I went back out for a third time this week to re-attempt an equatorial alignment, bearing in mind some lessons learned and settling for a shorter camera lens focal length rather than the full 1350 mm of the telescope, but still struggled with tracking errors. Not really sure what I'm doing wrong, maybe the equipment I have just isn't up to the task. I shot this with 90-second exposures, at 180 mm, and recorded 30 frames, but only 10 proved usable. The rest had varying amounts of trailing, and even most of the 10 had a small amount. Longer exposures were faring even worse. Bit annoyed to only get 15 mintues of data from 45 mintues of recording, but with some enthusiastic processing in DeepSkyStacker and Lightroom, I managed to make something of it anyway! Thanks to the extra-dark West Texas skies and the tracking mount I was finally able to get a half-decent image of the Heart and Soul Nebula(e). This was 10 frames at 90 seconds, f/3.5, 180 mm, ISO 2000.

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.

- 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.

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.

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. ;)

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

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.

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.

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).

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

A guided image of the spiral galaxy NGC 2403 in Camelopardalis taken last in Monticello with a ZWOASI183 Pro camera attached to an Explore Scientific 102ED refracting telescope with a .8 focal reducer. 40 three minute exposures were stacked with DeepSkyStacker and processed with Adobe Lightroom and Topaz AI.

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

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).

10 x 8-minutes at ISO 1600, f7.5.

The third time I've posted images of this field on Flickr, but this is new data gathered using an EOS 600D modded for astrophotography. I was pleased with the result, although there are 3 flaws:

1. One frame had a diagonal streak, caused I think by a washing line just in front of the scope! You can just see it in the final result. I could have left the frame out of the stack, but I liked the effect!

2. There is a red disk around bright stars (over-exposed on Alnitak), due to out-of-focus infra-red. I've now ordered an IR-cut filter to prevent this.

3. Alnitak has flared over the frame even more than normal - this only affected some frames and I've not got to the bottom of that. I've tried to tone the effect down in the final image.

The exposures were manually, off-axis guided. Sub-exposures registered and stacked using DeepSkyStacker; processed using Canon Photo Professional and Noel Carboni's tools in Abobe Photoshop Elements.

Meade 127mm ED telescope & modded EOS 600D.

Stack out of 7 Pictures with DeepSkyStacker. "Polished" in Photoshop and Lightroom. via 500px ift.tt/2aOdpqs

This is my first attempt at some serious astrophotography. I shot this at Martin's Lookout at Springwood, NSW.

Sony A7 + Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 II L

- 30 x 20s light frames @ f/2.8 24mm ISO3200

- 30 x 20s dark frames

Stacked in DeepSkyStacker with some touches to sharpness, saturation and contrast in Lightroom and Photoshop.

Follow me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/njephotos

OTA: Celestron C8N, 8" newtonian reflector

Starizona Nexus 0.75x coma corrector (for f/3.75)

Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM

Filters: Baader CMOS-Optimized Ultra-Narrowband

Exposure: Ha 8x10min, Oiii 10x10min, synthetic green

Mount: CEM70G

Captured with SGP

Registered and stacked with DeepSkyStacker

Photographed from Round Rock TX (light pollution zone: red)

Had a go at the bottom section of NGC7000 using my 10" f/4 Newtonian and Atik 314L/SX flterwheel with Narrowband filters. 4 subs at 5min for Ha,5 subs at 5min for SII and 6 subs at 5min for OIII. Each set stacked in Deepskystacker and colour combined (hubble palette) in Maxim dl 4,processed in Photoshop. Autoguided using SX OAG attached to filterwheel and Lodestar with PHD2. Image taken 12/10/15

Total exposure time: 123 mins

Telescope: Tele Vue-60 APO refractor

Mount: Vixen Super Polaris

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

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.

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.

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

Thanks for stopping by!

46P/Wirtanen as it approaches the Pleiades taken using 18-55mm Canon kit lens,set at 55mm,attached to my QHY168C c/w UHC filter. Camera mounted on EQ6 Pro,no guiding.

