View allAll Photos Tagged deepspace
Dusty Subaru?
I don’t see a dusty old hatchback with bumper stickers floating in space, do you?
Of course not, Subaru is what the Japanese call the Pleiades. It means coming together or clustering, which is exactly what this star cluster is all about.
And all the left over dust from the formation of the stars is still floating around, being blown about by the stellar winds.
I was pleased to see that even with my crappy star tracker and vintage 300mm lens I could bring out all the dark dirt that is drifting around that open group of stars.
Big thanks to Siril, the astro photography software that I’m still getting to know.
Dust, the bane of my mother’s existence! As a fifties house wife she was obsessed with banishing it from our home. I hope she’s resting in peace now, and not floating around with a cosmic Swiffer trying to clean it up. Because as astro photographers we love dust, especially when it is illuminated, right?
IOptron Star Tracker Pro
Nikkor 300mm f4.0 at f4.0
Sony A6400
External bulb timer
75 exposures at 60sec each
The obligatory bias, dark and flat frames, 30 frames each
Stacked and processed in Siril, Starnet++
Finished in Photoshop and Lightroom
Per la morte non c'è spazio, ma le vite volano e si aggiungono alle stelle
nell'alto cielo.
Publio Virgilio Marone poeta romano 70-19 a.C.
Si dice che la nostra galassia contenga più o meno 100 miliardi di stelle... e si calcola che questo numero sia paragonabile a quello degli esseri umani esistiti nei circa 200.000 anni di evoluzione dell'uomo moderno.
C'è una stella per ciascuno...e quando si guarda la via lattea in una notte perfetta, questo pensiero diventa ancora più profondo.
Foto scattata con obbiettivo fish eye, isola di La Rèunion.
#stelle #reunion #astronomy #alberi #foglie #nuvole #clouds #mankind #stars #200miliardi #billions #life #death #deep #deepspace
Spooky shapes seem to haunt this starry expanse, drifting through the night in the royal constellation Cepheus. Of course, the shapes are cosmic dust clouds faintly visible in dimly reflected starlight. Far from your own neighborhood on planet Earth, they lurk at the edge of the Cepheus Flare molecular cloud complex some 1,200 light-years away. Over 2 light-years across the ghostly nebula known as vdB 141 or Sh2-136 is near the center of the field. The core of the dark cloud on the right is collapsing and is likely a binary star system in the early stages of formation.
(Text from apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap101030.html)
This picture was photographed during 2015 September in Petrivske village, Ukraine.
Equipment: home assembled reflector 10 in., f/3.8
Mount WhiteSwan-180 with a control system «Eqdrive Standart», camera QSI-583wsg with TS 2.5″ 0.95x Wynne corrector. Off-axis guidecamera QHY5L-II.
LRGB filter set Baader Planetarium.
L = 47 * 900 seconds, RGB = 35 * 400-600 seconds in each filter, bin.2. Total of 25 hours.
FWHM source (in the filter L) 2.19″-3.21″, Sum in L channel - 2.65"
The height above the horizon from 71 ° to 52 °, scale = 1.25"/ pixel.
Processed Pixinsight 1.8 and Photoshop CS6
NGC 4565 lies at a distance of approximately 40 million light years from our own Galaxy in the constellation of Coma Berenices. Its size is approximately 162,000 light years across at the longest edge and 20, 000 light years at the centre bulge. To the lower right of NGC 4565 is the smaller galaxy NGC 4562. This small galaxy is moving away from NGC 4565 at the rate of 123,000 km per second.
Imaged over 3 nights from my home in Gérgal, Spain.
A higher resolution image with imaging details can be found on my Astrobin page at: astrob.in/full/st1ss3/0/
Thank you for looking.
