Orion Nebula / Nebulosa de Orión (M42, Messier 42, NGC 1976)

Second and last attempt in 2021 to shoot the M42 nebula, in this time with the same unmodified Sony A7M3 camera and Sony FE 100-400 GM lens, but I use the tracker Skytwatcher AZ-GTI in EQ Mode and QHY guided camera with 60mm tube to increase exposure times.

The location and the weather conditions were ideal, but everything began to go wrong when I did not carry the AC50s Powerbank with me to power the laptop, badly enough that I always carry another portable Powerbank for the tracker, this except the day. During the session, the Sony A7M3 did not admit to connecting any of the 2 Mini-USB cables that it carried for the remote shutter camera control, so I finally decided to launch the shots with the wireless remote control and keeping track of the exposure time.

Despite all this, for a 54 min. total exposure time, quite a few details of this magnificent nebula have been captured with this equipment. It is definitely worth the effort to use guided mount and tracking, there is a brutal difference in the results obtained compared to using only a tripod and low exposure times.

I will continue in future sessions trying to capture more light by increasing the number of shots and exposure.

Segundo y último intento en 2021 de captar a M42, en esta ocasión con la misma cámara no modificada Sony A7M3 y el objetivo Sony FE 100-400 GM, pero utilizo la montura guiada Skytwatcher AZ-GTI EQ Mode y una cámara de seguimiento QHY con tubo de 60mm para aumentar los tiempos de exposición.

La nueva ubicación y las condiciones meteorológicas fueron las idóneas, pero todo se empezó a torcer cuando no lleve conmigo el Powerbank AC50s para alimentar el portátil, manos mal que siempre llevo para la montura otro Powerbank portable, esto salvo el día. Durante la sesión, la Sony A7M3 no admitió conectar ninguno de los 2 cables Mini-USB que llevaba para el auto disparador, por lo que finalmente decidí lanzar las tomas con el mando a distancia y llevando la cuenta del tiempo de exposición.

A pesar de todo ello, para ser una toma de 54 min. de tiempo total de exposición, se han captado bastantes detalles de esta magnífica nebulosa con este equipo.

Definitivamente merece el esfuerzo utilizar montura guiada y seguimiento, hay una diferencia brutal en los resultados obtenidos con respecto a utilizar trípode fijo y bajos tiempos de exposición.

Seguiré en futuras sesiones intentando captar más luz aumentando el número de tomas y exposición.

- Date/Fecha: 12/30/2021

- Higueruelas 1.010m asl (39° 48' 25" N / 0° 53' 19" O)

Bortle 4 location

GEAR

- Tracker Sky-Watcher AZ-GTi EQ Mode

- Guiding with QHY 5L-II Mono and guidescope EZG-60

- Camera Sony ILC3-A7M3 APS-C Mode

- Lens Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS

IMAGE

- 20 Lights at 600mm, ISO 800, 30seg, f5.6 (for the core)

- 30 Lights at 600mm, ISO 1600, 90seg, f5.6 (for the nebula)

- 17 Darks at 600mm, ISO 800, 30seg, f5.6

- 5 Darks at 600mm, ISO 800, 90seg, f5.6

- 8 Darks at 600mm, ISO 1600, 90seg, f5.6

- Total time of exposition 54m.

SOFTWARE

- Stellarium & PHD2 to guide the tracker

- Stacked with DeepSkyStacker

- Image viewer Adobe Bridge

- Image processing with Adobe Camera Raw and Adobe Photoshop

©2021 All rights reserved. MSB.photography

Thank all for your visit and awards.

On Explore 01/02/2022

I tested my 500 mm lens with iOptron CEM60EC mount... I am not so satisfied with result, picture is litle bit blury because no auto guiding and noisy because short acquisition. I lookng forward to your comments, advises and tips 🙏

OBJECT: M101, Pinwheel Galaxy, Const. Uma, apparent mag. 7,86, apparent dim. 29 x 27 arcmin. FOV 3,24 x 2,03 arcdeg, sampling rate 1,79 arcsec / px, cropped 1,53 x.

GEAR: Nikon Z7 Kolari Full Spectrum + Nikkor 500/5,6 PF, No filter, Tracking mount iOptron CEM60EC - 3 star alignment, no auto guiding.

ACQUISITION: May 20, 2020, CZ. Lights 13x, Darks 5x, Bias 5x, Flats 5x. Exposure 300 s, ISO 400, f 5,6

POST PROCESSING: Stacking APP, Adobe PS.

Volcanic turmoil, radiating out from the propeller nebular . DWB-111 Propeller Nebula is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus

This is the next installment of my 2016 Cygnus exploration. This image is made up of two panels and has an integration of approximately 50 hours of photography.

If you've seen my feed, you know I've been working on deepspace landscapes like this basically all winter. This is my most recent effort. The foreground is an old fire tower and observation deck. In the sky, from left to right, is the M38 star cluster, the tad pole nebula (the blueish object), and then the flame nebula just above. I thought the idea of the flame nebula and a fire tower was poetic in a way.

My goal with this series has been to illustrate just how big these objects in the night sky are, by showing them near terrestrial objects. Ah if only our eyes could see this!

Explanation: Interstellar dust clouds and bright nebulae abound in the fertile constellation of Orion. One of the brightest, M78, on center in this colorful telescopic view, covering an area north of Orion's belt. At a distance of about 1,500 light-years, the bluish nebula itself is about 5 light-years across. Its blue tint is due to dust preferentially reflecting the blue light of hot, young stars in the region. Dark dust lanes and other nebulae can easily be traced through this gorgeous skyscape. The scene also includes the remarkable McNeil's Nebula -- a newly recognized nebula associated with the formation of a sun-like star, and the telltale reddish glow of many Herbig- Haro objects, energetic jets from stars in the process of formation. (text: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap131010.html)

This picture was photographed during October 2017 - January 2018 in Rozhen observatory, Bulgaria.

