Era doveroso, dopo 13 anni, ritornare su questa bellissima nostra "vicina di casa" extragalattica, la grande Galassia di Andromeda, catalogata con le sigle M31 e NGC224 distante dalla Terra circa 2,5 milioni di a.l.. Se i nostri occhi fossero molto sensibili e non ci fosse l'Inquinamento luminoso la vredremmo in tutta la sua grandezza: le sue dimensioni apparenti sono più di 6 volte quelli del disco lunare.

Con il mio setup ho dovuto realizzare un mosaico con 2 pannelli, ma dopo l'esperienza faticosa con la NGC7000, questa volta ho trovato il modo migliore per unire i 2 pannelli grazie all'applicazione Siril 1.4 che permette di unire più pannelli con opportuni accorgimenti, che rende il risultato finale più equilibrato nei punti di unione tra i pannelli (vd youtu.be/4apAdLWJ3Dg?si=gwMaWN7lphNVQitW).

Volevo integrare più ore in banda larga, utilizzando il filtro UHC, ma condizioni meteo avverse non lo hanno permesso con la galassia sempre meno alta sull'orizzonte e in una zona di cielo più inquinata.

Quindi mi sono concentrato sulle tantissime nebulose Ha presenti tra i bracci della galassia.

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It was only right, after 13 years, to return to this beautiful extragalactic "neighbor" of ours, the large Andromeda Galaxy, catalogued with the acronyms M31 and NGC224, about 2.5 million light years away from Earth. If our eyes were very sensitive and there were no light pollution, we would see it in all its grandeur: its apparent dimensions are more than 6 times those of the lunar disk.

With my setup, I had to create a mosaic with two panels, but after the tiring experience with the NGC7000, this time I found the best way to join the two panels thanks to the Siril 1.4 application, which allows you to join multiple panels with appropriate adjustments, making the final result more balanced at the joins between the panels (see youtu.be/4apAdLWJ3Dg?si=gwMaWN7lphNVQitW).

I wanted to integrate more broadband hours, using the UHC filter, but adverse weather conditions prevented it, with the galaxy increasingly low on the horizon and in a more polluted area of the sky.

So I focused on the many Ha nebulae present in the galaxy's arms.

Google Translate

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Optic: APO Refractor Askar 103APO + 0.6X

Camera: ZWO ASI533MC-Pro

Mount: Sky Watcher HEQ5 Synscan

Seeing: 3-4 (scala Antoniadi)

Filter: Narrowband Optolong L-eNhance 2"

panel1: 132x300s 250gain/ 35dark /27flat /80 bias

Integration: 11h 0m

panel2: 128x300s 250gain/ 35dark /27flat /80 bias

Integration: 10h 40m

Filter: Broadband Angeleyes UHC 1"

Panel1: 35x180s 250gain/ 23dark /27flat /80 bias

Integration: 1h 45m

Panel2: 43x180s 250gain/ 23dark /27flat /80 bias

Integration: 2h 9m

Date: 2025-11-19, 20, 23, 28, 29, 30

t° sensor: -10°C

Total integration: 25h 34m

Temperature: 14°C (media)

location for : Biancavilla -Catania-(Italy) 515m slm (Bortle 5-6) flic.kr/p/8AWHek

Acquisition: NINA, PHDGuiding

Processing: DSS, SIRIL 1.4, PS, GraXpert

This is a montage of the best bits of 2016 ..... It's been an interesting year for sure and I've had some imaging fun!

2017 is already turning into an interesting year, with things in the pipeline that I am looking forward to.

There are many hundreds of hours of total exposure time in this complete montage. Some of the images have been published in magazine and one of them got a NASA APOD as well.

I hope you enjoy looking over it as much as I've enjoyed the imaging and processing time spent doing each and every image on here.

The Dumbbell Nebula (also known as the Apple Core Nebula, M 27, and NGC 6853) is a planetary nebula (nebulosity surrounding a white dwarf) in the constellation Vulpecula, at a distance of about 1360 light-years. A planetary nebula is a type of emission nebula consisting of an expanding, glowing shell of ionized gas ejected from red giant stars late in their lives. [wikipedia]

Imaged using the Celestron C14 Edge HD telescope in dome 4 at Turismo Astronómico, Los Coloraos observatory in Gorafe, Spain.

A higher resolution image with imaging details can be found on my Astrobin page at: astrob.in/3hreww/0/

Thank you for looking.

