Version française en haut, English version below

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[Version française]

La nébuleuse trifide, de son petit nom M20 ou NGC6514, j'en ai bien bavé sur son traitement !!! Autant son acquisition, pour une fois, ça s'est passé comme une lettre à la poste, mais son traitement ...

Alors, parlons déjà de ce qu'il y a sur cette image (astrométrie : nova.astrometry.net/annotated_full/8884636 ) :

La nébuleuse trifide s'appelle comme ça à cause de sa séparation en 3 lobes par une nébuleuse obscure. Elle se situe dans la voie lactée, en direction du bulbe (donc plein sud, pas très haut dessus de l'horizon depuis la France), dans la région du sagittaire, non loin d'une nébuleuse visible à l'oeil nu assez facilement par bon ciel, la nébuleuse de la lagune. La nébuleuse trifide est aussi visible à l'oeil nu, mais à peine. Avec des bonnes jumelles en revanche, on la distingue bien comme une tâche blanche (au dessus d'une plus grande, la lagune).

Cette nébuleuse en émission est d'une région très riche en hydrogène (région HII) qui renferme un amas ouvert d'étoiles (NGC6514). L'ensemble se trouve à 3960 années lumières de nous (sa lumière est partie à une époque de sécheresse intense qui a duré plusieurs décénies et a vu l'aridification du sahara et le début de la civilisation égyptienne).

La région bleue, plus diffuse, en dessous, est aussi une région gazeuse éclairée par un couple d'étoiles (une binaire spectroscopique bleue, HD 164402) ; c'est donc une nébuleuse en réflexion.

En haut à gauche, il ya une étoile brillante : c'est Sagittarius 4, une étoile distante de 420 AL. C'est une binaire qui a un mouvement propre élevé. Cela signifie qu'en quelques années, vous ne la trouveriez pas exactement à la même place.

En bas à droite, on voit clairement un amas ouvert d'étoiles, plutôt brillantes et bien visibles avec des jumelles C'est M21 (ou NGC 6531). Cet amas distant de 3930 AL est très récent (6.6 millions d'années, donc hier).

Tout en haut à droite, le photo montre une partie d'un autre amas ouvert, NGC 6546.

Parlons technique : J'ai fait cette photo avec un télescope de Newton SkyWatcher 150/750 avec correcteur de coma, monté sur une AZ-EQ5. Comme capteur j'utilise un Canon 1200 D défiltré partiellement et un filtre Optolong L-Enhance. L'ensemble est autoguidé avec une Kepler 50/162 + Zwo Asi 120mm + PhD2 sur Raspberry Pi3 B.

Cette photo est le cumul de 60 brutes de 3 minutes de pose unitaire (sur un total de 108 ; j'ai du jeter les 48 faites entre 1h26 et 3h50 d'abord à cause de nuages puis à cause d'un arbre). J'ai donc un cumul de 3h ce qui est plutôt pas mal pour cette nébuleuse assez lumineuse. J'ai fait également 30/30/30 DOF. J'ai du refaire les darks chez moi (à la même température) car je me suis trompé de réglage sur place.

Globalement, c'était une acquisition facile avec une mise en station très rapide et une soirée agréable au coin du feu avec nuit sous la tente. Mais ... mais c'était sans compter avec le traitement !

Le traitement : bien qu'ayant tout fait dans les règles de l'art sous Siril (prétraitement DOF avec des masters bien vérifiés, retrait du gradient linéaire, ... jusqu'à accumulation), je me suis retrouvé avec un effet de trame épouvantable ! la trame, c'est des rayures liées à l'accumulation sur le même endroit du ciel photographié des défaut de l'appareil. Et là j'ai vite compris le problème : ma mise en station était trop parfaite. Effectivement, j'avais une courbe d'autoguidage exceptionnelle. Et surtout, je ne faisais pas de dithering ! L'erreur ! Le dithering consiste, entre chaque pose, à faire bouger très légèrement le capteur (par un mouvement de la monture) devant le champ photographié, afin que ce ne soit jamais exactement le même champ au même endroit du capteur.

Virer la trame de photos, c'est l'enfer ! surtout si elle forte.

Donc j'ai innové dans ma technique. J'ai installé FiJi (une distribution particulière d'ImageJ, un logiciel pro spécialisé dans le traitement d'image, très utilisé dans les labos). J'ai travaillé sur la transformée de fourier (TF) image des 2 canaux couleur (R,G,B) de l'image starless (que j'ai faite juste avant avec StarnetV2). En pratique, j'ai identifié le signal de la trame dans la TF d'une image ne contenant que la trame (une sélection dans l'image globale). J'ai ensuite généré une TF de l'image (voir flic.kr/p/2oSh4zM), puis travaillé plusieurs heures pour éliminer ce signal de trame de la TF. Pour ça, j'ai d'une part recopié des zones sans trame de l'image TF vers elle même. D'autre part, dans l'image d'origine, j'ai recouvert les zones d'intérêt (nébuleuses) par des zones de trame (avec des copier-coller), généré une TF image, puis retranché cette TF à la TF de l'image d'origine. Ensuite, je réobtenais les images traitées par TF inverse. Là, comme ça, on se dit que ok, pas mal, mais que a l'air de le faire ... en pratique cétait bien bien bien pénible !

Donc enjoy cette version de la nébuleuse qui m'a donné beaucoup de mal !

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[English version]

The Trifid Nebula, also known as M20 or NGC 6514, gave me a hard time during its processing!!! While its acquisition went smoothly for once, the processing...

So, let's talk about what's in this image (astrometry: nova.astrometry.net/annotated_full/8884636):

The Trifid Nebula got its name from the way it separates into three lobes by a dark nebula. It is located in the Milky Way, towards the bulge (so south, not very high above the horizon from France), in the Sagittarius region, not far from another nebula that can be easily seen with the naked eye on a clear night, the Lagoon Nebula. The Trifid Nebula is also visible with the naked eye, but barely. With good binoculars, however, you can clearly see it as a white spot (above a larger one, the Lagoon Nebula).