Technical summary:
Captured: 22,23,25-03-2023
Imaging Sessions: 3
Location: Gérgal, Andalucía, Spain
Bortle Class: 4
Total Integration: 20h 30m
Filters:
Red 48x 300s 4h 00m BIN 2 Gain 100 -5C SQM 20.6
Green 48x 300s 4h 00m BIN 2 Gain 100 -5C SQM 20.5
Blue 438 300s 4h 00m BIN 2 Gain 100 -5C SQM 20.6
UV/IR 102x 300s 8h 30m BIN 2 Gain 100 -5C SQM 20.6
Pixel Scale: 0.5 arcsec/pixel
Telescope: Celestron C11 Edge HD f/10 2800mm
Image Camera: ZWO ASI 6200MM Pro
Guiding: ZWO OAG L with ZWO ASI 192MM Mini
Filters: Astronomik R, G, B, UV/IR
Mount: Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro
Computer: Minix NUC
Capture software: NINA, PHD2
Processing Software: PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom
IC 1396 in a new light!
moonrocksastro.com/index.php/2015/11/01/cepheus/
It is named after Cepheus, King of Aethiopia in Greek mythology. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 modern constellations. Its brightest star is Alpha Cephei with an apparent magnitude of 3.5. Delta Cephei is the prototype of an important class of star known as a Cepheid variable. RW Cephei, an orange hypergiant, together with the red supergiants Mu Cephei, VV Cephei and V354 Cephei are among the largest stars known. In addition, Cepheus also has the hyperluminous quasar S5 0014+81, hosting an ultramassive black hole in its core at 40 billion solar masses, about 10,000 times more massive than the central black hole of the Milky Way, making it the most massive black hole known in the universe.
This two panel mosaic has an Integration of 45.0 hours
Imaging telescopes or lenses: Vixen VSD
Imaging cameras: Starlight Express SXVR-H18
Mounts: Sky-Watcher NEQ6 Pro
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Vixen VSD
Guiding cameras: sx loadstar
Software: Sequence Generator Pro, PixInsight 1.8, Photoshop CS5, PHD, Main Sequence Software
Filters: H-alpha 3.5 Nm, Baader SII 8.5nm, Baader O III 8.5nm
Accessories: Starlight Xpress USB filter wheel
Resolution: 4542x3208
Dates: Oct. 20, 2015, Oct. 21, 2015, Oct. 22, 2015
Frames:
Ha 8.5nm: 30x1800"
O III 8.5nm: 40x1800"
SII 8.5nm: 20x1800"
Integration: 45.0 hours
Locations: Home observatory, Valencia, Spain
The Witch Head Nebula (IC 2118) lurks in the constellation Orion. It is illuminated by the nearby star Rigel.
See on Fluidr
OTA: Takahashi FSQ-106
MOUNT: Software Bisque Paramount MX
CAMERA: SBIG STX-16803
GUIDE CAMERA: SBIG STX built in
REDUCER: N/A
SOFTWARE: SGP, PhD2, TheSkyX, Pixinsight, Starnet++, Photoshop
FILTERS: Astrodon LRGB; Hα 5nm, SII 5nm, OIII 5nm
ACCESSORIES: SBIG FW-7 Filter Wheel
LOCATION: M & K Observatory, NSW Australia
To see more of my work and to buy prints visit www.jklovelacephotography.com/pages/space
Messier 101 (M101), also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy, is a spiral galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear. The Pinwheel Galaxy lies at a distance of 20.9 million light-years from Earth. It has the designation NGC 5457 in the New General Catalogue. Technical Info:
15 x 300 sec. Badder UV/IR Cut filter
Gain 200, Offset 50, Binning 1x1
Total 1.25 hours
Explore Scientific 102mm f/7 APO Refractor
Sensor cooled to -25°C on ZWO ASI294MC Pro (Color)
Calibration frames: Bias, Darks, and Flats.
