The Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters and Messier 45, are an open star cluster located in the constellation Taurus. Robert Burnham states in his Celestial Handbook, "undoubtedly the most famous galactic star cluster in the heavens, known and regarded with reverence since remote antiquity."

Work in progress as I would like to add several more hours if/when the weather cooperates!

Did you know that J.R.R. Tolkien told us in The Hobbit that the Pleiades were known in the ancient days if Middle-earth as Remmirath, or "The Netted Stars"?

Tech Specs: Williams Optic Redcat 51, Celestron CGEM-DX mount (pier mounted), ZWO ASI071MC-Pro running at -10C, 30 x 120 second exposures, GAIN 200, guided using a ZWO ASI290MC and Orion 60mm guide scope. Captured using SharpCap v3.2. Image date: January 29, 2020. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA.

Found in the sword of the Orion Constellation, the Orion Nebula is visible to the naked eye. It is only 1,500 light years away from us and thus appears very bright. It is worth checking out with a small telescope or even a pair of binoculars.

Equipment:

SkyWatcher EQ6-R

Nikkor 500mm f/4 P Ai-s at f/5.6

Sony a7RIII (unmodified)

Altair 60mm Guide scope

GPCAM2 Mono Camera

Acquisition:

Taos, NM: my backyard - Bortle 3

89 x 120" for 2 hr 59min and 29 sec of exposure time.

20 dark frames

15 flats frames

15 bais frames

Guided

Software:

SharpCap

PHD2

DeepSkyStacker

PixInsight

Photoshop

Lightroom

I polar aligned my mount using SharpCap Pro. My Sony a7rIII and adapted Nikkor 500mm f/4 P AI-S were mounted on an ADM vixen rail and secured to the SkyWatcher EQ6-R mount. The guide scope/camera was attached to the camera's hot shoe. I used PHD2 to autogude during the imaging session. DeepSkyStacker was used to combine all frames, and the outputted TIFF file was brought into PixInsight using: STF, Cropping, Dynamic Background Extraction, BlurXTerminator, plate solving, color correction, NoiseXTerminator and then the DSO was separated from the stars, and both files processed and stretched separately and then recombined using PixelMath and lastly HDR Multiscale Transform to bring back detail in the nebula's core. That file was brought into Lightroom for Metadata and EXIF tags, light post-processing, and cropping to the final image.

Equipo Principal: ZWO ASI 1600 mm-pro + SW Explorer 250pds + SW Coma Corrector 0.9x + EQ6-R-Pro + ZWO EAF + ZWO 7x2" EFW

Equipo guía: ZWO M68 OAG, ZWO ASI 120mm mini

SHO data:

*Gain 139, -20 º C, Ha 7nm 2" Optolong, 84x180"

*Gain 139, -20 º C, Oiii-CCD 6.5 nm 2" Optolong, 50x180"

*Gain 139, -20 º C, Sii-CCD 6.5 nm 2" Optolong, 60x180"

100 Darks

80 Flats / 80 Darkflats por filtro

LRGB data:

*Gain 100, -25 º C, R-CCD 2" Svbony + L-Pro 2" Optolong, 43x120"

*Gain 100, -25 º C, G-CCD 2" Svbony + L-Pro 2" Optolong, 42x120"

*Gain 100, -25 º C, B-CCD 2" Svbony + L-Pro 2" Optolong, 44x120"

*Gain 100, -25 º C, L 2" Optolong + L-Pro 2" Optolong, 124x120"

50 Darks

50 Flats / filter

*Gain 139, -20 º C, Sii-CCD 6.5 nm 2" Optolong, 60x180"

Polar Align: SharpCap 3.2

Adquisición: SGP 3.2

Guiado: PHD2

Procesado: Pixinsight 1.8.8, PS

Constellation Monocerors Skywatcher MN190 / ZWO 2600 Livestack (20min) with SharpCap, during Hades Hill Opening Event in SL. Includes some first, noobish processing in Pixinsight :-)

Copernicus crater from March 8, 2017 – not my best attempt, high winds really prevented the capture of any fine details.

Tech Specs: ZWO ASI290MC camera and Meade 12” LX90 telescope mounted on a Celestron CGEM-DX mount. Software used included Sharpcap v2.9, AutoStakkert! Alpha Version 2.3.0.21, and ImagesPlus v5.75a. Best 2500 frames out of 10000 frames captured. Photographed on March 8, 2017 from Weatherly, Pennsylvania.

Equipo Principal: ZWO ASI 1600 mm-pro + SW Explorer 250pds + SW Coma Corrector 0.9x + EQ6-R-Pro + ZWO EAF + ZWO 7x2" EFW

Equipo guía: ZWO M68 OAG, ZWO ASI 120mm mini

Tesela 1:

*Gain 139, -15 º C, Ha 7nm 2" Optolong, 80x180"

*Gain 139, -15 º C, Oiii-CCD 6.5 nm 2" Optolong, 50x180"

*Gain 139, -15 º C, Sii-CCD 6.5 nm 2" Optolong, 60x180"

Tesela 2:

*Gain 139, -20 º C, Ha 7nm 2" Optolong, 82x180"

*Gain 139, -20 º C, Oiii-CCD 6.5 nm 2" Optolong, 50x180"

*Gain 139, -20 º C, Sii-CCD 6.5 nm 2" Optolong, 60x180"

100 Darks

80 Flats / 80 Darkflats por filtro

Polar Align: SharpCap 3.2

Adquisición: SGP 3.2

Procesado: Pixinsight 1.8.8, PS

Taking advantage of some above average conditions and mild weather to do some solar imaging.