This emission nebula is part of a region rich in hydrogen (HII region) that contains an open cluster of stars (NGC 6514). The entire complex is 3,960 light-years away from us (its light left during a period of intense drought that lasted for several decades, marking the aridification of the Sahara and the beginning of the Egyptian civilization).

The blue, more diffuse region below is also a gaseous region illuminated by a pair of stars (a blue spectroscopic binary, HD 164402); thus, it is a reflection nebula.

In the top left corner, there is a bright star: Sagittarius 4, a star located 420 light-years away. It is a binary star with a high proper motion, which means that in a few years, you wouldn't find it in exactly the same place.

In the bottom right, you can clearly see an open cluster of stars, quite bright and visible with binoculars. It is M21 (or NGC 6531). This cluster, 3,930 light-years away, is very young (6.6 million years, so relatively recent).

At the top right, the photo shows a part of another open cluster, NGC 6546.

Let's talk about the technique: I took this photo with a SkyWatcher Newtonian telescope 150/750 with a coma corrector, mounted on an AZ-EQ5 mount. As a sensor, I used a partially defiltered Canon 1200D and an Optolong L-Enhance filter. The setup is autoguided with a Kepler 50/162 + Zwo Asi 120mm + PhD2 on a Raspberry Pi3 B.

This photo is the stack of 60 light frames of 3 minutes each (out of a total of 108; I had to discard the 48 taken between 1:26 a.m. and 3:50 a.m. due to clouds and then a tree). So, I have a total integration time of 3 hours, which is quite good for this relatively bright nebula. I also used 30 dark frames, 30 flat frames, and 30 bias frames. I had to remake the dark frames at home (at the same temperature) because I made a mistake with the settings on site.

Overall, it was an easy acquisition with a very quick alignment, and I had an enjoyable evening by the fire with a night under the tent. But... that was without counting on the processing!

The processing: Although I did everything properly with Siril (preprocessing with verified masters, linear gradient removal, and stacking), I ended up with a horrible grid effect! The grid is the result of the accumulation of the same defects on the photographed sky in multiple frames. And I quickly understood the problem: my alignment was too perfect. Indeed, I had an exceptional autoguiding curve. And most importantly, I wasn't dithering! The error! Dithering involves slightly moving the sensor (by a mount movement) between each frame so that the same part of the sky is never exactly in the same position on the sensor.

Getting rid of the grid from photos is a nightmare! Especially if it's strong.

So, I innovated in my technique. I installed FiJi (a specific distribution of ImageJ, a professional image processing software widely used in labs). I worked on the Fourier transform (FT) of the color channels (R, G, B) of the starless image (which I created just before with StarnetV2). In practice, I identified the grid signal in the FT of an image containing only the grid (a selection from the overall image). Then, I generated an FT of the image (here : flic.kr/p/2oSh4zM) and worked for several hours to remove this grid signal from the FT. To do this, on the one hand, I copied grid-free areas from the FT image to itself. On the other hand, in the original image, I covered the areas of interest (nebulae) with grid areas (using copy-paste), generated an FT image, and then subtracted this FT from the FT of the original image. Then, I restored the processed images by inverse FT. On the surface, it may seem okay, but in practice, it was really, really, really painstaking!

So, enjoy this version of the nebula that gave me a lot of trouble!

Sadr region with the Kitcat 135mm Rokinon lens

Zwo ASI071MC Pro cooled mono camera

Pegasus EAF, 10X7 degrees FOV

Had clear skies last night, Full moon, some clouds

Optolong L eNhance 2" filter

#SharpCap Pro, PoleMaster

Ioptron CEM 25 Pro EQ mount

200 Gain offset 20, 0c cooling,

Sadr region was 2 hours, 5 minutes exposure each

24 frames total

12 darks 12 flats and 12 bias frames

Astro Pixel Processor and PS

Was out at Starr ranch

camera: ZWO ASI6200MM Pro with EFW 7x2"

filters: Optolong LRGB and Chroma 3-nm Ha/O3

telescope: TEC 140 f/7

mount: 10Micron GM2000 QCI

guider: ZWO ASI120 mini on 50-mm f/4 guidescope

exposure: L 20x10min (1x1) + RGB 15x5min (2x2) + Ha 20x20min (2x2)

location: Les Granges, 900 m (Hautes Alpes, France)

software: TheSkyX Pro, CCD Commander, Pixinsight, PS CC

date: 17 Jul - 11 Aug 2021

IC 63, also known as "The Ghost of Cassiopeia". This was a good test for the L-Ultimate filter.

Equipment used

Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro mount

Takahashi FSQ106 @F/5

ASI 553MC Pro camera

2” Optolong L-Ultimate 3nm filter

QHY Mini guide scope

Lodestar x 2

Software used

Maxim DL V6

Pixinsight

PhotoShop

35 x 5 min Total Exposure = 2hrs 54min

Image taken from Basildon,Essex, UK.

This target is probably beyond the capabilities of a One Shot Color camera. This represents just under 5 hours of data.