Plate Solve ASTAP via N.I.N.A. 1.11
Image processing Pixinsight 1.8.8 and finished in Photoshop CC 2021
Ou4 the Giant Squid Nebula in Ti-colour with 10 hours of added SII and OIII
A mysterious, squid-like apparition cataloged as Ou4 ( OIII to blue), and Sh2-129 also known as the Flying Bat Nebula ( Ha to red) located in the constellation Cepheus
Imaging telescope: Vixen VSD 100 f/3
Imaging camera: 9.2mp Sony SX814
Mount: Software Bisque Paramount MX
Guiding telescope or lens: Vixen VSD 100 f/3
Filters: Chroma OIII 3nm, Chroma Ha 3nm and Chroma SII 3nm
Dates: Nov.. 3, 2016
Frames: 44x1800" at F3
Integration: 42.0 hours
Avg. Moon age: 1.81 days
Avg. Moon phase: 3.67%
Locations: Home observatory, Valencia, Spain
Photo showing Seven Experiments in Procedural Animation, a work by Karl Sims, in the Ars Electronica Center's Deep Space 8K .
LBN 168 is an object in Lynds’ Catalogue of Bright Nebulae (LBN), published in 1965 by Dorothy Lynds based on the Palomar Sky Survey. Data collected with TelescopeLive in Spain during the years 2020-2023. A total of 15 hours of imaging with a Takahashi FSQ 106ED
Theme: Cyberpunk, Deepspace, Fantasy, Steampunk Featuring: Accessories, Apparel, Cosmetics, Decor, Hair, Jewelry, Poses, Shoes, Skins, Tattoos Event Opening Date: April 29, 2022 Event Closing Date: May 22, 2022
Second image in my short Moon series...
This is January's full moon, captured on the evening of the 13th, 2025. I used my 200-500mm Nikkor lens and shot it handheld at 1/125th of a second.
For added artistic flare and to give the image more depth, I overlayed a Deep Space filter/layer.
Now reach up and touch the moon, traveling into the stars above!
NGC 6063 A non- periodic Coment discovered by the Mount Lemmon Survey in images obtained on 3rd January 2025
NGC 2244
Caldwell 49 & 50
========================
OBJECT
Magnitude: +5.50
Distance: 5,500 light years.
Diameter: 128 light years.
Apparent size of object: 80' x 60'
========================
IMAGE
Exposure: 28.7 min.
Sub-frames: 191s x 9.
FOV: 1.57° x 1.06°
Captured: 2021-03-08.
========================
SH-2 132 Lion Nebula HOO
SH2-132 Lion Nebula has always been an image I wanted to capture and actually look a little like a Lion.
Not sure if it made the grade this time but pleased with the colour contrast and details in the Oiii and Ha regions.
In this image I made some changes to the editing workflow to leave the colour control and blending to PhotoShop and used PixInsight for the image pre-processing and stacking.
A high resolution image with imaging details can be found on my Astrobin page at: astrob.in/4pj3m2/0/
Technical summary:
Captured: 8 Nights in August 2024
Location: Turismo Astronómico, Los Coloraos, Gorafe, Spain
Bortle Class: 3
Total Integration: 38 hours 20 mins
Filter: Optolong L-Ultimate
Messier 3 (M3 or NGC 5272) is a globular cluster of stars in the northern constellation of Canes Venatici. It was discovered by Charles Messier on May 3, 1764, and resolved into stars by William Herschel around 1784.
This cluster is one of the largest and brightest, and is made up of around 500,000 stars. It is estimated to be 8 billion years old. It is located at a distance of about 33,900 light-years away from Earth.
A globular cluster is a spherical collection of stars that orbits a galactic core as as satellite. Globular clusters are very tightly bound by gravity, which gives them their spherical shapes and relatively high stellar densities toward their centres.
Details.
M: Mesu 200
T: TMB 152/1200
C: QSI683 Baader LRGB filters
30x600s Luminance
30x600s Red
30x600s Green
30x600s Blue
Totalling 20 hours.
This was all taken as well during the full moon period, as Globular clusters are less affected by moonlight than other Deep Sky objects.
