This is the first long exposure image I've taken since acquiring a new kit a couple of months ago, and even though it didn't go according to plan, it does show the incremental progress I was counting on.

I got the new DSLR shutter release remote working for the first time, and was hoping for several hours of data. What I did get was 16x180s decent exposures out of 32 taken before the laptop, hence the guider, shut down on me, and having forgotten to charge the backup batttery (so many things to keep in mind for a newby!), my night was done without even getting any dark images, bias or lights, to calibrate the final image.

Half my images were useless from star trails, probably from a jostling of the tripod that I thought was not as serious as it seemed to turn out, and even this image shows signs of it.

So this is 16 stacked images of 3 minutes each (1600iso) with some adjustment in DeepSkyStacker to acquire contrast, with some false blue added in a totally inadequate microsoft photo editor, because my wife won't let me get Adobe Photoshop CC until Christmas!

Image enregistrée avec les ajustements appliqués.

Taken with a Sigma AF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG at 200mm and f/6.3, Canon T3i DSLR, and Celestron Advanced VX mount. Consists of 100 light and 43 dark frames, each a 60-second exposure at ISO 3200. Captured with BackyardEOS, stacked in DeepSkyStacker, and processed in Photoshop.

Fujifilm X-T10, Samyang 135mm f/2.0 @ f2.0, ISO 1600, 33 x 60 sec, tracking with iOptron SkyTracker Pro, stacking with DeepSkyStacker, editing with Astro Pixel Processor and GIMP, taken Nov 1 under Bortle 3/4 skies.

I love imaging Orion. My goal with this shot was to include the Flame and Horsehead Nebulae, Barnard's Loop, Messier 78, and Lynds' Dark Nebula (LDN) 1622, the Boogeyman Nebula (upper left). It seemed like a good target for Halloween night.

Manually, off-axis guided for 11 x 5-minute exposures at ISO 1600, f/4.

Modified EOS 600D & Revelation 12" Newtonian reflector telescope.

Registered and stacked using DeepSkyStacker; initial curves adjusted in Canon Photo Professional; final curves & colour-balance adjusted using Paint Shop Pro; final noise reduction using CyberLink PhotoDirector.

NGC 2841 is an unbarred spiral galaxy in the northern constellation of Ursa Major. J. L. E. Dreyer, the author of the New General Catalog, described it as, "very bright, large, very much extended 151°, very suddenly much brighter middle equal to 10th magnitude star". Initially thought to be about 30 million light-years distant, a 2001 Hubble Space Telescope survey of the galaxy's Cepheid variables determined its distance to be approximately 46 million light-years. (Wikipedia)

Observation data (J2000 epoch)

Constellation: Ursa Major

Right ascension: 09h 22m 02.655s

Declination: +50° 58′ 35.32″

Distance: 46.0 ± 4.9 Mly

Apparent magnitude (V): 10.1

Tech Specs: Orion 8” RC Telescope, ZWO ASI2600MC camera running at -10F, 355 x 60 seconds (5 hours and 55 minutes), Celestron CGEM-DX pier mounted, ZWO EAF and ASIAir Pro, processed in DSS and PixInsight. Image Date: February 4, 2024. Location: The Dark Side Observatory (W59), Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).

WilliamOptics Star71 + QHY16200A(-0C) 4x300sec

FSQ106ED + QE0.73X + EOS6D(SEO-SP4) 5x300sec (Ambient +27C) ISO1600

on SkyWatcher AZ-EQ6GT

(Total:45min)

Guiding: OAG9 + OrionSSAG

RAP2, DeepSkyStacker, StellaImage7, Photoshop CC2015

Locations: Kamogawa Sports Park, Kibichuocho, Okayama, Japan

Jul. 2016

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS), photographed at 500mm f/4, 27 frames stacked uusing DeepSkyStacker. The 'anti-tail' can just be seen at lower right of frame. Frames exposed 1 sec at f/4, ISO 1600.

37 x 120 seconds for a total of 74 minutes of data.

Shot with Sony a7RIII and Nikon 105mm f/2.5 at f/4. Camera piggybacked on a Celestron optical tube and CGEM mount that was polar aligned. No autoguidng was used.

Stacked with DeepSkyStacker and processed with Photoshop. I'm still learning a lot about astrophotography. It sure is fun though.