5 subs at 180sec each stacked in deepskystacker and processed/cropped in Photoshop CS2.

Image taken 15/12/18

View towards the center of our galaxy.

The super-massive black hole lies at the lower central part of this composite image.

Pentax K-3 II was mounted on Vixen Polarie. I used Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II LD set at 50mm.

The night was relatively hot, so I was obliged to take many exposures and I tried various settings for the exposure, aperture and ISO.

The best 58 out of 65 RAWs (DNG) were aligned and stacked in DeepSkyStacker. Further processing took place in Pixnsight LE (artificial flat frame subtraction) and CS3 (levels, curves, selective color, brightness and contrast, saturation, correcting the imperfections of the stars at the corners due to coma).

The total exposure time was almost 31.7 minutes.

Details of the exposures:

1 x 21 sec

f2.8

ISO 6400

40 x 20 sec

f2.8

ISO 6400

2 x 90 sec

f3.5

ISO 800

5 x 120 sec

f4

ISO 1600

10 x 30 sec

f3.2

ISO 3200

Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF moving through my field of view on February 4, 2023.

Tech Specs: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120ED Telescope, ZWO AS2600mc-Pro running at -10C, Celestron CGEM-DX mount, ZWO EAF, ZWO ASIAir Pro, 50 x 60 seconds. Processed using DeepSkyStacker and PixInsight. Image Date: February 4, 2023. Location: The Dark Side Observatory (W59), Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).

Milky Way with Saturn and Mars

Flickr Expore - June 1, 2016

Bower 16mm f/2 @ f/4

Canon T4i ISO 800 2mins

10x light frames

iOptron Skytracker

DeepSkyStacker Kappa Sigma Clipping

Pixinsight 1.8

Globular Cluster Messier 80 (M80 or NGC 6093) is a globular cluster that can be found in the constellation Scorpius. This cluster was photographed in July 2015 and the final image is a stack of 18 thirty-second exposures (nine minutes total) at ISO 3200 using a Canon 6D at prime focus of a Celestron 6″ telescope. The imaging system was mounted on an iOptron ZEQ25 equatorial mount for guiding.

M80 lies at a distance of about 32,600 light-years. It is one of the densest globular clusters in our galaxy. Software used to create this image include DeepSkyStacker (for stacking the individual frames), ImagesPlus (for initial stretching and post processing), and Corel Paintshop Pro X5 and Adobe Lightroom for the final image adjustments.

From last Friday night/Saturday morning, when I only managed 6 increasingly clouded frames before it became totally overcast.

A planetary nebula is so-called because they looked like a planet to early telescope-users. In fact they form when a star blows away its outer layers in a nova.

6 x 4-minute exposures at ISO 1600, f/4. Manually guided off-axis. Modified EOS 600D & Revelation 12" Newtonian reflector telescope.

Registered and stacked using DeepSkyStacker; initial curves adjusted in Canon Photo Professional; noise reduction and final curves adjustment via DxO Optics.

A guided image of the Silver Sliver Galaxy (NGC891) in Andromeda taken using a ZWOASI183MC Pro camera in a 6-inch f/4 reflecting astrograph telescope. 60 ninety second images were captured using SharpCap and processed with DeepSkyStacker and Adobe Lightroom.

One of my favorite targets - the integrated flux nebula (IFN) or galactic cirrus is faint dust illuminated by our galaxy, and there happens to be a nice concentration of it in the direction of Bode's Nebulae (Bode's (M 81) and Cigar (M 82) Galaxies). The Angel Nebula, which is made of IFN, is in the lower left corner. This is an improvement over my last attempt at this target - shooting raw and more integration time made a difference.

Acquisition details: Fujifilm X-T10, Samyang 135mm f/2.0 ED UMC @ f2.0, ISO 1600, 78 x 60 sec, tracking with iOptron SkyTracker Pro, stacking with DeepSkyStacker, editing with Astro Pixel Processor and GIMP, taken on Feb. 21, 2020 under Bortle 3/4 skies.