Intergalactic Crocodile departing for the dusty emission nebula in Auriga.
moonrocksastro.com/index.php/2015/12/23/intergalactic-cro...
This is a mosaic made up of three panels with an integration of around 35 to 45 hours of exposure.
Caldwell 31, a huge, sprawling nebula spanning five light years and surrounding the ‘Flaming Star’, AE Aurigae, the bright star visible in the upper portion of the nebula. AE Aur (mag. +6) is an runaway star that is thought to have been one of three stars ejected from near the Trapezium in Orion 2.7 million years ago. It’s a class-O hydrogen fusing dwarf that is at least 30,000 times more luminous than our Sun. The nebula and the star lie around 1500 light years away.
The smaller nebula at the top is IC405, commonly known as the Tadpole Nebula for the small ‘tadpole-like’ structures of dense, cooler gas that are being shaped by the intense radiation from the hot stars of the young open cluster NGC 1893, embedded in the nebulosity. It’s just possible to see the tadpoles to the upper right of the largest dark section at the centre of the nebulosity, with the open cluster just above. IC405 lies 12,000 light years away.
Imaging telescopes or lenses: Vixen VSD
Imaging cameras: Starlight Express SXVR-H18
Mounts: Sky-Watcher MX
Guiding telescopes or lenses:Vixen VSD
Guiding cameras: sx loadstar
Software: Sequence Generator Pro, PHD, Photoshop CS5
Filters: Baader Ha, OIII & SII
Accessories: Starlight Xpress USB filter wheel, Baader Planetarium 36mm narrowband filters
IC 405, the Flaming Star Nebula, is an emission and reflection nebula in the constellation Aurig. It is about 1,500 light-years away from Earth.. Technical Info:
15 x 300 sec. Astronomik Ha 12 nm filter
15 x 300 sec. Astronomik OIII 12 nm filter
15 x 300 sec. Astronomik SII 12 nm filter
Gain 200, Offset 50, Binning 1x1
Total Integration 3.8 hours
Explore Scientific 102mm f/7 APO Refractor
Sensor cooled to -25°C on ZWO ASI1600MM Pro (mono)
Calibration frames: Bias, Darks, and Flats.
Plate Solve-Plate Solver 2 via N.I.N.A. 1.11
Image processing Pixinsight 1.8.8, and Photoshop CC 2021
A boney finger of dark nebulas (Barnard 169 to 174) reaches for the light (Ced 199 Sh2-134 and Sh2-135)
See on Fluidr
OTA: Takahashi FSQ-106 EDX4
GUIDER: Stellarvue F50
MOUNT: Software Bisque Paramount MyT
CAMERA: FLI ML-16070M
GUIDE CAMERA: ZWO ASI 174 Mini M
REDUCER: Takahashi 645 QE .72x f/3.6
SOFTWARE: SGP, PhD2, TheSkyX, Pixinsight, Starnet++, Photoshop
FILTERS: AstrodonLRGB; 5nm Hα, 3nm SII, 3nm OIII
ACCESSORIES: Optec Gemini Focuser/Rotator
LOCATION: SRO
To see more of my work and to buy prints visit www.jklovelacephotography.com/pages/space
The Spaghetti Nebula is located in the constellations of Auriga and Taurus within the Milky Way and is a supernova remnant from an exploding star. These extremely faint and fine filaments of ionised hydrogen, sulphur and oxygen are all that remains from the explosion approximately 40,000 years ago. It's distance from our solar system is estimated to be 3000 light-years.
The size of the nebula is extremely large, approximately 3 degrees, and using my small 81mm telescope, the image almost entirely fills a full frame camera sensor. To capture this image I used over 28 hours of images using 3 narrow band filters for each gas.