Coronado 70 Solarmax III Double stack Ha BF-15 blocking filter.

Orion Atlas Pro EQ mount.

ZWO ASI174mm camera.

SharpCap, Autostakkert, Lightroom, Photoshop software.

Best 10% of 700 exposures stacked.

www.astrobin.com/r2lx4n/

First solar image captured completely remote from my observatory 200km away.

Now we need more solar activity :D but I feel that something has changed on the last last times.....

Technical card

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Lunt Solar Systems LS60FHa (Double Stack)

Imaging cameras: ZWO ASI174MM

Mounts: Skywatcher EQ6R Pro

Software: Emil Kraaikamp Autostackert! 3 · SharpCap

Accessory: Astrolink 4.0 mini · PrimaLuceLab Sesto Senso focuser · TALON6 R.O.R

Date: March 30, 2021

Time: 11:34

Frames: 10000

FPS: 170.00000

Focal length: 500

Resolution: 1862x1454

Data source: Own remote observatory

Remote source: Non-commercial independent facility

29/09/2021 celestron C8 Edge HD, Altairastro hypercam 183c Skywatcher EQ6 PRO Sharpcap AS3 Registax LR

Coronado Personal Solar Telescope (PST) 400mm f10 telescope specifically designed to only pass a very narrow slice of the Hydrogen Alpha wavelength.

QHY5lii USB monochrome camera

Best 50% of 500 high speed video frames captured using SharpCap software, analyzed, 1.5 drizzle and stacked using Autostakkert3! software, sharpened in imppg free software, false color added in Photoshop.

The Horsehead Nebula, also known as Barnard 33, is a dark nebula located in the constellation Orion, approximately 1,375 light-years away from Earth; it appears as a dark cloud shaped like a horse's head against the backdrop of a brighter nebula, and is part of the larger Orion Molecular Cloud complex, situated just south of the star Alnitak in Orion's Belt.

The Flame Nebula (at left) , also known as NGC 2024, is an emission nebula located in the constellation Orion, approximately 1,350 light-years away from Earth; it's a prominent star-forming region illuminated by the nearby star Alnitak, the easternmost star in Orion's Belt, which ionizes the hydrogen gas within the nebula, causing it to glow with a distinctive red color.

Image Details:

- Imaging Scope: William Optics 61mm Zenithstar II Doublet

- Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI183MC Color

- Guiding System: Celestron Starsense Autoguider

- Filter: ZWO Duo Band (HA & OIII)

- Acquisition Software: Sharpcap

- Guiding Software: Celestron

- Capture Software: SharpCap Pro (LiveStack mode with dithering)

- Light Frames: 20*5 mins

- Dark Frames: 10*5 mins

- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker

- Processed in PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom, and Topaz Denoise AI

The Eastern Veil supernova remnant in Cygnus.

Taken over 2 nights, 17/18 and 18/19th September 2024 during Full Moon.

Technical Card:

480/80mm f/6 Altair Starwave triplet refractor.

Altair Planostar 1.0 x FF with 2 inch IDAS P3 LPS filter

ZWO ASI2600MC; 42 x 360 second subs

Gain 100, Offset 25, Temp = -15c.

EQ6 pro mount with Rowan belt drives. EQMOD control. Primalucelab Sesto Senso electronic focuser.

Session control; SharpCap 4.1 on laptop with WiFi link to IPad.

Automated plate solving GOTO. (4s at gain 578)

Automated FWHM multistar focusing every 16 frames. +/- 500 steps at 4s and 578 gain.

20 dark frames

50 flat frames (electroluminescent panel A), 2000ms exposure @ 0 gain).

Post processed in PixInsight 1.8.9.2

Plug-in modules: Generalised Hyperbolic Stretch, Blur XTerminator, Star XTerminator, Noise XTerminator

Light Pollution and Weather:

SQM (L) not recorded - 100% Moon

Session 1: clear. Session 2: ended by high cloud.

Polar Alignment:

Resumed from previous Park.

Error measured by PHD2= 3.6 arc minute.

RA drift + 3.16 arcsec/min

Dec drift +0.81 arcsec/min

Guiding:

PHD2 guiding with ZWO ASI290mm/Altair Starwave 206/50mm guider. Every 5th sub dithered.

RA RMS error 0.85 arcsec

Dec RMS error 0.78arcsec

Astrometry:

(Initial integrated image)

Resolution: 1.609 arcsec/px

Rotation: -91.274 deg

Focal distance: 481.91 mm

Pixel size: 3.76 um

Field of view: 2d 45' 28.1" x 1d 46' 13.0"

Image centre:

RA: 20 56 57.348

Dec: +31 42 45.39

Here is a view of Aristoteles and Eudoxus craters on the moon. Aristoteles, the larger of the two and measures about 53 miles across while Eudoxus measures about 41 miles across.

