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The great Andromeda Galaxy M31 in messier catalog
This is a 4 panel mosaic capture during two cold nights.
Starless version : flic.kr/p/2mDSYEG
-Equipment-
Scope: TS-Optics 94/414 EPDH (414mm focal)
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro at -5°C
Guiding: ZWO OAG
Guiding camera: ZWO ASI 120MM
Mount: Skywatcher NEQ5
Filter: Astronomik L
-Acquisition-
Light :Panel-1 60x300s
Panel-2 60x300s
Panel-3 52x300s
Panel-4 60x300s
Dark-100x300s Flat-50 Bias-100
Date : Take on 2 night 05 September2021
and 10 October 2021
Location : France-Alsace Bortle 4/5
-Software-
Carte du Ciel, N.I.N.A, Phd2 , PoleMaster and PixInsight
Ez Processing Suite from darkarcon
darkarcon website : darkarchon.internet-box.ch:8443/
-Pre Processing each panels in PixInsight-
Image Calibration
Cosmetic Correction
Debayer
Subframe Selector
Star Alignement
Local Normalization
Drizzle x2
Dynamic crop
-Build the 4 panel mozaic
It's my first 4 panel mosaic so I follow this tutorial from Amy Astro www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0f8Tl_kC0A
-Processing
DBE master Light
Split L,R,G,B layer from Master light
__L__
Ez_Deconvolution
Ez_Denoise
Ez_Soft Streatch
Ez_HDR
UnsharpedMask with mask
__RGB__
Linear Fit
BackgroundNeutralization
PhotometricColorCalibration
Ez_Soft Streatch
Starnet++
CuvesTransformation with mask
A lot of curves...
Bring back stars with PixelMath
__LRGB__
LRGBCombination
Final CurvesTransformation
Ez_Star Reduction
DarkStructureEnhance script
Save as jpg
Clear Skies !
Autumn, also known as fall in North American English, is one of the four temperate seasons. Autumn marks the transition from summer to winter.
The word autumn comes from the ancient Etruscan root autu- and has within it connotations of the passing of the year. It was borrowed by the neighbouring Romans, and became the Latin word autumnus. After the Roman era, the word continued to be used as the Old French word autompne (automne in modern French) or autumpne in Middle English, and was later normalized to the original Latin. In the Medieval period, there are rare examples of its use as early as the 12th century, but by the 16th century, it was in common use.
IC 443 also known as the Jellyfish Nebula is a galactic supernova remnant in the constellation Gemini, at 5000 Light years from Earth.
IC 443 may be the remains of a supernova that occurred 3,000 - 30,000 years ago.
-Equipment-
Scope: TS-Optics 94/414 EPDH (414mm focal)
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro at -25°C gain 101 offset 49
Guiding: ZWO OAG
Guiding camera: ZWO ASI 120MM
Mount: Skywatcher AZ-EQ6
Filter: Optolong L-eXtreme
-Acquisition-
Light : 124x300s
Total integration time 10h
Dark: 34x300s Flat-50 Bias-100
Date : 4 March 2022
Location : France-Alsace Bortle 4/5
-Software-
Carte du Ciel, N.I.N.A, Phd2 , PoleMaster and PixInsight
Ez Processing Suite from darkarcon
darkarcon website : darkarchon.internet-box.ch:8443/
-Pre Processing each panels in PixInsight-
Image Calibration
Cosmetic Correction
Debayer
Subframe Selector
Star Alignement
Local Normalization
Image Integration
Drizzle x2
Dynamic crop
-Processing
DBE MasterLRGB
___RGB layer___HOO
Split RGB channels to build Ha and Oiii
Ha=R Oiii= B*0.3+G*0.7
EZ_Soft Stretch
HOO combination with Foraxx formula
R=Ha
G=((Oiii*Ha)^~(Oiii*Ha))*Ha + ~((Oiii*Ha)^~(Oiii*Ha))*Oiii
B=Oiii
Starnet++ for remove stars and build a mask nebula
Color Saturation
Curves Tansformation
Saturate stars for push up stars color
SCNR star mask
Bring back the stars with PixelMath
___L layer___
Ez_Deconvolution
Ez_Soft Stretch
Local Histogram Equalization with nebula mask
UnsharpedMask with nebula mask
___LRGB___
Ez_Denoise
Final Curve Transformation
Annotation
Save as JPG
Clear skies !
A modernization of the Adventurers: Dino Island set 5920 "Island Racer", my very first Lego car set. Adventurers has long been one of my favorite themes for its period setting, and Sam Sinister’s "Island Racer" is one of my favorite sets in the theme. In this design homage, the form has been normalized to be closer to real-world styling of the era, with the inclusion of details such as bumpers, front cycle fenders, and a hood ornament.
More photos available in the build album. Many thanks to the Lego Car Blog for their post about this build!
©2020 Chris Elliott, All Rights Reserved.
Find me also on:
NGC 281, also known as IC 11, SH2-184, and more commonly known as the “Pacman Nebula,” is an emission nebula located 9,100 light-years away in the constellation of Cassiopeia.
This image results from 8 hours of narrowband data and is rendered in the SHO Hubble Palette.
The initial data was collected over two nights ending on October 22nd. That collection cycle was interrupted due to illness. Three of the projects whose data was collected on those nights had enough integration that I could process the images. However, this one was still pretty short for the S2 filter. So I waited until I had a chance to add to the data set. Finally, on November 23, we had a clear night, and I was able to add about 3 hours more data to this project.
This image was shot on my Astro-Physics 130mm f/8.35 APO telescope platform, which uses a ZWO ASI2600MM-Pro camera, and is supported by an IOptron CEM60 Mount.
When I looked at the data for this project, I discovered a very strange artifact that I have never seen on this platform before - in fact, I have not seen it on any platform. I ended up having a series of concentric circles located in the lower-left corner of the image and a strange mottled noise across the rest of the image field. This pattern was not seen in the flats or the darks and was evident in every sub and master regardless of filters. It was also constant across all three evenings where data was collected.
In dealing with this, I ended up having the background sky much darker than I would have preferred, but all is not bad, as I think it does add to the "Snap" and the drama of the image.
This is also the first image I tried using Bill Blanshan's new SHO Normalization script on.
All details are in the post below.
The full story behind this image, along with a detailed processing walkthrough, can be found at:
cosgrovescosmos.com/projects/ngc281-pacman-nebula-11-23-22
A video of the blink analysis for this data is also available if interested:
Finally, a video on my YouTube channel provides a high-level view of the processing strategy for this image:
Please consider liking and following my fledgling YouTube channel! ( If nothing else you can laugh at my attempts to learn the video side of things!)
Thanks for looking!
Pat
This nebula is located at around 7500 lights years from the Earth and extend over 165 lights years.
On the upper right part you can see the Fish Head Nebula (IC 1795).