Technical summary:

Captured: 8 Nights in June 2024

Location: Turismo Astronómico, Los Coloraos, Gorafe, Spain

Bortle Class: 3

Total Integration: 21 hours 25mins

Filters: UV-IR 329 x 120s, Red 68 x 180s, Green 74 x 180s, Blue 67 x 180s

Pixel Scale: 0.4 arcsec/pixel

Telescope: Celestron C14 Edge HD

Image Camera: ZWO ASI6200MM Pro

Filters: Astronomik Lum, Red, Green, Blue,

Mount: Skywatcher EQ 8

Computer: Minix NUC

Capture software: NINA, PHD2

Editing software: PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom

NGC 1977 in Orion

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Magnitude: +7.0

Apparent size: 10 x 5 arc min.

Diameter: 5.1 light years.

Distance: 1800 light years.

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Image date: 2021-01-10

Exposure: 120 minutes

Field of View: 47.6 x 47.6 arcmin.

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In honor of tonight's full moon, here's an image from last month's full moon which I photographed about an hour after it rose.

The moon itself here is my capture, and I have used a deep space filter layered behind it, giving a three dimensional element and experience.

Hit the Enlarge button and enjoy your galactic journey floating into space as you view it :)

NGC 7635 a.k.a. Bubble Nebula

……………………………................

Space is full of things / situations / events that intrigue us, NGC7635 being one of those. In short and for everyone to understand, a massive star is caught in a "bubble". This star is almost 50 times larger than the Sun and the emitted radiation is about 1 million times stronger than it, producing a stellar wind that exceeds 5 million km per hour, wind that pushes dust and gas outward creating thus a shell or a bubble, a situation that obviously led to the popular name of this nebula.

As general information, the Bubble Nebula is an emission nebula with a diameter of about 7 light-years, located in the constellation Cassiopeia, at a distance of over 7000 light-years from Earth and it was discovered in 1787 by the British astronomer, William Herschel.

Specialists believe that in a short time ( meaning in the next 10-20 million years), the "guilty" star will consume its energy resources, and will explode, forming a supernova.

Equipment and settings:

Mount: SW EQ6R

Telescope: SW 150/750 PDS

Camera: ASI 533MM Pro

Filters: SHO Astrodon 5nm

Integration: 15h45’

Edit in Pixinsight.

Location: my Bortle 6+ backyard

The Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635) is an emission nebula located in the northern constellation Cassiopeia. The nebula lies at a distance of 7,100 light-years from Earth. The nebula is in fact a cloud of gas and dust illuminated by the brilliant star within it. Technical Info:

102 x 300 sec. Astronomik Ha 12 nm filter

66 x 300 sec. Optolong L-eHance

Gain 200, Offset 50, Binning 1x1

Total Integration 14 hours

Explore Scientific 102mm f/7 APO Refractor

Sensor cooled to -20°C on ZWO ASI1600MM Pro (mono)

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.

This one turned out way better than I anticipated!

NGC 6960 a.k.a. Western Veil Nebula a.k.a. The Witch's Broom

………………………………………

10,000 years ago, long before the first records in human history, a bright light appeared in the sky and lasted for weeks until it faded and disappeared. Now we know that the phenomenon was caused by the explosion of a supernova, a huge star, 20 times larger than the Sun. What is seen in the attached image is a part of the remnants of that star, remnants that created a cloud consisting mainly of hydrogen (red) and oxygen (blue) and which expands with a speed of about 1 milion miles per hour.

This nebula is found in the constellation Cygnus, at a distance of about 2400 light-years from Earth, and is one of the best known summer targets for astrophotography enthusiasts, but due to the large number of stars in that area, it cannot be considered a easy target.

Besides Witch's Broom, other names under which this nebula is known are: Finger of God, Filamentary Nebula or Lacework Nebula.

Equipment and settings:

Mount: SW EQ6R

Telescope: SW Newtonian 150PDS

Camera: ASI 533MC Pro

Filter: Optolong Lextreme

Integration: 6h

88 light frames x 4 min + calibration frames

Stacking with DSS. Edit in Pixinsight si Lightroom.

Location: my Bortle 6+ backyard

Discovered in 2011 by French astrophotographer Nicolas Outters, the Squid Nebula (Ou4) is distinguished by its elegant bipolar shape and the vivid blue glow of doubly ionized oxygen (Oiii). It is nestled entirely within the reddish hydrogen-rich emission nebula Sh2-129, also known as the Flying Bat Nebula.

Recent research indicates that Ou4 lies roughly 2,300 light-years from Earth and resides within Sh2-129. This makes Ou4 a dramatic outflow, originating from HR 8119, a triple system of hot, massive stars at the nebula’s core. With an enormous physical size of nearly 50 light-years, the Squid Nebula stands as one of the largest and most intriguing emission structures in the night sky.

Capturing the Squid Nebula is a real challenge and requires very long integration times over several nights... The perfect challenge to test my new deep space imaging rig.

