was at an altitude of only 5°40' about 10° west of north.

A picture of the galaxies M81, M82, and NGC3077 in Ursa Major created by stacking 29 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.

An attempt to pull out Milky Way Dark Rift.

The catch is: it's the cheapest DSLR, basic fast lens, no tripod, no remote shutter, and, of course, no telescope.

19 images from Nikon D3100 10s f/1.8 35mm ISO 1600 stacked in DeepSkyStacker + developed in Acdsee Pro.

White balance and tint can be questioned but hey you don't see these colors with aided or unaided eye anyway :)

Same source files as those used to produce flic.kr/p/Agb4wN, but this time with flats applied.

NGC 6229 is a globular cluster located in the constellation Hercules. NGC 6229 is located about 100,000 light years away from Earth, almost 5 times farther than M13, and is located in the outer halo of our galaxy.

Observation data (J2000 epoch)

Constellation: Hercules

Right ascension: 16h 46m 58.8s

Declination: +47° 31′ 40″

Apparent magnitude (V): 9.4

Apparent dimensions (V): 4.50'

Tech Specs: Orion 8" f/8 Ritchey-Chretien Astrograph Telescope, Celestron CGEM-DX pier mounted, ASI071MC-Pro, ZWO AAPlus, ZWO EAF, 81 x 60 seconds at -10C, processed using DeepSkyStacker and PixInsight. Image Date: March 20, 2023. Location: The Dark Side Observatory (W95), Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).

Skywatcher 72 ED

Nikon D3500

ISOSPEED= 3200

EXPTIME = 18167.5995368958 / Exposure time (in seconds)

EXPOSURE= 18167.5995368958 / Exposure time (in seconds)

NCOMBINE= 403 / Number of stacked frames

SOFTWARE= 'DeepSkyStacker 5.1.6'

DATE-OBS= '2024-12-29T02:09:50'

Processed with Siril and Darktable

Imaging telescope or lens:Altair Astro 72edf deluxe

Imaging camera:Pentax K-5

Mount:iOptron SkyGuider Pro

Guiding telescope or lens:QHYCCD miniGuideScope

Guiding camera:QHYCCD QHY5II-L

Focal reducer:Hotech SCA Field Flattener

Software:DeepSkyStacker 4.1.1, Pleaides Astrophoto PixInsight 1.8 Ripley

Frames:

63x120" ISO800

16x150" ISO800

Integration: 2.8 hours

Darks: ~26

Flats: ~7

Flat darks: ~7

Bias: ~100

This is the open cluster designated NGC 7419 in the constellation Cepheus. This cluster is between 7,500 and 11,000 light years away. Its location is behind some dark nebulae which reddens the color of the stars. The cluster does contain no less than five red supergiant stars - this is one of my favorite open clusters!

Tech Specs: Meade 12” LX-90 SCT Telescope, Antares Focal Reducer, ZWO ASI2600MC camera running at 0F, 121 x 60 seconds, Celestron CGX-L pier mounted, ZWO EAF and ASIAir Pro, processed in DSS and PixInsight. Image Date: July 24, 2025. Location: The Dark Side Observatory (W59), Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).

NGC 2683 is a spiral galaxy in the northern constellation of Lynx. It was discovered by the astronomer William Herschel on February 5, 1788. My image was done using 2 hours and 42 minus of collected data, I really love the dark dust lanes visible in this galaxy.

Observation data (J2000 epoch)

Constellation: Lynx

Right ascension: 08h 52m 41.3s

Declination: +33° 25′ 19″

Distance: 30.53 ± 0.91 Mly

Apparent magnitude (V): 10.6

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 5, 2024. Location: The Dark Side Observatory (W59), Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).

An emission nebula about 6,000 light years away in the constellation of Cygnus.

Data gathered at The Astronomy Centre, Todmorden, UK.

www.astronomycentre.org.uk

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 101, Optolong L'enhance 2" filter, ZWO filter drawer, ZWO asiair plus.

120s exposures.

Best 75% of 60 light frames.

Darks, Flats & Bias.