Messier 20 and Messier 8 (and Saturn)

Geeky info:

Nikon D800 with 300mm F4 lens

iso 3200

eq 3-2 mount

no filter, no guiding

Total exposure time: 50 minutes

Bortle 4

The Veil Nebula (east section), also known as NGC 6992 in the constellation Cygnus. This image is a composite of four 90-second exposures at ISO 3200 using a Canon 6D and 400mm lens mounted on an iOptron ZEQ25GT mount. The image was processed using DeepSkyStacker, ImagesPlus and Corel Paintshop Pro X5 and X6.

During my wide field imaging session on March 29, 2016 of the Messier pair M108 (Surfboard Galaxy) and M97 (Owl Nebula), I also caught a view of NGC 3631 in the lower right corner of the view. After zooming in on the galaxy, I noticed a bright star in one of the spiral arms, further investigation showed that this was, in fact, a supernova, SN2016bau, discovered on March 3, 2016 by Ron Arbour.

The wide field unprocessed image (available to view on my blog) shows the stacked, full frame, 10-minute exposure using a Canon 6D and Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM lens mounted on an iOptron ZEQ25 mount. 10 x 60 seconds at ISO 3200, stacked in DeepSkyStacker and further processed in Adobe Lightroom and ImagesPlus.

The clipped, zoomed and enlarged image is from the full frame view. I used a reference image of galaxy NGC 3631 from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to show the galaxy without the supernova. The spiral galaxy is about 50 million light year away.

BLOG: www.leisurelyscientist.com/?p=1727

A tricky one to image, as it is very low in the sky from the UK.

13 x 1-minute unguided exposures at ISO 3200, f/4. Modified EOS 600D & Revelation 12" Newtonian reflector telescope.

Registered and stacked using DeepSkyStacker; initial curves adjusted in Canon Photo Professional; final curves & colour-balance adjusted using Paint Shop Pro; noise reduction via CyberLink PhotoDirector.

When I first got into astrophotography, galaxies were what I was most interested in imaging. I quickly realized that to image most galaxies well (except for the few large ones like M31 and M33), I needed a long focal length lens and accompanying highly accurate tracking. My budget didn't allow for that, so I adjusted my aspirations and focused on widefield shots with a simple tracker. Still, I love a good galaxy picture and anticipate stepping up to more sophisticated equipment someday.

I turned my back on Orion last night (it was difficult) and shot north again for the first time in awhile. I didn't have high expectations for what I'd get from imaging Galaxy IC 342 with a 135mm lens. I'm guessing somebody has tried it, but I couldn't find any examples online.

I'm happier than anticipated with this image. Although small, there is a good variety of objects in this extent; in addition to IC 342, it contains 1) the yellow reflection nebula around star BE Camelopardalis in the center, 2) a dark nebula on the left (I think IREC 193), 3) star cluster NGC 1502 in the upper left, and 4) the asterism Kemble's Cascade below NGC 1502 (although it's difficult to distinguish among the surrounding smaller stars).

Here's a thorough report about the reflection nebula around star BE Cam that clued me into its existence: www.sternwarte-baerenstein.de/upload/be-cam_reflection_ne.... Also an excellent APOD of IC 342: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170708.html

I'm looking forward to doing some more widefield galaxy shots this spring.

Acquisition details: Fujifilm X-T10, Samyang 135mm f/2.0 ED UMC @ f2.0, ISO 1600, 56 x 60 sec, tracking with iOptron SkyTracker Pro, stacking with DeepSkyStacker, editing with Astro Pixel Processor and GIMP, taken on Feb. 19, 2020 under Bortle 3/4 skies. I've cropped it but not extensively.

Located 6,500 light years away in the constellation of Taurus. This spectacular planetary nebula is what's left of a star that Chinese astronomers witnessed going supernova in the year 1054, reported to have been visible in the daytime for up to 4 weeks!

First discovered by John Bevis in 1731 and then later by Charles Messier, who mistook it for Halley's comet. Leading him to create a list of objects that weren't comets, so he wouldn't be wasting his time on them. This list is known today as the Messier catalogue.

Data was captured at The Astronomy Centre, Todmorden, UK on 10th of November 2023.

Boring techie bit:

Skywatcher Quattro 8" Newtonian Reflector steel tube with the f4 aplanatic coma corrector, Skywatcher EQ6 R pro mount, Altair Starwave 50mm guide scope, ZWO asi120mm guide camera mini, ZWO asi533mc pro cooled to -10c gain 100, Optolong L'enhance 2" filter, ZWO asiair plus.