Technical Info:

Optics: SGO 6" f/4 Imaging Newtonian @ 610mm FL

Explore Scientific 2" HR Coma Corrector

Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro

Filter: 2" Optolong L-Enhance

Mount: Losmandy GM8

Guiding: QHY Mini Guide Scope + PHD2 Software

Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro

Exposure: Light (Gain 300) - 240 subs @ 180 Seconds (4 hours, 45 minutes)

Calibration: 50 Bias, 30 Darks, 50 Flats

​Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Adobe Photoshop, Topaz Denoise AI, Astronomy Action Set plug in for PS, Astro Flat Pro plug in for PS

William Optics FLT 132 Apo triplet

ZwoASI2600MC Pro

Optolong L-Pro broadband filter

Guiding:

Radian Raptor 61 Apo triplet

ZwoASI290MM mini

Celestron CGX

PHD2 guide software

20-300 second subs

Deepsky Stacker

Adobe Photoshop CC 2021

La nébuleuse de la Trompe de l'éléphant

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Gear - Matériel 🔭

Mount : Skywatcher EQ6-R

Scope : TS 94EDPH

Guiding : ZWO ASI290MM Mini on ZWO OAG

Imaging camera : ZWO ASI071MC Pro

Filters : Optolong L-extreme

Picture - Prise de vue 📷

Total integration : 7h30

Light : 90 x 300s

Dark : 30

Flat : 20

Gain : 90

Sensor temp : -5°C

Software - Logiciels

Imaging session : Nina

Guiding : PHD2

Stacking : PixInsight

Processing : PixInsigh

A galaxy pair in the constellation of Canes Venatici, the larger member is M51 and the smaller member is NGC 5195. They interact with each other and are connected by a material bridge. Due to this effect, the density wave in M51 is amplified, so that strong star formation begins in it. Star formation causes the spiral arms to appear very spectacularly and strongly. The galaxy pair is located between 23 and 31 million light years from us. M51 is approximately 76,000 light years in diameter. It can be observed with simple binoculars in a clear, less light-polluted sky.

Tech details:

Optics: SkyWatcher 200/1000 modified + SW coma corrector

Camera: Explore Scientific Deep Sky Astro Camera 7.1MP + Optolong L-pro filter

Mechanics: SkyWatcher HEQ5 Pro GoTo

Expo detials: 6 hours + correction images

Location: Eger, May 2025

The Elephant's Trunk nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust in the star cluster IC 1396, an ionized gas region located in the constellation Cepheus about 2,400 light years away from Earth. The piece of the nebula is the dark, dense globule IC 1396A; it is commonly called the Elephant's Trunk nebula because of its appearance at visible light wavelengths, where there is a dark patch with a bright, twisted rim.

Date: 13.08.2020.

Location: Kosmaj (Bortle 4), Serbia;

Moon: 33%;

Scope: SW MN190;

Mount: SW EQ6-R;

Camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro @ -10C Gain 120;

Filter: Optolong L-eNhance;

Integration: 2h 35min (31x5min);

Picture size: 6976 x 3839;

Post processing: PixInsight.

The North American Nebula (also known as NGC 7000 and C 20) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygno, near Deneb (the swan's tail and its brightest star). The shape of the nebula draws the North American continent, especially the east coast, between the Gulf of Mexico and Florida.

The discovery of the North American Nebula is attributed to astronomer William Herschel. Together with the nearby Pellican Nebula, it constitutes a single nebulous complex, located about 1960 light years away, in which star formation is active, as evidenced by the presence of several young stellar objects and HH objects; these phenomena mainly concern stars of small and medium mass.

Due to its brightness and extent, it is one of the most photographed objects in the Northern Celestial Hemisphere.

The Pelican Nebula (also known as IC 5067/70) is an H II region in the constellation Cygno, near Deneb (the tail of the swan and its brightest star); it belongs to the same giant molecular cloud as the nearby North American Nebula and is easily photographed. Its distance is estimated at around 600±50 parsecs (1956±163 light years).

Within it are active phenomena of star formation, as evidenced especially by the presence of HH objects; these phenomena mainly concern stars of small and medium mass.

Shooting data:Camera canon eos 1100d fullspectrum,canon lens 75/300 to 200mm f 5/6 iso 3200,134x30s,20 dark,optolong filter l-pro eos clip,minitrack aid,sum with Sequator and photoshop processing

March16th 2021

Williams Optics Redcat 51

ZWO183mc pro

Optolong l-extreme filter

ZWO air pro

Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro

2 hrs lights. Flats , darks and bias.

Gain 122 at -10C

Processed in APP and Pixinsight

NGC 7635, also known as the Bubble Nebula, Sharpless 162, or Caldwell 11, is a H II region emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia. It lies close to the direction of the open cluster Messier 52. The "bubble" is created by the stellar wind from a massive hot, 8.7 magnitude young central star, SAO 20575. The nebula is near a giant molecular cloud which contains the expansion of the bubble nebula while itself being excited by the hot central star, causing it to glow. It was discovered in 1787 by William Herschel.

Technical Data:

OTA: SkyWatcher Newton 200mm F/5

Mount: iOptron CEM60

Camera: ZWO ASI 1600 MM-C, cooled at -20C

Guide Camera: QHY-5LII Mono

Guide Scope: ArteSky 60mm F/4

Filters: Optolong Ha, OIII

Baader Coma Corrector MPCIII

Software: Sequence Generator Pro, PHD2, Deep Sky Stacker, PS

Bicolor Image with Synthetic Green channel created by following the technique of Steve Cannistra

30 frames in total, Gain 139 - Offset 21

Ha 20x120s (40m)

OIII 10x120s (20m)

Total Integration Time: 1 hour

15 Bias

11 Darks

50 Flats (25 for each channel)

Harlow Shapley remarked that about 1/3 of the globular clusters in our sky lie in the direction of Sagittarius. M28 (NGC 6626) is one of those many clusters.

Shot with LRGB filters from my backyard in Long Beach, CA.

L: 32 10 s exposures

R: 64 20 s exposures

G: 66 20 s exposures

B: 74 20 s exposures

All taken with an Atik 414-EX mono camera on a Celestron Edge HD 925 at a focal length of 530 mm using HyperStar. LRGB filters are from Optolong and changed with the Starizona filter slider system.

Pre-processing in Nebulosity; registration, stacking, channel combination, and processing in PixInsight; final touches in Photoshop.