Equipment:

Telescope: Sharpstar SQA106

Mount: Sky-Watcher Wave 150i

Camera: ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro

Filter: Baader RGB, 3nm Ha & 4.5nm Oiii with a ZWO EFW

Focuser: ZWO EAF

Autoguider: ZWO ASI 385MC with Artesky UltraGuide 32mm

Rig control: ZWO Astrophotography ASIAir Plus

EXIF

130x 30s with RGB

50x 300s Ha

150x 300s Oiii

Total exposure time: 20h

Planetary Nebula in Orion

A dying star.

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Image exposure: 60 minutes

Image field of view: 9.86 x 9.86 arcmin

Image date: 2021-12-31

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This object bears a striking resemblance to the much closer NGC 1535 which I posted a few weeks ago.

Sony a7IV | Sigma 105mm F2.8 DG DN macro

Click the link, there is a selection of my photos for sale waiting to become photo panels or paintings!

➡ www.saal-digital.net/share/OEaNyWL/

I had imaged M78 on three different nights, but every night there was something that went wrong.

For those who don't know their way around the night sky, this object is in the constellation of Orion. In the picture it's center right, at the bottom is the Flame Nebula and at the top is a portion of Barnard's Loop

On the first night I had set my lens to f5.6 and ended up with ugly star diffraction spikes, the second night I was ever so slightly out of focus and the third night I didn't get enough good shots because some haze moved in and the stars started to bloom. When that happens it can ruin the final result.

This image is from the 2nd night and I was able to do some star surgery to get them to look round and within color range.

Apologies to my Flickr friends, but right now I am uninspired by the drab look of the New Mexico landscape so I've turned my gaze to the heavens. We have a lot of clear skies right now, so why not?

Integration time: 146 minutes

Sky Watcher Star Adventurer 2i

Sony A6400

Nikon AF Nikkor 300mm f4 ED IF at f5.6, adapted to Sony and switched to manual focus, of course.

Aodelan remote bulb timer

MSM laser pointer to assist with polar alignment

Power banks to power both tracker and camera

The Iris Nebula (NGC7023) is a reflection nebula approximately 1300 light years away, located in the constellation of Cepheus. On the right hand of the image is VdB 141 (The ghost nebula) so called because of it's shape. This is also a reflection nebula and is about 1500 light years away.

Details:

M: Avalon Linear fast reverse

T: Takahashi FSQ 85

C: QSI690ws-g with Lum filter and Starlight Express Trius SX25C OSC for the colour.

Luminance - 2 pane mosaic 54x600s in total

Colour - 100x600s

Totalling 25 hours and 40 minutes

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• Sky-Watcher Quattro 250P

• Sky-Watcher EQ8-R Pro

• ZWO ASI294MM-Pro

• Astronomik L: 55x300s bin1 gain 0

• Astronomik RGB: 26x300s bin2 gain 125

• ZWO Hα 7nm: 12x300s bin1 gain 200

(total integration 7.7h)

• 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

56x180s ISO400.

Triplet 80x480 + correcteur.

Canon 1000D dp + Idas LPS D1.

Ciel Bortle 8.

The cluster and nebula lie at a distance of 5,000 light-years from Earth and measure roughly 130 light years in diameter. The radiation from the young stars excites the atoms in the nebula, causing them to emit radiation themselves producing the emission nebula we see.

(wikipedia)

The Rosette Nebula is relatively easy to find, it is located about a third of the way between the star Betelgeuse in Orion and the star Procyon in Canis Minor.

IOptron Star Tracker

Nikkor 300mm f.45 vintage optics

135 60 sec exposures

Integration time: 95 minutes, the stacking software rejected 40 images, not sure why so many

calibration frames: flat, darks, bias

bulb timer

Processed in Siril

Finished in Lightroom and Photoshop

The Veil Nebula is a cloud of heated and ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus, at about 2400 light years from us.

It constitutes the visible portions of the Cygnus Loop,a supernova remnant, many portions of which have acquired their own individual names and catalogue identifiers. In modern usage, the names Veil Nebula, Cirrus Nebula, and Filamentary Nebula generally refer to all the visible structure of the remnant, or even to the entire loop itself. The structure is so large that several NGC numbers were assigned to various arcs of the nebula. There are three main visual components: 1. The Western Veil (also known as Caldwell 34), consisting of NGC 6960 (the "Witch's Broom", Lacework Nebula, "Filamentary Nebula"; 2. The Eastern Veil (also known as Caldwell 33), whose brightest area is NGC 6992, trailing off farther south into NGC 6995 (together with NGC 6992 also known as "Network Nebula"; 3. Pickering's Triangle (or Pickering's Triangular Wisp), brightest at the north central edge of the loop, but visible in photographs continuing toward the central area of the loop.