Darks, Flats & Bias.

Stacked with DeepSkyStacker and processed in PixInsight & Affinity Photo.

This is ye olde Andromeda Galaxy -- nearest large galaxy to the Milky Way (approx 2.5 million ly away). It's apparently similar to ours in size and structure. M31 is so bright that it can be seen with the naked eye from dark skies, and I regularly catch it through binoculars even from downtown Toronto. It's so huge that it doesn't fit in the field of view of my CCD! Andromeda also has a couple of companion galaxies -- M32 is the small one in the upper portion of the frame, and M110 is peeking into the frame at lower left.

This was my first stab at LRGB using the QHY9 as panchromatic Luminance (with IDAS light pollution filter) and an old DSLR image from my Canon as RGB. I'm not thrilled with the colour balance, but the LRGB detail enhancement worked out pretty well.

Forgot to use the FLT field flattener on this one.

12x10 minute frames of luminance with the QHY9 cooled @ -25degC, 18x5min frames of RGB colour with the old Canon 350D. Stacked in DeepSkyStacker, processed in PS CS2.

The most prominent galaxy in this image is known as Messier 61 (the 61st object in the catalog created by Charles Messier). Its shape and structure make it a barred spiral galaxy, while its history and formation make it a starburst galaxy. This galaxy is about 52 million light-years away and there about 300 billion (with a B) stars in the galaxy.

While I am mesmerized and awed at the scale of those last two numbers, it is also worth noting that M61 is just one of at least 5 galaxies in the picture I captured.

I've been running my telescope/camera for hours upon hours lately and working tirelessly at processing the resulting images, so although each one usually takes multiple days and nights, I hope to be churning out more soon :).

This particular image came from 3 hours of RGB data. 20x180s in Red, Green, and Blue... stacked in DeepSkyStacker, combined in PixInsight, and tweaked in Lightroom.

Scope: Skywatcher 150PDS

Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM

Manually, off-axis guided for 7 x 4-minute exposures at ISO 1600, f/4.

Modified EOS 600D & Revelation 12" Newtonian reflector telescope. The halo and spikes around the bright star at lower right are imaging artefacts.

Registered and stacked using DeepSkyStacker; initial curves adjusted in Canon Photo Professional; final curves & colour-balance adjusted using Paint Shop Pro; noise reduction via CyberLink PhotoDirector.

www.DonegalSkies.com

Location: Killygordon, Co. Donegal, Ireland.

Time: 22:00 - 00:00

Date: 21 Sep 2012

Target: Andromeda Galaxy

Exposures: 8 x Five minute exposures (12Darks) Flats

Equipment:

Mount- Celestron CG5-GT (unguided)

Camera- Self-modified Canon 1000D

Telescope- Celestron Oynx 80ED

Additional- Astronomik cls clip LP filter.

Stacking & Processing: DeepSkyStacker & Photoshop CS5

Canon 60D

14mm Samyang at f/2.8

30 seconds at ISO 800

This is a stack of five frames for the sky and around thirty frames for the ground and sea. The slight green tint above the orange horizon is airglow, caused by various processes in the upper atmosphere.

The Exif data is wrong because the lens doesn't communicate with the camera.

1h40m (10x10min); 280mm lens @ f/5.6. astronomik 6nm H-a filter. modified 50d (astrodon luminance filter)

need more time...

The North America Nebula (NGC 7000) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus close to the star Deneb. You can tell by the image where the name came from. The distance to this nebula is estimated to be about 1,600 light-years.

The name “North America Nebula” was coined by Dr. Max Wolf (ref: Burnham’s Celestial Handbook, Volume 2, by Robert Burnham Jr.) no doubt from his work with E.E. Barnard on dark nebulae.

Tech Specs: Canon 6D camera, Canon EF70-200mm f/2.8L USM lens, iOptron SkyTracker. 13-minutes total exposure, 60-second subs, ISO 1600, f/2.8, 200mm. Stacked in DeepSkyStacker and processed in Lightroom. Imaging date: August 4, 2016.

I might have overprocessed this one - the data was so nice. Bortle 2 skies make for easy processing.

