Another target I decided to revisit with the Rasa, the Eagle nebula under Bortle 3 skies in HOO palette. Just shy of 2 hours worth of data.

Equipment:

-Celestron Rasa 8”

-ZWO ASI183MM Pro

-Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro

-ZWO ASI Air Pro

-ZWO 120mm mini

-ZWO mini guide scope

-ZWO EAF

-Baader 10nm Olll

-ZWO 7nm Ha

10x300” Hydrogen Alpha, 10x300” Olll, with darks and bias frames.

Processed in AstroPixel Processor and Photoshop

Andromeda Galaxy (M31), 08/27/2020

So after I setup the big telescope last weekend I put my old Canon Rebel T5i on my small star tracker and pointed it at the Andromeda Galaxy. I’ve taken better images but they can’t all be winners. I overreached that night trying to do too many things at once. I also setup a time-lapse on yet another camera which I’ll also post soon. With so many things going on I totally forgot to take the calibration frames that were needed for this image. Next time I go out imaging, I’ll limit myself to only one deep-space image and one time-lapse or maybe super wide-angle setup.

Equipment:

Canon T5i

Skywatcher Star Adventure

Tamron 70-200 @ 200mm

Astronomik CLS clip-in filter

Details:

Location – Buck Creek Campground, WA

Bortle Class 3

ISO 3200

58 60-second Lights

0 Darks

0 Bias

0 Flats

Astro Pixel Processor

Lightroom

Photoshop

#astrophotography #astronomy #comos #nightphotography #space #telescope #deepsky #asi294mcpro #amateurastronomy #backyardastronomy #asiair #asiairpro #celestronrasa #celestron #astropixelprocessor #optolong #telescope #astronomyphotography #deepskyobject #zwo #longexposurephotography #m31 #andromedagalaxy

The Horsehead Nebula (IC434), 01/23/2021

I seem to always be whining about the PNW weather but dam! It has quite literally been five months since the last time I was able to image. For two nights in a row the clouds cleared just long enough for me to set up my equipment before the they would roll back in and I had to tear it all down again. Then, on the third night there was a clear window for four whole hours. I jumped on it, and being a stubborn SOB paid off. I was finally able to play with the new fancy-ass telescope mount my wife bought me for Christmas, it was awesome! I’m pretty happy with this image even though it has less than two hours of data. Maybe someday soon I’ll be able to sink some real time into this object and truly be able to pull out some detail.

Equipment:

RASA 8

iOptron GEM45

ZWO ASI294MC-Pro

ZWO Asiair

Optolong L-eNhance filter

Details:

Location – My driveway

Bortle Class 7

51 120-second Lights

60 Darks

60 Dark flats

60 Flats

Deep Sky Stacker

Astro Pixel Processor

Lightroom

Photoshop

#astrophotography #astronomy #comos #nightphotography #space #telescope #deepsky #asi294mcpro #amateurastronomy #backyardastronomy #asiair #asiairpro #celestronrasa #celestron #ioptron #ioptrongem45 #astropixelprocessor #optolong #telescope #astronomyphotography #deepskyobject #zwo #longexposurephotography #ic434 #horseheadnebula

Heart Nebula (IC 1805), 08/27/2020

Last weekend I headed back out to the Buck Creek campground, this time by myself. The weather was clear and the moon was not yet full and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I was able to setup my big telescope and two separate cameras to capture images. I’ll post the other pictures soon. It was a successful trip all around.

This is the Heart Nebula and it is huge. If the Heart Nebula was as easy to see as the Moon, it would be almost ten times the size in the night sky. It is found in the constellation of Cassiopeia and is some 7500 light-years away. The lower portion of the Heart Nebula has its own designation NGC 896 and is called the Fish head Nebula. It seems to me that these two nebulae where easy to name.