The source supernova was a star 20 times more massive than the Sun which exploded between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago. At the time of the explosion, the supernova would have appeared brighter than Venus in the sky, and visible in the daytime. The remnants have since expanded to cover an area of the sky roughly 36 times the area of the full Moon.

Equipment and settings:

Mount: Skywatcher EQ6 R pro

Lens: Rokinon 135mm F2

Camera: ASI 533MM Pro

Filters: Astrodon SHO

Total integration: 10h30 ( Ha 49 exposures x 5 min, Sii 30 x 5 min, Oiii 77 x 3 min )

Edit in Pixinsight.

Location: my Bortle 6+ backyard.

The Galaxy M106 as it appeared about 24 million years ago! Astrophotographers photograph the past!

This deep-space image showcases two stunning nebulae in the constellation Auriga: the Tadpoles Nebula (IC 410) at the top center, and the Flaming Star Nebula (IC 405) toward the lower left.

IC 410, the Tadpoles Nebula, is an emission nebula located about 12,000 light-years from Earth. It surrounds the young star cluster NGC 1893, whose massive, energetic stars light up and shape the surrounding gas. The 'tadpoles' that give the nebula its nickname are dense streams of dust and gas about 10 lightyears long. They are assumed to be sites of star formation.

IC 405, the Flaming Star Nebula, lies in the lower left portion of the image. This beautiful mix of emission and reflection nebula is about 1,500 light-years away and is illuminated by the hot, massive star AE Aurigae. Its flowing, flame-like filaments of gas and dust give the nebula its name and striking appearance.

Set against a dense star field, this image uses narrowband imaging techniques to highlight different elements: hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur. The result reveals both the structure and composition of these rich star-forming regions.

This image is a SHO combination with the classic gold and blue hues of the Hubble Palette

Equipment

Telescope: William Optics Megrez 88

Mount: Equatorially mounted Skywatcher AZ-GTI

Camera: ZWO ASI 1600MM

Filters: Baader H/Sii/Oiii with ZWO EFW

Autofocus: ZWO EAF

Autoguider: ZWO ASI 385MC & Artesky Guidescope UltraGuide 32mm

Rig control: ZWO ASIAir

15x 300s H

15x 300s Sii

15x 240s Oiii

A faint emission nebula located in Cygnus. There is no information about the distance of this nebula.

This is a 2 pane mosaic so that all of the delicate dust is captured as well, using an Ha and OIII filter to create a bi colour image.

Details:

M: Avalon Linear Fast reverse

T: Takahashi FSQ85 0.73x

C: QSI690ws-g with 3nm Ha and OIII filter

Pane 1 - 11x1800s Ha, 10x1800s OIII

Pane 2 - 10x1800s, 9x1800s OIII

Totalling 20 hours of exposure time.

Images taken on March 2, 2021

Mars reflects the sun's light and is ~22 light minutes from Earth. The Pleiades is an open star cluster that is ~ 442 light years away from us. While these two are so different, both of them are prominent and easy to spot in the night sky. It’s very cool to witness the two so close to each other. I knew this was happening, but my life and job have been so busy lately it slipped my mind until it was basically happening already.

Step outside tonight and take a lookup. You can find this event just ahead of the constellation Orion. The next time these two will be near each other in our night sky again in 2038!

Equipment:

Celestron CGEM Mount

Canon FD 300mm f/4 L at f/5.6

Sony a7RIII (unmodified)

Altair 60mm Guide scope

GPCAM2 Mono Camera

Acquisition:

Taos, NM: my backyard - Bortle 3

10 x 121" for 20 min and 10 sec of exposure time.

10 dark frames

15 flats frames

15 bais frames

Guided

Software:

SharpCap

PHD2

DeepSkyStacker

Photoshop

My mount was polar aligned with SharpCap (what an amazing system for aligning). I'm not comfortable using my SCT as my lens yet. My solution is to piggyback my Sony a7RIII and adapted Canon FD 300mm f/4 L on a ADM dovetail rail on the top of my optical tube. I used DeepSkyStacker to combine all frames and then processed the TIFF file in Photoshop. I stretched the 32 bit file and used Gradient XT on the image. I then made it a 16 bit file and stretched in level, then curves. I used the color sampler tool and levels to do my best to keep the background space black. I then using my skillset and relied on Astronomy Tools Action Set, and dodging and burning a bit to give the image the finishing touches.

This is the 2nd brightest globular clusters after Omega Centauri and one of the most massive in our galaxy. The cluster has a very dense core where the light falls off to a point vs reaching a flatter profile near the center as in a typical globular cluster. It has been proposed a massive black hole may reside near the center. In the night sky this object is about the size of the full moon.

