Con solo 1h e 10min di integrazione totale e temperatura del sensore 22°

-#85 in Explore 11/11/2016 (verificato 12/11/16 ore20:30)

Il 12/09/2015 acquisivo questo FOV con lo scopo di riuscire ad evidenziare anche le Nubi Molecolari che circondano il famosissimo ammasso aperto delle Pleiadi (M45). In questi casi occorrono cieli molto bui, una congrua integrazione e temperatura ambiente abbastanza bassa per chi utilizza le DSLR. Purtroppo velature e nubi mi avevano permesso di acquisire solo 14 frames da 300s: troppo poca l'integrazione di 1h e 10 min per pretendere qualcosa. Inoltre occorre ricordare che lo strumento fotografico era il teleobiettivo Zenit Jupiter-11A 135mm f4 (diametro obiettivo di 33,75 mm). flic.kr/p/MekcC7

Speravo in altre sessioni fotografiche per aumentare almeno l'integrazione totale, ma non sono stato fortunato.

Dopo un anno di inutile speranze ero comunque molto curioso di vedere cosa avrei potuto estrapolare da quei pochi frames. I frames combinati dal programma DeepSkyStacker (DSS) hanno creato il file.tif finale combinato, che mostrava appena un pò di nebulosità attorno a M45.

Il mio obiettivo erano le debolissime Nubi Molecolari quindi mi aspettava una elaborazione molto ardua!

E' stato necessario agire molto sulla regolazione livelli di PS e il forte "stretch" ha ovviamente evidenziato i limiti della poca integrazione. Non è stato facile controllare i diametri stellari e il rumore nei mezzitoni e nelle ombre . Questi effetti collaterali mi hanno costretto a lavorare molto con le selezioni e algoritmi riduci-rumore. Sapevo già che non potevo pretendere grande definizione dei dettagli.

Malgrado tutto l'obiettivo è stato raggiunto e mi ritengo molto soddisfatto del risultato finale, dove le debolissime Nubi Molecolari, presenti nella nostra Via Lattea, sono visibili.

Curiosità> Fa un certo effetto ripensare che fino a 15 anni fa con la fotografia analogica un risultato come questo era impensabile e irragiungibile con modesti strumenti.

___________

With only 1h and 10 min of total integration time and sensor temperature 22°C

-#85 on Explore 11/11/2016 (checked on 11.12.2016 8.30 pm)

On 09/12/2015 I acquired this FOV for the purpose too to be able to reveal the molecular clouds that surround the famous Pleiades open cluster (M45). In these cases it takes a long dark skies, a fair share integration and low enough ambient temperature for those who use DSLR. Unfortunately, clouds had allowed me to acquire only 14 frames of 300s: too little integration of 1h and 10 min to demand something. It is noted that the photographic instrument was the telephoto Zenit Jupiter-11A 135mm f4 (objective diameter of 33.75 mm). flic.kr/p/MekcC7

I was hoping for more photo sessions to increase at least the total integration, but I was not lucky.

After a year of futile hope I was however very curious to see what I could extrapolate from those few frames. The frames combined by DeepSkyStacker (DSS) program have created the final file.tif combined, which showed only a little nebulosity around M45.

My objective was very faint Molecular Clouds therefore waited for me a very arduous processing!

It was important to act on the adjustment levels of PS and the strong stretch has obviously revealed the limitations of little integration. It was not easy to control the stellar diameters and noise in the midtones and shadows. These adverse effects have forced me to work a lot with the selections and reduce noise algorithms. I already knew that I could not expect great detail definition.

Despite all, the purpose has been achieved and I am very pleased with the final result, where the faint Molecular Clouds, present in our Milky Way, are visible.

Curiosity> Makes a certain effect rethink that until 15 years ago with analog photography a result like this was unthinkable and unattainable with modest instruments.

_____________________________

Lens: Zenit Jupiter-11A 135mm f/4 flic.kr/p/MekcC7

Camera: Canon EOS 550D (Rebel T2i) mod. Baader BCF

Mount: Sky Watcher HEQ5 Synscan

Seeing 3 (scala Antoniadi inversa)

14x300s 1600iso / 21 dark / 21 flat / 21 bias

date 12/09/2015

temperature 16°C (media)

Temperature sensor: 22°C (media)

Integration 1h 10min

Location: monti Nebrodi, (Sicily-Italy) 1550m slm

Elaborazione DSS + PSCS3.