Equipment: home assembled reflector 10 in., f/3.8

Mount WhiteSwan-180 with a control system «Eqdrive Standart», camera QSI-583wsg, Televue Paracorr-2 and Off-axis guidecamera Lodestar SX-2 by Vasily Oleynik

L, Ha, RGB filter set Astrodon gen.II

L=55*900 + 28*600 seconds, RGB=15*900 + 14*600 seconds, Ha= 13*900 seconds bin.1 each filter, unbinned . About 36 hours.

FWHM source in L filter 2.12 "-3.16", sum in L channel - 2.58"

The height above the horizon from 36° to 48°, the scale of 1"/ pixel.

Processed Pixinsight 1.8 and Photoshop CS6

Photo with labels: olegbr.astroclub.kiev.ua/files/astrofoto/M78/M78_LHaRGB_O...

The Whirlpool Galaxy is one of the most spectacular sights when observing the night sky. Located at about 31 million years from us, it is a grand design spiral galaxy interacting with another one, in a slow dance by which both will merge within several million years. As a result of this, tidal streams of stars are swirling around, here seen as the faint light patch around. The Whirlpool Galaxy has lots of star formation areas - the bluish areas reveal the presence of young and hot stars.

Shot at Santa Susana, Portugal on the 29th and 30th of April, 2022 and at Barcarena, Portugal on the 24th, 25th, 26th and 27th of January 2023.

Technical details:

LUM: 172 x 180’’ (8h36)

RGB: 120 x 180’’ (6h00)

Ha: 119 x 300’’ (9h55)

Total integration: 24h31

SW EQ6-R Pro | TS Optics Triplet APO 800/115 | TS Optics TSFLAT2 0.79x | QHYCCD 268M | Optolong LRGB |Astronomik Ha 6nm | RBFocus Gaius-S | RBFocus Myrrdin 2.3

Acquisition: N.I.N.A. |

Processing: Pixinsight

reworked

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

at distance of 23 Mio. Lj

LRGB

Equipment:

TS 10" f/4 ONTC Newton

1000mm f4

GPU Aplanatic Koma Korrector

Moravian CCD G2-8300FW

Astrodon LRGB Filter

Losmandy G11/LFE Photo

Guding:

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

PHD2

16x900s Luminanz

5x900s RGB

total exposure time: 7h 45′

Processing: PixInsight/Affinity Photo

The Rosette nebula is one of my favorite targets. The shape and detail make it one of the most interesting deep sky objects in the northern hemisphere. Located in the constellation Monoceros, it also contain the open cluster NGC 2244. This cluster provides the solar radiation that is exciting the surrounding gas and causing the striking glow.

PlaneWave 17

10 Micron GM3000

FLI ML16803

Ha 13x30min

Sii 15x30min

Oiii 15x30min

Total Integration Time = 21.5hrs

Data from Deepskywest El Sauce Observatory (Rio Hurtado, Chile

SHO processing

Equipment:

Epsilon 130ED dual rig

QHY268m + CFW3M

Touptek IMX571 + ZWO EFW

Astronomik MaxFR

Skywatcher EQ8

July 2022

Processing: PixInsight/affinity photo

276 x 180s Ha

80 x 180s OIII

80 x 180s SII

total: 21,8 hour

M 3 is found in the constellation Canes Venatici and is one of the three brightest globular clusters in the northern sky.

Discovered by Charles Messier in 1764 and later by William Herschel in 1784.

I chose this cluster because when the moon is bright (99%), you need a bright image to be able see through the Moon glow in the sky. We have been having really poor weather in southern Spain and this was a small opportunity to take an image in between the clouds. Unfortunately the humidity was at 100% for the entire session making for slightly blurred stars, but I though it would be a challenge to see what I could make of just 2.5 hours of data under extreme conditions.

A single night of imaging in June 2023 from my home in Gérgal, Spain.

A higher resolution image with imaging details can be found on my Astrobin page at: astrob.in/full/7ss8q9/0/

Thank you for looking.

Technical summary:

Captured: 03-05-2023

Imaging Sessions: 1

Location: Gérgal, Andalucía, Spain

Bortle Class: 4

Total Integration: 2 hours 30 minutes

Red 30x 60s 30m BIN 2 Gain 100 0C

Green 30x 60s 30m BIN 2 Gain 100 0C

Blue 30x 60s 30m BIN 2 Gain 100 0C

UV/IR 60x 60s 1h BIN 2 Gain 100 0C

Pixel Scale: 0.28 arcsec/pixel (Drizzle X2)

Telescope: Celestron C11 Edge HD f/10 2800mm

Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI 6200MM Pro

Guiding: Omegon 60mm - ZWO ASI120MM Mini

Filters: Astronomik R, G, B, UV/IR

Mount: iOptron CEM120 EC

Computer: Minix NUC

Capture software: NINA, PHD2

Editing software: PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom

LDN 1251 - small molecular cloud in the constellation Cepheus. In addition to the dark nebula in this picture is also seen several PGC galaxies that shine through the interstellar dust. Also in this picture I have identified five Herbig–Haro objects.

This picture was photographed during 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 = 37 * 900 seconds, RGB = 28 * 400-600 seconds in each filter, bin.2. Total of 20 hours.

FWHM source (in the filter L) 2.15″-4.72″, Sum in L channel - 2.95"

The height above the horizon from 64 ° to 48 °, scale = 1.25"/ pixel.

Processed Pixinsight 1.8 and Photoshop CS6

This is a faint emission nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud. It has been debated whether this formation is from a supernova or solar winds. More recent observations of the spectrum indicate it is not a supernova remnant.