Takahashi TAO-150B

FLI 16200 (scale 1.1")

AP 1600GTO Abs Encoders

Data from Deepskywest El Sauce Observatory (Rio Hurtado, Chile)

L (23x120s) and (7x300s)

R (16x300s)

G (12x300s)

B (11x300s

Total Integration = 4.6hrs

Pixinsight

BPP

Lum HDRComb/DC/HDRMT/MMT

RGB MMT/ASSx2/HT/CT/LComb

Photoshop

Crop/Levels/Curves

Sharpen Stars w/ Mask

Vibrance

Lunette triplet APO 80x480 + réducteur x0.79 + filtre Idas LPS D1.

HEQ5 et guidage chercheur + ASI120mc.

Canon 1000D défiltré partiel.

28 x 180s ; ISO400.

Ciel mag 21.12.

Siril, Pixinsight, Photoshop

Handheld and captured with my D500 and 18-200mm lens... This has a deep space vibe to it and I rather like it.

This is a 4 night Two panel shot join is in the middle of the two shots. As I am able to rotate the Nikon 300mm F4 prime on its lens clamp I marked the degrees so I could rotate to suit camera angle. once done I got an error reading each night 1.4 degrees.

the two panels joined perfectly with next to no step between the two panels. I am impressed so much I am almost willing to for go the Auto Focus with the belt to be able to rotate the camera.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vela_Supernova_Remnant

for those interested a bit more info in the link.

Who can see the face in the shot.

ZWOASI071MC -10c 90 shots per panel 600 secs, over 4 night camera rotated.

ZWOEAF disconnected ,

Optolong LeNhance filter In filter draw,

Nikon 300MM F4 D Lens,

Skywatcher NEQ 6 Pro Hypertuned

Guided PHD2, SGP

Pixinsight, Ps & Lr.

50x180s

ISO400

Triplet 80x480 + correcteur/réducteur 0.79

Canon 1000Ddp + Idas LPS D1.

Heq5.

The first color image to feature Sivan 5 and Sivan 6?

I believe this is the first successful color image of the nebulae Sivan 5 and Sivan 6. Siv 5 is the larger mass at the top. Siv 6 lies beneath it and includes Sh2-287, the bright section bottom center. The swooping red wisp that stretches from left to right and looks like a ship’s hull isn’t officially part of either nebula.

Astronomer J.P. Sivan identified these forgotten nebulae in 1974 from an Hα survey of the Milky Way in which they appeared as a couple of tiny, irregular blots. Apparently, no one has bothered with them since.

Sivan nebulae are large and exceedingly faint: this image spans over 5° of the constellation Monoceros; and total exposure time is 74 hours with narrowband filters. This area has been photographed before, but always with far less exposure time. Thus, they scarcely reveal these Sivan objects at all, not that anyone was looking for them. In fact, even the small, brighter Sharpless objects in this image barely appear in most other widefield images. If you find any that clearly show these Sivan nebulae, please let me know and I will update this page.

...Speaking of blots, in the cosmic Rorschach ink blot test that is interstellar space, to me this looks like a dog (or seal) sitting in a boat with a single sail. So, I call this the Seadog Nebula.

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: Astrodon LRGB

ACCESSORIES: Optec Gemini Focuser/Rotator

LOCATION: SRO

COPYRIGHT: 2021 JKLOVELACE

Data Acquisition from 2020-10-17 until 2021-01-13

DSO Color Mapping: SH-HO-O with RGB stars

Original Image (Pix) Scale: 4.00

For More Technical Information: www.astrobin.com/1dnvcy/0/

To see more of my work and to buy prints visit www.jklovelacephotography.com/pages/space

First image using the new Celestron Edge HD 9.25 SCT.

Messier 81 (M81), also known as Bode’s Galaxy, is a grand design spiral galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major. The galaxy lies at an approximate distance of 11.8 million light years from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 6.94. It has the designation NGC 3031 in the New General Catalogue. Technical Info:

36 x 180 sec. ZWO Red filter

35 x 180 sec. ZWO Green filter

32 x 180 sec. Zwo Blue filter

Gain 200, Offset 50, Binning 1x1

Total Integration 5.2 hours

Celestron Edge HD 9.25 f/10 SCT Reflector

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. 2.0

Image processing Pixinsight 1.8.9, and Photoshop CC 2023

Brief Description:

A dynamic looking region of the constellation Auriga where spherical nebulas appear hurled to crash into each other. This image features the nebulas Sh2-232, Sh2-235, Sh2-231, Sh2-234 and LBN 796, and the open star clusters M38 and M36.