On the left it is a part of the Heart Nebula (IC 1805) and you can see Melotte 15 in the middle of the Heart Nebula, a little star cluster with a lot of dust
Starless version: flic.kr/p/2mA2B1y
One exposure 300s : flic.kr/p/2mwYXX5
-Equipment-
Scope: TS-Optics 94/414 EPDH (414mm focal)
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro at -15°C
Guiding: ZWO OAG
Guiding camera: ZWO ASI 120MM
Mount: Skywatcher NEQ5
Filter: Optrolong L-eXtreme
-Acquisition-
Light :218x300s ( 18h ) at Gain:101 Offset:49
Dark-100x300s Flat-50 Bias-100
Date : Take on 5 night 29, 30 september 2021
and 7, 8, 9 october 2021
Location : France-Alsace Bortle 4/5
-Software-
Carte du Ciel, N.I.N.A, Phd2 , PoleMaster and PixInsight
I use the ForaxX palette for HOO combination
ForaxX website : thecoldestnights.com
And the Ez Processing Suite from darkarcon
darkarcon website : darkarchon.internet-box.ch:8443/
-Pre Processing in PixInsight-
Image Calibration
Cosmetic Correction
Debayer
Subframe Selector
Star Alignement
Local Normalization
Drizzle x2
Dynamic crop
-Processing
Split the master_LRGB into L, R, G, B layer
DynamicBackgroundExtractor each layer
___RGB layer___
Split RGB channels for build Ha and Oiii
Ha=R Oiii= B*0.3+G*0.7
EZ_Soft Stretch
HOO combination with Foraxx formula
R=Ha
G=((Oiii*Ha)^~(Oiii*Ha))*Ha + ~((Oiii*Ha)^~(Oiii*Ha))*Oiii
B=Oiii
Starnet++ for remove stars and build a mask nebula
Color Saturation
Curves Tansformation (K,saturation,hue)
Saturate stars for push up stars color
SCNR with star Mask for remove green in stars (OSC camera)
Bring back the stars with PixelMath
___L layer___
Ez_Deconvolution
Ez_Denoise
Ez_Soft Stretch
Ez_HDR
Local Histogram Equalization with nebula mask
UnsharpedMask with nebula mask
___LRGB___
Final Curve Transformation
DarkStructureEnhance script
EZ_Star Reduction
Save as BMP 32bit file
Clear skies !
Target: IC405 IC410 Flaming Star and Tadpoles Mosaic
The Flaming Star Nebula is an emission and reflection nebula in the constellation Auriga.
The Tadpole Nebula was named because it hosts tadpole-shaped small dense knots of dust and gas that give birth to young stars
Gear:
• Mount: ZWO AM5
• Main Cam: ZWO ASI294MM Pro @ gain 120 and 4F
• Guide Cam: ZWO ASI120MM Mini with Askar OAG
• Telescope: Askar 103APO w/ 0.6x reducer/flattener - 420mm f/4
• Filter: Antlia EDGE Antlia SHO 4.5nm
Acquisition:
Panel 1
• Light frames: Sii 31 ea. 5min frames
• Light frames: Ha 33 ea. 5min frames
• Light frames: Oiii 31 ea. 5min frames
Panel 2
• Light frames: Sii 32 ea. 5min frames
• Light frames: Ha 31 ea. 5min frames
• Light frames: Oiii 42 ea. 5min frames
• roughly 8 hours per panel
• Sessions: 20, 21, and 22-Nov-2024
• Moon: 20 days old, 60%, 60 deg from target
• Location: Houston Backyard ~ Bortle 8/9
Pixinsight Processing - SHO MOSAIC
• Auto DBE
• Linear Fit to Sii
• Assemble Panel 1 and Panel2 channels
• Image Solver
• Mosaic by Coordinates
• Trim Mosaic Tile
• Photometric Mosaic (average)
• Dynamic Crop, Auto ABE, Image Solver
• BTX, STX
• Stars, NB to RGB Stars Combination script with star stretch
• Starless, revert image back to having stars
• Stretch using HT_Stretch_Unlinked pixel math script
• LRGB Combination into SHO pallet
• Invert, SCNR to fix magenta stars
• Narrowband Normalization
• NTX
• HT to set black point, Curves for color balance, Saturation
Photoshop Processing
• Starless
• Levels color balancing
• ACR highlights, black point, clarity, color mixer, noise reduction
• Stars
• Curves, Dust and Scratches to reduce stars
• Watermark
Saint-Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601,911 residents as of 2021, with more than 6.4 million people living in the metropolitan area. Saint-Petersburg is the fourth-most populous city in Europe, the most populous city on the Baltic Sea, and the world's northernmost city of more than 1 million residents.
The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Saint Petersburg is home to the Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world, the Lakhta Center, the tallest skyscraper in Europe, and was one of the host cities of the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the UEFA Euro 2020.
The name day of Peter I falls on 29 June, when the Orthodox Church observes the memory of apostles Peter and Paul. The consecration of the small wooden church in their names (its construction began at the same time as the citadel) made them the heavenly patrons of the Peter and Paul Fortress, while Saint Peter at the same time became the eponym of the whole city. When in June 1703 Peter the Great renamed the site after Saint Peter, he did not issue a naming act that established an official spelling; even in his own letters he used diverse spellings, such as Санктьпетерсьбурк (Sanktpetersburk), emulating German Sankt Petersburg, and Сантпитербурх (Santpiterburkh), emulating Dutch Sint-Pietersburgh, as Peter was multilingual and a Hollandophile. The name was later normalized and russified to Санкт-Петербург (Saint-Petersburg).
The historic architecture of Saint-Petersburg's city centre, mostly Baroque and Neoclassical buildings of the 18th and 19th centuries, has been largely preserved; although a number of buildings were demolished after the Bolsheviks' seizure of power, during the Siege of Leningrad and in recent years. The oldest of the remaining building is a wooden house built for Peter I in 1703 on the shore of the Neva near Trinity Square. Since 1991 the Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments in Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast have been listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
Target: NGC1499 The California Nebula in the Hubble pallet
The California Nebula is an emission nebula located in the constellation Perseus. Its name comes from its resemblance to the outline of the US State of California (in this composition on it's side). It is almost 2.5° long on the sky compared with the the moon at 1/2°. It lies at a distance of about 1,000 light years from Earth. While evaluating individual images that were stacked, I found I had captured a 200km diameter asteroid 13 Egeria. It's located to the left and down from the brightest star, above and between the close by 2 bright
Gear:
• Mount: ZWO AM5
• Main Cam: ZWO ASI294MM Pro @ gain 120 and -10C
• Guide Cam: ZWO ASI120MM Mini with Askar OAG
• Telescope: Askar 103APO w/.8x reducer - 560mm f/5.4
• Filter: Antlia EDGE Antlia SHO 4.5nm
Acquisition:
• 4 Panel Mosaic
• Roughly 4.5 hours integration each panel
• Sessions: 29, 30, and 31-Dec-2024
• Moon: n/a
• Location: Houston Backyard ~ Bortle 8/9
• Location: Austin Backyard ~ Bortle 8/9
Pixinsight Processing - SHO MOSAIC
• Assemble Panels
• Image Solver
• Mosaic by Coordinates
• Trim Mosaic Tile
• Photometric Mosaic (average)
• Crop, Auto ABE, Image Solver
• BXT, SXT
• Stars Only
• NB to RGB Stars Combination script with star stretch
• Starless
• Revert image back to having stars
• Stretch using HT_Stretch_Unlinked pixel math script
• LRGB Combination into SHO pallet
• Invert, SCNR to fix magenta stars
• Narrowband Normalization SHO
• NXT
• HT to set black point, Curves for color balance, Saturation
Photoshop Processing
• Starless
• Levels color balancing
• ACR highlights, black point, clarity, color mixer, noise reduction
• Stars
• Curves, Dust and Scratches to reduce stars
• Watermark
I was surprised to see this incident during a relentless evening downpour in Bangkok's Sukhumvit neighbourhood on 2 July 2026. As you can see, the drainage system is entirely overwhelmed; the distinction between the street and the pavement has completely vanished, with the rainwater deep enough to engulf the ankles of pedestrians and the tyres of vehicles.