Acquisition details: Fujifilm X-T10, Samyang 135mm f/2.0 ED UMC @ f2.0, ISO 1600, 70 x 60 sec, tracking with iOptron SkyTracker Pro, stacking with DeepSkyStacker, editing with Astro Pixel Processor and GIMP, taken Mar. 18, 2020 from Bortle 2 skies.

Oltre alla galassia "girandola" M101, , ben visibile un po' decentrata in alto a sinistra, si possono osservare numerose altre galassie (evidenziate con delle note). La più evidente di queste è la NGC5474 poco a sinistra della M101

Canon 6D

Sigma 120-400 @400mm

f 5.6

ISO 1000 e 1250

25 frames x 90 seconds

30 frames x 60 seconds

total exposure about 105 minutes

15+15 darks

25 bias

15+15 flats

First clear moonless night since 18 September - I feel so blessed! :)

I use the term "clear" in its loosest possible sense, as it was Guy Fawkes Night here and the smoke from bonfires and fireworks certainly didn't assist much (why do we celebrate someone NOT blowing up Parliament?!). Given the conditions, I'm quite pleased with this, but I'll give it more time if we get another clear night before it disappears :)

Always looks like a galaxy that's just got out of bed and needs combing to me :)

SW ED80/EQ5

Nikon D70 modded, Baader Neodymium filter

79 x 180secs iso 800 (just short of 4 hours)

Guiding (RA only): Quickcam Pro4000/9x50 finderscope, PHD

Stacked in DSS and processed in CS5

Here is a view of Comet C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS) from April 8, 2020. This is a 29-minute stacked exposure showing the comet as it is traveling through the constellation Cassiopeia.

Technical Specs: Meade 12” LX-90, ZWO ASI071mc-Pro, 29 x 60 second exposures, Gain 200, Temp -5C, guided using a ZWO ASI290MC and Orion 60mm guide scope. Captured using SGP v3.1 and processed in DeepSkyStacker. Image date: April 8, 2020. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA.

BLOG: darksideobservatory.com

This is a two pane mosaic stretching from Libra to Sagittarius, captured from Barronal beach in Cabo de Gata, Spain. The bright yellow/gold 'star' on the right is Saturn in all it's glory.

I've always loved this area of the sky, it has almost anything you care to name. In this image you can see emission nebula, reflection nebula, dark nebula, globular clusters, open clusters, millions of individual stars, a planet, and a section of our home galaxy!

Canon 60Da

35mm Samyang at f/2.8

Astronomik CLS EOS Clip Filter

AstroTrac TT320X-AG (no guiding)

45x 120 second exposures per pane

Integration time: 90 minutes per pane

ISO 1600

Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker, stitched in Microsoft ICE and processed in Photoshop. Taken in Cabo de Gata National Park in Spain, May 2014.

Per pane:

35x 120s lights

35 darks

35 flats

35 dark flats

35 bias frames

Objects visible in the image:

M4 (NGC 6121), M20 (NGC 6514), M8 (NGC 6523), M21 (NGC 6531), M17 (NGC 6618), M16 (NGC 6611), M23 (NGC 6494), M25 (IC 4725), NGC 6604

My first take at the famous Leo Triplet, a group of three interacting spiral galaxies: M 65, M 66 and NGC 3628. The latter is seen edge-on from Planet Earth, so that a prominent dust band patty is seemingly wedged inside a bun of light - hence also its popular moniker "The Hamburger Galaxy". The group of galaxies is about 32 million light years away. Prominent in the top left corner is the bright start Theta Leonis, or Chertan, which can be rather easily seen also from (sub)urban locations. Near the top of the image are also two smaller, fainter galaxies, NGC 3596 (~ 50M light years, to the left) and NGC 3593 (~24M light years, right above the Triplet).

I acquired this image with my trusty TAIR-3S (300 mm, @f5.6) and Samsung NX30 combo on the Star Adventurer tracking mount. A total of 456 subs (30s, ISO 3200) were recorded over two nights, once from the Isartalsternwarte Königsdorf, and once at Ringberg Castle sitting above the Tegernsee.