In-depth Description:

This is a dynamic looking region of the constellation Auriga where spherical nebulas appear hurled to crash into each other. This image includes the nebulae Sh2-232, Sh2-235, Sh2-231, Sh2-234 and LBN 796, among others, and the open star clusters M38 and M36.

The eyeball looking nebula (Sh2-232) has been mistaken for a planetary nebula, but none of the round or semispherical objects in this image are actually classified as PNs (per Galaxymap and SIMBAD). In fact, the big fuzzy ball in the lower left center (right above cluster M36) does not seem to have any designation at all and is merely a part of the greater nebula LBN 796. A 2012 study suggests that these unusual forms are all part of an expanding shell, the result of an ancient supernova.

These nebulae are all features of a larger molecular cloud located 1800 pc from us. By comparison the two clusters are much closer: M36 (bottom center) is 1330 pc distant, and M38 (center right) lies only 1066 pc away.

To see more of my work and to buy prints visit www.jklovelacephotography.com/pages/space

You are looking at a galaxy edge-on that is located 30 million light years away in the constellation Andromeda.

Consider our own Milky Way galaxy which is a huge disk of stars measuring 100,000 light years in diameter but only 1000 light years thick. So galaxies are quite thin relatively speaking.

A so-called edge-on view of a galaxy is like looking at the edge of a dinner plate and trying to see to the other side through the most dense portion. In the case of a galaxy this is mostly interstellar dust which is the dark linear region you see here. NGC 891, also referred to as the “silver sliver” galaxy, is very similar to our own Milky Way in size and luminosity.

The next time you see the Milky Way in a dark sky remember you are actually looking at it edge on also but this time you are on the inside looking out!

Image info:

Location: SkyPi Remote Observatory, Pie Town, NM US

Telescope: Officina Stellare RiDK 400

Mount: Paramount MEII

Camera: QHY600 M

Data: LRGB 3,5,4,4 hours respectively

Processing: Pixinsight

Wisps of charged gases continue to expand after a supernova explosion over 30,000 years ago

See on Fluidr

OTA: Takahashi FSQ-106 EDX4

GUIDER: None

MOUNT: Software Bisque Paramount MyT

CAMERA: FLI ML-16070M

GUIDE CAMERA: None

REDUCER: Takahashi 645 QE .72x f/3.6

SOFTWARE: SGP, PhD2, TheSkyX, Pixinsight, Starnet++, Photoshop

FILTERS: Astrodon LRGB; 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

LBN 458, LBN 462, LBN 460 and more

Equipment:

Epsilon 130D dual rig

QHY268m + CFW3M

TS2600MP (Touptek IMX571) + ZWO EFW

Astronomik DeepSky RGB

Astronomik MaxFR

Pegasus NYX-101

June/July 2024

Location: french alp

412x180s Luminanz

34x180s red

46x180s green

43x180s blue

26,75 total

Discovered in 1786 by William Herschel, the North

America Nebula shows its characteristic shape only in wide field astrophotographs.

The North America Nebula is separated from the Pelican Nebula by a dark dust cloud catalogued in 1962 as L935.

It took until 2004 for astronomers to identify the star that ionizes both the North America and the Pelican Nebula. The light of the inconspicuous star, named J205551.3+435225, is almost entirely blocked by the dark cloud L935. As J205551.3+435225 lies just off the “Florida coast” of the North America Nebula, it has been more conveniently nicknamed the Bajamar Star ("Islas de Bajamar," meaning "low-tide islands" in Spanish, was the original name of the Bahamas).

Equipment:

Telescope: William Optics Megrez 88

Camera: ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro

ZWO EFW with Baader HaRGB filters

ZWO EAF autofocus

ZWO ASI 385MC autoguider

Equatorially mounted Skywatcher AZ-GTI

Controlled with ASIair Plus

9-panel panorama, each 3x60s with RGB @ 5x 180s Ha, total exposure time: 3h36min

Peek toward the handle of the Big Dipper with a telescope and you can find the Pinwheel Galaxy also known as M101. It lies 21 million light-years away, meaning the light traveled for 21 million years before hitting my camera's sensor. Discovered in 1781 by Pierre Méchain, one of Charles Messier's colleagues, the spiral arms stretches 170,000 light-years wide—almost twice the size of our Milky Way Galaxy.

Equipment:

SkyWatcher EQ6-R

Nikkor 800mm f/5.6 AI-S at f/5.6

Sony a7rIII (unmodified)

ZWO 30mm Guide Scope

GPCAM2 Mono Camera

Acquisition:

Taos, NM: my front yard - Bortle 3

40 x 212-second exposures for 2 hours, 11 minutes and 20 seconds of exposure time.