Orion's Belt, Messier 78, & Barnard's Loop as seen on the evening of March 2, 2021. After a very cloudy Winter, it was nice to capture some data in Orion before it's gone for the season. This image consists of 36 x 4' exposures shot with a Nikon D750 and Nikkor 300mm f/2.8 lens at f/2.8 and ISO 1600. Tracked with an AstroTrac. I used an Optolong L-Pro light pollution filter.

---Photo details----

Stacks HSO: 3x75x2min

Darks : 100

Exposure Time : 7.5h

Stack program : PixInsight

---Photo scope---

Camera : ZWO ASI6200MM PRO

CCD Temperature : -10C

Filter(s) used: Optolong Ha 3nm, Optolong S2 3nm, Optolong O3 3nm

Tube : Takahashi FSQ-106 EDX4

Field flattener / Reducer : -

Effective focal length : 530 mm

Effective aperture : F/5

---Guide scope---

Camera : ASI Mini guider

Guide exposure : 3 sec

---Mount and other stuff---

Mount : Skywatcher AZ-EQ-6 GT

---Processing details----

NINA for acquisition, controlling the following:

- ASTAP (plate solving)

- PHD2 (guiding)

- Stellarium

PixInsight : stacking, alignment, background extraction, histogram manipulation

Lightroom for final touchups

Topaz Denoise for a last processing step

Stack of the best 42 90 s subframes with an Optolong Luminance filter, taken from 2023-03-25 0526-0721 UT with a Celestron Edge HD 925 at focal length 1530 mm and an Atik 414-EX camera. The position of 2023dbc is indicated with the white line.

This is from my light polluted backyard in Long Beach, CA. I mostly wanted to see if I could image a supernova fainter than magnitude 16 from my backyard. Looks like the answer is yes.

2023dbc is a Type Ic supernova. That means the progenitor had shed both its hydrogen and helium layers before exploding. This means the progenitor would have been a Wolf-Rayet star.

Preprocessing in Nebulosity; registration, stacking, and initial processing in PixInsight; the background of light pollution was knocked down in Photoshop.

Copyright and personal information:

My name: Cornelis van Zuilen

My instagram: www.instagram.com/cvz_astrophotography/

Heiloo, The Netherlands

Equipment used:

Telescope: Askar 103APO

Main camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro

Filters: Optolong L-Pro

Guidescope: SvBony Sv106 50mm

Guide camera: ZWO ASI224MC

Mount: Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro

Exposures:

Optolong L-Pro

1hr 30min

136x 180sec

0hr 2 min

126x 1sec

Calibration frames for each stack:

20 Darks

20 Flats

20 Dark flats

Processed in Pixinsight

Extra information:

Each year since 2021 I try to take at least one night of exposures of the Orion Nebula, but the final picture I made this year is by far the best one I've ever made. It's also the first time that I was able to see the 4 main trapezium stars in the core and a small protoplanetary disc slightly to the right of it (between the two bigger stars). This result motivates me to take an even better picture next year. Maybe with at least 10 hours of data? Maybe also use my dualband filter? Who knows, lets see what will happen. For now I hope you enjoy this picture as much as I do!

Having run out of fresh targets to shoot, I still didn’t want to miss out on these beautiful clear new moon nights. Even though it’s a bit early for the Squid Nebula, I decided to start this project last week from my backyard in the city. I knew this was going to be a tough subject — the kind that would challenge even my 200mm Newtonian, even reduced to F/3.41.

To make things more difficult, my 3nm filter doesn't exactly play nice with such fast optics.

And indeed, after four nights and over 20 hours of imaging, the Squid was barely peeking out from the faint background of the Bat Nebula. So I packed up the setup and moved to a much darker site to continue the project under better skies.

Unsurprisingly, the difference was immediately noticeable: the five hours I captured on the first night out there already outperformed the previous 20 by far.

Then, yesterday I collected another night of shots and this is the result of over 31 accumulated hours of integration.

Hope you like it!

Equipment:

Skywatcher Newton 200 F4 Quattro @692mm (F3.40)

Skywatcher 0.86x Coma Corrector

Optolong L-Ultimate dual band 3nm Filter

Omegon veTEC571C Color

Touptek OAG X + ASI290MM Mini Guide Camera

Ioptron CEM70 Mount

123x600s G100 T-15° (Bortle 6 Sky)

67x600s G100 T-15° (Bortle 4 Sky)

31h40m Total Integration Time

NGC 7822 is a young star forming complex located 2,935 ly from earth in the constellation Cepheus.

Rio Rancho NM Bortle 5 zone

April 18, 2022

William Optics Redcat 51

ZWO 183mc pro

ZWO 30mm f/4 mini guide scope and ZWO 120 Mini

Optolong L-eNhance filter

ZWO ASI Air Pro

Sky-Watcher HEQ5

197 X 300s lights ; with darks bias dithering

Gain 111 at -10C

Processed in DSS and PS

The Elephant Trunk Nebula (IC 1396) in the constellation Cepheus, "Hundreds of light-years across and about 3,000 light years from Earth, stars are forming in this area. The Elephant Trunk nebula contains several very young stars (less than 100,000 years old) that were discovered in 2003. The combined action of the massive star ionizing the rim of the cloud, and the wind from the young stars at its center blowing outward, generates very high compression in the Elephant Trunk. This is thought to have triggered the formation of protostars" - from SkySafari.

This is a calibrated stack of 40 3 minute exposures.

Askar ACL200 f/4 Lens

ZWO ASI533MC Pro Camera

Optolong L-Ultimate Filter

With the total failure of the Essato focuser I had to wait for this to come into production.

This is the very first photo from the 8" Newtonian and the brand new Starpoint Australis SP3 focuser. This focuser is the first of the production batch and is being used as a tester built and designed by the Guru behind our group of astro Photographers..