Stacked with DeepSkyStacker and processed in PixInsight & Affinity Photo.

Heart Nebula IC 1805, Fishhead Nebula IC1795

4.5hrs guided

Camera and scope : TS72 APO + TS72flat, Nikon d90 mod

432mm /f6/ iso800

Tracking: Skywatcher Star Adventurer

guiding: TS 50mm f3.6 guidescope , zwo asi120mc-s

Software: Deepskystacker, Photoshop, PHD2

Immagine realizzata in collaborazione con Giuliano Monti (www.tecnosky.it) coautore che ha gentilmente concesso tutta la strumentazione, lol, io ho messo solo la camera eos e due birre ♥

Telescopi o obiettivi di acquisizione: GSO RC12

Montature: SkyWatcher AZ EQ6 GT

Camere di guida: Starlight Xpress Lodestar

Software: DeepSkyStacker, Adobe Lightroom 3, Noel Carboni's Astro Tools for PhotoShop

Filtri: Orion SkyGlow 2" Imaging Filter

Accessori: Tecnosky Guida fuori asse-OAG

Date: 30 luglio 2013

Luoghi: Fubine (AL)

Pose:

Orion SkyGlow 2" Imaging Filter: 7x480" ISO1600 1C bin 1x1

Orion SkyGlow 2" Imaging Filter: 4x600" ISO1600 1C bin 1x1

Orion SkyGlow 2" Imaging Filter: 1x780" ISO1600 1C bin 1x1

Integrazione: 1.8 ore

Dark: ~21

Flat: ~24

Scala del Cielo Scuro Bortle: 3.00

Temperatura: 17.00

I've taken the first steps to learning more about astrophotography. This shot of M13, the Hercules Cluster was taken on a polar aligned mount with a 500mm lens piggybacked on my optical tube. I recently bought an autoguider but this was just before I did that. This is 27 90 second images stacked with darks, biases and flats in deepskystacker.

www.DonegalSkies.com

Location: Killygordon, Co. Donegal, Ireland.

Time: 22:00 - 00:00

Date: 21 Sep 2012

Target: ANdromeda Galaxy

Exposures: 8 x Five minute exposures (12Darks) Flats

Equipment:

Mount- Celestron CG5-GT (unguided)

Camera- Self-modified Canon 1000D

Telescope- Celestron Oynx 80ED

Additional- Astronomik cls clip LP filter.

Stacking & Processing: DeepSkyStacker & Photoshop CS5

Erste Gehversuche mit Deep Sky Fotografie und DSS (Stacker).

Stack von 25 Bilder mit Canon 70-200 /2.8

200mm / f2.8 / 1,6sec / ISO 1250

Aufnahme vom 2019-02-24

Fujifilm X-T10, Samyang 135mm f/2.0 @ f2.0, ISO 1600, 32 x 60 sec, tracking with iOptron SkyTracker Pro, stacking with DeepSkyStacker, editing in GIMP, taken June 2 under Bortle 3/4 skies.

July 31 edit: Reduced green cast.

The faint outer halo is just visible, bringing out the dark ring around the brighter centre of the galaxy.

34 x 1-minute unguided exposures at ISO 6400. Modified EOS 600D & Revelation 12" f/4 Newtonian reflector telescope.

Frames registered and stacked in DeepSkyStacker software; curves adjusted in Canon Photo Professional; noise reduction in CyberLink PhotoDirector.

12/4/2018 12:46-1:41am MST

Grand Mesa Observatory

grandmesaobservatory.com/

14x 240sec

Processing: Photoshop CC, PixInsight

Stacking: DeepSkyStacker

Camera: QHY367C One Shot Color CMOS

Pixel Size: 4.88x4.88

Image Scale (1x1): 1.55 arcsec/pixel

FOV: 127.3 x 190.1 arcmin

Optics: Takahashi FSQ130

Aperture: 130mm

Focal Length: 650mm

Focal Ratio: F5

Guiding: Stellarview 50mm

Mount: Paramount ME

Target:NGC281 Pacman Nebula, a bright emission and part HII region in the constellation of Cassiopeia at about 9200 light years from Earth.