5 dark frames

15 flats frames

15 bias frames

Guided

Software:

SharpCap

PHD2

PixInsight

Photoshop

Lightroom

My a7rIII and adapted Nikon 800mm f/5.6 lens were mounted to my SkyWatcher EQ6-R mount using a vixen rail. The guidescope/camera was fixed to the front of the rail. I used SharpCap to achieve "excellent" polar alignment. I shot ISO 1600 at f/5.6. I took 212-second exposures using PHD2 with my guidescope to keep tracking accurately. I brought the lights/darks/flats/bias frames into PixInsight for stacking and aligning and then used: STF, Cropping, GraXpert, Dynamic Background Extraction, BlurXTerminator, plate solving, color correction, NoiseXTerminator, and then the galaxy was separated from the stars using StarXterminator, and both files processed and stretched separately and then recombined using PixelMath. That file was brought into Lightroom for Metadata and EXIF tags, light post-processing, and cropping. I used Photoshop to sharpen the final image.

Messier 104 a.k.a. Sombrero Galaxy

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Discovered 250 years ago, the Sombrero galaxy (The Hat) is an elliptical galaxy located just over 30 million light-years from us and can be seen between the constellation Virgo and the constellation Corvus. According to measurements made by specialists in the field, M104 has a diameter of about 40,000 light-years, being about 3 times smaller than our galaxy. The name of the Hat is given both by the angle from which we can see it, and due to that prominent ring of cosmic dust that surrounds this galaxy and which is also the main source of new star formation. Regarding the nucleus of this galaxy, with the help of special infrared measurements it was found that in the galactic center of M104 there is a massive black hole, larger than in any other galaxy located within a radius of 40 million light years around the Milky Way.

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Equipment and settings:

Mount: Skywatcher Eq6 R

Telescope: 150/750 Newtonian telescope

Camera: ASI 533MC Pro

Total integration: 4 hours.

120 light frames x 2 min + calibration frames.

Stacking in Deep Sky Stacker.

Edit in Pixinsight and Lightroom.

CTB 1 is a supernova remnant (SNR) in the constellation Cassiopeia and a source of optical, radio, and X-ray emissions. A recent study reports that a pulsar was born from the supernova that produced CTB 1 and ejected into the galaxy.

CTB 1 is approximately 9784 light years away and physically spans another 98 light years in diameter while it is dated to be approximately 10,000 years old.

Image captured over 5 nights; 2021-11-06, 07, 08, 10, & 11

20.5 hours total integration

Ha subs 18 * 1,800 sec = 9 hours

OIII subs 12 * 1,800 sec = 6 hours

SII subs 11 * 1,800 sec = 5 hours 30 min

Imaging Equipment:

SharpStar 140PH Triplet 910mm focal length

Mesu 200 MKII mount,

ZWOASI2600MM Pro camera

SHO 3.0nm filters

IC 2177 a.k.a. Seagull Nebula.

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IC2177 is a region of nebulosity that spans about 240 light-years along the border between the constellations Monoceros and Canis Major, at a distance of about 3,800 light-years from Earth.

This is not the first time I have shot at the same targets with both the color and mono cameras, but it is the first time I have used both data sets for a single image. The color camera data was used as the Luminance channel, along with the Halpha data, and for the final result I used an LRGB approach.

Equipment and settings:

Mount: Skywatcher EQ6R

Telescope: Skywatcher 72ED + 0.85 dedicated flattener/reducer

Camera: ASI 533MC pro + ASI 533MM pro

Filters : Antlia ALP-T / Astrodon H S O 5nm

Integration : 42 x 5 min with the color camera / S 26 x 4min, O 40 x 5min, H 21 x 5min

Stacking with DSS/Pixinsight.

Edit in Pixinsight.

Location: my Bortle 6+ backyard.

The Orion and Running Man Nebulae are a diffuse nebula situated in the Milky Way, being south of Orion's Belt in the constellation of Orion. The Orion Nebula is 1,500 light-years away, and the nearest star-forming region to Earth. Technical info: 210 x 300 sec. Astronomik Ha 12 nm filter

173 x 300 sec. Astronomik OIII 12 nm filter

170 x 300 sec Astronomik SII 12 nm filter

Gain 200, Offset 50, Binning 1x1

Total Integration 46.1 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. 2.0

Image processing Pixinsight 2.0 and Photoshop 2023

M33 is a large, bright galaxy in the constellation Triangulum. Part of the Local Group of Galaxies, which also includes the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxies, it lies at a distance of "only" 2.7 million light years.

Telescope: Tele Vue 76mm Refractor with 0.8x Focal Reducer (383mm focal length)

Camera: QSI 683wsg

Mount: iOptron iEQ45 Pro

Integration: 75 minutes each of RGB (15 x 5mins)

Software: PixInsight 1.8.8

3 tuiles de 2h.