Technical details:
Location:
Gérgal, Almeria, Spain. Bortle class 4.5
Filters used:
Ha: 256 @ 120s 512 min
Oiii: 342 @ 120s 684 min
Sii: 251 @ 120s 502 min
Total integration: 28.3 hours
Equipment:
Telescope: William Optics GT81 with x0.8 Field Flattener f/5.6 385mm
Image Camera: ZWO ASI 6200MM Pro @ -5 C
Pegasus Astro Falcon rotator
Pegasus Astro Focus Cube
ZWO 7 Position filter wheel
ZWO Filters 7nm Sii, Oiii and Ha
Guide scope: William Optics 50mm Uniguide 200mm f/4
Guide camera: ZWO ASI 192 MM Mini
Software:
N.I.N.A, PHD2, Sharpcap Pro, PixInsight, Photoshop, Lightroom and Topaz Denoise.
WR 134 is a variable Wolf-Rayet star located around 6,000 light years away from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus, surrounded by a faint bubble nebula blown by the intense radiation and fast wind from the star. It is just over four times the radius of the sun, but due to a temperature of 63,000 K it is 250,000 times as luminous as the sun. [Wiki]
Imaged over 11 nights in July 2024 .
A high resolution image with a starless version and full imaging details can be found on my Astrobin page at: astrob.in/0fg4co/0/
Thank you for looking.
Technical summary:
Captured: 11 Nights in July 2024
Location: Turismo Astronómico, Los Coloraos, Gorafe, Spain
Bortle Class: 3
Total Integration: 46h 50m
Filters: Optolong L-Ultimate Dual Band
Pixel Scale: 1.4 arcsec/pixel
Telescope: Skywatcher Esprit 100ED
Image Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
Mount: Skywatcher EQ 6R Pro
Capture software: NINA, PHD2
Editing software: PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop
Newton 200x1000 sur HEQ5 pro Rowan.
Correcteur Bader MPCC MIII.
Optolong L-Extreme.
Canon 1000Dd.
132 x 3min - ISO 400.
Version HOO.
Ciel Bortle 8
Last night's full moon was very bright with a slight glow around it although it was a case of standing in the cold night air waiting for the clouds to clear long enough to get a hand-held shot but it was worth it.
Waning Gibbous Moon
Illumination: 98.9%
Distance to Earth: 362, 205 KM
Time: 23.13
Location: West Wales
Taken in black and white hand-held using a Panasonic DMC FZ200
f/2.8
1/1300
108.0 mm
ISO 100
Dedicated to CH (ILYWAMHASAM)
Newton 200x1000 - HEQ5.
Guidage chercheur + ASI120mc.
123x2min - ISO400.
CANON 1000Dd - Filtre Idas LPS D1 - Correcteur de coma Baader MPCC Mark III.
PixInSight - PS.
Ciel Bortle 8.
Cygnus Wall.
.....................
Cygnus Wall is the most visible and interesting part of the well-known North America nebula, located 1500 light-years from us, in the constellation Cygnus. The "wall" is actually an area of stellar dust combined with hydrogen ionized by the radiation of young stars and stretches over a length of about 20 light-years, thus being one of the largest and best known stellar "nurseries".
Equipment and settings:
Mount: Skywatcher Eq6r pro
Telescope: Explore Scientific 102ED triplet + 0.75 APM reducer
Camera: ASI 533MM pro
Filter: Astrodon SHO
Total integration: 6h36' ( Ha 43x3min, Sii 40x3min, Oiii 47x3min )
Edit in Pixinsight.
Location: my Bortle 6+ backyard.
This my interpretation of the Hubble Heritage data for
WFC3-Mosaic-of-Carina-Nebula-HH-901-C in narrowband
Hope you find this interesting!
The original data can be found here if you want to have a go :)
NGC 7822
....................................................
This is an emission nebula located in the constellation Cepheus, about 3000 light-years from us, being a region where new stars are born. If the strong radiation emitted by the new stars ionizes the surrounding gas and illuminates the entire area, the same radiation erodes those "pillars" of cosmic dust causing, over time, those concentrated areas of dust to disappear and thus destroy the main "material" that forms the new stars.