Location:29/12/2020 from St.Helens UK, Bortle 8 under a full Moon.

Aquisition:25x 180s Ha, 25x 180s (OIII), 21x 180s (SII). Total integration 213min.

Equipment:Imaging: Skywatcher Esprit 100ED, HEQ5, ZWO ASI1600MM Pro with EFWmini and Baader-Planetarium narrowband filters.

Guiding: Skywatcher 9x50 Finder with ZWO ASI120MM.

Software:Capture: NINA, PHD2.

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

Memories:Still clear frosty conditions with a full Moon.

Framing is a little out as this was shot using 2 scopes.

H-alpha data captured by Mick Hyde (9 Feb 14).

H-Alpha - 12x300s & 7x20s

Green - 21x120s & 21x15s (2x2)

Blue - 15x120s & 15x15s (2x2)

Stacked in DeepSkyStacker & processed in PS2.

Camera: Atik 490ex Mono

Filters: Baader H-Alpha 7nm, GB.

Scope: (G&B) Sky-Watcher Equinox 80ED .

Mount: AZ EQ6-GT goto, PhD guided with Orion 50mm guidescope & SSAG.

wiki

grazie ad Ale ed a Edo, per l'ospitalita', l'assistenza e la compagnia!! :) un bel regalo di compleanno ragassi!

Telescopi o obiettivi di acquisizione: APO Triplet 130/910 mm

Camere di acquisizione: Canon / CentralDS EOS Astro 50D

Montature: Sky-Watcher EQ6 Pro

Telescopi o obiettivi di guida: 80/600

Camere di guida: lacerta mgen2

Riduttori di focale: Flattener 2"

Software: DeepSkyStacker, Adobe Lightroom 3, Noel Carboni's Astro Tools for PhotoShop

Filtri: Orion SkyGlow 2" Imaging Filter

Risoluzione: 1600x1066

Date: 07 giugno 2013, 08 giugno 2013

Luoghi: Refrancore

Pose:

Orion SkyGlow 2" Imaging Filter: 10x240" ISO1600 bin 1x1

Orion SkyGlow 2" Imaging Filter: 18x360" ISO1600 bin 1x1

Integrazione: 2.5 ore

Dark: ~12

Flat: ~20

Haven't been around these parts much lately, but managed a couple of images in the meantime.

This is another collaboration between myself and Dave Williams, who provided the Ha used as luminance. My first mosaic, it consists of three frames (well, two and a tiny little strip in between really) processed using photomerge in Photoshop, which I was impressed with. Several sessions between July and September 2013

Meaningless stats follow:

RGB:

SW ED80/EQ5

Canon 500D modded, Baader Neodymium filter

All three frames: 246 subs totalling 13 hours 28 minutes

Acquisition: APT

Guiding: Quickcam Pro4000/9x50 finderscope, PHD

Stacked in DSS and processed in CS5, using photomerge for the stitching together

Ha (Dave Williams):

Usual :)

The Andromeda Galaxy from my backyard in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Orion ED80

Canon 5D

Celestron CG5 mount.

32 x 1min exposures at ISO 1600

Stacked with DeepSkyStacker.

A spiral galaxy in the constellation Camelopardalis.

It goes by the nickname of the Hidden galaxy as it's a very difficult target for visual and for photography. This is due to it lying pretty much in the same line of sight as the Milky Way and all it's bright stars and dust lanes. Except IC342 which is about 11 million light years further on.

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 100, Optolong L'enhance 2" filter, ZWO asiair plus.

Darks, Flats & Bias.

Stacked with DeepSkyStacker and processed in StarTools & Affinity Photo.

Also known as Caldwell 49 and NGC 2237.

The Rosette is an emission nebula in the constellation Monoceros some 5,000 light years away.

It's thought to be responsible for the birth of some 2,500 stars. A group of which can be seen near the centre, this is the open star cluster NGC 2244 estimated to be about 4,000,000 years old.

Boring Techie bit:

Telescope: Askar FRA400 with .7 reducer

Mount: EQ6r pro

Camera: ZWO 533mc pro

Filter: Optolong L'eNhance.