EXIF:

Lens: TAIR-3S 300 mm f/4.5 @ f/5.6

Camera: Samsung NX30, mirrorless APS-C

Filter: Rollei Astroklar

Mount: Skywatcher Star Adventurer

Aquisition: 456x 30 s, ISO3200

Stacking: Deep Sky Stacker

Processing: fitswork, Aurora HDR 2018

This is a shot I'd like to redo with about four times the exposure time...DeepSkyStacker: 105 mm, f/2.8, 1 min 29 sec, 56 frames, 12800

Acquisition details:

OTA: Celestron 10" f/4.7 newtonian reflector, C10N

Filter: Astronomic CLS EOS-clip filter

Corrector: MPCC

Mount: Celestron CGEM DX

Camera: Canon 450d mod BCF, 70°F

Exposure: 63x2min ISO 1600

Guided with PHD, SSAG, Orion 50mm guide scope

Captured with BackyardEOS

Registered and stacked with DeepSkyStacker

Photographed from Round Rock TX (Orange zone)

Through gaps in the cloud tonight I managed 27 subs of this. Never done it before so thought I should. Not much to say about it really, being a cluster (or two), but here's a bit from wiki: The Double Cluster is the common name for the "naked-eye" (huh!) open clusters NGC 869 and NGC 884, which are close together in the constellation Perseus. NGC 869 and NGC 884 both lie at a distance of 7500 light years.There are more than 300 blue-white super-giant stars in each of the clusters (but not in my picture!)

SW ED80/EQ5

Canon 500D modded, Baader Neodymium filter

27 x 180 sec subs, iso 800, total 1 hour 21 minutes

Acquisition: APT

Guiding: Quickcam Pro4000/9x50 finderscope, PHD

Stacked in DSS and processed in CS5.

Venus and the Pleiades. I pushed the processing on this one to show some of the nebulosity around Merope and Maia.

A stack of 40x10s at 800 ISO and 16x20s and 5x5s at 400 ISO images taken with an Olympus Micro 4/3 camera body on a William Optics Megrez 72mm f/6 Doublet Apo refractor telescope.

Stacked in DeepSkyStacker and processed in PixInsight.

The Whirlpool Galaxy, Messier 51 (M51), or NGC 5194, is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici (just below the last star in the handle of the Big Dipper asterism). M51 is roughly 23 million light-years away from Earth.

Observation data (J2000 epoch)

Constellation: Canes Venatici

Right ascension: 13h 29m 52.7s

Declination: +47° 11′ 43″

Distance: 23 Mly

Apparent magnitude (V): 8.4

Tech Specs: Orion 8" f/8 Ritchey-Chretien Astrograph Telescope, Celestron CGEM-DX pier mounted, ASI071MC-Pro, ZWO AAPlus, ZWO EAF, 180 x 60 seconds at -10C, processed using DeepSkyStacker and PixInsight. Image Date: April 10, 2023. Location: The Dark Side Observatory (W95), Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).

Haven't been around these parts for a while :) I see Flickr has changed yet again!

This is my 2014 version of M13, and is considerably better than the out of focus effort I did last year, albeit with only half the time. The faint stuff around the edges is difficult under my skies, so I have to settle for "nearly..." :)

SW ED80/EQ5

Canon 500D modded, Baader Neodymium filter

104 x 180 sec subs, iso 1600

Acquisition: APT

Guiding: Quickcam Pro4000/9x50 finderscope, PHD/EQMOD/AstroEQ

Stacked in DSS and processed in CS5.

- www.kevin-palmer.com -

Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2) moves through the constellation Taurus. First found last August, this comet is the 5th discovered by amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy. Shining at about 4th magnitude, the comet is bright enough to be seen with the naked eye, and looks even better in binoculars. The comet is currently 50 million miles away from earth, and it's approaching the sun for perihelion on January 30th. Once it leaves our solar system it will not return again for another 8000 years. In the nights ahead Comet Lovejoy will be approaching Pleiades, the bright blue cluster of stars.

This picture is a stack of 21 4-minute exposures with a 50mm lens shot at f/3.5, ISO 1000. An iOptron Skytracker was used to track the stars.

Thought I'd take the opportunity to capture the comet, currently in Andromeda, again. The sky was less murky than last night, but it's likely to be the last clear night for a while.

22 x 30-sec exposures at f/4 and ISO 3200 with an EOS 600D and Zeiss Jena 135mm f/3.5 lens on a Vixen Polarie star tracker. The frames were stacked on the comet in DeepSkyStacker, with curves adjustment and further noise reduction in post-processing. Also Starnet++ software used to temporarily separate the stars and comet and prevent the stars bloating when comet contrast is stretched; this has revealed more of the tail that would otherwise be lost in the star background.

I've labelled the more obvious galaxies here but there are many fainter, more distant ones.