Tech Specs: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120mm ED Triplet APO Refractor, Celestron CGEM-DX mount, ZWO ASI290MC camera, Televue Powermate 2.5x, best 25% of 20k frames. Captured with SharpCap v3 and processed using AutoStakkert! And Registax. Image Date: March 23, 2018. Location: The Dark Side Observatory in Weatherly, PA.

Genova, Italy (22 Aug 2023 23:47->23:59 UT)

Saturn: diameter 19.0", mag +0.4, altitude ≈ 34°

Moons left to right: Enceladus (+12.0), Mimas (+13.0), Tethys (+10.4), Rhea (+9.8), Dione (+10.6), Titan (+8.6, 0.8" diameter), Iapetus (+11.2)

Titan's disk is probably "real", while the diameters of the other moons are limited to the resolution of the telescope (they are actually much smaller)

Telescope: Celestron CPC C8 XLT (203 F/10 SC)

Camera: QHY5III462C Color

Focal Extender: Explore Scientific 2x (1.25")

Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector: Artesky

Filter: QHY UV/IR block

Recording scale: 0.150 arcsec/pixel

Equivalent focal length ≈ 4000 mm F/19.7

Image resized: +50%

Recording: SharpCap 4.0

Saturn & Enceladus (23:47 UT):

(640x480 @ 60fps - 240 sec - RAW8 - Gain 240)

Best 25% frames of ≈ 14400

Alignment/Stacking: AstroSurface U4

Other Moons (23:59 UT):

(1024x768 @ 15fps - ≈132 sec - RAW8 - Gain 318)

Best 75% frames of 2000

Alignment/Stacking: AutoStakkert 3.1.4

Wavelets/Deconvolution: AstroSurface U4

Final Elaboration: GIMP 2.10.34

Elephant Trunk Nebula

HA 436 @ 30 seconds Gain 200 offset 5

(Color version is using Blue Channel from Digitized Sky Survey HHO blend)

20 darks at 62F

30 flats

Scope: Orion 8" f4 Astrograph with Baader Coma Corrector

Mount: iOptron iEQ45 pro

Camera: ZWO ASI183M non cooled

Guide camera: QHY5Lii

Guide Scope: Stellarvue 60mm

ZWO 8 position 1.25 filter wheel filter wheel

Schuler HA 9nm,

Moonlite focuser CR2

Moonlight Hi Res stepper motor

MyFocuer Pro v2 (Robert Brown) controller

Bahtinov mask

Home Observatory

Software: N.I.N.A., PHD2, Sharpcap, CdC, Pixinsight, Photoshop, Nic Dfine 2, Team Viewer

I decided to remove the Hyperstar for once to try my hand at some prime focus imaging with the 11" Celestron EdgeHD. I was after some planetary captures (Venus), but I had software issues(Sharpcap). Unitl I had them fixed, Venus had set in the West. So before the clouds moved in, I decided to capture some quick Luminance filtered images of NGC7023, the Iris Nebula

Luminance filter image combined with older RGB.

28x2 minute exposures(binned 2x2)

30 Flats

20 Darks

30 Bias

Gain 10

Offset 57

Equipo Principal: ZWO ASI 1600 mm-pro + Long Perng S400G + LP Field Flattener + EQ6-R-Pro

Equipo guía: Guidescope Starguider 60/240 mm, camara guia ZWO ASI 120 mm mini

*Gain 139, -20º C, Ha 7nm 2" Optolong, 140 Lights x 180"

*Gain 139, -20º C, Oiii-CCD 6.5nm 2" Optolong, 110 Lights x 180"

*Gain 139, -20º C, Sii-CCD 6.5nm 2" Optolong, 94 Lights x 180"

100 Flats por filtro

100 Darks

Adquisición y Procesado: SharpCap Pro 3.2, SGP v3, Pixinsight 1.8.6, PS

Equipo Principal: ZWO ASI 1600 mm-pro + Long Perng S400G + LP Field Flattener + EQ6-R-Pro

Equipo guía: Guidescope Starguider 60/240 mm, camara guia ZWO ASI 120 mm mini

*Gain 139, -20º C, Ha 7nm 2" Optolong, 103 Lights x 180"

*Gain 139, -20º C, Oiii-CCD 6.5nm 2" Optolong, 60 Lights x 180"

*Gain 139, -20º C, Sii-CCD 6.5nm 2" Optolong, 50 Lights x 180"

100 Flats por filtro

100 Darks

Adquisición y Procesado: SharpCap Pro 3.2, SGP v3.1, Pixinsight 1.8.6, PS

On either end of the Sinus Iridum (Bay of Rainbows) are two capes, or points, called Promontorium Laplace and Promontorium Heraclides that were right near the sun-shadow line on the moon. This area has also been called the “jeweled scimitar” because of its resemblance to the scimitar sword (or sabre).