The pedestrian in the foreground is saturated as she pauses mid-stream in the murky water, performing a 'Wai'—a graceful pressing together of the palms—towards the driver of the black vehicle who paused to allow her to cross.
The Cultural Context: Why the Wai Matters Now
In many Western cultures, a quick hand wave might suffice. But in Thailand, the Wai is a profound gesture of respect, gratitude, and humility. Witnessing this pedestrian prioritize this ritual while ankle-deep in floodwater is incredibly moving. This is the definition of Jai Yen (a "cool heart"): the distinct Thai cultural approach of maintaining composure and politeness even when faced with extreme frustration, heat, or, in this case, being totally soaked. It’s a testament to the resilient kindness you encounter everywhere in Bangkok.
Bangkok Rainfall Facts and Climate Reality
Scenes like this are becoming sadly all too common. Here’s why we should be concerned -
A Sinking City: One of the most surprising (and concerning) facts about Bangkok is that the city is actually sinking. Built on soft clay, groundwater extraction has caused areas to subside by nearly 1 to 2 centimeters per year over decades. This means the city is effectively dropping below sea level just as extreme weather is increasing.
The Climate Paradox: In 2026, images like this highlight the impact of climate change. While the total volume of monsoon rain might not always increase, the intensity does. Meteorologists now track "rain bombs"—sudden, catastrophic bursts that dump weeks’ worth of rainfall in just two or three hours, overwhelming drainage capacity instantly. What used to be a 1-in-100-year flood event is now becoming a regular event most summers.
Yet life Goes On: One of the craziest things about seeing these flood events in person is how normalized they are. Just down the street from where I took this, street food vendors were still operating. I saw a vendor stir-frying noodles, standing on a low plastic folding stool to keep their feet out of the rising water, while customers casually sat at a metal table, lifting their feet every time a car drove past to avoid the wake.
This memory, for me, represents that incredible blend of extreme urban challenges and enduring human dignity that defines modern Bangkok.
Difficult conditions for photography: Unfortunately while I used an umbrella while taking this shot and was careful not to get any rain on the camera, after five more days of photography my camera stopped working due to a faulty main board. Although I can't be certain of the actual cause, it seems possible that the heat and/or humidity proved too much for the X-T50.
I’ve learned to normalize quitting things that aren’t bringing me joy. We already have too many necessary things to do that aren’t exactly enjoyable (work, appointments, errands, etc.). Why clutter up my life more with things that aren’t necessary unless if I truly enjoy them?
Notebook from Soul Flower, bandana from Bandits Bandanas.
Target: IC63 Ghost of Cassiopeia.
About 550 light-years away in the constellation of Cassiopeia lies IC 63, a fitting nebula for Halloween time.
Also known as the ghost of Cassiopeia, IC 63 is being shaped by radiation from a variable star, Gamma Cassiopeiae, which is slowly eroding away the ghostly cloud of dust and gas.
Gear:
Mount: ZWO AM5
Main Cam: ZWO ASI294MC Pro @ gain 121 and 14F
Guide Cam: ZWO ASI120MM Mini with ZWO 30mm f/4 scope
Lens: Sigma 150-600 @ 575
Filter: Antlia ALP-T 5nm Ha and Oiii
Acquisition:
Light frames: Best 60 of 84 5 minute subs totalling 5 Hr integration
Sessions: 01-Nov-23
Location: Houston Colorado County, Texas
Bortle: 5
Moon: 87%, 60degrees off target
Processing
• PI - Subframe selector, WBPP
• GraXpert background
• PI SPCC
• PI Russel Croman - BXT NXT STX
• PI Starless Edits
○ Bill Blanshan Mike Cranfield Narrowband Normalization Tool
○ GHS Stretch
○ Curves
• PI Stars Edits
○ Arcsinh Stretch
○ SCNR, Invert and SCNR
○ Curve Saturation
• PS ACR Black point, Highlights, Clarity, Dehaze
• PS Selective Colors
• PS Screen stars layer, copy stars layer/brighten it/mask in selective stars
• PS Watermark
On May Day (5/1/10) there was a Homes Not Jails action to occupy an abandoned school at 16th and Mission in San Francisco. The goal is to set up a Free School and community space.
The police shut down the street even though the ten buildings being occupied were not obstructing traffic and it turned into a street party
This was part of a campaign to normalize the use of abandoned buildings and gain community support.
Crop of flic.kr/p/2oZQ87j
Western Veil is a part of the Cygnus Loop, a large supernova remnant (SNR) in the constellation Cygnus.
This nebula is located aroud 2400 light years from Earth 😮
Full resolution on www.astrobin.com/77ml6b/0/
Ha= 64x300s
Oii= 62x300s
R=15x30s
G=12x30s
B=12x30s
Total time : 10h49'
-Pre Processing-
Image Calibration
Cosmetic Correction
Debayer
Subframe Selector
Star Alignement
Local Normalization
Image Integration
Drizzle x2
-Processing-
Star Alignment
Dynamic Crop
Dynamic Background Extractor
Linear Fit Oii to Ha
___L layer___Ha
BlurXterminator
NoiseXterminator
EZ Soft Stretch
___RGB layer___SHO
EZ Soft Stretch Oiii
Combine Ha and Oiii in Pixel Math (ForaxX palette)
R=(Oiii^~Oiii)*Sii + ~(Oiii^~Oiii)*Ha
G=((Oiii*Ha)^~(Oiii*Ha))*Ha + ~((Oiii*Ha)^~(Oiii*Ha))*Oiii
B=Oiii
CurveTransformation
Color Saturation
Final Curves
NoiseXterminator
Save as JPEG
Clear skies !
Très bonne nouvelle pour Pistache : depuis l'augmentation de son traitement il y a un mois, ses valeurs thyroïdiennes se sont normalisées (même si à la limite supérieure) et elle est repassée tout juste au-dessus de 3kg. C'est toujours trop peu, mais ça fait du bien de savoir que son poids est remonté plutôt qu'une fois de plus descendu.
Very good news for Pistache: since the increase in her treatment a month ago, her thyroid values have normalized (even if at the upper limit) and she is again just over 3kg. It's still too little, but it's good to know that her weight has gone up rather than once again down.
Excerpt from the plaque:
O Wonders Wild and New
Royal Botanical Gardens stewards’ extensive natural lands, including 1,000 acres of forest within its nature sanctuaries and nearly 4,000 specimen trees across its cultivated gardens. In addition to stewardship, RBG has repurposed over 175,000 trees into restoration projects that support the health of local waterways and ecosystems.
Drawing from the original 1900 text The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, we’re introduced to the Fighting Trees who, though protecting the forest, meet their fate by the axe of the Tin Woodman as Dorothy and her companions travel North.
This act of destruction is viewed as necessary by the travelers even though they recognize the conservation role the Fighting Trees play in protecting the forest – their quest takes priority. Much like the City Beautiful Movement, a design and city building philosophy popular at the time of the writing of OZ, humankind is conflicted as it both reveres and seeks to control the natural world.
This sense of duality, or conflict, in values is ever-present in Oz and our present day. The notion that nature can be both celebrated and sought after yet casually discarded in pursuit of progress is central to our global climate and conservation crisis.
In Of Wonders Wild and New, our artists explore the themes of the power and beauty of nature, duality, our impact on the environment, and the material splendour and diversity of wood as a material.