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.

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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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

www.flickr.com/photos/edholtastro/

www.astrobin.com/users/EdHoltAstro/

Taken with a TMB92L, Hutech-modified Canon T3i DSLR, Orion SSAG autoguider and 50mm guidescope, and Celestron AVX mount. Consists of 24 300-second light frames, all at ISO 800, as well as 30 flat and 100 bias frames. No darks. Captured with BackyardEOS, stacked in DeepSkyStacker, and processed in Photoshop.

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.

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).

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:

www.astrobin.com/259574/

(Explore)

Here is finally my first capture of M31 using a zoom lens and a tracking mount ! (I have been waiting it for a long time)

The photo itself is a stacking of 22 pictures of 1 minute of exposure time each. I wanted to increase the number of shots in order to reduce the digital noise but the fog came out.

Technical Datas :

Canon EOS 600D (unmodified)+ 70-300 mm Tamron lens + meade lxd75

22 x 60 secs exposure

ISO 1600

480 mm (with crop factor) + cropped image

F/6.3

JPEG images proccessed with DeepSkyStacker (the result is better with JPEG than TIFF !) + lightroom

My newly-created blog (french description): astroguigeek.blogspot.com/

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).

View Large on Black

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.

I woke up early again for the comet. Yesterday I shared a photo that anyone could do with some basic photography gear. Today’s shot utilized the tracking abilities of my @celestronuniverse telescope. I followed the same steps as I do for my deep sky images, aligning my telescope’s mount to the celestial pole so it would track the sky accurately. I piggybacked my @sonyalpha a7rIII and adapted @nikonusa 500mm f/4 on the optical tube. I took 27 4-second exposures and stacked them together with dark, flat, and bias frames in DeepSkyStacker. The file created was processed in Photoshop. I’ll more than likely be waking up early again tomorrow morning.

I almost continued work on my Orion mosaic last night, but ultimately decided to image the Cone Nebula region again. My previous image of this area from a year ago always bugged me - the focus was off and I didn't like the processing.

So I reshot this area last night - this time my focus was on, the skies were better, and I like the color I ended up with more. Not as happy with the framing, but at least the data is good so I can potentially add more data to this at a later date to improve framing or create a mosaic.

Fujifilm X-T10, Samyang 135mm f/2.0 ED UMC @ f2.0, ISO 1600, 47 x 60 sec, tracking with iOptron SkyTracker Pro, stacking with DeepSkyStacker, editing with Astro Pixel Processor and GIMP, taken on Jan. 13, 2021 under Bortle 3/4 skies.

Here is the Horsehead Nebula and Flame Nebula in Orion.

Behind the scenes (video) Video: youtu.be/8Jsg73B9DII

This image was captured using a DSLR camera (Canon EOS 60Da) and a William Optics Zenithstar 73 Refractor.

On Sunday night I collected data on two subjects, including this fading winter target!

24 x 5-minutes

ISO 1600

Canon EOS 60Da

William Optics Z73 Doublet

Radian Telescopes Triad Ultra Filter (2")

Sky-Watcher HEQ-5 Pro SynScan

Controlled using Astro Photography Tool

Autoguiding in PHD2

DeepSkyStacker

Photoshop 2020

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.

Milkyway over Winkelmoosalm

Stars: Vega, Denab, Altair

Single frame

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.

Jupiter with part of the Milkyway

Light dome above Oberixiengen (BW)

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

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.

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

Nikon D7000 + 70-200mm

ISO 1600

source images stacked by DSS

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

Processed 8 images in DeepSkyStacker, PS and LR.

Sadly the 50D is still bad at noise

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 :)

My Astrophotography

#orion_nebula and a side of of the #running_man_nebula

Telescope 🔭

152mm David H. Levy #Comet_Hunter at Focal length 730mm.

Mount

AZ-EQ5 GoTo Mount

Camera

ZWO ASI294 mc pro

Guide Camera

ZWO ASI120MC

No filters

60 images light frames:

40 X 60 sec

20 X 5 sec

15 flats

120 sec.

Imaging Software

N.I.N.A

Stacked using

DeePSkYStacker

Pixinsight

Photoshop

www.tameem.ae

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).