Tech Specs: Meade 12” LX90, Celestron CGEM-DX mount, ASI290MC, best 2.5k of 5k frames, AutoStakkert! V3.0.14 (x64), FireCapture v2.5.10 x64 and Registax v6. Software used included Sharpcap v2.9 and AutoStakkert! Alpha Version 2.3.0.21. Photographed on July 4, 2017 from Weatherly, Pennsylvania.

Here is a view of the moon from March 10, 2022, 55% illuminated.

Tech Specs: Orion 8" f/8 Ritchey-Chretien Astrograph Telescope, Celestron CGEM-DX pier mounted, ASI071MC-Pro, ZWO AAPlus, ZWO EAF, best 20% of 500 frames at full resolution, processed using SharpCap Pro and Registax. Image Date: March 10, 2022. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).

Rupes Recta, a linear fault line, or rille, was casting quite the shadow on March 11, 2022. The name is Latin for straight cliff, although it is more commonly called the Straight Wall. This fault has a length of about 68 miles (110 kilometers). The small (11 miles wide) crater Birt lies just to the west.

Tech Specs: Orion 8" f/8 Ritchey-Chretien Astrograph Telescope, Celestron CGEM-DX pier mounted, ASI290MC, ZWO AAPlus, ZWO EAF, best 20% of 30k frames at full resolution, processed using SharpCap Pro and Registax. Image Date: March 11, 2022. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).

First attempt at NGC1499 California Nebula. Scope: TSAPO65Q. Mount: SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro. Camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro. Guide: Altair GPCAMv2 130M with Orion 50mm. 30 x 3 Mins in SharpCap Pro. Processed in APP. Finished and cropped in Adobe CC.

Equipo Principal: ZWO ASI 1600 mm-pro + SW Explorer 200p + SW Coma Corrector 0.9x + EQ6-R-Pro + Long Perng 2" Dual Speed Low Profile Crayford Focuser + ZWO EAF + ZWO 7x2" EFW

Equipo guía: guidescope 60/240 mm, camara guia ZWO ASI 120mm mini

*Gain 139, -20 º C, Ha 7nm 2" Optolong, 78x180"

*Gain 139, -20 º C, Oiii-CCD 6.5 nm 2" Optolong, 80x180"

100 Darks

100 Flats por filtro

Polar Align: SharpCap 3.2

Adquisición: SGP 3.1

Procesado: Pixinsight 1.8.8, PS

Telescopio: Celestron C8 Edge HD

Montatura: iOptron CEM60

Camera di ripresa: ZWO ASI 174 mono Cooled

Filtro: Optolong Red CCD 50,8 mm

Software:SharpCap 3.2 Pro, Emil Kraaikamp Autostakkert 3.0.14, Zoner Photo Studio X v. 19, Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight 1.8, Astra Image 4 SI

Focuser: Moonlite CF 2,5" focuser with high resolution stepper DRO

Pose: 2390 a 150 ftgs

Lunghezza focale: 2032 mm

Seeing: 3 Trasparenza: 5

From last night M52 & NGC7635 (Bubble Nebula)

WO SkyCat 51mm 250mm FL

Zwo 071MC Pro cooled color camera

#SharpCap Pro PHD2

Gain 100 Temp 0c 1 minute exposure 128 total

Darks flats and Bias frames

Ioptron i45 Pro EQ mount Orion 60mm guidescope SSAG

Stacked and processed in Astro Pixel Processor StarTools and PS

Telescopio: Celestron C8 Edge HD

Montatura:iOptron CEM60

Camera: QHY 178 mono cooled

Filtro:Optolong Red CCD 50,8 mm

Software:SharpCap 3.2 Pro, Emil Kraaikamp Autostakkert 3.0.14, Zoner Photo Studio X v. 19, Stark Labs Nebulosity 4.2, Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight 1.8

Pose: 150 FPS: 24,00000

Lunghezza focale: 2032 mm

Seeing: 3 Trasparenza: 8

added 3+ hours to the 2 I had from the other night. Seeing was really bad so I was never happy with the sharpness but what are you going to do? I do see a difference with the added data but still think I need more. Each night was stacked separately due to temp differences then combined using Pixel Math.

5.3 hours total in HA

24@300 seconds HA Temp 45F

40@300 seconds HA temp 15F

30 flats each

30 darks each

AT65EDQ Scope, ASI183 mono uncooled camera, iEQ45 mount, guided.

PA in sharpcap

Auto focus in NINA

Platesolve in APT

capture using APT and NINA

Processed in Pixinsight and PS CC

An iconic edge on spiral galaxy at approx. 12 megaparsecs distance. Marked by a very prominent dust band stretching right across its diameter as well as bright blue stellar regions at the two end tips.

Equipment-

900/120mm f/7.5 Starwatcher Equinox EDrefractor.

Starwatcher x 0.85FR with 2 inch IDAS LPS D1 filter

ZWO ASI2600MC; 22 x 6 minute subs + (132 minute total integration).

NEQ6 Pro Mount with Rowan modified belt drives. Plate solving GOTO.

Laptop with SharpCap 4.0 for focusing and acquisition.

Calibration-

30 dark frames

75 flat frames (Electroluminescent panel @ 1 second, Gain 0)

QHY Polemaster alignment -

Error measured by PHD2= 1.2 arc minute.