H: 9x5m / 8x10m

S: 8x5m / 8x10m

O: 8x5m / 8/10m

Total Integration = 6h

PI: BXT, SHO, PCC, HT

Lum (H): HT, NXT (Mask), CT

PS: ColorEfex, Curves, StarShrink, Smart Sharpen

We haven't had a lot of clear skies during the "COVID days", however when we have had some I've tried to take advantage of it. In the mean time though, I've been working on some older images like this one. I captured the pictures that make up this image last year in Arizona, and then recently re-processed them and am SUPER happy with the result. The night sky is just so intriguing!

www.starkeeper.it/NGC7822B.htm

Hot, young stars and cosmic pillars of gas and dust seem to crowd into NGC 7822. At the edge of a giant molecular cloud toward the northern constellation Cepheus, the glowing star forming region lies about 3,000 light-years away. Within the nebula, bright edges and dark shapes stand out in this colorful skyscape. The image includes data from narrowband filters, mapping emission from atomic oxygen, hydrogen, and red,blue and green filters. The atomic emission is powered by energetic radiation from the central hot stars. Their powerful winds and radiation sculpt and erode the denser pillar shapes and clear out a characteristic cavity light-years across the center of the natal cloud. Stars could still be forming inside the pillars by gravitational collapse but as the pillars are eroded away, any forming stars will ultimately be cutoff from their reservoir of star stuff. This field of view spans over 40 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 7822 [Text adapted from APOD]

Optics: Takahashi FSQ-106EDXIII F/5 530mm. - APO Refractor

Mount: AP Mach1 GTO

Camera: Moravian G4-16000 Mark II

Filters: Astrodon E Series Gen II LRGBH 50mm squared

Guiding Systems: SX Lodestar

Dates/Times: 2020-2021

Location: Pragelato - Turin / Italy

Exposure Details: H:R:G:B => 360:60:50:50 = > (24x15):(12x5):(10x5):(10x5) [num x minutes]

Cooling Details: -25 °C

Acquisition: Voyager Astrophotography Automation

Processing: CCDStack2+, PS CC, StarXTerminator

Mean FWHM: 1.21 / 2.05

SQM-L: 20.21

First light with the new scope! IC 1848 - The Soul Nebula in LRGB. The next door neighbor to the well-imaged Heart Nebula, which I imaged in narrowband back in 2020. I've never shot this target before and while initially it was "just a first light target", I was pleasantly surprised with the small structures and Bok globules within the nebula itself as well as the broadband dust that surrounds it.

- Location: Remote Observatory (Bortle 1, SQM 21.99) near Fort Davis, TX

- Total Exposure Time: 30.35 Hours

Equipment:

- Scope: Takahashi FSQ106EDX4

- Imaging Camera: QHY 268M

- Filters: Chroma LRGB (36mm)

- Mount: Astro Physics Mach1GTO

- Guidescope: SVBony 50mm Guidescope

- Guide camera: ASI 120mm mini

- Focuser: Moonlite Nitecrawler WR35

- Accessories: Pegasus Ultimate Powerbox v2, QHY Polemaster, Optec Alnitak Flip Flat

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Software:

- N.I.N.A for image acquisition, platesolving, and framing

- PHD2 for guiding

- PixInsight for processing

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Acquisition:

- L: 319 x 3m

- R: 99 x 3m

- G: 97 x 3m

- B: 92 x 3m

- All images at Gain 56, Offset 25 (Readout mode 1) and -5C sensor temperature

- 20 flats per filter

- Master Dark, Flat & Bias from Library

- Nights: 12/16, 12/18-12/20, 12/23-12/25, 12/27/22, 1/13/23

-------------------------------------------------------------

Processing:

- WBPP for Calibration

- Blink to remove bad subs

- ImageIntegration for stacking

RGB Processing (apply to each master):

- DynamicCrop

- MureDenoise

- DynamicBackgroundExtraction

- StarAlignment to align G and B to R

- ChannelCombination to combine to color image

- Duplicate image and ImageSolver to platesolve

- SpectroPhotometricColorCalibration on platesolved duplicate

- StarAlign both original and SPCC'd image to Luminance

- StarXterminator on original image to extract stars and save for later

- StarXterminator to create starless SPCC'd image

- HistogramTransformation x3 on SPCC'd image to stretch to non-linear

- NoiseXterminator on RGB image for noise reduction

Luminance processing:

- DynamicCrop

- MureDenoise

- DynamicBackgroundExtraction

- StarXterminator to create starless and extract stars

- GeneralizedHyperbolicStretch for initial stretch

- HistogramTransformation x2 for further stretch

- NoiseXterminator for slight noise reduction

- UnsharpMask using RangeMask for sharpening of structures in nebula

Combine Luminance and RGB:

- LRGBCombination with saturation at 0.35

- HistogramTransformation for slight stretch

- CurvesTransformation for slight saturation boost

- MultiscaleMedianTransform for chrominance noise reduction

Add RGB Stars to Nebula and further processing:

- HistogramTransformation x3 to stretch RGB stars and then Luminance stars to approximately the same amount

- LRGBCombination to combine RGB and Luminance stars

- ColorSaturation for saturating blue stars

- PixelMath and HistogramTransformation to add RGB stars to Nebula image

- CurvesTransformation for color balancing

- Slight SCNR green

- NoiseXterminator for noise reduction

- DynamicCrop to remove edges

- Save and Export

Distance ca. 12 Mio. light years

diameter of 90,000 light years

Equipment:

TS 10" f/4 ONTC Newton

1000mm f4

ZWO ASI 1600mmc

Astrodon LRGB

Losmandy G11/LFE Photo

Guding:

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

PHD2

70x180s Luminanz

25x180 red

26x180 green

38x180s blue

total exposure time: 7,9 hours

February 2020, February 2021

Processing: PixInsight/Capture One

La saison d'Orion est bientôt terminée, la Voie Lactée commence à se lever tôt le matin mais j'ai encore quelques clichés du ciel d'hiver à vous partager !