Guided and controlled by the ZWO asiair+

Best 90% of 40 light frames 180 seconds each.

Stacked with darks, flats, dark flats & bias with DSS.

Processed using Graxpert, PixInsight & Affinity Photo.

Thought I'd take the opportunity to capture the comet, currently in Andromeda, again. The sky was less murky than last night, but it's likely to be the last clear night for a while.

22 x 30-sec exposures at f/4 and ISO 3200 with an EOS 600D and Zeiss Jena 135mm f/3.5 lens on a Vixen Polarie star tracker. The frames were stacked on the comet in DeepSkyStacker, with curves adjustment and further noise reduction in post-processing. Also Starnet++ software used to temporarily separate the stars and comet and prevent the stars bloating when comet contrast is stretched; this has revealed more of the tail that would otherwise be lost in the star background.

28 x 5 minutes, ISO 800

Sensor temp: +39-43C

60 darks, 60 flats, 100 bias

Equipment: Canon t2i, Orion 8" Astrograph, Atlas EQ-G

Guiding: SSAG, Orion ST80, PHD

Accessories: Astronomik CLS, Baader MPCC

Acquisition: EQMOD, Cartes du Ciel, Backyard EOS

Processing: DeepSkyStacker, Pixinsight, Photoshop CS6 (for mask fine-tuning)

Stacked with DeepSkyStacker: 15 frames, 2s, F2.8, ISO1600

This is my second attempt at processing this image, I think the result looks better than my last try. I still need more data though.

Canon 60Da

Tamron 24-70mm at 70mm

Astronomik CLS EOS Clip Filter

22x 120 second exposures

ISO 3200 at f/2.8

Tracked using an AstroTrac TT320X-AG (no guiding)

Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker and processed in Photoshop.

Taken in Cabo de Gata National Park in Spain, May 2014.

The center of this view was barely fifteen degrees above the horizon when I started imaging it, I was killing time waiting for my main target to rise in to view.

22 Lights

30 Darks

30 Flats

Known has the Silver Needle galaxy.

This edge-on loose spiral galaxy is about 13.5 million light years from us in the constellation Canes Venatici. It's estimated to be 65,000 light years from end to end.

Captured on the 6th of March 2024.

Bortle 6, poor seeing.

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 -20c gain 100, Optolong L'enhance 2" filter, ZWO asiair plus.

120s exposures.

Best 70% of 90 light frames.

Darks, Flats & Bias.

Stacked with DeepSkyStacker and processed in Affinity Photo

The Pinwheel Galaxy (also known as Messier 101, M101 or NGC 5457) is a face-on spiral galaxy 21 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. The giant spiral disk of stars, dust and gas is 170,000 light-years across — nearly twice the diameter of our galaxy, the Milky Way. M101 is estimated to contain at least one trillion stars. The galaxy’s spiral arms are sprinkled with large regions of star-forming nebulas. These nebulas are areas of intense star formation within giant molecular hydrogen clouds. Brilliant, young clusters of hot, blue, newborn stars trace out the spiral arms. (ref: Wikipedia and NASA)

Observation data (J2000 epoch)

Constellation: Ursa Major

Right ascension: 14h 03m 12.6s

Declination: +54° 20′ 57″

Distance: 20.9 ± 1.8 Mly

Apparent magnitude (V): 7.9

Tech Specs: Orion 8” RC Telescope, ZWO ASI2600MC camera running at -10F, 47 x 60 seconds, Celestron CGEM-DX pier mounted, ZWO EAF and ASIAir Pro, processed in DSS and PixInsight. Image Date: February 5, 2024. Location: The Dark Side Observatory (W59), Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).

As requested by some fellow imagers, here's a look at what each individual narrowband channel has to offer in this part of the sky.

3 panel narrowband mosaic. Exposure times for each panel: 24X600"Ha, 24X600"OIII, and 24X600"SII.