RA drift +1.43 arcsec/min

Dec drift -0.31 arcsec/min

Guiding-

PHD2 guiding with ZWO ASI290mm/Altair lightwave 209/50mm secondary scope. Alternate subs dithered.

RA RMS error 0.70 arcsec, peak error -2.65 arcsec

Dec RMS error 0.53 arcsec, peak error -4.13 arcsec

Astrometry-

Center (RA, hms): 12 36 08.136

Center (Dec, dms): +25 55 58.99

Field of view: 49 58.4 x 30 53.5

Pixel scale: 0.97 arcsec/pixel

Light Pollution-

SQM (L) at middle of session (2354hrs UT) 20.2 mag/arcsec2 .

Typical of outer suburbs - Bortle scale = 5/9 Yellow

Environmental-

Temp = 8.1c

Humidity = 99%

Dew point = 8.0c

Clear throughout .

Post processed in PixInsight 1.8.9

55 million light years away!

Messier 100 is a grand design intermediate spiral galaxy in the southern part of the mildly northern Coma Berenices. It is one of the brightest and largest galaxies in the Virgo Cluster and is approximately 55 million light-years from our galaxy, its diameter being 107,000 light years, and being about 60% as large.

Image Details:

- Imaging Scope: Celestron C8 SCT

- Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI183MC Color with ZWO IR cut filter

- Guider: Celestron Starsense Autoguider

- Mount: Celestron CGEM

- Acquisition Software: Sharpcap

- Guiding Software: Celestron

- Light Frames: 25*5 mins @ 100 Gain, Temp -20C

- Dark Frames: 10*5 mins

- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker

- Processed in PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom, and Topaz Denoise AI

Telescopio: Celestron C8 Edge HD

Montatura:iOptron CEM60

CMOS di ripresa: ZWO ASI 174 mono Cooled

Lunghezza focale: 2032 mm

Filtro: Optolong Red CCD 50,8 mm

Software:SharpCap 3.2 Pro, Emil Kraaikamp Autostakkert 3.0.14, Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight 1.8, Astra Image 4 SI

Focuser: Moonlite CF 2,5" focuser with high resolution stepper DRO

Pose: 200 a 65 fotogrammi al secondo

Seeing: 2 Trasparenza: 3

252 1/52s exposures.

Telescope: - Skywatcher 130PDS Newtonian.

Camera: - Nikon D3100.

ISO: 400. Automated white balance

Filters: - Baader Mark-III MPCC Coma Corrector. IDAS D2 Light Pollution Suppression Filter. (Not sure if this is needed but was doing some deep sky stuff straight after so didn’t see any harm)

Wireless Remote: PIXEL TW-283 DC2 2.4G.

Mount: - Skywatcher EQ6R.

Polar Aligned with SharpCap Pro. (Again, was doing some deep sky work after so probably not essential)

Control Software: - Stellarium Scope, Stellarium, Poth Hub, EQMOD and All Sky Plate Solver.

Processing Software: Stacked jpg’s in Registack and cropped in PS Lightroom. No stretching or fiddling of other sliders done.

Light Pollution and Location: - Bortle 8 in Davyhulme, Manchester.

Seeing: - Average.

Notes: - I know you can film the moon or planets instead of taking so many pictures but the equipment I have doesn’t fit the Moon into frame. Also its easy enough just to let it snap lots of pictures using the remote timer.

Explore Scientific AR152 refractor @125mm aperture, with Baader x2.25 Barlow and ZWO 290MM-PRO (f17.8 0.27"/pixel) on EQ6. Baader OD 3.8 solarfilm, solar continuum + UV/IR cut filters. 250 of 2500 frames captured in SharpCap, processed in AutoStakkert. False colour Photoshop Duotone.

best 30% of 5000 frames using HA filter

Scope: AT65EDQ

Mount: iOptron iEQ45

Camera: ZWO ASI183M non cooled

Guide camera: QHY5Lii

Guide Scope: Meade 60mm achro fl 300

Orion 5 position manual filter wheel

ZWO LRGB

Schuler HA 9nm, Schuler 9nm Sii

MyFocuer Pro v2 (Robert Brown)

Bahtinov mask

Software: APT, PHD2, Sharpcap, CdC, Pixinsight, Photoshop, Nic Dfine 2, Astronomy Tools plug in, Google Chrome Remote Desktop, autostakert!3, Registax

Nice solar prominence on yesterday’s sun! Earth was added to give a rough idea of the size.

Tech Specs: Williams Optics Redcat 51, ZWO ASI290MC, Daystar Quark Chromosphere + ZWO 2" UV/IR filter, SharpCap, best 25% of 5k frames, AutoStakkert, Registax. Image date: 2 July 2020. Location: The Dark Side Observatory in Weatherly, PA, USA.