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C'était surement la plus grosse sortie de cet hiver avec @remi.aug . Pas moins de 5 projets photos que j'avais en tête ont étés réalisés. Une nuit qui aura été bien prolifique avec des conditions exceptionnelles du début à la fin.

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Un cliché pensé depuis des mois et des mois et qui m'a rendu la vie un peu difficile au traitement. Ce n'est pourtant pas le projet le plus compliqué que j'ai pu faire lors de cette soirée. La météo m'a clairement empêché de le faire plus tôt dans l'année mais une fois les tempêtes Eunice et Franklin passées, le beau temps est revenu !

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Vous pouvez admirer les principales nébuleuses en Hydrogène (rouge) qui accompagnent notre ciel d'hiver. L'hexagone d'hiver se dessine au centre de l'image, il est formé par 6 étoiles brillantes et permet de connaître le positionnement de la Voie Lactée car elle passe en son centre.

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La Voie Lactée est bien visible au dessus de la mer, c'est grâce à l'absence de pollution lumineuse. On peut quand même remarquer l'énorme pollution de Boulogne-sur-Mer à gauche, quelques villes très éloignées mais avec une pollution lumineuse quand même visible (Le Tréport, Dieppe, etc...), quelques bateaux et sur la droite de l'image, les premières villes des côtes anglaises.

Presenting an M31 Andromeda Galaxy “beginner equipment” side-project. I wanted to capture a deep space object with what is representative of relatively “beginner” equipment and modest exposure times as a sort of “you don’t need to spend heaps of money to make a good image” demonstration. And Andromeda seems like the perfect target for this sort of thing. Something I can share when people argue a basic camera can’t make a nice image, or get caught up feeling as though spending thousands of dollars is the right solution to solve frustrations they are encountering learning this challenging hobby.

As Ed Ting quipped (paraphrased), “You end up spending a lot of money to find out you didn’t need to spend a lot of money.”

Or maybe it’s mainly a “for better or for worse” reminder that experience, process, and (especially) post-processing knowledge and software are valuable parts of the formula. Expensive equipment does not offer an escape from this. Not to say the right sort of equipment (e.g. an interchangeable lens camera with a decent sensor and a tracking mount) doesn’t play a vital role in what is possible.

Hopefully this is helpful.

And in the spirit of this goal, I also spent some time documenting, in detail, the post-processing steps and thought process behind the edits involved. For this I used PixInsight and Adobe Photoshop.

Full Post-Processing Notes

tinyurl.com/JPAndromeda

www.astrobin.com/uld8ae/

Olympus E-M1 Mk.II M43 Camera

Olympus 40-150 f/2.8 Pro (150mm)

iOptron SkyGuider Pro

Vello Intervalometer

ASIAir Pro, ZWO 30mm Guide Scope, 2x ASI120MM (one as a dummy camera)

Lights RGB 100x90s ƒ/2.8 ISO1000

Calibrated with Darks, Flats, Flat Darks

Antelope Island, Utah, USA (Bortle 4)

Lights Hα 24x300s ISO3200

RedCat 51 & Astronomik 12nm Hα

I wanted to show that a color, stock sensor doesn’t mean Hydrogen-alpha can’t be accented. But had to use the RedCat 51 for this as, unlike a basic Canon DSLR, I don’t have a good means of using a Hydrogen-alpha filter with this Olympus.

✌️ "V" zodiacal et arche hivernale ✨.

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Au-revoir à Orion et son ciel d'hiver qui nous quittent en ce mois d'Avril. On se retrouve en Octobre pour de nouvelles astrophotos . Je n'ai malheureusement pas pu trop en profiter d'une part à cause de la météo et d'autre part à cause d'un autre projet photo qui me prend beaucoup de temps 👀.

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🆑 Ici, c'est un peu mon Chili à moi 😂. Probablement un des meilleurs ciels de notre région (disons plutôt le moins pire). Il me faut environ 1h15 de route de la maison pour profiter de ce ciel assez correct. Situé au fin fond du Pas-de-Calais, cet endroit est classé dans une zone Bortle 4 (proche Bortle 3). La meilleure valeur de la qualité de ciel que j'ai pu mesurer ici au SQM (Sky Quality Meter) est de 21.47. Le maximum étant 22.00, il correspond aux endroits sur Terre où le ciel est le plus pur, sans aucune pollution lumineuse. Cette différence entre les 2 valeurs paraît minime mais elle est en fait énorme et la différence sur la pureté du ciel l'est tout autant.

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🔭 Alors certes je n'ai pas la puissance des télescopes du désert chilien mais j'essaye de me débrouiller avec mon Newton 250/1000 . C'est un petit parallèle avec les moyens du bord comparé aux énormes observatoires qui sont là-bas. On voit beaucoup d'arches galactiques au-dessus des immenses coupoles, je voulais mettre à mon tour en valeur la bête . J'avais cette compo en tête du backstage : un "V" formé sous l'arche de la Voie Lactée. La cible ce soir-là était la galaxie M51, le post arrive bientôt. On peut observer de gauche à droite : le complexe d'Orion, la Voie Lactée, la lumière zodiacale, la galaxie d'Andromède et bien d'autres nébuleuses en H-alpha.

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EXIF :

-@canonfrance EOS R astro mod by a-m.de

-@sigmafrance ART 24mm f/1.4 DG HSM

-@skywatcherusa Star Adventurer GTi

-Ciel : pano de 12 tuiles 1*30s f/2.2 ISO 1250 suivi

-Sol : pano de 6 tuiles 1*75s f/3.2 ISO 3200 non suivi

Distance: ca.41 Mio. Lj

Constellation Canes Venatici

Equipment:

TS 10" f/4 ONTC Newton

1000mm f4

ZWO ASI 1600mmc

Astrodon LRGB

Skywatcher EQ8

Guding:

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

PHD2

total exposure time: 3,7 hours

29x180 luminanz

15x180 red

15x180 green

15x180 blue

26/27.04.2020

Processing: PixInsight/Capture One

☄️ Comète Leonard en approche 😱.