Equipment:

RASA 8

CGEM-dx mount

ZWO ASI294MC-Pro

ZWO Asiair Pro

Optolong L-Pro filter

Details:

Location – Buck Creek Campground, WA

Bortle Class 3

Gain 120

56 300-second Lights (4.67 hours)

60 Darks

60 Bias

60 Flats

Astro Pixel Processor

Lightroom

Photoshop

#astrophotography #astronomy #comos #nightphotography #space #telescope #deepsky #asi294mcpro #amateurastronomy #backyardastronomy #asiair #asiairpro #celestronrasa #celestron #astropixelprocessor #optolong #telescope #astronomyphotography #deepskyobject #zwo #longexposurephotography #ic1805 #heartnebula

The Sombrero Galaxy (M104), 04/18/2021

Like I said in my last photo, its galaxy season, lol. A few weeks ago, I took my gear up into the woods and was able to capture lots of images while in the dark skis. I have always wanted to photography this galaxy, but it is really small and far away (31 million light-year), but I did it anyways. This picture is cropped in a lot. The Sombrero Galaxy is almost perfectly edge on to our field of view, so the dust lanes really pop. It also contains one of the biggest super-massive black holes ever discovered.

Equipment:

RASA 8

iOptron GEM45

ZWO ASI294MC-Pro

ZWO Asiair

Optolong L-Pro filter

Details:

Location – Long Mire Campground

Bortle Class 2

167 30-second Lights (1.4 hrs.)

60 Darks

60 Dark flats

60 Flats

Astro Pixel Processor

Lightroom

Photoshop

#astrophotography #astronomy #comos #nightphotography #space #telescope #deepsky #asi294mcpro #amateurastronomy #backyardastronomy #asiair #asiairpro #celestronrasa #celestron #ioptron #ioptrongem45 #astropixelprocessor #optolong #telescope #astronomyphotography #deepskyobject #zwo #longexposurephotography #M104 #sombrerogalaxy

Wizard Nebula (NGC7380), 09/28/2020

The Wizard Nebula is 7200 light-years away in the Cepheus constellation. This is the first time I’ve shot this target and I definitely need to take much more data. This is also the first time I tried to do duo-band color processing. Pretty.

Equipment:

RASA 8

CGEM-dx mount

ZWO ASI294MC-Pro

ZWO Asiair Pro

Optolong L-eHhance filter

Details:

Location – Belfair Start Park, WA

Bortle Class 4

220 60-second Lights

60 Darks

60 Bias

60 Flats

Astro Pixel Processor

Lightroom

Photoshop

StarNet++

#astrophotography #astronomy #comos #nightphotography #space #telescope #deepsky #asi294mcpro #amateurastronomy #backyardastronomy #asiair #asiairpro #celestronrasa #celestron #astropixelprocessor #optolong #telescope #astronomyphotography #deepskyobject #zwo #longexposurephotography #ngc7380 #wizardnebula

Andromeda Galaxy (M31), 09/27/2020

Took advantage of the unexpectedly clear skies and went to Belfair Start Park for a few nights. Last month I took a picture of M31 with my small system (T5i, 200mm lens and a star tracker) and I thought I’d compare it to my full-size setup. Yep, you guessed it, it’s a much better photo.

Equipment:

RASA 8

CGEM-dx mount

ZWO ASI294MC-Pro

ZWO Asiair Pro

Optolong L-Pro filter

Details:

Location – Belfair Start Park, WA

Bortle Class 4

30 120-second Lights

60 Darks

60 Bias

60 Flats

Astro Pixel Processor

Lightroom

Photoshop

#astrophotography #astronomy #comos #nightphotography #space #telescope #deepsky #asi294mcpro #amateurastronomy #backyardastronomy #asiair #asiairpro #celestronrasa #celestron #astropixelprocessor #optolong #telescope #astronomyphotography #deepskyobject #zwo #longexposurephotography #m31 #andromedagalaxy

The Elephant’s Trunk Nebula (IC1396), 05/30/2021

Weirdly last time I took the telescope out camping for the weekend the skies were exceedingly kind to me. The weather was forecast to be cloudy and I almost did not even bring my gear, let alone set it all up once I got on site. But the clouds buggered off so, what the hell, let’s give it a chance. One unfortunate thing however was that this target did not rise from behind the trees until after 12:30am. This totally put the damper on how much partying I got to do with my friends. However, the weather was so good I was able to shoot this object three nights in a row and it ended up being the most time I’ve sunk into a single image so far. I believe that this is the best image I’ve capture yet and it was definitely worth the effort!