Excerpt from theartycrowd.ca/artist_profile/breanna-shanahan/:
Breanna Shanahan (she/her/they) is a third generation Canadian of Maltese and Irish descent. She is a recent resident of the traditional territories of the Erie, Neutral, Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee and Mississaugas (Also known as Hamilton) Shanahan received her MFA at Concordia University in June 2019 and was a SSHRC recipient in 2017. She is a members of the Assembly Gallery artist collective and is a longstanding member of the Montreal based artist collective QO (Quite Ourselves) Shanahans works have been exhibited in Italy, China, Austria, the United States of America and in Canada. Shanahan has taught Sculpture and Drawing courses across Canada at multiple post-secondary and community institutions.
Excerpt from the plaque:
Forest Flux
Flux Forest transforms everyday Canadian plastic objects into a sculptural pseudo-woodland fabricated in wood. Employing traditional woodworking and digital fabrication, the installation invites viewers to reconsider ubiquitous disposable items through material translation. Tree trunks formed from stacked bottles, foliage from fence patterns, and wooden “microplastics” compose an immersive ecosystem.
The title invokes plastics’ thermoplastic flux – their capacity for endless reshaping that enabled post-war disposable culture. Both plastic and wood share designed invisibility, blending seamlessly into their surroundings. Yet these wooden sculptures will degrade over time, proving paradoxically weaker than their petroleum-based originals – confronting the normalization and invisibility of waste in our natural environments.
-Equipment-
Scope: TS-Optics 94/414 EPDH (414mm focal)
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro at -15°C
Guiding: ZWO OAG
Guiding camera: ZWO ASI 120MM
Mount: Skywatcher NEQ5
Filter: Optrolong L-eXtreme
-Acquisition-
Light : 131x300s (11h)
Dark-100x300s Flat-50 Bias-100
Date : 9, 10, 11 November 2021
Location : France-Alsace Bortle 4/5
-Software-
Carte du Ciel, N.I.N.A, Phd2 , PoleMaster and PixInsight
Ez Processing Suite from darkarcon
darkarcon website : darkarchon.internet-box.ch:8443/
-Pre Processing each panels in PixInsight-
Image Calibration
Cosmetic Correction
Debayer
Subframe Selector
Star Alignement
Local Normalization
Drizzle x2
Dynamic crop
-Processing
DBE master Light
Split L,R,G,B layer from Master light
__L__
Ez_Deconvolution
Ez_Denoise
Ez_Soft Streatch
UnsharpedMask
LocalHistogramEqualization
__RGB__
Linear Fit
BackgroundNeutralization
PhotometricColorCalibration
Ez_Soft Streatch
Starnet++
CuvesTransformation with mask
A lot of curves...
SCNR star mask
Bring back stars with PixelMath
__LRGB__
LRGBCombination
Final CurvesTransformation
Ez_Star Reduction
Save as jpg
Clear Skies !
normal is a setting on the microwave
“The normalization principle means making available to all people with disabilities people patterns of life and conditions of everyday living which are as close as possible to the regular circumstances and ways of life or society.”
Normalization involves the acceptance of people with disabilities, with their disabilities, offering them the same conditions as are offered to other citizens. It involves an awareness of the normal rhythm of life – including the normal rhythm of a day, a week, a year, and the life-cycle itself. It involves the normal conditions of life – housing, schooling, employment, exercise, recreation and freedom of choice. This includes “the dignity of risk”, rather than an emphasis on “protection”.
The theory of Social Role Valorisation is closely related to the principle of normalization, having been developed with normalization as a foundation
Autumn, also known as fall in North American English, is one of the four temperate seasons. Autumn marks the transition from summer to winter.
The word autumn comes from the ancient Etruscan root autu- and has within it connotations of the passing of the year. It was borrowed by the neighbouring Romans, and became the Latin word autumnus. After the Roman era, the word continued to be used as the Old French word autompne (automne in modern French) or autumpne in Middle English, and was later normalized to the original Latin. In the Medieval period, there are rare examples of its use as early as the 12th century, but by the 16th century, it was in common use.
The Wester Veil with more data 7,5h
This is the first time I use this method on pixinsight, (HOO combination).
-Equipment-
Scope: TS-Optics 94/414 EPDH (414mm focal)
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro at -5°C
Guiding: ZWO OAG
Guiding camera: ZWO ASI 120MM
Mount: Skywatcher EQ5
Filter: Optrolong L-eXtreme
-Acquisition-
Light : 90x300s (7,5h) at Gain:101 Offset:49
Dark,Flat,Offset
Date : Take on 5 night from 06/13/2021 to 07/12/2021
Location : France-Alsace Bortle 4/5
-Software-
Carte du Ciel, N.I.N.A, Phd2 , PoleMaster and PixInsight
All Processing in Pixinsight
Use EZ_Processing Suite(by darkarchon) in Pixinsight
ForaxX Color combination thecoldestnights.com/
-Pre Processing-
Image Calibration
Cosmetic Correction
Debayer
Subframe Selector
Star Alignement
Local Normalization
Drizzle x2
Crop the black bands from the stacking
-Processing-
Dynamic Background Extraction
Split RGB Channels
Combine 70% of green and 30% of blue into 'Oiii'
Rename R to Ha
EZ_SoftStretch Ha and Oiii
Pixelmath: HOO combination with ForaxX expressions
R = Ha
G = ((Oiii*Ha)^~(Oiii*Ha))*Ha + ~((Oiii*Ha)^~(Oiii*Ha))*Oiii
B = Oii
Curve Transformation ( RGB/K, Hue, Saturation,...)
SCNR (Green 40%)
EZ_HDR
EZ_Star Reduction
Clear skies !
I had a cochlear implant April 28.
There's an internal device and external one that I place on and off each day.
The internal was activated (turned on) May 21.
I'd been made well aware that the world would be bizarre since the input to the ear was no longer auditory but electric and the brain needed to learn what to do with it all.
On activation day, Lisa (audiologist) said I probably wouldn't understand words, at this point she wanted to know if I could recognize that she was talking, it wasn't just an array of crazy sounds
She turned it on and spoke.
I said I know you're speaking. It's robotic, in a flat monotone and it sounds like you're in an echo chamber with a bunch of crickets.
It's very metallic and I can't make. out any words.
She made an adjustment (all via computer) and it was pretty similar.
Another adjustment and she said something short.
I looked at her and asked "did you just say 'how about now?'
She said Yes!
A friend had come with me so I asked her to speak.
I could reply in like, saying 'I think it's wonderful too'
We both got teary eye'd and weepy.
I was given a booklet of hearing exercises to do each day and my friend is my partner.
First day I got 8 of 10 right.
Then we started chatting. I took out my HA and just relied on the implant.
We talked for 45 minutes and I could understand almost all she was saying.
Since then I'm up to 10/10 and. we can converse for hours with me just using the implant.
Each day I take the HA out and read out loud for an hour.
My own voice is quite loud in the implanted side.
Of course I know what I'm saying but the implant is learning the words.
I can hear my brother with just implant, most others I need HA too.
Environmental sounds are a different challenge of their own, but that's also moving along.
Voices are normalizing.
I have more apts with Lisa (one on Friday) where I suspect she'll make more adjustments and open more "channels".
It's been more than I had dared to hope, and tho strange, I'm feeling like Hello World. Welcome Back.
Now each night when I remove the hearing aid and external device, I still hear one thing in my mind.
This:😊
edit: wow, this just keeps blowin' up on tumblr. cool.
ngc1977 - running man nebula.
all data collected with lightbuckets.com 12" R-C telescope (LB-0003) in rodeo, new mexico.