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J'étais obligé de la faire celle là ! J'ai tellement apprécié Neowise l'année dernière qu'il fallait que j'aille photographier la comète Leonard.

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Elle aura attendu le dernier mois de l'année pour pointer le bout de son nez . Mais quel spectacle encore !!

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Il est désormais possible de la voir à l'œil nu dans des bonnes conditions. Encore faut-il que la météo vous le permette. Et elle m'en a donné du fil à retordre la météo... Plus d'une semaine a check les nuages chaque nuit/aube parfois en mettant un réveil en pleine nuit (😂😭). Le ciel étant tellement couvert, il m'a fallu 2 sessions différentes pour accumuler assez de temps de pose. Un peu plus d'une heure d'expo au total pour ne garder que 35mn au final. Le pic de visibilité sera sans doute le 12 décembre mais aucune certitude si la météo me permettra de retourner shooter la comète une dernière fois.

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Comme l'année précédente, j'ai voulu trouver un spot fort de la région pour immortaliser ce moment. En cherchant une orientation Nord-Est, j'ai alors choisi le mémorial de Vimy qui s'est proposé à moi comme une évidence. C'est un lieu que j'aime particulièrement et que je n'avais pas encore photographié 🇨🇦.

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03/12/21 + 07/12/21 45x45sec iso 800 f/3.2 @ 135mm

This image shows the tail of the constellation Cygnus (Swan) around the stars Deneb and Sadr.

The left side of the frame is dominated by the famous North America Nebula (NGC7000) and the Pelican Nebula (IC5070). The bright blue star is Deneb. It is the brightest known star in visible light. If it was as close to earth as Vega (25 light years), it would shine as bright as a crescent moon!

The right yellowish-white star on the right side is a supergiant named Sadr. Sadr is surrounded by the emission nebula IC1318 one of the several nebulous regions at the centre of Cygnus. IC 1318 is known as the Gamma Cygni Nebula, Sadr Region or the Butterfly Nebula. It is not physically related to Sadr, but merely lies in the same line of sight. The nebula is located much farther away than the star.

At the very edge of the frame on the right is the Crescent Nebula. The star responsible for the nebula’s shape and glow is the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136. The nebula is formed by the star’s fast, powerful stellar wind that collides with the slower wind ejected by the star about 250,000 years ago, when WR 136 expanded to become a red giant. The collision has produced a dense shell, which continues to expand at a speed of 80 km/s.

Prints available: ralf-rohner.pixels.com

EXIF

ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro, cooled astrocam

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L ll @ 70mm

Baader Hll & Olll ultra narrowband and RGB filters

Skywatcher AZ-GTI, equatorially mounted

ZWO ASI 385MC guide cam

Rig control with a ZWO ASIair

20 x 180s Hll

30 x 120s Olll

20 x 30s RGB

reworked

Pixinsight with SPCC and BTX

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

at distance of 23 Mio. Lj

LRGB

Equipment:

TS 10" f/4 ONTC Newton

1000mm f4

GPU Aplanatic Koma Korrector

Moravian CCD G2-8300FW

Astrodon LRGB Filter

Losmandy G11/LFE Photo

Guding:

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

PHD2

16x900s Luminanz

5x900s RGB

total exposure time: 7h 45′

Processing: PixInsight/Affinity Photo

Questo target riprende la nebulosa NGC 6820, nota anche con le sigle Sh2-86 e LBN 135, all'interno della quale si trova l'ammasso aperto NGC 6823.

Avevo visto per caso questa nebulosa sul web e mi aveva attratto non solo la sua struttura ma anche il complesso di nebulose ad emissione, riflessione ed oscure che la circonda. Non ho fatto però i conti che l'immagine che avevo visto aveva un'integrazione di ben 48h. Avevo programmato l'acquisizione di una congrua integrazione in banda larga ma purtroppo sono ruscito ad acquisirne solo 3,5h. Speravo che acquisendo oltre 14h in banda stretta avrei potuto compensare la carenza della banda larga, ma così non è stato. E' stata una delle mie più complicate elaborazioni. Forse perchè le condizioni del cielo durante alcune sessioni non erano favorevoli, forse perchè la nebulosa è di per sè molto debole ma credo che un buon risultato si sarebbe ottenuto facilmente con molta acquisizione in banda larga.

Eppure penso che nel complesso la fatica elaborativa abbia dato i suoi frutti con questa immagine abbellita dal colore delle stelle acquisite in banda larga.

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This target captures the nebula NGC 6820, also known as Sh2-86 and LBN 135, within which lies the open cluster NGC 6823.

I had accidentally seen this nebula on the web and was intrigued not only by its structure but also by the complex of emission, reflection, and dark nebulae surrounding it. However, I hadn't noticed that the image I had seen had an integration of a full 48 hours. I had planned to acquire a suitable broadband integration, but unfortunately I only managed to acquire 3.5 hours. I hoped that by acquiring more than 14 hours in narrowband I could compensate for the lack of broadband, but that wasn't the case. It was one of my most complicated processings. Perhaps because the sky conditions during some sessions weren't favorable, perhaps because the nebula itself is very faint, but I believe a good result would have been easily achieved with extensive broadband acquisition.

Yet I think that overall the processing effort has paid off with this image embellished by the color of the stars acquired in broadband.