The Elephant’s Trunk Nebula is in the constellation Cepheus and is about 2,400 light-years away from your couch. The “trunk” itself is over 20 light-years in size.

Equipment:

RASA 8

iOptron GEM45

ZWO ASI294MC-Pro

ZWO Asiair

Optolong L-Pro filter

Details:

Location – Buck Creek Campground

Bortle Class 3

145 120-second Lights (4.8 hrs.)

30 Darks

30 Dark flats

60 Flats

Astro Pixel Processor

Lightroom

Photoshop

#astrophotography #astronomy #comos #nightphotography #space #telescope #deepsky #asi294mcpro #amateurastronomy #backyardastronomy #asiair #asiairpro #celestronrasa #celestron #ioptron #ioptrongem45 #astropixelprocessor #optolong #telescope #astronomyphotography #deepskyobject

Orion Nebula (M42), 03/04/2021

My yearly attempt at the Orion Nebula. Honestly, I was just messing about with my telescope and grabbed 40 minutes of data before Orion dropped behind my roof. Not much data to work with but it may be the best M42 I’ve done to date. I think it’s mainly because my post processing is getting better. Still so much to learn but it keeps the hobby fun.

Equipment:

RASA 8

iOptron GEM45

ZWO ASI294MC-Pro

ZWO Asiair

Optolong L-Pro filter

Details:

Location – My driveway

Bortle Class 7

80 30-second Lights

60 Darks

60 Dark flats

60 Flats

Astro Pixel Processor

Lightroom

Photoshop

#astrophotography #astronomy #comos #nightphotography #space #telescope #deepsky #asi294mcpro #amateurastronomy #backyardastronomy #asiair #asiairpro #celestronrasa #celestron #ioptron #ioptrongem45 #astropixelprocessor #optolong #telescope #astronomyphotography #deepskyobject #zwo #longexposurephotography #M42 #orionnebula

Cocoon Nebula (IC5146), 08/28/2020

I totally forgot I did this one. This is an emission nebula in the constellation of Cygnus. It is about 15 light-years across and roughly 4,000 light-years away. You can also see a dark nebula, Barnard 168, as well. This is actually clouds of dust that are blocking the light from the background stars and giving the impression of empty regions in space.

Equipment:

RASA 8

CGEM-dx mount

ZWO ASI294MC-Pro

ZWO Asiair Pro

Optolong L-Pro filter

Details:

Location – Buck Creek Campground

Bortle Class 3

30 300-second Lights (2.5 hours total)

60 Darks

60 Bias

60 Flats

Astro Pixel Processor

Lightroom

Photoshop

#astrophotography #astronomy #comos #nightphotography #space #telescope #deepsky #asi294mcpro #amateurastronomy #backyardastronomy #asiair #asiairpro #celestronrasa #celestron #astropixelprocessor #optolong #telescope #astronomyphotography #deepskyobject #zwo #longexposurephotography #ic5146 #cocoonnebula

The Sombrero Galaxy (M104), 04/18/2021

Like I said in my last photo, its galaxy season, lol. A few weeks ago, I took my gear up into the woods and was able to capture lots of images while in the dark skis. I have always wanted to photography this galaxy, but it is really small and far away (31 million light-year), but I did it anyways. This picture is cropped in a lot. The Sombrero Galaxy is almost perfectly edge on to our field of view, so the dust lanes really pop. It also contains one of the biggest super-massive black holes ever discovered.