33 x 1-minute exposures, ISO 6400, f/4. Modified EOS 600D & Revelation 12" Newtonian reflector telescope.

Frames registered and stacked in DeepSkyStacker software; curves adjusted in Canon Photo Professional; noise reduction in CyberLink PhotoDirector.

M8 The Lagoon Nebula (catalogued as Messier 8 or M8, NGC 6523, Sharpless 25, RCW 146, and Gum 72) is a giant interstellar cloud in the constellation Sagittarius. The Lagoon Nebula was discovered by Giovanni Hodierna before 1654 and is one of only two star-forming nebulae faintly visible to the eye from mid-northern latitudes. Seen with binoculars, it appears as a distinct oval cloudlike patch with a definite core. Within the nebula is the open cluster NGC 6530

22 subs 5 min - 0 gain offset 50 -15*c

C-11 Hyperstar F/2 ZWO2600MC Pro

AP1100gto - unguided.

N.I.N.A beta capture - DeepSkyStacker.

M81 and M82 are a pair of galaxies in the constellation Ursa Major. They are located approximately 10 degrees northwest of the Big Dipper's pointer star Dubhe (Alpha Ursae Majoris) and 12 million light-years away from our Solar System. The distance between them is 150000 light years. They are the largest members of the M81 Group, a physical association of 34 galaxies. M81 and M82 are best observed during the spring.

M81 is one of the more celebrated celestial objects in the Messier Catalog. It is known as the Bode's Galaxy and designated also as NGC 3031. It is a spiral galaxy with an apparent visual magnitude of 6.9 and an angular diameter 21x10 arc-minutes. Its diameter is 92000 light years (about half the size of the Milky Way) while its estimated mass is 50 billion solar masses. At the center of M81 lies a 70 million solar masses black hole.

M82, the Cigar Galaxy, is designated also as NGC 3034. It has a distorted and irregular disk due to the gravitational interaction with M81. It is a starburst galaxy, thus it hosts intense star-forming activity. Its apparent visual magnitude is 8.4 and its diameter approximately 37000 light years. Like most galaxies it hosts at its center a supermassive black hole with a mass of approximately 30 million solar masses.

Camera: Canon 350Da (Baader modified) with Hutech IDAS LPS

Telescope: Celestron C8 SCT, with focal reducer (f/6.3)

Mount: Takahashi EM200 Temma Jr

Autoguiding: Toucam 740K, PHD Guiding

Total exposure time: 27min

Exposures in detail:

7 x 180 sec , ISO 1600

1 x 150 sec , ISO 1600

1 x 120 sec , ISO 1600

1 x 90 sec , ISO 1600

2010-03-20

Alignment and stacking: DeepSkyStacker (no dark neither bias frames were used)

Final post-processing: Photoshop CS3

With the tracking mount I now have I was able to go a little crazy with Orion. I did a similar composition before, but on a fixed mount, limited to 1.6 s per exposure. This was 20 seconds per exposure (ISO 3200), with 70 exposures for 23 mintues and 20 seconds of total integration time. This means I was able to bring out much more bightness and detail in the horsehead region, plus render some of the darker clounds in the extended Orion Nebula. Also shot at a longer focal length (300 mm) on a bigger sensor with less crop, yielding a healthy 18 MP. While this was still in alt/az tracking mode, limiting the exposure time somewhat, this is actually a pretty good subject for that circumstance because the center of the Orion Nebula is already clipped at 20 s. Shot on a Nikon Z6III, stacked with DeepSkyStacker.

Il mio primo tentativo nel campo dell'astrofotografia: ritratta la Galassia di Andromeda con le altre due galassie ellittiche vicine, M32 e M110.

Cielo con molto inquinamento luminoso e galassia lontana dallo zenit: tra qualche settimana riproverò in condizioni più favorevoli.

Critiche, commenti e consigli graditissimi.

Nei commenti ulteriori dettagli.

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Data e luogo:

-Massa, 44° 2'31.08"N 10° 7'9.22"E

-16 Settembre 2011 ore 23 circa.