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Optic: APO Refractor Askar 103APO + 0.6X

Camera: ZWO ASI533MC-Pro

Mount: Sky Watcher HEQ5 Synscan

Seeing: 4 (scala Antoniadi)

_

Filter: SVbony SV231

-71x180s 250gain /23 dark/ 21 ftats/ 80 biases t° sensor: -10°C only stars

date: 02/07/2025

location for: Monti Nebrodi (Sicily-Italy) 1600m slm

integration only stars 3h 33min

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Filter: Narrowband Optolong L-eNhance 2" + SVbony UV-IR cut

-172x300s 250gain /250gain / 35 dark /21 flat / 18 darkflat /80 bias T°sensor:-5°C

Date: 6-22-23-24-25-26/08/2025

location for : Biancavilla -Catania-(Italy) 515m slm (Bortle 5-6)

Integration: 14h 20m

Temperature: 21°C (media)

Acquisition: NINA, PHDGuiding

Processing: DSS, SIRIL, PS, GraXpert

English below

Nel braccio del Perseo della nostra Galassia che si proietta nella costellazione di Cassiopea si trova questa nebulosa che ricorda la chela di un'aragosta. La parte settentrionale forma una sorta di anello per via del vento stellare di stelle giganti.

Esposizioni da 10 minuti per ciascun filtro, 73 per il dualband Antlia ALP-T 5 nm e 52 per l'Optolong L-Synergy. L'elaborazione scelta è la Hubble Palette SHO dove lo zolfo ionizzato (Sii) va nel canale rosso, l'idrogeno ionizzato (H-alfa) nel verde l'ossigeno due volte ionizzato (Oiii) nel blu.

Per catturare le stelle è stata aggiunta circa un’ora di integrazione in pose da 60 secondi con filtro broadband SV260.

L'integrazione totale arriva aquasi 22 ore complessive.

Il tutto è stato ripreso con un telescopio Newton 150/600 dotato di correttore Tecnosky 0.95x, camera Tecnosky Vision 571C e montatura EQ6-R Pro, elaborazione in PixInsight.

This nebula, reminiscent of a lobster's claw, is located in the Perseus arm of our Galaxy, which extends into the constellation Cassiopeia. Its northern portion forms a ring due to the stellar wind from giant stars.

10-minute exposures were taken for each filter: 73 for the dual-band Antlia ALP-T 5 nm and 52 for the Optolong L-Synergy. The Hubble Palette SHO processing was chosen, where ionized sulfur (Sii) is in the red channel, ionized hydrogen (H-alpha) in the green, and doubly ionized oxygen (Oiii) in the blue.

To capture the stars, about an hour of integration was added in 60-second exposures with the SV260 broadband filter.

The total integration time comes to almost 22 hours in total.

The whole thing was captured with a 150/600 Newtonian telescope equipped with a Tecnosky 0.95x corrector, a Tecnosky Vision 571C camera and an EQ6-R Pro mount, processed in PixInsight.

IC 2944, aka the Running Chicken Nebula, is an emission nebula associated with an open star cluster in the constellation Centaurus. Just right of centre are Thackeray's Globules - a group of Bok Globules comprised of dense cosmic dust and gas. Bok Globules are often a site of star formation but not in this case.

Captured at Yass, Australia 5-24 April, 2018.

Scope: Planewave CDK17 @ f/6.8 = 2939mm FL

Mount: Paramount ME

Camera: SBIG STXL-11002/AOX

Filters: Astrodon LRGB gen II, 3nm NB

Image scale: 0.63 arcsec/pixel

Exposures: 14x1800s Ha, 14x1800s Oiii, 14x1800s Sii (21 hours)

Processing: PixInsight 1.8.5

Crop.

120 x 2min ISO400.

Lunette APO80x480 + correcteur + filtre IDAS lps d1 + 1000D défiltré.

Heq5 pro goto + guidage chercheur ASI120mc.

Siril + PS.

Bortle 8

Acquisitions 03/05/2023 : 86 x 180s soit 4h18 seulement au total + DOF (version croppée)

Mᴀᴛᴇ́ʀɪᴇʟ ᴜᴛɪʟɪsᴇ́ ⬇️

Lunette SW 80ED sur HEQ5

Correcteur réducteur 0.85x

ZWO ASI294MC-PRO

Filtre L-Pro 2"

Guidage: ZWO ASI290MM et ZWO guidescope F/4

Lᴏɢɪᴄɪᴇʟs ⬇️

Guidage: PHD2

Prise de vue: N.I.N.A

Empilement et Pré traitement: Siril

Traitement: Photoshop, Starnet

M̲e̲s̲ ̲r̲é̲s̲e̲a̲u̲x̲ ̲s̲o̲c̲i̲a̲u̲x̲ ̲:̲

Ma chaîne YouTube ➡️ youtube.com/channel/UCgUAgzyV4MOHErHTioW0ktQ

Mon Instagram ➡️ www.instagram.com/elsasstronomy/

Le discord ➡️ discord.gg/E9NhKC3UBc

Ma chaîne Twitch ➡️ www.twitch.tv/elsasstronomy

Ma page Facebook ➡️ www.facebook.com/elsasstronomy

I wonder what happen to specimen 8825. I heard him here and there but WTH is this. aghhhhhhh

More than 38 hours of total exposures went into this 4 panels mosaic covering about 140 square degrees of sky.

Pentax 67 EDIF 300mm f/4 - FLI Proline 16803 - Ha (920m) OIII (890) R (160m) G (160m) B (160m) - Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia

If you would like to see larger sizes of this image or get high quality professional prints please visit my homepage at www.glitteringlights.com

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• Sky-Watcher Quattro 250P

• Sky-Watcher EQ8-R Pro

• ZWO ASI294MM-Pro

• Astronomik L: 47x300s bin1 gain 0

• Astronomik RGB: 36x300s bin2 gain 125

(total integration 6.9h)

• 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

Equipment:

Epsilon 130ED dual rig

QHY268m + CFW3M

Touptek IMX571 + ZWO EFW

Astronomik MaxFR

Skywatcher EQ8

September 2022

Processing: PixInsight/affinity photo

30x180s red

30x180s green

30x180s blue

240x180s h-Alpha

56x180s OIII

58x180s SII

total: 22,2 hours

After many months of clouds, wind and/or extreme temperatures, we finally completed this winter target. Imaged from late February to late March as conditions allowed.