Nov 2020 update: The color of M 81 on my original version had always irked me a bit. I reprocessed it and now M 81's color is much better (in my opinion).

Using my 170 exposures of my Star Time lapse, I've stacked the images using DeepSkyStacker. Helping the brightness of the stars to come through.

I'm currently shooting at 30sec exposure and ISO100, can I increase my ISO levels by using Dark noise reduction to see more of the night sky, ie The Milky Way?

Total 142.5min

H-Alpha - 1x600sec, 1x300sec & 5x450sec (52.5min)

RGB - 10x180sec

Stacked in DeepSkyStacker, processed in PS2

Telescope: Celestron C8 (@f/6.3)

Camera: Atik 314L+ Mono

Filters: Baader H-Alpha 7nm, RGB

Mount: AZ EQ6-GT goto, PhD guided using Orion OAG & SSAG.

The Jellyfish Nebula (left-center) is a supernova remnant. The Monkey Head Nebula is the bright emission nebula near the bottom; the monkey head is upside down looking right here. Both are quite close - the Jellyfish Nebula is an estimated 5,000 light years from earth; the Monkey Head is an estimated 6,400 light years from earth. The large star cluster near the top is Messier 35 (NGC 2168). NGC 2158 is the other smaller star cluster to the lower right of Messier 35.

Acquisition details: Fujifilm X-T10, Samyang 135mm f/2.0 ED UMC @ f2.0, ISO 1600, 150 x 30 sec, tracking with iOptron SkyTracker Pro, stacking with DeepSkyStacker, editing with Astro Pixel Processor and GIMP, taken Mar. 15, 2020 from my Bortle 5 backyard. The Monkey Head and brightest part of the Jellyfish are bright - they were apparent even on my unprocessed subs from my Bortle 5 backyard.

My first attempt at the milky way using the Canon S90 and CHDK to give me 30 second exposures.

The bright star in the middle of the photo is Altair at the top of the Aquila constellation.

The brightest star on the right is Vega - part of the Lyra constellation.

The brightest star at the top of the picture is Deneb at the top of the Cygnus constellation.

This is a panorama of two photos. The bottom half is 14 minutes in total (stack of 28 x 30 second exposures - would have been 15 minutes if not for the plane flying across). The top half is only 5 minutes due to clouds coming in.

EXIF - 180X120" (6h), Gain 120

Calibration: Flats - 50, Darks - 50

Camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro (cooled to -10°C)

Filter: Astronomik L-2 - UV IR Blockfilter 1,25"

Main optics: Sky-Watcher Explorer 200P

Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro

Guiding: Artesky UltraGuide 70 + ZWO ASI120MM Mini

Controller: ZWO ASIair Pro

Software: DeepSkyStacker + Pixinsight + Photoshop

Location: Gustirna, Croatia

Montes Apenninus are a rugged mountain range on the northern part of the Moon's near side. They are named after the Apennine Mountains in Italy. With their formation dating back about 3.9 billion years, Montes Apenninus are still relatively young.

Reprocessed, using StarNet to separate the stars from the nebula

Lens: Nikon 180mm ED AI-s f/2.8, shot at f/2.8

Camera: Canon 6D (unmodified)

Exposure: 23x4min iso800

Filter: None

Mount: Celestron CG5-ASGT

Captured with BackyardEOS

Registered and stacked with DeepSkyStacker

Photographed from Marathon Motel, in Marathon TX

Atik 314L+ with Sigma 70-300 zoom lens (set to 135mm) and Baader 7nm Ha filter (1.25") piggybacked to main scope on a CEM60

Six subframes of ten minutes each stacked in Deepskystacker and processed in PS CS2.