L(R:G:B) = 48m(20m:20m:20m)
Luminance: 6x8min, stacking with deepskystacker. masked stretch in pixinsight 1.5, then 5 more stretches which were HDR fused in enfuse. next, cleanup of geosynchronous satellites in photoshop. finally, dark structure enhancement, atrous wavelet sharpening and noise reduction in pixinsight 1.5.
RGB: 5x4min per channel. masked stretch in pixinsight 1.5, then 8 stretches fused with enfuse. then histogram peak normalization and curves in pixinsight 1.5 again. cleanup of satellites in photoshop. slight sharpening with atrous wavelets, and noise reduction in pixinsight 1.5.
Luminance+RGB merge with pixinsight 1.5. cleanup of CCD artifacts in photoshop.
minor tweaks in lightroom 2.0
comments: i got all the way to the end of this and realized that i wish i had sharpened the luminance channel a whole lot more. also i've probably stretched the RGB data a bit too much for the exposure lengths.
these geosynchronous satellites are really killing me.
This image is not about a simple laugh. It is about the moment when a group closes ranks against someone and turns humiliation into spectacle. The phone becomes the center of the scene, the device that captures, amplifies, and delivers the target to the complicit gaze of the others. The laughter here is not innocent: it is compliance, alignment, a small training in cruelty.
What is disturbing is not only the act of mocking, but its function. People laugh to belong, to please, to remain on the side of those who hold more strength, more voice, more power. This is how abuse becomes normalized: not only through those who exercise it openly, but also through those who accompany it, make it acceptable, and turn it into a collective habit.
In this photograph, the real subject is not the single face exposed on the screen, but the mechanism that binds the others together. The pack is often born this way: from a light, almost cheerful consensus that nonetheless prepares the ground for moral violence. Those who learn to mock in order to please also learn to serve. And those who serve abuse, even without directly dirtying their hands, help keep it alive.
bouc-emissaire.fr/theories/le-bouc-emissaire-un-processus...
Despite quite high amount of hits, it is quite difficult to capture Myotis mystacinus while drinking, probably due to parallel midge hunting (midges hatch from the puddle most frequently just after sunset).
Photo 4 contains a lot of natural evening light, most of the photos were taken within first 2 hours after sunset.
Photos 1,2 and 4 were taken using Canon 5D2 + Takumar 300/4 combination, rest using Canon 5DSR + 100-400L2. All photos are "normalized" to same magnification, there are probably some youngsters at the party.
"Due to a sudden global increase of ghost sightings, the professional ghost hunting industry is booming!
Today we shall examine three different types of these daring professionals.
The Influencer
Despite the normalization of ghost sightings, online audiences are still hungry for content featuring spirits, specters or the undead. 3:00 AM Challenges, Ouija board sessions, this online personality knows all the tricks to summon "real" ghosts."
- August 2022
It's not the best time here for astrophotography, the nights are short the summer solstice approaches.
But I managed to have 3 hours of data on the Western Veil
The Western Veil (also known as NGC 6960) is a part of the Cygnus Loop a large a supernova remnant whose explosion dates back 10.000 years.
The Western Veil is a nebula made of ionized gas and dust located about 1,400 light years from Earth
-Equipment-
Scope: TS-Optics 94/414 EPDH (414mm focal)
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro at -5°C
Guiding: ZWO OAG
Guiding camera: ZWO ASI 120MM
Mount: Skywatcher EQ5
Filter: Optrolong L-eXtreme
-Acquisition-
Light : 36x300s ( 3h ) at Gain:101 Offset:49
Dark,Flat,Offset
Date : Take on 3 night 06/13-15/2021
Location : France-Alsace Bortle 4/5
-Software-
Carte du Ciel, N.I.N.A, Phd2 , PoleMaster and PixInsight
All Processing in Pixinsight
Use EZ_Processing Suite(by darkarchon) in Pixinsight
-Pre Processing-
Image Calibration
Cosmetic Correction
Debayer
Subframe Selector
Star Alignement
Local Normalization
Drizzle x2
Crop the black bands from the stacking
-Processing-
Linear Fit
Channel Combination
DBE
EZ_Deconvolution
Background Neutralization
Photometric Color Calibration
SCNR (green 50%)
EZ_Denoise
EZ_Soft Strech
EZ_HDR
Curves Transformation with mask on nebula for Saturation, Hue and K channel
EZ_Star Reduction
Clear skies !
Night falls on the Aegerisee (Lake Aegeri, Switzerland). Looking south towards Canton Schwyz and the Urner Alps one can also see the lights of the famous village of Mortgarten on the left edge of the lake. Above the village hovers the Morgartenberg. On the right, the Wildspitz looms. Behind the Wildspitz (not visible obviously), high up, is the Dufour museum, dedicated to the Swiss general and engineer, Guillaume Henri Dufour, who is perhaps more known for being instrumental in founding the International Red Cross.
A layer of fog occupies the middle distance at the foot of the Glarner alps, threatening to pour over a pass into the Aegerisee (and this happens quite a lot!)
A PS-CC stitched 4 shot pano, but images are direct from camera. I decided against normalizing the histogram to preserve the dark atmosphere of the evening. The photos were taken hand-held.
Nikon D850, AF-S Nikkor 85mm f/1.4G
Van den Bergh 123, LBN 96, 97, 98, & LDN 570, 571, 572, 573, 576, and 578 imaged in LRGB. I am a sucker for dark nebulae and have been itching to get going on the projects I have planned for this year. The nights are getting shorter and thus I had to spend a lot of them acquiring the necessary data, as the MW core doesn't rise until the early morning.
These guys are located close to the core of the Milky Way in the constellation Serpens. The reflection nebulae dispersed throughout the swirling dust give such wonderful color variation against the rich, bright background of the Milky Way clouds.