The HII region, Sh 2-261, is often called Lower's nebula because it appears on a photographic plate taken by the father-and-son team of Harold and Charles Lower in 1939.

Image captured over 5 nights; 2022-02-25, 2022-03-06, 21, 24 & 29

15 hours 40 minutes total integration

Ha subs 23 * 1,200 sec = 7 hours 40 min

OIII subs 9 * 1,200 sec = 3 hours

SII subs 15 * 1,200 sec = 5 hours

Imaging Equipment:

SharpStar 140PH Triplet 910mm focal length

Mesu 200 MKII mount,

ZWOASI2600MM Pro camera

SHO 3.0nm filters

I have just returned from a trip to southern California. This area is a desert, and has so many amazing desert bird species, which I spent a lot of time photographing. Another goal I had for this trip was to visit the light-pollution free skies of Joshua Tree National Park to photograph the Milky Way. The Milky Way is tough in March as it only rises in the last few hours of the night. We had to up at 3:30 AM to photograph it! We would have about two hours to photograph it before it would begin to fade as the sun begins to rise, and those two hours were some of the most amazing of my life. Seeing so many stars and the Milky Way with the naked eye was amazing! I have never seen anything like it before. It was an incredible experience, something I will never forget!

I took tons of pictures, and this was one of my favorites. The orange light on the horizon is light pollution likely coming from a nearby city like Indio.

Canon EOS 7D Mark II | Tokina 16.5-135mm f/3.5-5.6 AT-X DX @ 17mm | 13 seconds | ISO 12800 | f/3.5

A cool region of sky containing (surprise) a lot of dust and reflection. LDN 1355, the helping hand nebula, is rather aptly named. It appears to sit in front of a reflection region, Van den Bergh 9. VdB 7 is visible on the right hand side of the frame.

- Location: Remote Observatory (Bortle 1, SQM 21.99) near Fort Davis, TX

- Total Exposure Time: 33.3 Hours

Equipment:

- Scope: Esprit 100ED w/ 1x Flattener

- Imaging Camera: QHY 268M

- Filters: Chroma LRGB (36mm)

- Mount: Astro Physics Mach1GTO

- Guidescope: SVBony 50mm Guidescope

- Guide camera: ASI 120mm mini

- Focuser: Moonlite Nitecrawler WR35

- Accessories: Pegasus Ultimate Powerbox v2, QHY Polemaster, Optec Alnitak Flip Flat

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Software:

- N.I.N.A for image acquisition, platesolving, and framing

- PHD2 for guiding

- PixInsight for processing

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Acquisition:

- L: 332 x 3m

- R: 113 x 3m

- G: 112 x 3m

- B: 110 x 3m

- All images at Gain 56, Offset 25 (Readout mode 1) and -5C sensor temperature

- 20 flats per filter

- Master Dark, Flat & Bias from Library

- Nights: 8/2, 8/3, 8/6, 8/7, 8/22, 8/26, 8/27, 8/29, 9/5, 9/6, 9/20, 9/21, 10/3, 10/4/22

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Processing:

- WeightedBatchPreProcessing for calibration

- Blink to remove unwanted subs

- ImageIntegration for stacking of masters

RGB Processing (apply to each master):

- DynamicCrop

- MureDenoise

- DynamicBackgroundExtraction

- StarAlign G and B to Red

- ChannelCombination to combine into linear RGB

- StarAlign to Lum

- HistogramTransformation x 4 to stretch

- NoiseXterminator for NR

- CurvesTransformation for saturation and hue adjustment

- ColorMask to create green chrominance mask - apply to image

- CurvesTransformation to bring down green patches

- Further unmasked CurvesTransformation to neutralize blue hue of image

Luminance Processing:

- DynamicCrop

- MureDenoise

- DynamicBackgroundExtraction

- StarXterminator to make starless and generate star_mask

- GeneralizedHyperbolicStretch for initial stretch to non-linear

- HistogramTransformation x3 for further strethc

- Slight NoiseXterminator for NR with Lum_mask

- CurvesTransformation for contrast

- Additional masked NoiseXterminator for NR

Combine Lum and RGB and further processing:

- LRGBCombination to combine Luminance and RGB

- CurvesTransformation for color balancing

- ACDNR with Luminance mask for chrominance noise reduction

- Slight CurvesTransformation for contrast

- UnsharpMask for slight sharpening

- LocalHistogramEqualization for slight detail boost

Add Stars back in to image:

- HistogramTransformation x3 on RGB stars - save all 3 instances of HT

- Invert -> SCNR -> invert back to remove magenta

- CurvesTransformation to remove green hue and saturate stars

- Apply saved HistogramTransformation instances to extracted Luminance stars

- LRGBCombination to combine luminance stars with RGB stars with saturation at 0.35

- CurvesTranformation on combined stars to increase blue channel

- HistogramTransformation on stars and nebula images to bring to pseudo-linear state

- PixelMath to combine stars and nebula images

- HistogramTransformation to "re-stretch" image with both nebula and stars

Further Processing:

- CurvesTransformation for slight contrast adjustment

- MMT to disable layer 12 for chrominance noise blotching

- Additional CurvesTransformations to color balance

- NoiseXterminator (2 rounds) with luminance mask for additional noise reduction

- Invert -> SCNR Green -> Invert to remove magenta cast

- MMT for debotch and chrominance NR using inverted luminance masks

- Final CurvesTransformation for contrast

- DynamicCrop to remove edges

- Save and export

Explanation: Follow the handle of the Big Dipper away from the dipper's bowl, until you get to the handle's last bright star. Then, just slide your telescope a little south and west and you might find this stunning pair of interacting galaxies, the 51st entry in Charles Messier's famous catalog. Perhaps the original spiral nebula, the large galaxy with well defined spiral structure is also cataloged as NGC 5194. Its spiral arms and dust lanes clearly sweep in front of its companion galaxy (left), NGC 5195. The pair are about 31 million light-years distant and officially lie within the angular boundaries of the small constellation Canes Venatici. Though M51 looks faint and fuzzy to the human eye, the above long-exposure, deep-field image taken last month shows much of the faint complexity that actually surrounds the smaller galaxy. (Text from apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090526.html)

This photo was taken for four nights in May and June 2013 in Crimea and Khlepcha observatory near Kiev, Ukraine.