Equipment and settings:
Mount: Skywatcher Eq6R
Telescope: Explore Scientific 102ED + 0.75 APM reducer
Camera: ASI 533MM
Filter: Astrodon SHO
Total integration: 10 hours ( Ha 38 exposures x 5 min, Sii 44 x 5 min, Oiii 63 x 3 min )
Edit in Pixinsight.
Location: my Bortle 6+ backyard.
Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex
........................................................
Located at about 500 light-years from Earth, Rho Ophiuchi is undoubtedly one of the most spectacular and colorful parts of the night sky.
Emission nebulae, reflection nebulae, dark nebulae or star clusters, all can be found in this small part of the sky. There is also a star nursery, practically the closest to Earth, and not to forget Antares (in the yellow area of the attached photo), a giant star, 700 times larger than the Sun, and 10,000 times brighter.
A book could be written about this area, so I will stop here with the description. I hope I will be lucky enough to repeat the experience at the next new moon.
……………………………………………
Equipment and settings:
Mount: Skywatcher Star Adventure GTI
Camera: Nikon D610 – astro modified
Lens : Rokinon 135mm F2
Settings: F 2.8, ISO 1600
Total exposure: 80 minutes (53 exposures x 90 sec)
Calibration frames: 15 darks.
Location: Bortle ¾.
Edit : Pixinsight.
I have been waiting for the perfect conditions to take my first deep-space image of the Orion Nebula, and when it happened, the timing overlapped with the Geminid Meteor Shower. The odds of capturing a meteor in the shot are rare, but what was truly shocking was watching a non-geminid meteor (orange streak) that was a brighter fireball and it broke up right on the edge of my shot. Amazing experience to see and capture.
I was standing with another skywatcher at the time the brighter one broke into 2 pieces as it burned up in the atmosphere. As soon as it happened he said, "That is where you are shooting!" I just responded with, "I am too scared to see if I actually got it." When I finally got the nerve, I was absolutely stunned.
Image taken at Lake Hudson Recreational Area in Lenawee County Michigan. The Geminid Meteor was at 10:40pm on December 13th, the non-Geminid meteor was at 11:29pm. I was shooting the Orion Nebula from about 10:30pm till midnight.
(Explore # 129)
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This is the next installment of my 2016 Cygnus exploration. This image has an integration of approximately 25 hours of photography. Featured in this image: SH2-115 an emission nebula. It is approximately 7500 light years away. Also featured are the Planetary Nebula Abell 71 and Weinberger 1-10 in the center left of frame.
An ancient planetary nebula
See on Fluidr
OTA: PlaneWave CDK20
GUIDER: Astrodon Monster MOAG
MOUNT: PlaneWave L-500
CAMERA: FLI ML-16803
GUIDE CAMERA: QHY 5-III 174 M
REDUCER: N/A
SOFTWARE: SGP, PhD2, PWI 3 & 4, Pixinsight, Starnet++, Photoshop, various plugins
FILTERS: Astrodon NII 3nm, Hα 3nm, OIII 3nm, RGB
ACCESSORIES: Pegasus UPB,
LOCATION: SRO
To see more of my work and to buy prints visit www.jklovelacephotography.com/pages/space
Heart nebula (IC 1805) taken with my mono CMOS astro-camera with narrowband filters and then colored during post-processing with SHO (SII, Ha, OIII) palette. Image data was collected using my ES 102 mm telescope and the field of view (FOV) only covered about 2/3 of the nebula. I am working on new image of this nebula using a mosaic technique to capture the entire nebula. Technical Info:
76 x 300 sec. Astronomik Ha 12 nm filter
82 x 300 sec. Astronomik OIII 12 nm filter
78 x 300 sec Astronomik SII 12 nm filter
81 x 180 sec. OPTOLONG L-eNhance filter
Gain 200, Offset 50, Binning 1x1
Total Integration 26.5 hours
Explore Scientific 102mm f/7 APO Refractor
Sensor cooled to -15°C on ZWO ASI1600MM Pro (mono)
Calibration frames: Bias, Darks, and Flats.