Lunette 80x480 + réducteur 0.79.

Canon 1000Ddp + filtre IDAS LPS D1.

HEQ5 pro goto + kit Rowan.

English below

Abell 85 o LBN576, nota come Nebulosa Testa d'Aglio, è un resto di supernova nella costellazione di Cassiopea distante circa 9780 anni luce e di diametro di circa 98 anni luce.

11 ore e 20 minuti in pose guidate da 600 secondi con filtro dualband Antlia ALP-T 5nm, per le stelle un'ora in pose guidate da 60 secondi con filtro broadband SV260. Telescopio newton 150/600 con correttore Tecnosky 0.95x, camera Tecnosky Vision 571C, montatura Eq6-R Pro, elaborazione in Pixinsight.

Abell 85 or LBN576, known as the Garlic Nebula, is a supernova remnant in the constellation Cassiopeia, approximately 9,780 light-years away and approximately 98 light-years in diameter.

11 hours and 20 minutes in 600-second guided exposures with an Antlia ALP-T 5nm dual-band filter, and one hour for stars in 60-second guided exposures with an SV260 broadband filter. 150/600 Newtonian telescope with a Tecnosky 0.95x corrector, Tecnosky Vision 571C camera, EQ6-R Pro mount, and Pixinsight processing.

The Whirlpool Galaxy is an interacting spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici

at distance of 23 Mio. Lj

Equipment:

TS 10" f/4 ONTC Newton

1000mm f4

GPU Aplanatic Koma Korrector

ZWO ASI585mc

Skywatcher EQ8

Guding:

Lodestar on TS Optics - ultra short 9mm Off Axis Guider

PHD2

312x30s

total exposure time: 2,6 hours

Processing: PixInsight

50mm Wide field of the Rho Ophiuchi region, with Mars and Saturn. To the bottom right is the Milky Way core, with the Cat's Paw nebula visible.

Mars is the biggest / brightest yellow object to the top left, Saturn is the smaller bright object bottom right.

Image details:

52 Minutes: 13x 240 second exposures

Camera: Canon 60Da

Lens: Canon 24-70mm LII F/2,8. Shot at 50mm F/3,2

Mount: SkyWatcher Star Adventurer

The skies were not really dark enough as our imaging location was only 1,5hrs drive out of town. I think to achieve more red in Antares' region I'll need to take separate Ha exposures and blend them to this.

Location:

Magalies mountain Sanctuary - Gauteng, South Africa

Date: #EveryNewMoon 6 May 2016

Check out PhotographingSpace.com for more tips and tutorials on #Astrophotography.

Or visit my website Astrotanja.com for other related stuff and more on the #EveryNewMoon project.

The Iris Nebula is a bright reflection nebula in the constellation Cepheus. It resides about 1,300 light-years away from earth and is six light-years across. Technical Info:

34 x 300 sec. Badder UV/IR Cut filter

22 x 300 sec. Astronomik Ha 12 nm filter

46 x 300 sec. Optolong L-eHance

Gain 200, Offset 50, Binning 1x1

Total Integration 8.5 hours

Explore Scientific 102mm f/7 APO Refractor

Sensor cooled to -20°C on ZWO ASI294MC Pro (OSC)

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

2 clear nights in the last few months one of them with a full moon.

exposure time: 12,5hour

Processing: PixInsight/affinity photo

Equipment:

Takahashi Epsilon 130ED

QHY163M

ZWO EFW 8x

Astronomik Deep-Sky RGB und SHO MaxFR

Skywatcher EQ8

89x300s H-alpha

23x300s SII

39x300s OIII

The Butterfly nebula (IC1318) is located in the constellation of Cygnus. The whole region is huge... Here you can only see IC1318b (upper area of nebulosity) and IC1318c (the lower area). IC1318b and c constitute a single giant HII cloud bisected by a thick obscuring dust lane known as LDN 889 which is shown in the middle of the frame.

The bright star to the top right is a class F8 star known as Sadr or Gamma Cygni. Its true location is only 750 light years away and not related to the nebulosity which is much more distant at 5000 light years.

This is a 6 pane mono mosaic. It has been stitched together using Astro Pixel Processor, whch created a seamless mosaic.

Details

M: Mesu 200

T: TMB 152/1200

C: QSI683 with 3nm Astrodon Ha filter

16x1800s in EACH pane, totalling 48 hours of exposure time.

Another project I've been working on, this one is part of the Orion complex, including the Orion, Running Man, Horse head, and Flame nebulae. These things have been extremely fun to put together and as I said with the last one, I love the context it gives when compared to a terrestrial objects. This is all shot at 300mm. Foreground is obviously shot separately from the sky.