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Piccola curiosità: la distanza che ci separa dalla Galassia di Andromeda è di circa 2 milioni e 400mila anni luce. Quindi la luce che ho catturato con una moderna macchina fotografica è partita da Andromeda quando l'uomo sulla Terra non esisteva ancora, ma erano presenti solo alcune colonie di ominidi nel cuore dell'Africa. ;)

The Crescent Nebula or Supernova Remnant NGC6888 using the ASi183mm. This is a false color narrowband image meant to mimic what the nebulae would look like in the visible spectrum. H-alpha is assigned to the Red channel, Oiii to the Blue, and 75% Oiii, 25% Ha for the Green Channel.

24X600"Ha, 24X600"OIII

Equipment used:

Stellarvue SVR90T at 504mm, ASi183mm camera, AP900 mount, DeepSkyStacker, PixInsight star alignment, Photoshop levels, curves, blending, guided with ZWO174mm and Canon 200mm.

The Mythology:

Andromeda, the stunning daughter of king Cepheus. Cassiopeia, her mother, boasted once that she is more beautiful than the Nereids, the nymph-daughters of the sea god Nereus. The queen had to be punished for her arrogance. So Poseidon sent Cetus, a sea monster, in order to ravage the coast of her kingdom Aethiopia. Apollo's oracle to the desperate king Cepheus was to sacrifice his daughter. Andromeda was chained to a rock and waited to be devoured by the sea monster. But her fate was a romantic one. The Greek Hero Perseus killed the sea monster and finally married her.

Their descendants ruled the kingdom of Mycenae in full glory.

After her death, the goddess Athena placed Andromeda on the sky as a constellation, next to her beloved husband Perseus and her mother Cassiopeia.

The Astronomy:

The gigantic spiral galaxy of Andromeda, designated as M31 or NGC 224, lies approximately 2.5 million light-years from Earth and acquired its name from the area of the sky in which it is located, the constellation of Andromeda.

M31 contains more than one trillion stars while the galaxy's stellar disk extends for as many as 220,000 light years.

Excluding the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds - which can’t be seen from northerly latitudes - the Andromeda galaxy is the most distant thing visible to the unaided eye (though this observation requires dark skies and experienced naked eyes).

It wasn’t until the 20th century that astronomers were able to resolve the Andromeda spiral nebula into individual stars. This discovery lead to a controversy about whether the Andromeda spiral nebula and other spiral nebulae lie within or outside the Milky Way.

In the 1920s Edwin Hubble finally put the matter to rest, when he identified Cepheid variable stars within the Andromeda galaxy to specify that it is indeed an "island universe" residing beyond the bounds of our Milky Way galaxy.

The Astrophotography:

Almost 10 years after. It took that long to play again in Photoshop with all those raw data of M31, the magnificent and glorious galaxy in Andromeda.

It was the better monitor which I use nowadays and the "old-wined" experience in post-processing that helped to go up to this final composite. My color-guides were all those incredibly beautiful images from many great astrophotographers, who are mostly using dedicated astronomical ccd cameras. So I am quite satisfied from what my old and trusty Canon 350Da (Baader modified) gave me.

Technical details are following:

Camera: Canon 350Da (Baader modified) with Hutech IDAS LPS

Telescope: Takahashi FSQ-106

Mount: Takahashi EM200 Temma Jr

Autoguiding: Toucam 740K, PHD Guiding Software

Total exposure time: 5.5 hours (19800 sec)

Actual FOV = 70.3% of the original frame

Exposures in detail:

24 x 122 sec , ISO 800 , 2008-07-11

8 x 241 sec , ISO 800 , 2008-07-15

4 x 361 sec , ISO 800, 2008-07-15

17 x 182 sec , ISO 800, 2008-07-30

25 x 182 sec , ISO 800 , 2008-08-04

48 x 122 sec , ISO 1600, 2009-09-18

Alignment and stacking: DeepSkyStacker (no dark neither bias frames were used)

Final post-processing: Photoshop CS3

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Equipment

Imaging Telescopes Or Lenses

TS-Optics 6" f/4 UNC Newtonian Telescope - Carbon

Imaging Cameras

ZWO ASI 183 MM PRO

Mounts

Sky-Watcher NEQ6-Pro

Filters

Baader B 1.25'' CCD Filter · Baader G 1.25'' CCD Filter · Baader R 1.25'' CCD Filter · Baader L 1.25'' Filter

Accessories

ZWO EAF Electronic Auto Focuser · TSOptics TS Off Axis Guider - 9mm · Pal Gyulai GPU Aplanatic Koma Korrector 4-element

Software

Luc Coiffier DeepSkyStacker (DSS) · PHD2 Guiding · PhotoShop CS5 · FitsWork 4 · CCDCiel