Taken on 29th Sept 2021

PicA guided image of the spiral galaxy M106 spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici and six of its galactic neighbors. From left to right and above M106 are NGC 4220, NGC 4231, NGC 4232, NGC NGC 4248, NGC 4217, and NGC 4226. The image was taken with a Canon 400mm f/5.6 L lens on a Canon 7D MKII dslr camera and a 30mm Svbony guide scope with a ZWOASI224MC guide camera. The final image was created from 18 115 second images combined together with Deepskystacker and enhanced with Gimp and Adobe Lightroom. M106 is 25 million light years away from Earthture saved with settings applied.

Added some more subs to this last night (4th clear night on the trot - I MUST get some sleep!) so it's now 1 hour 24 minutes. Better colour I think and I took a little more care over the processing. Also redid the core at 4 seconds.

200p/EQ5 unguided

Nikon D70 modded, iso1600, Baader Neodymium Filter

30 x 4 secs (core)

84 x 60 secs (14-15 January 2012)

Darks, flats and bias

Stacked and processed in DSS and CS5, with help from Noel's Tools

OTA: Celestron C10N, 10" newtonian reflector

Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM

Exposure: Ha 13x10, Oiii 13x10, Sii 13x10 minutes

Mount: CEM70G

Captured with SGP

Registered and stacked with DeepSkyStacker

Photographed from Round Rock TX (light pollution zone: red)

"The night starts here, the night starts here, forget your name, forget your fear

The night starts here, the night starts here, forget your name, forget your fear

The pleasure part, the afterthought, the missing stone in the graveyard

The time we have, the task at hand, the love it takes to become a man

The dust at dawn is rained upon, attaches itself to everyone

No one is spared, no one is clean

It travels places you've never been or seen before

The night starts here, forget your name, forget your fear

You drop a coin into the sea, and shout out "Please come back to me"

You name your child after your fear, and tell them "I have brought you here"

The scary part, the aftershock, the moment it takes to fall apart

The time we have, the task at hand, the love it takes to destroy a man

The ecstasy, the being free, the big black cloud over you and me

And after that, the upwards fall, and were we angels after all?

I don't know, I don't know...

The night starts here, the night starts here, forget your name, forget your fear

The night starts here, the night starts here, forget your name, forget your fear

You drop a coin into the sea, and shout out "Please come back to me"

You name your child after your fear, and tell them "I have brought you here"

The night starts here..."

—Stars

Fujifilm X-T10, Samyang 135mm f/2.0 ED UMC @ f2.0, ISO 1600, 41 x 60 sec, tracking with iOptron SkyTracker Pro, stacking with DeepSkyStacker, editing with Astro Pixel Processor and GIMP, taken Jan 10, 2019.

This is a reprocess of data from earlier in the year - this time I used the 'remove light pollution' and 'HSL selective color' tools of Astro Pixel Processor after integrating light frames in DSS and before editing in GIMP. Also, my flats were introducing artifacts so I didn't use them, but instead corrected vignetting with the 'remove light pollution' tool.

I'm much happier with this version - the color and definition of the nebula are much better, and seem to be accurate in comparison with other images.

Equipment:

Telescope: Orion XT10i on Skywatcher EQ6 Pro

Camera: Canon 550D unmodified + Baader MPCC

Guiding: Orion Magnificent Mini Autoguider + PHD Guiding

Software: APT, DeepSkyStacker, PixInsight

Images: 10x3min ISO800 Lights; 50x Darks; 50x Bias; 50x Flats

Another clear night on Friday. This nebula is a new one for me. Although officially it's in Orion, on a star map it looks closer to Gemini. NGC2174 - The Monkey nebula. It reminds me of the Rosette but this fits my FOV much better!

Skywatcher EQ6. Skywatcher Quattro CF 25cm. QHY8L OSC camera. 80mm shorty + QHY5-ll for guiding. Software - APT and PHD2. 6 x 12 minute exposures plus bias & flats. NO darks.

Processing - DeepSkyStacker and Photoshop.