Equipment: reflector S&D 10" f/4.7, Mount WhiteSwan-180, camera QSI-583wsg, Tevevue Paracorr-2. Off-axis guidecamera Orion SSAG.

LRGB filter set Baader Planetarium.

L=20*900 sec. bin.1 RGB: 10*900 sec. each channel, bin.1 Total exposure 12.5 hours.

North left.

Processed Pixinsight 1.8 and Photoshop CS6.

Orion nebula, horsehead nebula, witch head nebula, and more rising over a volcanic plug in the Navajo volcanic field in northwestern New Mexico, as seen with an 85mm lens on a full frame camera.

Can you believe this image took only 1 hour of exposures to stack to this level of cleanliness? New Mexico has some of the darkest skies in the United States, and the high altitude allows for even better imaging conditions than you get in many other dark sky national parks.

And being winter with sunset so early in the day, it means you can image something like this, eat dinner, and go to sleep at a reasonable hour! This image was stacked for denoising, but the perspective is unaltered, i.e. if we had extremely sensitive eyes, this is exactly how you would see it.

This Globular Clusters in the constellation Serpens is one of the brighter in the sky. It photographs nicely at low exposures. Shot from Bortle 8 skies in New Orleans.

Takahashi FSQ-106 / EM-200 / ASI 2600MM

L 188x30s

RGB 60x30s

Lum: Drizzle (2x, 0.9, circular) / DBE / BlurXterminator / MMT (denoise) / HT / HDR

RGB: Drizzle (2x) / DBE / BlurXterminator / NoiseXterminator / RGBComb / ArcSin (8x2) / LRGB (Sat=0.4)

PS: Dfine2 / Curves / Levels

www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2725529/Northern-Light...

NDN 935, NGC7000 HSO RGB

distance: 2000 - 3000 ly

Equipment:

Takahashi Epsilon 130ED

ASI294mmPro

ZWO EFW 8x

Astronomik Deep-Sky RGB und SHO MaxFR

Skywatcher EQ8

September 2021

Processing: PixInsight/affinity photo

Reprocess of old data.

Equipment:

Scope: GSO 8" f/4 with 2" moonlight autofocuser, flocked

Coma corrector: TS GPU

Mount: EQ6-R

Camera: Nikon D750 mod

Guide scope: ZWO 280/60

Guide camera: ZWO ASI 120MC-S

Filter: Antlia ALP-T / Baader UV/IR Cut

Acquisition:

Location: central Poland, Bortle 5/6

Lights:

- ALP-T: 130x300s ISO 400

- Baader UV/IR Cut: 33x90s ISO 400

Darks: none

Flats: x70

Bias: x50

Total integration time: 11h 39min

NGC 2359 - better known as Thor's Helmet - is an emission nebula located about 12,000 light-years away in the constellation of Canis Major. Also known as Sh2-198 and Gum 4, NGC 2359 is a “bubble” nebula measuring approximately 30 light-years across in size. It has a very complex structure and is powered by its central star, WR7, a Wolf-Rayet star, an extremely hot star that is thought to be in the pre-supernova stage.

This is my first image of 2022 and results from only 2.5 hours of Narrowband data collected on March 9 and March 29, 2022.

This image was shot with my Astro-Physics 130mm F/8.35 Telescope Platform with the IOptron CEM60 and the ASI2600MM-Pro Camera with Astronomiks 6mm narrowband fitters.

This spring's weather has been problematic, and this target is located very low in the sky between trees on my property, which gives me only about 1.5 hours of access on any given night. I only had two nights clear, allowing the capture of photons, and now it is beyond my reach, so I cannot add to it this year.

So with a paltry 2.5 hours of data - what could be done to pull an image out of the noise?

While far from a perfect image, I was a little surprised that it came out as well as it did, given the low integration time!

The story of the image and complete processing details can be seen on my website at:

cosgrovescosmos.com/projects/ngc2359-thors-helmet

Thanks for looking, and let me know if you have any questions!

CS,

Pat

View On Black

The Lagoon and Trifid Nebula

In the constellation of Ursa Major, at about 25 million light years from us lies the Pinwheel Galaxy. This beautiful galaxy has 170,000 light years across, about twice of our Milky Way.

In the photo, two types of color clusters hint on the objects present: the red-pinkish ones are the hydrogen rich nebulas where star forming is taking place and the blue ones on the spiral arms are clusters of young and hot blue stars.

This photo is a cropped reprocessing of my previously published photo.

Shot at Santa Susana, Portugal on Mar.26th and Barcarena, Portugal on Apr.1st and Apr.28th 2022.

Technical details:

LUM: 129 x 180’’ (6h45)

RGB: 160 x 180’’ (8h00)

Ha: 82 x 300’’ (6h50)

Total integration: 21h35

TS Optics Triplet APO 800/115 | QHYCCD 268M | Skywatcher AZ EQ5-GT | Optolong RGB | Baader Ha 6nm TSOptics TSFLAT 3’ 0.79x

Acquisition: N.I.N.A. | Processing: Pixinsight