Equipment used:

Canon 85mm f1.8 lens at f4, ZWO ASI183mm camera, AP900 mount, DeepSkyStacker, PixInsight star alignment, Photoshop levels, curves, blending, guided with ZWO174mm and Stellarvue SVR90T.

M13 Globular Cluster in Hercules.

Location:29-05-23 St Helens, UK, Bortle 7. 71% Moon.

Acquisition:19x 180s Red, 20x 180s Green, 20x 180s Blue. Calibrated with Bias, Darks, Flats and Dark flats.

Equipment:Skywatcher 200P Newtonian (modified), EQ6Rpro; Baader MPCCMkIII Coma Corrector; Optolong RGB filters; ZWO ASI533MMpro, EFW, EAF.

Guiding:Skywatcher Evoguide 50ED, Altair GPCAMAR0130M

Software:NINA, PHD2, EQMOD

Processing:DeepSkyStacker, Affinity Photo with NoiseXTerminator plug-in. GraXpert, Siril, AstroSharp.

Pleiades M45 last night. Moon was out, so hard to get detail! 🔭

Stacked 20 lights, iso 800, 180seconds and processed in DeepSkyStacker and Photoshop. Nikon z 50 and Skywatcher Esprit 100.

I tried the globular cluster M13 in the constellation Hercules again this year. This time I used the 1000 mm f/10 Maksutov-Cassegrain telephotolens MC MTO-11CA (nicknamed "Russentonne" or "russian barrel" due to its stocky look and its provenience), together with the Samsung NX30 and mounted onto the Star Adventurer tracking mount. It's actually quite daring to do this, particularly without guiding, since the mount is not really designed for such a long focal length. Nevertheless, I managed to get around 100 reasonably clear 30s subs (although with a woeful success rate of only about 1 out of 3, i.e., 300 acquired, 100 accepted).

Still, I think it was worth the effort. Sharpness is homogeneous and decent after some careful post-processing, and star colours come out nicely after photometric calibration, and -typical for this lens- without any chromatic aberration. The depth of the photo is not awesome with just short of one hour useful integration time, but the galaxy NGC6207 already starts to appear at the top left.

Image details:

Lens: MC MTO-11CA 1000 mm f/10

Camera: Samsung NX30

Mount: Skywatcher Star Adventurer

Guiding: no

Filter: none

Useful subs: 98x 30 s @ ISO3200 (out of 291)

Processing:

Stacking: Deep Sky Stacker with colour calib turned off

Post-processing: SiRiL, fitswork, Luminar 2018

About 9.5 hours of exposure over four days using a Tamron 150-600mm lens set to 300mm attached to a Canon EOS 50D(modified). Taken in strong Los Angeles light pollution under the hated light pole. I really need to invest in a light pollution filter but they're expensive...

Processed using DeepSkyStacker, Photoshop, Topaz Denoise AI, and Lightroom.

Night shift today with my son Kevin. The green dot on the top right is the comet "Leonard". It passes the earth only every 80,000 years (!) and is visible this year from late November to early December. Unfortunately the weather is very cloudy, we have been watching the weather forecast for days and saw last night that this morning could be an opportunity with a lot of luck. So we got up at half past four and searched. After about 30 minutes we had found it. Then made a total of 120 pictures each 4 seconds and stacked them with DeepSkyStacker. Lens was the "bokeh master" Sigma 105/1.4.

While I'm waiting for a new 12mm f2.0 lens, I thought I'd test my new Fuji X-M1 with the kit zoom under the light polluted skies of suburban Melbourne at ISO 6400. Then I pushed and played as much as I dared.

It's not realistic, but it is remarkable what a digital camera and software can do these days.

A photo of our galaxy, the Milky Way, taken just outside our chalet at Crystal Springs Mountain Lodge in Mpumalanga, South Africa. It's amazing what a dark, clear sky can show (along with a little work on the computer). This is 10 photos that I took (each 30 seconds exposure time), stacked together (using Deep Sky Stacker), and then edited a bit in GIMP. My first real Milky Way shot!

If anyone is curious about how I went about getting this shot, I wrote a "how-to" here: digital-photography-school.com/forum/how-i-took/197256-mi...