The Western Veil (NGC 6960) aka The Witch's Broom, Finger of God, Lacework Nebula or Filamentary Nebula. This is part of the Cygnus Loop which is a supernova remnant. The source supernova was a star 20 times more massive than the Sun, and it exploded between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago. The remnants have since expanded to cover an area of the sky roughly 3 degrees in diameter (about 6 times the diameter, and 36 times the area, of the full Moon). While previous distance estimates have ranged from 1200 to 5800 light-years, a recent determination of 2400 light-years is based on direct astrometric measurements. The Veil Nebula is expanding at a velocity of about 1.5 million kilometers per hour. (Wikipedia)

57 180s lights (2 hours and 50 minutes) with flats and bias. Dithered.

Telescope: - Skywatcher 130PDS Newtonian.

Camera: - Nikon D3100 with a GuDoQi Wireless Wifi SD Card.

ISO: 400. Automated white balance

Filters: - Baader Mark-III MPCC Coma Corrector. IDAS D2 Light Pollution Suppression Filter

Flats taken with a Huion L4S Light Box and a white t-shirt.

Wireless Remote: PIXEL TW-283 DC2 2.4G. (Used for flats and bias)

Mount: - Skywatcher EQ6R.

Guiding: Skywatcher EvoGuide 50ED & ZWO ASI120MM-Mini.

Polar Aligned with SharpCap Pro.

Control Software: - NINA connecting to EQMOD, PHD Guiding 2, Stellarium and Plate Solve 2. EZ Share to automatically push pictures to the laptop.

Processing Software: Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker and edited in Star Tools.

Moon: About 80% waxing gibbous.

Light Pollution and Location: - Bortle 8 in Davyhulme, Manchester.

Seeing: -Starting out terrible but possibly OK by the end of the night.

Notes: Its been a massive learning curve but I have finally got NINA astrophotography to work controlling pretty much everything. I am extremely impressed with this software. Furthermore my trusty old D3100 shutter was controlled by the software through the mount and using the file camera it was able to pick up the pictures just like connecting more expensive Nikons or Cannons to APT(or several other apps that I looked into but came to dead end with the D3100). I was able to bring up the schedule, load the Western Veil which was currently focused on in Stellarium, set the amount of subs I wanted, turn on dithering, then NINA just did its thing by attempting to find the object then correcting itself through plate solving. It even did a meridian flip and recentred the object afterwards. Watching it do its thing was a thing of beauty and is miles away from my original attempts at astrophotography using a AZ goto mount and a star chart.

Being completely up front, like everything in astrophotography you must take several steps backwards before taking a step forward. I have dabbled with NINA for a while but struggled to get to grips with it. I tried taking this same object a few weeks ago but did not have a good session. For some reason, the plate solving was not accurate enough and the object was only half was in frame. This is either because I hadn’t loaded my coordinates in PS2 or the file camera was picking the last picture instead of the current one. Looking back 52 Cygni is very bright star front and centre and it should have been obvious to me that something was not right.

Incidentally that same night, about 4-5 subs in my pictures suffered from dew, pretty much writing them off. I have since bought a cheap camping mat and Velcro to make a home-made dew shield. Handily the camping mat camp with a perfectly sized bit of elastic; I have cut up some cheap cycling shorts and used the elastic to block out any light from the bottom of the telescope. I am hoping this will also help with the dew. I have also made a dew shield for the guider.

I took a gamble on this picture as the weather forecast had me believe that it was going to be cloudy all night. Up until this session it had been predicting a clear night all week and it looked relatively clear when I looked out of the window before setting up. It then cloudy over but only for about an hour and a half which gave me time to make sure everything was set up properly. It then became clear, although seeing was bad, but this did improve over the course of the night. Thankfully, my gamble paid off and is point back in the battle between me and the weather, I have been done so many times with the forecast predicting clear skies but them not materialising.

I add this comment to the end of every one of my pictures but the amount of green being picked up in the Star Tools colour module is insane. I think the D3100 bayer filter is 2 green to every red and blue, it seems like its 10 greens to every red and blue. I hope the colour in this is OK however I had to bump the green bias correction right up and max out the cap green slider. I am slowly but surely saving up for a proper cooled camera which am sure will again take me several steps back before bringing me forward!

Equipo Principal: ZWO ASI 1600 mm-pro + SW Explorer 200p + SW Coma Corrector 0.9x + EQ6-R-Pro + Long Perng 2" Dual Speed Low Profile Crayford Focuser + ZWO EAF + ZWO 7x2" EFW

Equipo guía: guidescope 60/240 mm, ZWO ASI 120mm mini

*Gain 100, -25 º C, L 2" Optolong, 360x15"

*Gain 100, -25 º C, R-CCD 2" Svbony, 120x15"

*Gain 100, -25 º C, G-CCD 2" Svbony, 120x15"

*Gain 100, -25 º C, B-CCD 2" Svbony, 120x15"

*Gain 139, -25 º C, Ha 7nm 2" Optolong, 20x180"

100 Darks

100 Flats / filter

100 DarkFlats

Polar Align: SharpCap 4.0

Adquisición: SGP 3.2

Procesado: Pixinsight 1.8.9, PS

NGC6992 Eastern Veil Nebula. Scope: Altair Astro Starwave 102ED-R with Lightwave 0.8X Reducer, Mount: SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro, Camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro, Filter: ZWO IR/UV Cut. 25x3 Mins captured in SharpCap Pro 3.2. Processed in APP 1.065. Finished in Adobe CC.