- Location: Remote Observatory (Bortle 1, SQM 21.99) near Fort Davis, TX
- Total Exposure Time: 20.85 Hours
Equipment:
- Scope: Esprit 100ED w/ 1x Flattener
- Imaging Camera: QHY 268M
- Filters: Chroma L/R/G/B (36mm)
- Mount: Astro Physics Mach1GTO
- Guidescope: SVBony 50mm Guidescope
- Guide camera: ASI 120mm mini
- Focuser: Moonlite Nitecrawler WR35
- Accessories: Pegasus Ultimate Powerbox v2, QHY Polemaster, Optec Alnitak Flip Flat
------------------------------------------------------------
Software:
- N.I.N.A for image acquisition, platesolving, and framing
- PHD2 for guiding
- PixInsight for processing
-------------------------------------------------------------
Acquisition:
- L: 213 x 3m
- R: 74 x 3m
- G: 69 x 3m
- B: 61 x 3m
- All images at Gain 56, Offset 25 (Readout mode 1) and -5C sensor temperature
- 20 flats per filter
- Master Dark & Bias from Library
- Nights: 4/1-4/9, 4/25, 4/29/22
--------------------------------------------------------------
Processing:
- BatchPreProcessing to calibrate all images
- SubFrameSelector to reject/approve subs and weigh approved
- ImageIntegration with SFS weights
RGB Processing (apply to each master and then combine):
- DynamicCrop
- MureDenoise
- DynamicBackgroundExtraction
- StarAlign RGB masters to Lum
- ChannelCombination to combine to RGB
- HistogramTransformation for stretch
- CurvesTransformation for contrast and saturation
Luminance Processing:
- DynamicCrop
- MureDenoise
- Duplicate image
- Starnet2 & DynamicBackgroundExtraction on starless Lum to obtain background model
- PixelMath to partially subtract normalized background model from original Lum: 0.5*$T+0.5*($T-bg+med(bg))
- GeneralizedHyperbolicStretch for initial stretch
- HistogramTransformation x3 for further stretch
- CurvesTransformation for contrast
- StarAlign lum to RGB
Combine Lum and RGB and further processing:
- LRGBCombination with chrominance noise reduction enabled
- HistogramTransformation for slight contrast
- CurvesTransformation for slight hue shift to reduce green
- CurvesTransformation for slight stretch
- DynamicCrop to remove edges
- Save and Export
Starless verison
Original image : flic.kr/p/2mDTTGu
-Equipment-
Scope: TS-Optics 94/414 EPDH (414mm focal)
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro at -5°C
Guiding: ZWO OAG
Guiding camera: ZWO ASI 120MM
Mount: Skywatcher NEQ5
Filter: Astronomik L
-Acquisition-
Light :Panel-1 60x300s
Panel-2 60x300s
Panel-3 52x300s
Panel-4 60x300s
Dark-100x300s Flat-50 Bias-100
Date : Take on 2 night 05 September2021
and 10 October 2021
Location : France-Alsace Bortle 4/5
-Software-
Carte du Ciel, N.I.N.A, Phd2 , PoleMaster and PixInsight
Ez Processing Suite from darkarcon
darkarcon website : darkarchon.internet-box.ch:8443/
-Pre Processing each panels in PixInsight-
Image Calibration
Cosmetic Correction
Debayer
Subframe Selector
Star Alignement
Local Normalization
Drizzle x2
Dynamic crop
-Build the 4 panel mozaic
It's my first 4 panel mosaic so I follow this tutorial from Amy Astro www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0f8Tl_kC0A
-Processing
DBE master Light
Split L,R,G,B layer from Master light
__L__
Ez_Deconvolution
Ez_Denoise
Ez_Soft Streatch
Ez_HDR
UnsharpedMask with mask
__RGB__
Linear Fit
BackgroundNeutralization
PhotometricColorCalibration
Ez_Soft Streatch
Starnet++
CuvesTransformation with mask
A lot of curves...
Bring back stars with PixelMath
__LRGB__
LRGBCombination
Final CurvesTransformation
Ez_Star Reduction
DarkStructureEnhance script
Starnet++ for remove stars
Save as jpg
Clear Skies !
Playing with settings, light and shadow. Definitely in need for a new GPU! Lets hope prices will normalize soon :(
The Pelican Nebula (also known as IC 5070) is an emitting nebula located about 2000 years from the earth.
It is very extensive in the sky, about 2.5 times the diameter of the Moon.
-Equipment-
Scope: TS-Optics 94/414 EPDH
(414mm focal)
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro at -15°C
Guiding: ZWO OAG
Guiding camera: ZWO ASI 120MM
Mount: Skywatcher EQ5
Filter: Optrolong L-eXtreme
-Acquisition-
Light : 95x300s ( 8h ) at Gain:101 Offset:49
Dark-100x300s Flat-30 Bias-100
Date : Take on 5 night 05/24+30+31/2021 06/01+02/2021
Location : France-Alsace Bortle 4/5
-Software-
Carte du Ciel, N.I.N.A, Phd2 , PoleMaster and PixInsight
-Pre Processing in PixInsight-
Image Calibration
Cosmetic Correction
Debayer
Subframe Selector
Star Alignement
Local Normalization
Drizzle x2
Crop the black bands from the stacking
-Processing-
_L Layer_
DBE
EZ_Deconvolution
EZ_Denoise
EZ_Soft Stretch
Unsharp Mask
_RGB Layer_
Linear Fit
Channel Combination
DBE
Background Neutralization
Photometric Color Calibration
SCNR (green 50%)
EZ_Soft Strech
_LRGB_
LRGB Combination
Curve Tranformation
Color Saturation
Clear skies !
I love the juxtaposition of the dark nebulosity in Taurus with the bright Pleiades. Once I figured out mosaics, I knew this would be my second after Orion.
This is a mosaic of 5 different panels taken on two nights, Oct. 2, 2019 and November 20, 2020, 188 x 1 minutes of imagery. All subs were taken with my Fuji X-T10 and Samyang 135 mm on the iOptron SkyTracker Pro. Each sub is 60 seconds, taken at ISO 1600 with the Samyang 135mm open to f2.
I used the same process as that of my previous mosaic of Orion: I integrated individual panels using DeepSkyStacker, and used the 'remove light pollution' tool of Astro Pixel Processor to flatten integrations, which had substantial vignetting from being shot at f2. These flattened panels were then mosaiced with Astro Pixel Processor using the process outlined here: www.astropixelprocessor.com/part-3-register-normalize-int.... Curves adjustment, star reduction, and color tweaking were then done with GIMP. This image is downscaled to 70% of the original mosaic.
Shoulder getting better. Six weeks post-op, the physical therapist still has me doing hand slides up the door jamb and other gentle isometrics to restore mobility. Still no lifting or movement using the muscle, but life is finally starting to normalize. Sling no longer required 24-7. Typing at the computer only a little painful now. I even drove a car for the first time in six weeks yesterday. Slooooow progress, but progress nonetheless. I won't be able to do night photography for months yet, but I'm still sitting on some good unseen work that I'll continue to trickle out to you . . . along with upcoming good news about more new books . . .
The Black Fin
A shaved, primered and rusty 1957 Lincoln premier, an unfinished custom, stored at Pearsonville, with reflected red and purple and white from above, minute-and-a-half-long exposure.
This wide angle shot required some distortion adjustment in processing. Framing the Washington Monument near the right edge caused the obelisk to stretch toward the upper right corner. I used Transform Warp in PS to pinch the right hand corners to normalize the appearance of the monument. Healing brush filled in the upper right corner and the bottom right corner was cropped away.
Lazuli Bunting (Passerina amoena) end of May 2026, Beaver Lake Road in Lake Country, BC.
For my album of LazBs over the years, click this link: www.flickr.com/photos/8666250@N02/albums/72177720320094037/
Target: IC1848 Soul Nebula
Dual narrowband filter image of the Soul nebula. It was processed using the Pixinsight Narrowband Normalization process HOO pallet that I find allows the Oiii to come out. This does change the Ha Reds to a shade that I then correct in PS using selective colors. IC1848 was nicknamed the Soul Nebula likely due to the neighboring Heart Nebula IC1805.
Gear:
Mount: ZWO AM5
Main Cam: ZWO ASI294MC Pro @ gain 121 and 8F
Guide Cam: ZWO ASI120MM Mini with ZWO 30mm f/4 scope
Telescope: Askar 103APO w/ 0.6x reducer/flattener - 420mm f/4
Filter: Antlia ALP-T Dual Narrowband 5nm Ha and Oiii
Acquisition:
Light frames: 120 3min subs for 6hr 00Min integration
Sessions: 23-Oct-2024
Moon: 21 days old 51% 63 deg from target
Location: Houston Backyard ~ Bortle 8/9
Processing
• Pixinsight Auto DBE
• Pixinsight SPCC, BTX, STX, NXT
• Pixinsight Statistical stretch, HT to balance background if needed
• Pixinsight Narrowband Normalization HOO, Lightness Ha, Blend Mode 1 Amount 0
• Pixinsight HT black point and balance channels, Curves for saturation
• Pixinsight Stretch Stars using - Star Stretch
• Pixinsight HT black point color balance, Saturation Curves
• Photoshop ACR contrast, black point, clarity, dehaze
• Photoshop Selective Colors, ACR, D&B
• Photoshop Screen stars, duplicate layer/black mask/reveal select stars
• Photoshop Final curves, watermark
Redwood Trail, Spring Morning. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Lush spring vegetation along a trail through coastal redwood forest, Northern California.