Equipment:

RASA 8

iOptron GEM45

ZWO ASI294MC-Pro

ZWO Asiair

Optolong L-Pro filter

Details:

Location – Long Mire Campground

Bortle Class 2

167 30-second Lights (1.4 hrs.)

60 Darks

60 Dark flats

60 Flats

Astro Pixel Processor

Lightroom

Photoshop

#astrophotography #astronomy #comos #nightphotography #space #telescope #deepsky #asi294mcpro #amateurastronomy #backyardastronomy #asiair #asiairpro #celestronrasa #celestron #ioptron #ioptrongem45 #astropixelprocessor #optolong #telescope #astronomyphotography #deepskyobject #zwo #longexposurephotography #M104 #sombrerogalaxy

Leo Triplet (M65, M66, NGC3628), 03/17/2021

Galaxy season is here. In Spring most of the nebulas set too early to photograph so attention turns to distant and dim galaxies. For my current setup this is unfortunate because I have wrong field of view for tiny galaxies. But a YouTube channel I watch (Chuck’s Astrophotography) did this group using the same telescope I have so I gave it a go. Thanks Chuck! I did spend a lot of time on this so I would have enough detail to crop it in a bit. So, I give you the Leo Triplet, unsurprisingly found in the constellation Leo. These gravitationally bound galaxies are approximately 35 million lights years from you.

Equipment:

RASA 8

iOptron GEM45

ZWO ASI294MC-Pro

ZWO Asiair

Optolong L-Pro filter

Details:

Location – My Backyard

Bortle Class 7

109 120-second Lights (3.6 hrs.)

60 Darks

60 Dark flats

60 Flats

Astro Pixel Processor

Lightroom

Photoshop

#astrophotography #astronomy #comos #nightphotography #space #telescope #deepsky #asi294mcpro #amateurastronomy #backyardastronomy #asiair #asiairpro #celestronrasa #celestron #ioptron #ioptrongem45 #astropixelprocessor #optolong #telescope #astronomyphotography #deepskyobject #zwo #longexposurephotography #M65 #M66 #NGC3628 #leotriplet

Andromeda Galaxy (M31), 10/08/2021

Equipment:

RASA 8

CGEM-dx mount

ZWO ASI294MC-Pro

ZWO Asiair Pro

Optolong L-Pro filter

Details:

Location – My Driveway, WA

Bortle Class 7

300 30-second Lights (2.5hrs)

60 Darks

60 Bias

60 Flats

Astro Pixel Processor

StarNet++

Lightroom

Photoshop

#astrophotography #astronomy #comos #nightphotography #space #telescope #deepsky #asi294mcpro #amateurastronomy #backyardastronomy #asiair #asiairpro #rasa #celestron #celestronrasa #ioptrongem45 #astropixelprocessor #optolong #telescope #deepskyobject #zwo #longexposurephotography #astronomyphotography #m31 #andromedagalaxy

The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51), 04/21/2021

The Whirlpool Galaxy is slowly merging with the smaller, yellowish galaxy NGC 5195. This interaction is trigging massive areas of new star formation, which is why there is so many red clusters in the Whirlpool Galaxy.

Equipment:

RASA 8

iOptron GEM45

ZWO ASI294MC-Pro

ZWO Asiair

Optolong L-Pro filter

Details:

Location – Long Mire Campground

Bortle Class 2

300 30-second Lights (2.5 hrs.)

60 Darks

60 Dark flats

60 Flats

Astro Pixel Processor

Lightroom

Photoshop

#astrophotography #astronomy #comos #nightphotography #space #telescope #deepsky #asi294mcpro #amateurastronomy #backyardastronomy #asiair #asiairpro #celestronrasa #celestron #ioptron #ioptrongem45 #astropixelprocessor #optolong #telescope #astronomyphotography #deepskyobject #zwo #longexposurephotography #M51 #whirlpoolgalaxy