Plate Solve-PlateSolver 2 via N.I.N.A. 1.11
Image processing Deep Sky Stacker 4.2.6, Pixinsight 1.8.8, and Photoshop CC 2021.
Messier 94 is a spiral galaxy in the mid-northern constellation Canes Venatici. Technical Info:
104 x 180 sec. . OPTOLONG L-eNhance filter
97 x 180 sec. ZWO Red filter
93 x 180 sec. ZWO Green filter
86 x 180 sec. Zwo Blue filter
Gain 200, Offset 50, Binning 1x1
Total Integration 19 hours
Explore Scientific 102mm f/7 APO Refractor
Sensor cooled to -15°C on ZWO ASI1600MM Pro (mono)
Calibration frames: Bias, Darks, and Flats.
Plate Solve-PlateSolver 2 via N.I.N.A. 1.11
Image processing Pixinsight 1.8.8-9, and Photoshop CC 2022
A 4 panel mosaic Frames: 120x1800"
Integration: 60.0 hours
This data was acquired with my Takahashi TSA 102. Hope you enjoy it!
NGC 2237 Inside the Rosette nebula
Imaging telescopes or lenses: Takahashi TSA 102,
Imaging cameras: Starlight Express SXVR-H18
Mounts: Sky-Watcher NEQ6 Pro
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Takahashi TSA 102
Guiding cameras: sx loadstar
Focal reducers: Takahashi TOA/FS Reducer
Software: PHD, Main Sequence Software
Filters: Baader Red 2", Baader SII 8.5nm, Baader B 2", Baader G 2", Baader O III 8.5nm, Baader Ha 8.5nm
Accessories: Starlight Xpress USB filter wheel
Hypothetical exoplanet seen from one of its satellites. The foreground was changed and stars were added to this version.
EXOPLANETS
==================================================
Confirmed 3439
Candidates 4696
Solar systems 2569
Earths 348
Data from NASA (exoplanets.nasa.gov/)
==================================================
"An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet that orbits a star other than the Sun. Starting in 1988, and as of 1 January 2017, there have been 3,557 exoplanets in 2,668 planetary systems and 601 multiple planetary systems confirmed. HARPS (since 2004) has discovered about a hundred exoplanets while the Kepler space telescope (since 2009) has found more than two thousand. Kepler has also detected a few thousand candidate planets, of which about 11% may be false positives. On average, there is at least one planet per star, with a percentage having multiple planets. About 1 in 5 Sun-like stars [a] have an "Earth-sized" [b] planet in the habitable zone. [c] Assuming there are 200 billion stars in the Milky Way, [d] one can hypothesize that there are 11 billion potentially habitable Earth-sized planets in the Milky Way, rising to 40 billion if planets orbiting the numerous red dwarfs are included.
Besides exoplanets, there are also rogue planets, which do not orbit any star and which tend to be considered separately, especially if they are gas giants, in which case they are often counted, like WISE 0855−0714, as sub-brown dwarfs. The rogue planets in the Milky Way possibly number in the billions (or more)." (Text credits: Wikipedia).
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) in the early morning of January 27, 2023.
The comet was discovered in March 2022 at the Zwicky Transient Facility telescope, thus the ZTF name.
Equipment:
SkyWatcher EQ6-R
Nikkor 500mm f/4 P AI-S at f/4
Sony a7RIIIa (unmodified)
ZWO 30mm Guide scope
GPCAM2 Mono Camera
Acquisition:
Taos, NM: my back yard - Bortle 3
4 x 121" for 8 minutes and 4 seconds of exposure time.