Early one June morning this year we parked the car and strolled along a trail into a coast redwood grove that is close enough to the Pacific that you pass people hiking to the water and you encounter fog forming over the coast hills. Not all redwood forests are this moist, but here the conditions create especially lush growth, and on this morning the drifting fog softened the light and muted more distant subjects, though it still had a bit of a directional quality.
On this visit I thought a lot about the difference between what the camera records and what the eye and mind see in the redwoods. When opening files from photography in the redwoods, the colors often seem more dull than the memory. Several possible explanations exist, but I’ve long had an idea about how our visual system accommodates different kinds of lighting, essentially normalizing them in ways that aren’t captured by the camera. This time I made a point of stopping and thinking long and hard about the way the colors looked to me while walking through the forest, and I realized that our visual system’s normalization process compensates for the bluish light and tells us that the colors are warmer than they objectively are. To my mind, it is more important that a photograph express what I saw in the place than it is that it achieve some standard of objective color balance that essentially lies about what I experienced… and what you see here is true to my experience in the redwoods.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.
NGC 2903 is a field barred spiral galaxy about 30 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. NGC 2905 is a bright star cloud within this galaxy. The small diffuse galaxy to the left is UGC 5086 at 18mag.
Object: NGC 2903
Optics: Celestron 9.25 F6.3
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ6-R
Camera: ZWO ASI 071MC Pro @-20°C, Gain=0
Exposure: total ~2h, RGGB 30x240sec, 300 Bias, 60 Darks, 40 Flats
Date: 2019-02-24
Location: Schwaig
Capture: Sequence Generator Pro
Guiding: Off-Axis, ASI120MM, PHD2
Image Acquisition: Stephan Schurig
Image Processing: Stephan Schurig
AstroPixelProcessor 1.071: Calibration, Registration, Normalization, Integration, Remove Light Pollution, Background Calibration, Star Colors Correction, Auto Digital Development
Photoshop 20.0.4: Curves, Exposure (Offset), Nik Dfine 2 Denoise (Color Noise), Masked Nik Dfine 2 Denoise (Contrast Noise), Star Shrink, Starless Masked Smart Sharpen, Masked Color Balance, Masked Dynamic (Dynamic, Saturation)
Remarks: ASI 071MC Pro made available by Teleskop-Service, Ransburg
Clear night ! Let's go for the wizard nebula
The Wizard Nebula or NGC7860 is a emission nebula at a distance approximatly 85 000 light years from the sun.
The nebula spend ~20 light-years with an elongated shape and an extended tail.
Age estimates range from 4 to 11.9 million years
Feel free to ask a question and all criticism are welcome 👍
-Equipment-
Scope: TS-Optics 94/414 EPDH (414mm focal)
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro at -5°C
Guiding: ZWO OAG
Guiding camera: ZWO ASI 120MM
Mount: Skywatcher EQ5
Filter: Optrolong L-eXtreme
-Acquisition-
Light :151x300s ( 12,6h ) at Gain:101 Offset:49
Dark-100x300s Flat-30 Bias-100
Date : Take on 2 night 2/3 september 2021
Location : France-Alsace Bortle 4/5
-Software-
Carte du Ciel, N.I.N.A, Phd2 , PoleMaster and PixInsight
-Pre Processing in PixInsight-
Image Calibration
Cosmetic Correction
Debayer
Subframe Selector
Star Alignement
Local Normalization
Drizzle x2
Crop the black bands from the stacking
-Processing
DynamicBackgroundExtractor
RGB layer
Split RGB channels
Ha=R Oiii= B*0.3+G*0.7
EZ_Soft Stretch
HOO combination with Foraxx formula
R=Ha
G=((Oiii*Ha)^~(Oiii*Ha))*Ha + ~((Oiii*Ha)^~(Oiii*Ha))*Oiii
B=Oiii
Starnet++ for remove stars and build a mask nebula
Color Saturation
Curves Tansformation (K,saturation,hue)
Saturate stars for push up stars color
SCNR with star Mask for remove green stars
Bring back the stars with PixelMath
L layer
Ez_Denoise
Ez_Soft Stretch
Local Histogram Equalization with nebula mask
UnsharpedMask with nebula mask
LRGB
Final Curve Transformation
EZ_Star Reduction
Save as BMP 32bit file
Clear skies !
Saint-Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601,911 residents as of 2021, with more than 6.4 million people living in the metropolitan area. Saint-Petersburg is the fourth-most populous city in Europe, the most populous city on the Baltic Sea, and the world's northernmost city of more than 1 million residents.
The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Saint Petersburg is home to the Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world, the Lakhta Center, the tallest skyscraper in Europe, and was one of the host cities of the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the UEFA Euro 2020.
The name day of Peter I falls on 29 June, when the Orthodox Church observes the memory of apostles Peter and Paul. The consecration of the small wooden church in their names (its construction began at the same time as the citadel) made them the heavenly patrons of the Peter and Paul Fortress, while Saint Peter at the same time became the eponym of the whole city. When in June 1703 Peter the Great renamed the site after Saint Peter, he did not issue a naming act that established an official spelling; even in his own letters he used diverse spellings, such as Санктьпетерсьбурк (Sanktpetersburk), emulating German Sankt Petersburg, and Сантпитербурх (Santpiterburkh), emulating Dutch Sint-Pietersburgh, as Peter was multilingual and a Hollandophile. The name was later normalized and russified to Санкт-Петербург (Saint-Petersburg).
The historic architecture of Saint-Petersburg's city centre, mostly Baroque and Neoclassical buildings of the 18th and 19th centuries, has been largely preserved; although a number of buildings were demolished after the Bolsheviks' seizure of power, during the Siege of Leningrad and in recent years. The oldest of the remaining building is a wooden house built for Peter I in 1703 on the shore of the Neva near Trinity Square. Since 1991 the Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments in Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast have been listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
The Pacman nebula or NGC 281 is a bright emission nebula in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia.
NGC 281 is estimated at 9200 light years from us and is 48 light years wide.
-Equipment-
Scope: TS-Optics 94/414 EPDH (414mm focal)
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro at -5°C
Guiding: ZWO OAG
Guiding camera: ZWO ASI 120MM
Mount: Skywatcher NEQ5
Filter: Optrolong L-eXtreme
-Acquisition-
Light :167x300s ( 14h ) at Gain:101 Offset:49
Dark-100x300s Flat-50 Bias-100
Date : Take on 5 night 6, 7, 8, 11, 12 september 2021
Location : France-Alsace Bortle 4/5
-Software-
Carte du Ciel, N.I.N.A, Phd2 , PoleMaster and PixInsight
I use the ForaxX palette for HOO combination
ForaxX website : thecoldestnights.com
And the Ez Processing Suite from darkarcon
darkarcon website : darkarchon.internet-box.ch:8443/
-Pre Processing in PixInsight-
Image Calibration
Cosmetic Correction
Debayer
Subframe Selector
Star Alignement
Local Normalization
Drizzle x2
Dynamic crop
-Processing
DynamicBackgroundExtractor the master_LRGB
___RGB layer___
Split RGB channels for build Ha and Oiii
Ha=R Oiii= B*0.3+G*0.7
EZ_Soft Stretch
HOO combination with Foraxx formula
R=Ha
G=((Oiii*Ha)^~(Oiii*Ha))*Ha + ~((Oiii*Ha)^~(Oiii*Ha))*Oiii
B=Oiii
Starnet++ for remove stars and build a mask nebula
Color Saturation
Curves Tansformation (K,saturation,hue)
Saturate stars for push up stars color
SCNR with star Mask for remove green in stars (OSC camera)
Bring back the stars with PixelMath
___L layer___
Ez_Deconvolution
Ez_Denoise
Ez_Soft Stretch
Ez_HDR
Local Histogram Equalization with nebula mask
UnsharpedMask with nebula mask
___LRGB___
Final Curve Transformation
DarkStructureEnhance script
EZ_Star Reduction
Save as BMP 32bit file
Clear skies !