Night one I could see no stars just the meager hint of some, the silver connecting part was made too tall so it was never going to focus. The corrector was not sitting in the right place to get focus. Brendan said we have to make an upside down Adaptor.

My last day of work Brendan said I will have one ready for you come pick it up. A discussion how to use it and a message to my wife so I remembered what I was told. Night two I was tired but keen to get a result but all night long I kept getting pitch black images even when I shone the torch in the newt, still black. time to go to bed.

Next day I rechecked every thing camera back focus , Collimation all where correct so I changed camera. I went out armed into the night smelling like a chemist shop, Bush mans mozzie spray, if you dont you loose weight a lot. 15 min into the second try I had pinpoint stars . It was a case mark up bring inside and clamp up the corrector try again using Auto.

Some 25 min on my knees in front of the screen the perfect curve. It was then pack up out side and go inside at try it all out.

The stars are crisp and the major ones the highlights are even and clean. As a start I am using just the colour camera so its a little bit more simpler that using the full set of filters in the shot above on the desk

ZWOASI 071MC -10c 120 shots 5 min over two nights ..

MeLE Mini PC

Pegasus Astro Pocket Mini power box

Starpoint Australis SP3 Focuser

Optolong LeNhance filter,

Skywatcher 200 F4 PREMIUM PHOTO QUATTRO REFLECTOR OTA

Skywatcher NEQ 6 Pro Hypertuned

SVbony 50MM Guide scope

QHY5L-II-M Guide camera

Guided PHD2, Nina

Pixinsight, Ps

——— STRUMENTAZIONE ———

Telescopio: Skywatcher evostar ed80

Camera: Zwo Asi 294 mc

Montatura: Skywatcher AZ-EQ5

Autoguida: 60mm UltraGuide Artesky con zwo asi 224mc

Correttore 0.85x ed80 skywatcher

Filtro Optolong L-extreme

Software d'acquisizione Sgpro

————— FOTO ————

temp -10 con dark, flat e darkflat

70 x 300s

—— ELABORAZIONE ——

Pixinsight

Photoshop

Skywatcher 200p on NEQ6 mount. ASI294MC Pro camera. Baader MPCC M3 coma corrector,Optolong CLS-CCD filter.

The best frames from 2000 X 100 microsecond images, gain 482, sensor temperature -20C. Recorded as a .ser video. Processed in Autostakkert to align and stack and then Photoshop with Topaz denoise AI filter.

22nd January 2021

Markarian's Chain is a stretch of galaxies that forms part of the Virgo Cluster. It is called "chain" because, when viewed from Earth, the galaxies lie along a smoothly curved line.

Camera: ILCE7S JTW modified

Optolong L-PRO MAX Luminosity Filter

Scope: Evostar 80ED DS-Pro w/ field flattener

mount: HEQ5Pro

Unguided

77 frames 1m each = 1h 17 minutes total exposure

ISO 3200

Camera: ASI294MC Pro

Scope: SW 200/1000 modified newt

Mount: SW EQ6-R Pro

Filter RGB: Optolong L-Pro 2"

Filter Ha & OIII: Antlia ALP-T 2"

Expo RGB: 233 x 180s (11.7h) + Dark, Flat, Bias

Expo Ha & OIII: 202 x 300s Light (16.8h)+ Dark, Flat, Bias

Controlled by AsiAir Plus

Processed in PixInsight and Photoshop LR

2024.10.01 - 2024.11.05

Várpalota, Hungary

Comet 46P/Wirtanen close to the Pleiades (M45) on 16 December 2018 (imaged from Southern Africa, after a thunder shower and in between clear gaps in partly clouded conditions).

The Comet's tail was only visible in darker skies with longer exposures, but it has a beautiful bright green coma. The green colour is caused by Cyanogen (CN) and diatomic Carbon (C2), which glows in the green part of the Electromagnetic Spectrum of Light when illuminated by the Sun in space.

Geocentric Distance:

0.0775 AU (Astronomical Unit)

30 Lunar distances

11.5 million km

7.1 million miles

Gear:

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR Lens.

Celestron AdvancedVX Telescope Mount.

Optolong L-Pro Clip-In Filter for Nikon.

Nikon D750 DSLR

Lights/Subs:

46 x 60 sec. ISO 320 exposures.

Calibration Frames:

30 x Bias

20 x Darks

Processing:

Pre-Processing and Linear workflow in PixInsight,

and finished in Photoshop.

Martin

www.astrobin.com/326223/

Technical card

Imaging telescope or lens: Altair Astro RC250-TT 10" RC Truss Tube

Imaging camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Cool

Mount: Skywatcher AZ EQ-6 GT

Guiding telescope or lens: Celestron OAG Deluxe

Guiding camera: QHYCCD QHY5III174

Focal reducer: Astro-Physics CCDT67 - 0.67x Reducer

Software: Main Sequence Software Seqence Generator Pro, Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight

Filters: Optolong OIII 6.5nm 36mm, Optolong SII 6.5nm 36mm, Optolong Ha 7nm 36mm, Baader Planetarium OIII 1.25" 8.5nm, Baader Planetarium SII 1.25" 8nm

Accessories: MoonLite CSL 2.5" Focuser with High Res Stepper Motor, ZWO EFW

Resolution: 4096x4096

Dates: Oct. 14, 2017, Dec. 5, 2017

Frames:

Optolong Ha 7nm 36mm: 22x600" (gain: 200.00) -20C bin 1x1

Baader Planetarium OIII 1.25" 8.5nm: 10x120" (gain: 200.00) -20C bin 1x1

Optolong OIII 6.5nm 36mm: 7x600" (gain: 200.00) -20C bin 1x1

Baader Planetarium SII 1.25" 8nm: 10x120" (gain: 200.00) -20C bin 1x1

Optolong SII 6.5nm 36mm: 7x600" (gain: 200.00) -20C bin 1x1

Integration: 6.7 hours

Avg. Moon age: 20.56 days

Avg. Moon phase: 61.80%

Astrometry.net job: 1862889

RA center: 38.577 degrees

DEC center: 61.342 degrees

Pixel scale: 0.456 arcsec/pixel

Orientation: 2.732 degrees

Field radius: 0.367 degrees

Locations: Berga Resort, Berga, Barcelona, Spain

M81 & M82

William Optics Z61, Flat61

ZWO ASI183MM Pro

Optolong Luminance Filter, 36mm

ZWO EFW 7x36mm

iOptron SkyGuider Pro

Light, 103 x 90s

Dark, 80

Bias, 250

Flat, 30

KStars & PixInsight

The California Nebula (NGC 1499) is an emission nebula in the constellation Perseus. This nebula is about 1,000 light years from the Earth. The nebula is being lit up by the star Menkib which is the brightest star in the center of my image.

Tech Specs: Williams Optics REDCAT51, ZWO ASI071mc-Pro running at 0C, Sky-Watcher EQ6R-Pro mount, Optolong L-eNhance filter (2”), 42 x 300 second exposures, guided using a ZWO 30mm f/4 mini guide scope and ZWO 120 Mini, controlled with a ZWO ASIAir Pro running v1.5 software, stacked in DSS and processed using PixInsight and Adobe Lightroom. Image date: September 19, 2020. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA.

Telescopio: GSO RC14 F8

Camera Cmos: Player One Poseidon-M PRO

Montatura: IOptron CEM120EC

Guida Telescopio:PLAYER ONE FHD-OAG MAX Lodestar X2 AO

Software: Voyager - PixInsight

Light: L 45X300S BIN 2X2 - H 7X300S BIN2X2- R 12X300S BIN 2X2 -G 12X300S BIN - B 12X300S BIN 2X2 - 11 Dark 11 Flat 11 Bias

Filtri: Optolong L 50.8 – Optolong R 50.8 – Optolong G 50.8 – Optolong B 50.8 – Optolong HA 3NM 50.8 – Optolong OIII 3NM 50.8 – Optolong SII 3NM 50.8

Accessori: Pegasus Astro Ultimate Powerbox· Focheggiatore Elettronico FocusCube V2 Pegasus Astro

Data: 29-04-25 01-05-25

Luogo di Ripresa: Gualdo Tadino(PG) Italia

Luna: 5% 21%

Target:M63 Sunflower Galaxy, a flocculent spiral galaxy in the constellation of Canes Venatici at a distance of 29 million light years.

Location:10/05/2021 St Helens UK Bortle 8 No Moon but wind gusts.

Aquisition:20x 120s Red, 20x 120s Green, 18x 120s Blue. Total Integration 116min.

Equipment:Skywatcher 200P Newtonian, HEQ5 Pro, Baader MK3 Coma Corrector, ZWO AFWmini and filters with Optolong LPro in train. Altair Astro H183M Pro.

Guiding:Skywatcher 9x50 finder with ZWO ASI120MM mini.

Software:Astroberry, Ekos, PHD2.

Processing:Affinity Photo, Siril, StarNet++

Memories:Only 1h 33m dark sky available for me this night which will be the last until August at my latitude so no chance of getting more integration time. This brings my quite successful galaxy season to a close for this year.

First light with Sharpstar z4. Location Bortle 6 suburban

30 x 1 minute exposures plus 30 x 5 minute exposures

Gain 117 offset 5

Equipment

EQ6 Pro/Sharpstar Z4/Optolong L Pro/ZWO ASI 183 MC

Software

NINA/Astro Pixel Processor/ Photoshop CS6/Topaz AI/NoiseXterminator/ Starnet ++ v2

processing notes

Short exposures stacked and registered with long exposure stack; star layer extracted

longer exposures stacked and registered with short exposure; starless layer created, noise removed and stretched

Star layer from short exposure added in at 80 % opacity to reduce intensity

Final noise reduction with NoiseXterminator at 70 %

Issues

focus very soft. some artifacts around stars- is this due to the Lpro? optical train? Gain too high?

many stars are saturated so very possible gain was too high for this configuration;

focus definitely needs improvement

Also seeing (and transparency) on the night was execrable

CCD inspector in ASTAP showed no tilt, unroundness of 1.1 (in general) and no aberration so that's the good news

Faint green circular light is surrounding the planetary nebula, though it may be of reflection optical ghost. There look three dark belts probably due to shadow of four vanes at the entrance of the reflector optical tube assembly. A band of shadow is missing. I will image the object again with a suitable APO refractor telescope.

equipment: Guan Sheng Optical Ritchey–Chrétien telescope RC 10" f8 with aigrette pattern mask on the vanes, TS 2.5" field flattener, Optolong L-ultimate Dual Narrow Band Filter, and Canon EOS R-SP4II, modified by Seo-san on SkyWatcher CQ350 Pro Equatorial Mount, autoguided with TS-OAG 9mm, ZWO ASI 120MM-mini, and PHD2 Guiding

exposure: 4 times x 1,800 seconds, 4 x 240 sec, and 6 x 60 seconds at ISO 6,400 and f/8.0

site: 2,360m above sea level at lat. 35 20 13 North and long. 138 43 57 East in the parking on southern slope of Mt.Fuji 富士山富士宮口五合目駐車場 Ambient temperature was around 4 degree Celsius or 39 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind was mild, and SQML was up to 20.38. 18.8-day 76% illuminated moon was in the sky. Seeing was bad, and guide error RMS was around 1".

I captured the RGB data on the 7th March 2022 and combined the HA data taken with an Atik414ex camera taken back in 2020.

Equipment used

Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro mount

Takahashi FSQ106 @F/5

ASI 553MC Pro camera

2” Optolong L-Pro filter

QHY Mini guide scope

Lodestar x 2

Software used

Maxim DL V6

Pixinsight

PhotoShop

RGB = 67 x 3 min

HA = 27 x 10 min

Total Exposure 8 hrs 25 min

Image taken from Basildon,Essex, UK.

This is the North America Nebula (NGC7000). I spent 4 nights imaging this and ended up throwing out two entire nights of images (too much moon glow and poor seeing), ultimately using 7 hours of subexposures. This is a false color representation using a H(H+O)O color palette. The images were taken using a dual narrowband light pollution filter.

The cygnus wall is the W shaped brown/orange part of the nebula, lower right of center.

Astrobin: www.astrobin.com/26r7x7

Total integration time: 7h 5minutes

Location: Southern Maryland, USA (Bortle 6)

Dates: 08/04/2021, 08/05/2021

==Gear==

Mount: SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro

Imaging Telescope: William Optics Zenithstar 61 II APO

Field Flattener: William Optics Flat 61A

Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI 2600MC Pro

Guide Scope: ZWO 30 mm f/4 Mini Guide Scope

Guide Camera: ZWO ASI120MM

Auto Focuser: ZWO EAF

LP Filter: Optolong L-Enhance

==Acquisition==

Light Frames: 85 x 300s, -10C, Dithered

Dark Frames: 1 master frame (32 x 300s) -10C gain 100, -10C

Flat Frames: 32 each night

Flat Darks: 32 each night

==Stacking==

DSS stacked(Kappa sigma, per channel background calibration)

==Processing==

StarTools:

Autodev, Crop, Bin 71%, Wipe, FilmDev, Contrast, HDR, Sharpen, Deconvolution, Color, Shrink Stars(Dim + Unglow), Noise reduction

Affinity Photo:

Curves (Master, Red, Blue), Vibrance

March 24, 2023

Naples, FL

Equipment--

Telescope: Explore Scientific ED 80, field flattener (no reducer), 480mm focal length

Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ6R-Pro

Camera: ZWO ASI204MC-Pro

Guide scope: Williams Optics 50mm guide scope

Guide camera: ZWO ASI120MM-S

Software: NINA, PHD2

Imaging--

Lights: 36x60s

Darks, Flats, DarkFlats, Bias: assorted

Sensor temp: -10.0

Filter: Optolong L-Pro

Sky: Bortle 5 (nominal)

Post processing--

Software: PixInsight, Photoshop

Gabriela Mistral Nebula (NGC3324) along with the stunning Gem Cluster (NGC3293) within Carina. This has unexpectedly become my favourite DSO image I've taken since starting this hobby.

Feel free to peep in on the full resolution image and hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

.

Total exposure time 19.85 hours, captured from Auckland, NZ (Bortle 5 backyard)

RGB 10x60s in each Channel (30mins), Ha 54 x 3mins (2.7hrs), Sii 129 x 3mins (6.45hrs), 204 x 3mins (10.2hrs)

RisingCam IMX571m, Skywatcher Esprit 100, Antlia 3nm Narrowband and Optolong LRGB Filters. Skywatcher EQ6 pro mount.

M51 is an astronomical object in messier's catalog that includes two distinct galaxies in the constellation Canis-Hunts:

The largest and most famous Vortex Galaxy (also known as NGC 5194 and sometimes M51A) is a classic spiral galaxy. It was discovered by Charles Messier on October 13, 1773.

The smaller companion galaxy known as NGC 5195 (or even M51B), is partially covered by a dust arm of the Vortex spiral (with which it interacts) and was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781.Shooting data:Camera canon eos 1100d fullspectrum,canon lens 75/300 to 200mm- f 7/1 - iso 1600 - 75x40s -10 dark - optolong filter l-pro eos clip - use of lx2 mini astroinseguitor - acquisition with backyard eos - sum with sequator and photoshop processing

48x300" + 18x600"

QHY8L

Sky-Watcher Equinox 80/500 ED

Sky-Watcher NEQ6-Pro

Optolong L-Pro

SW Esprit100 + ASI1600MM pro + Optolong 7nm Ha filter + NEQ6pro Rowan Kit - 46x3 min + 49x30" - 80 darks. Edit: PS and PIX

The Pleiades or M45 (part of).

Skywatcher 200p on NEQ6 mount, with guiding and dithering every 10 images.

Optolong CLS-CCD filter, Baader MPCC M3. ASI294MC Pro at -20C. 67 x 60 second exposures (1 hour 7 minutes) at Gain 121, Offset 30 , 20 dark frames, 30 flat fields, 30 dark flat frames.

Processed in APP, Topaz de-noise and Photoshop.

The main stars are over exposed and it was a bit windy. 13th November 2020

This is a view of Sh2-155 - The Cave Nebula, found in the constellation Cepheus. This is just over 9-hours of collected data in 2022 and 2023 which I have finally combined. The Cave Nebula is a dim and very diffuse bright nebula within a larger nebula complex containing emission, reflection, and dark nebulosity. It is located in the constellation Cepheus and is approximately 2400 light years from Earth.

Tech Specs: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120ED Telescope, ZWO ASI2600MC + Optolong L-eXtreme glass filter, running at 0F, 9 hours and 5 minutes using 300-second exposures exposures, Sky-Watcher EQ6R-Pro pier mounted, ZWO EAF and ASIAir Pro, processed in PixInisght. Image Date: October 2022 and September 2023. Location: The Dark Side Observatory (W59), Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).