Telescopio 9.25" con cámara QHY 5 III 462. Montura AVX Celestron. Dos fotos sacadas cada una de un video de 8000 fotogramas cada uno . Un video con la exposición para sacar Saturno y otro con la exposición para sacar los satélites.

Sharpcap , Astrosurface, Pix y PS

Main Equipment: ZWO ASI 183MC-pro + ZWO 2” Filter Drawer + SW Explorer 200p + SW Coma Corrector 0.9x + ZWO EAF + EQ6-R-Pro

Guiding Equipment: ZWO OAG, QHY5-iii 462c

Location: Córdoba Capital, Argentina. Sky Bortle 9

*Gain 111, Offset 20, -15 °C, L-Ultimate 2" Optolong, 194x300"

150 Darks

60 Flats

60 Dark-Flats

Polar Align: SharpCap 3.2

Acquisition: SGP 3.2

Processing: Pixinsight 1.8.8, PS

Equipo Principal: ZWO ASI 1600 mm-pro + SW Explorer 200p + SW Coma Corrector 0.9x + EQ6-R-Pro + Long Perng 2" Dual Speed Low Profile Crayford Focuser + ZWO EAF + ZWO 7x2" EFW

Equipo guía: guidescope 60/240 mm, ZWO ASI 120mm mini

*Gain 139, -25 º C, Ha 7nm 2" Optolong, 160x180"

*Gain 139, -25 º C, Oiii-CCD 6.5 nm 2" Optolong, 85x180"

*Gain 139, -25 º C, Sii-CCD 6.5 nm 2" Optolong, 85x180"

100 Darks

100 Flats por filtro

100 DarkFlats

Polar Align: SharpCap 3.2

Adquisición: SGP 3.1

Procesado: Pixinsight 1.8.8, PS

Clavius is a large crater found on the southern side of the moon, it measures approximately 136 miles across. The crater was named after Christoph Klau (or Christophorus Clavius) a 16th century German mathematician and astronomer.

Tech Specs: Meade 12” LX-90 Telescope, Celestron CGEM-DX pier mounted, ASI290MC, ZWO AAPlus, ZWO EAF, best 15% of 10000 frames. Processed using SharpCap, Autostakkert, Registax and Luminar Neo. Image Date: June 9, 2022. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).

This is a wide field view of the area around Tycho Crater on Earth's moon. Tycho has a diameter of 53 miles and it is nearly 3 miles deep.

TECH SPECS: Meade 12” LX-90, Celestron CGEM-DX pier mounted, ZWO ASI290MC, Antares Focal Reducer. Captured using SharpCap v3.2, stacked in Autostakkert (best 15% of 2500 images), sharpened in Registax, final image processed in Corel Paintshop Pro. Image Date: March 22, 2021. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4 Zone).

Added another hour of data:

Just about 1.4 hours. High clouds cut night short but having the semi permanent set up makes things so much easier.

28@180seconds Gain 50 LUM

50 darks, 50 bias, 30 flats.

Scope: AT65EDQ

Mount: iOptron iEQ45

Camera: ZWO ASI183M non cooled

Guide camera: QHY5Lii

Guide Scope: Meade 60mm achro fl 300

Orion 5 position manual filter wheel

ZWO LRGB

Schuler HA 9nm, Schuler 9nm Sii

MyFocuer Pro v2 (Robert Brown)

Software: APT, PHD2, Sharpcap, CdC, Pixinsight, Photoshop, Nic Dfine 2, Astronomy Tools plug in, Google Chrome Remote Desktop

first go around in processing. If I was not getting up to drive to Stellafane at 3 AM, I'd be out getting another 2-3 hours of data.

30@ 300 seconds HA filter

15 darks

Scope: AT65EDQ

Mount: iOptron iEQ45

Camera: ZWO ASI183M non cooled

Guide camera: QHY5Lii

Guide Scope: Meade 60mm achro fl 300

Orion 5 position manual filter wheel

ZWO LRGB

Schuler HA 9nm, Schuler 9nm Sii

MyFocuer Pro v2 (Robert Brown)

Bahtinov mask

Software: APT, PHD2, Sharpcap, CdC, Pixinsight, Photoshop, Nic Dfine 2, Astronomy Tools plug in, Google Chrome Remote Desktop, autostakert!3, Registax

Equipo Principal: ZWO ASI 1600 mm-pro + SW Explorer 250pds + SW Coma Corrector 0.9x + EQ6-R-Pro + ZWO EAF + ZWO 7x2" EFW

Equipo guía: ZWO M68 OAG, ZWO ASI 120mm mini

Tesela 1:

*Gain 139, -15 º C, Ha 7nm 2" Optolong, 80x180"

*Gain 139, -15 º C, Oiii-CCD 6.5 nm 2" Optolong, 60x180"

*Gain 139, -15 º C, Sii-CCD 6.5 nm 2" Optolong, 60x180"

Tesela 2:

*Gain 139, -20 º C, Ha 7nm 2" Optolong, 82x180"

*Gain 139, -20 º C, Oiii-CCD 6.5 nm 2" Optolong, 60x180"

*Gain 139, -20 º C, Sii-CCD 6.5 nm 2" Optolong, 60x180"

100 Darks

80 Flats / 80 Darkflats por filtro

Polar Align: SharpCap 3.2

Adquisición: SGP 3.2

Procesado: Pixinsight 1.8.8, PS

Equipo Principal: ZWO ASI 1600 mm-pro + SW Explorer 200p + SW Coma Corrector 0.9x + EQ6-R-Pro + Long Perng 2" Dual Speed Low Profile Crayford Focuser + ZWO EAF

Equipo guía: guidescope 60/240 mm, camara guia ZWO ASI 120mm mini

*Gain 139, -20 º C, Ha 7nm 2" Optolong, 99x180"

*Gain 139, -20 º C, Oiii-CCD 6.5 nm 2" Optolong, 68x180"

*Gain 139, -20 º C, Sii-CCD 6.5 nm 2" Optolong, 72x180"

100 Darks

100 Flats por filtro

Polar Align: SharpCap 3.2

Adquisición: SGP 3.1

Procesado: Pixinsight 1.8.8, PS

This trio of galaxies in Leo lie some 30 million light years away and form a great spring target for midsized telescopes. The 90 minutes I shot last night was neither better nor worse than this version from last year:

www.flickr.com/photos/124244349@N07/40734269251/in/photos...

So I combined the two, simply averaging this year's image into last year's (literally -- the Pixel Math function in PixInsight enabled me to add the values of each pixel and divide by two). There's no dramatic increase in detail but the averaged image has a cleaner, less noisy look when you click in for maximum resolution.

Tech Stuff:

Camera: ZWOASI1600 MC

2019: Borg 71FL/1.08X multi-flattener/IDAS LPS-D2 filter/ iOptron CubePro 8200 mount unguided; 88 minutes of 8 second exposures

2018: TV-85/Baader MPCIII corrector/Astronomik CLS filter/Skywatcher Star Adventurer portable mount, guided and unguided; 120 minutes of 30 and 15 second exposures

Captured with SharpCap Pro from my yard 10 miles north of New York City, and processed with PixInsight.

REALLY loving being able to shoot DSOs with my 8" Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain. The Celestron Starsense Autoguider is a gamechanger in enabling me to shoot with the 8". GoTo and autoguiding is spot on. Utilizing the BlurXterminator tool in PixInsight during processing just polishes it off. Look at those dust lanes!

Discovered by Charles Messier in 1764, M20 is a star-forming nebula located 9,000 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius. Also known as the Trifid Nebula, M20 has an apparent magnitude of 6.3 and can be spotted with a small telescope.

Image Details:

- Imaging Scope: Celestron C8 SCT

- Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI183MC Color with ZWO IR cut filter

- Guider: Celestron Starsense Autoguider

- Mount: Celestron CGEM

- Acquisition Software: Sharpcap

- Guiding Software: Celestron

- Light Frames: 25*3 mins @ 100 Gain, Temp -10C

- Dark Frames: 10*3 mins

- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker

- Processed in PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom, and Topaz Denoise AI

Equipment:

Celestron CGEM Mount

Nikon 500mm f/4 P Ai-s

Sony a7RIII (unmodified)

Altair 60mm Guide scope

GPCAM2 Mono Camera

Acquisition:

Bortle 3

30 x 212" for 106 minutes for exposure time.

10 dark frames

20 flats frames

20 bais frames

Guided

Software:

SharpCap

PHD2

DeepSkyStacker

Photoshop

I mount my Nikon lens and camera on top of my optical tube at the moment. There was a constant wind of ~5mph last night when I took my images. I did 33 light frames and used the best 90% for 30 frames. I polar aligned with SharpCap and began guiding. The graph looked good so I started imaging. The stars seemed to stay in focus so I upped my exposure to 212 seconds and let it go to work. After stacking the files in DeepSkyStacker I pulled the TIFF file into Photoshop and mostly followed along to AstroBackyard's Rosette Nebula tutorial, making some of my own adjustments where they were needed. I'm still struggling with color of the surrounding stars. My WB was set to automatic, that might be why the color is a bit hard to manage. The Moon did rise while I was imaging and I can see a difference in my light frames, I'm sure I can do better and might try again during a new moon. But for my first time trying M101 and autoguiding I'm pretty happy!

Hot young stars abound in this region on the boundary between the constellations Cassiopeia and Cepheus. The Bubble emission nebula in the center is formed by the solar wind emanating from one such star, pushing against a cloud of ionized hydrogen which glows a characteristic red. To the right, star formation region NGC 7538 also glows red. At the upper left, open cluster Messier 52 shines brightly.

Tech Stuff: Borg 71FL/1.08x Borg flattener/ZWO ASI 1600MC/IDAS LPS-V4 filter. Captured with SharpCap 3.2 as 8 second exposures collected in 4 minute livestacks. Total integration time 82 minutes, processed with PixInsight and ACDSee. Collected over 4 nights from my yard in Westchester County NY; sky quality meter SQM-L readings 17.4-19.1