Forse dovremmo cominciare a chiamare le cose con il loro nome.
Ogni volta che vediamo alberi abbattuti, boschi distrutti, habitat naturali cancellati, dovremmo riconoscere che si tratta di una privazione.
Non solo per gli animali, che perdono i loro ambienti, le loro “città”, ma anche per noi.
Ogni volta che il verde viene sostituito dal grigio, perdiamo qualcosa di fondamentale:
– perdiamo fresco,
– perdiamo ossigeno,
– perdiamo biodiversità,
– perdiamo equilibrio ecologico,
– perdiamo salute.
E quello che otteniamo in cambio non è progresso, ma degenerazione.
Aumentano la frenesia, il rumore, l’inquinamento, la solitudine, il caos.
Aumentano la paura, l’ingiustizia, i problemi psicologici e fisici.
E tutto questo lo stiamo normalizzando, come se fosse inevitabile.
È ora di cambiare punto di vista:
smettere di vedere il cemento come un segno di crescita
e iniziare a capire che ogni metro quadrato di natura perso
è un passo verso la malattia, non verso il benessere.
La verità è semplice: la vita esiste perché questo pianeta è verde e blu.
Se fosse stato un pianeta grigio “cemento”, noi non saremmo mai esistiti.
L’equilibrio e l’armonia tra le cose non sono un lusso: sono la condizione stessa della vita.
Maybe it's time we start calling things by their real name.
Every time we see trees felled, forests destroyed, natural habitats wiped out, we should recognize it for what it is: a deprivation.
Not just for the animals, who lose their environments — their “cities” — but for us as well.
Every time green is replaced by gray, we lose something essential:
– we lose coolness,
– we lose oxygen,
– we lose biodiversity,
– we lose ecological balance,
– we lose health.
And what we get in return is not progress, but degeneration.
Frenzy, noise, pollution, loneliness, and chaos increase.
Fear, injustice, psychological and physical illnesses grow.
And we’re normalizing all of this — as if it were inevitable.
It’s time to shift our perspective:
to stop seeing concrete as a symbol of growth,
and to start understanding that every square meter of lost nature
is a step toward illness, not well-being.
The truth is simple: life exists because this planet is green and blue.
If it had been a grey “concrete planet,” we would never have existed.
Balance and harmony among things aren’t a luxury —
they are the very foundation of life.
18-Dec-14 -8C/17.6F. Cold outside or should I say cool? This sparrow made the best of it by letting the sun hit his back. The reason I am showing this less than exotic creature is because I fell in love with the light in this scene, especially the way the sun lit up the dried out needles of the cedar. Also, what I thought was kind of neat is that you can actually see the sparrow’s breath off to the right of his beak.
Off to something completely different. Alberta, Land of the Wild Rose, the official flower. And as well the official opposition party in the Legislature. Well, used to be. Nine of their fourteen remaining members, including the leader, just crossed the floor to join the ruling “Progressive” Conservatives. Even though I would have never voted for the ultraconservative Wild Rose group, they did provide an essential service in a democracy, such as an effective and very vocal opposition. And how would you feel as a voter who voted for one of these guys (non-gendered term) ? And the justifications coming out of their mouths, I should be as good at writing as these guys are at flapping their mouths. Apparently anything can be justified, even the murder of 148 people, most of them children in Pakistan. Do I equate the two, no, not really, just saying ...
And off to my favorite topic, gas prices and their relationship to quality. They have been dropping at dizzying rates and I for one was glad to be able to still be able to fill my tank at 89.9 cents where I already began to suspect the quality of the product and now we are at 80.9 cents. I am going to have to postpone any major trips until the price rises again because I suspect I will be doing major damage to my vehicle gassing up at these prices. We all know by now that quality is directly related to price, see Under the Boardwalk .
What the heck is this world coming to? But there is actually a bit of good news on the horizon and that is the pending normalization of relations between the States and Cuba. I will now be able to fly to Cuba (Canadians were able to do this before, so wait for it) and buy a really old car in Cuba, transport it to (here it is) the States and drive it all the way in the Middle of the Road to Canada unmolested by American customs. Isn’t that great? I think my Christmas wishes are coming true. I am not sure how my wife feels about trying to store another clunker in the garage. Hmmm …
Theo van Gogh was born on 23 July 1957 in the Netherlands into a family connected by descent to the lineage of the brother of the painter Vincent van Gogh. He grew up in a culturally active environment but developed early a strongly independent, provocative and critical personality toward any form of authority. He did not follow a traditional academic path and did not obtain a university degree, building his education instead through reading, writing and direct involvement in public debate. He began as a journalist and writer, becoming known as a columnist for his direct, often harsh and deliberately uncomfortable language. He wrote for Dutch newspapers and magazines, addressing politics, religion, power and society without seeking approval and without avoiding conflict. His defining trait was the absence of self-censorship. At the same time, he developed a career in cinema as a director and producer, creating films and television works dealing with controversial themes such as human relationships, manipulation, sexuality and power dynamics. Among his most known works are 06 (1994), Blind Date (1996) and In het belang van de staat (1997). His style reflected his public persona: direct, provocative and uncompromising. In his private life he was not married, but he had a son, Lieuwe van Gogh, with whom he maintained a close relationship. His personal life reflected the same independence as his work, without adherence to conventional models and centered on individual freedom. A decisive turning point came with his collaboration with Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born Dutch politician and activist. Together they created the short film Submission (2004), which exposed violence suffered by some women in radical Islamic contexts. The film generated strong reactions and placed him under direct threat from extremist environments. Despite being aware of the risks, Theo van Gogh refused protection and continued to defend freedom of expression as a non-negotiable principle. On 2 November 2004, while cycling to work in Amsterdam, he was attacked by Mohammed Bouyeri, an Islamist extremist. He was shot multiple times, fell to the ground, and was then repeatedly stabbed; the attacker attempted to decapitate him and left a letter pinned to his body with a knife containing threats directed at Ayaan Hirsi Ali and others. The murder had a strong impact on Dutch society and across Europe, opening a harsh debate on freedom of expression, religious extremism and the limits of tolerance in contemporary democracies. Theo van Gogh remains a controversial but central figure: provocative for some, a consistent defender of freedom for others. I publish this series to remember that freedom, dignity and justice are never gifts but achievements paid for by real human lives. Behind every right there are names, faces and broken histories. I publish these works to oppose the normalization of political violence and propaganda, to speak to younger generations, and to affirm that silence always serves unchecked power. This is not passive commemoration; it is active memory, a conscious choice, a form of resistance.