3 hours exposure with Takahashi TOA130, Nikon D810a, Optolong LPR filter

William Optics FLT91/0.8x reducer

ZWO ASI2600MC Pro

Optolong L-Enhance and L-Ultimate Narrowband filters

Processed with PixInsight and Affinity Photo 2 and cropped. You can see the full photo (uncropped) here: flic.kr/p/2ocbiXt

Integration time: 7 hours across 5 separate sessions. Last session just yesterday (17th Jan '23)

Acquisition details: astrob.in/so0tap/G/

Andromeda Galaxy M31 - first light on DSO with Askar ACL200 f/4 APO

[EN] The full moon and some high clouds didn't stop me from testing the Askar ACL200 lens on a deepsky object. I picked an easy object i.e. Andromeda - our neighbour galaxy. The exposure time was limited and conditions were not ideal but enough to show the performance of this APO lens. I'm really please with the result.

[NL] De volle maan en enkele hoge wolken weerhielden me niet om de Askar ACL200-lens op een deepsky-object te testen. Ik koos een makkelijk object, namelijk Andromeda - ons buursterrenstelsel. De belichtingstijd was beperkt en de omstandigheden waren niet ideaal, maar voldoende om de prestaties van deze APO-lens te laten zien. Ik ben alvast blij met het resultaat.

Astrobin link: astrob.in/idm0r9/0/

📷 ZWO ASI533MC PRO - Optolong L-Pro filter

🌌 Optolong L-Pro 27 lights - 180 sec - gain 101 - offset 40 -10°c

🔭 Ankar ACL200 f/4 APO lens on Explore Scientific EXOS2-GT Eq mount with PMC Eight goto

💫 guiding with ZWO ASI120 MC-S on TS-Optics 50mm

💻 PHD2, N.I.N.A, PixInsight, TopazDenoise AI

📍🇧🇪 Belgium, Class 6 Bortle

Data - 02/04/2021

Hora - 19:19 ~ 20:44 local (-3 UTC)

Lat - 7,13S

Log - 34,83W

Local - João Pessoa, PB - Brasil

Bortle - Class 8~9

Câmera - Canon T3i modificada

Lente - Canon LII USM 200mm F2.8 @F4 (320mm APS-c)

Filtro CLS-CCD Clip Optolong

ISO - 1600

Montagem - EQ5

Motorização - On Step

Guider - SW 8x50 + SVbony 105

Light - 96 x 30s (48 min)

Flat - 15 x 1/2500s

Dark Flat - 15 x 1/2500s

Dark - 15 x 30s

Bias - 15 x 1/4000s

Software Captura - APT/PHD2

Softwares Processamento - DSS/PIX/PS

#astfotbr

Image of tarantula nebula using Optolong Hydrogen Alpha, Sulphur II and Oxygen 3. A combined total of 16 hours of exposure.

QHY23 & Canon EF50mm F/1.8 lens at F/2.8

22x120 Optolong Luminance Filter

Center (RA, Dec):(9.796, 41.701)

Center (RA, hms):00h 39m 10.977s

Center (Dec, dms):+41° 42' 04.736"

Size:13.7 x 11 deg

Radius:8.795 deg

Pixel scale:14.8 arcsec/pixel

Orientation:Up is 281 degrees E of N

---Photo details----

Stacks Ha: 48x2min

Stacks O3: 59x2min

Darks : 100

Exposure Time : ~3h34

Stack program : PixInsight

---Photo scope---

Camera : ZWO ASI6200MM PRO

CCD Temperature : -10C

Filter(s) used: Optolong Ha 3nm, Optolong O3 3nm

Tube : Takahashi FSQ-106 EDX4

Field flattener / Reducer : -

Effective focal length : 530 mm

Effective aperture : F/5

---Guide scope---

Camera : ASI Mini guider

Guide exposure : 3 sec

---Mount and other stuff---

Mount : Skywatcher AZ-EQ-6 GT

---Processing details----

NINA for acquisition, controlling the following:

- ASTAP (plate solving)

- PHD2 (guiding)

- Stellarium

PixInsight : stacking, alignment, background extraction, histogram manipulation

Lightroom for final touchups

StarNet2 for allowing different processing on nebula vs stars

Topaz Denoise for a last processing step

SIMPLE = T / file does conform to FITS standard

BITPIX = -32 / number of bits per data pixel

NAXIS = 3 / number of data axes

NAXIS1 = 4144 / length of data axis 1

NAXIS2 = 2822 / length of data axis 2

NAXIS3 = 3 / length of data axis 3

EXTEND = T / FITS dataset may contain extensions

COMMENT FITS (Flexible Image Transport System) format is defined in 'Astronomy

COMMENT and Astrophysics', volume 376, page 359; bibcode: 2001A&A...376..359H

MIPS-FHI= 1 / Upper visualization cutoff

MIPS-FLO= 0 / Lower visualization cutoff

BZERO = 0 / offset data range to that of unsigned short

BSCALE = 1 / default scaling factor

DATE = '2023-06-25T06:12:14' / UTC date that FITS file was created

DATE-OBS= '2023-06-21T08:52:44.660028' / YYYY-MM-DDThh🇲🇲ss observation start,

INSTRUME= 'ZWO ASI294MC Pro' / instrument name

OBSERVER= ' ' / observer name

TELESCOP= 'EQMod Mount' / telescope used to acquire this image

ROWORDER= 'BOTTOM-UP' / Order of the rows in image array

XPIXSZ = 4.63 / X pixel size microns

YPIXSZ = 4.63 / Y pixel size microns

XBINNING= 1 / Camera binning mode

YBINNING= 1 / Camera binning mode

FOCALLEN= 390.3 / Camera focal length

CCD-TEMP= -10.5 / CCD temp in C

EXPTIME = 60 / Exposure time [s]

STACKCNT= 84 / Stack frames

LIVETIME= 5040 / Exposure time after deadtime correction

EXPSTART= 2.46012e+06 / Exposure start time (standard Julian date)

EXPEND = 2.46012e+06 / Exposure end time (standard Julian date)

IMAGETYP= 'Light ' / Type of image

CVF = 0.399 / Conversion factor (e-/adu)

GAIN = 200 / Camera gain