Guiding Telescopes Or Lenses

TS-Optics 6" f/4 UNC Newtonian Telescope - Carbon

Guiding Cameras

Astrolumina Alccd5L-IIc

Acquisition details

Dates:

Nov. 14, 2020

Frames:

Baader B 1.25'' CCD Filter: 9x300" (45') (gain: 53.00) -20°C bin 1x1

Baader G 1.25'' CCD Filter: 9x300" (45') (gain: 53.00) -20°C bin 1x1

Baader L 1.25'' Filter: 17x300" (1h 25') (gain: 53.00) -20°C bin 1x1

Baader R 1.25'' CCD Filter: 9x300" (45') (gain: 53.00) -20°C

Integration:

3h 40'

I had some time last evening to collect data on the Fireworks Galaxy (NGC 6946) knowing that there was a recent supernova discovered in it, actually back in May of this year. I had the opportunity of collecting data on this galaxy in the past (2015) so I was able to compare the views and see the supernova (see pic) using my own data.

The bottom photo clearly shows the supernova with a distinctive reddish hue.

Tech Specs: Meade 12” LX90 + Antares Focal Reducer +Canon 6D, guided using a Canon 400mm lens and ASI290MC ZWO camera. 24 x 60 second subs at ISO 1600, 3 x 60 second darks and 3 x 1/4000 second bias. Date: September 10, 2017 Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA.

Target:NGC281 Pacman Nebula, a bright emission and part HII region in the constellation of Cassiopeia at about 9200 light years from Earth.

Location:29/12/2020 from St.Helens UK, Bortle 8 under a full Moon.

Aquisition:25x 180s Ha, 25x 180s (OIII), 21x 180s (SII). Total integration 213min.

Equipment:Imaging: Skywatcher Esprit 100ED, HEQ5, ZWO ASI1600MM Pro with EFWmini and Baader-Planetarium narrowband filters.

Guiding: Skywatcher 9x50 Finder with ZWO ASI120MM.

Software:Capture: NINA, PHD2.

Processing: DeepSkyStacker, Siril, Starnet++, Photoshop.

Memories:Still clear frosty conditions with a full Moon.

I was excited to capture 30 minutes of imagery of my first comet, C/2017 T2 PANSTARRS, on Thursday, January 30, before clouds moved in.

Since I wasn't sure I'd get anything because of clouds, I didn't bother to drive to my Bortle 3/4 dark site, but instead shot from my Bortle 5 backyard, 60 x 30 seconds. I combined this imagery with some better imagery of the Heart and Soul Nebulae from this past fall (47 x 60 seconds under Bortle 3/4 skies), to create this small mosaic (the Heart and Soul Nebulae turned out a bit ugly from my Bortle 5 backyard). I was impressed with how well Astro Pixel Processor combined the imagery of such differing quality.

Fujifilm X-T10, Samyang 135mm f/2.0 ED UMC @ f2.0, ISO 1600, 60 x 30 sec for left half, 47 x 60 for the right half, tracking with iOptron SkyTracker Pro, stacking with DeepSkyStacker, editing and mosaicking with Astro Pixel Processor and GIMP, double cluster and comet imaged on Jan. 30, 2020 from my Bortle 5 backyard.

I've never used drizzle in DSS before, but I thought I'd give it a crack on this as the galaxies are so tiny. Seems to have yielded some improvement, particularly in M66 - the more interesting of the trio.

Original here for comparison :)

SW ED80/EQ5

Nikon D70 modded, Baader Neodymium filter

84 x 180sec subs, iso 800, for a total of 4 hours 10 minutes

Guiding (RA only): Quickcam Pro4000/9x50 finderscope, PHD

Stacked in DSS (2 x drizzle) and processed in CS5. Spikes by StarSpikes Pro

Canon 300mm f/4 prime lens and SX Trius 694 with Baader 7nm Ha filter riding on CEM60.

12 subs at 300 seconds each followed by fifteen seconds subs for the core region. Both sets stacked in Deepskystacker (darks subtracted) then using Layers to combine the two images and processed in Photoshop CS2.

Taken 13/01/22

A globular cluster of approximately half a million stars located 34,000 light years away in the constellation Canes Venatici.

Total exposure time: 31 mins

Telescope: Tele Vue-60 APO refractor

Mount: Vixen Super Polaris