2 dark frames
15 flats frames
15 bias frames
Software:
SharpCap
DeepSkyStacker
Photoshop
Lightroom
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. I polar aligned my mount using SharpCap Pro. I struggled with getting guiding going and decided to trust my mount to track accurately. I took 4 121-second exposures and dark, flat, and bias frames. DeepSkyStacker was used to combine all frames, and then I processed the TIFF file in Photoshop. I stretched the 32-bit file using Levels. I then made it a 16-bit file and continued to stretch the file in levels and curves. I used the color sampler tool and levels to do my best to help keep colors accurate. I then used my skillset, including some dodging & burning, and relied on Astronomy Tools Action Set and Topaz Denoise to give the image a polished look. I brought it into Lightroom to do final color corrections and add EXIF data. I did not attempt to account for the comet's movement, and you can see the nucleus is elongated.
About 10,000 years ago, a star exploded and died here. The Helix Nebula, also known as the Helix or NGC 7293, is a large planetary nebula in the constellation Aquarius.
Karl Ludwig Harding, probably discovered it before 1824 and it is one of the closest objects to Earth among the planetary nebulae, about 700 light years from our Earth. Sixteen hours of exposure from El Sauce Observatory in Chile (TelescopeLive) and image processing with my interpretation of 178 raw images in PixInsight and PhotoShop.
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• Sky-Watcher Quattro 250P
• Sky-Watcher EQ8-R Pro
• ZWO ASI294MM-Pro
• ZWO Hα 7nm: 26x600s bin1 gain 200
• ZWO OIII 7nm: 54x600s bin2 gain 200
(total integration 13.3h)
• ZWO OAG & ASI290Mini guide cam
• TS GPU coma corrector
• ZWO EFW, ZWO EAF & Pegasus Astro Ultimate Powerbox 2
Trevinca, Valding, Spain
Bortle 3, SQM 21.8
processed with Pixinsight
Markarian's Chain is a stretch of galaxies that forms part of the larger Virgo Custer in the constellation of Virgo. The two bright galaxies on the lower section of the chain are M84 and M86 discovered by Charles Messier in 1781. In this field of view approximately 30 identified galaxies are visible making it a spectacular target to image.
A combination of 10 nights imaging in January and February 2022 and May 2023 using two different cameras. 2022 images were taken using a mono camera and 4 filters, 2023 images were taken using a colour camera and a single filter.
Imaging and processing details can be found on my Astrobin page at: astrob.in/full/zy1fpo/0/
Thank you for looking.
Technical summary:
Captured: 7,8,29,30,31 Jan 2022, 1,2,3 Feb 2022 and 13,14 May 2023
Imaging Sessions: 10
Location: Gérgal, Andalucía, Spain 2022 and Gorafe, Granada, Spain 2023
Bortle Class: 4 Gergal, 3 Gorafe
Total Integration: 23 hours 10 minutes
Blue 116x 120s 3hr 52m BIN 1 Gain 100 -5C
Blue 4x 300s 20m BIN 1 Gain 100 -5C
Green 123x 120s 4hr 6m BIN 1 Gain 100 -5C
Green 11x 300s 55m BIN 1 Gain 100 -5C
Red 149x 120s 4hr 58m BIN 1 Gain 100 -5C
Red 8x 300s 40m BIN 1 Gain 100 -5C
UV/IR 142x 120s 4hr 44m BIN 1 Gain 100 -5C
UV/IR 3x 300s 15m BIN1 Gain 100 -5C
Moon & Skyglow: 40x 300s 3hr 20m BIN 1 -5C
Pixel Scale: 2 arcsec/pixel
Telescope: William Optics GT 81 385mm
Imaging Cameras: ZWO ASI6200MM Pro and ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
Guiding: ZWO UniGuide 50mm - ZWO ASI120MM-S
Filters: ZWO R, G, B, UV/IR and Baader Moon & Skyglow
Mount: Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro
Capture Computer: Eagle 4
Capture software: NINA, PHD2
Editing software: PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom