Orion and the winter stars and Milky Way in a wide-angle scene sweeping up from the horizon to past the zenith. Sirius and Canis Major are at bottom left while Cassiopeia and Perseus are at upper right. Orion is below centre. At centre are the Taurus Dark Clouds and the constellations of Taurus and Auriga. Gemini is at left. The Winter Hexagon stars are all framed in this scene, and more! The glow of Zodiacal Light is at right. Betelgeuse was then at a record minimum brightness.

This is a stack of 8 x 4-minute tracked exposures with the Canon 15mm full-frame fish-eye lens at f/2.8 and stock Canon 6D MkII camera at ISO 800, on the iOptron SkyGuider Pro tracker. Thus the blurry ground. Taken from home at latitude 51° N. on a perfect winter night, January 25, 2020.

Two star clusters within the same small field of the sky about a degree apart, but vastly distant from us and about 1,000 light-years apart from each other. M53, at upper right consists of many thousands of old stars formed at around the same time. NGC 5053, at lower left is much looser and contains fewer stars.

A composite of 30 frames, 5 hours total exposure. Explore Scientific ED102 102mm f/7 refractor, ZWO ASI294MC camera, UV/IR cutoff filter, iOptron CEM25P mount, ASIAir controller. Processed in Astro Pixel Processor, and Lightroom.

The image was captured from Abastumani Observatory, Georgia. March 7, 2016.

Equipment:

Imaging telescope: EdgeHD 1100

Imaging camera: QSI 660wsg-8

Mount: iOptron CEM60

LRGB: 48x90"

LRGB: 48x180"

Integration: 3.6 hours

Nikon D5300 + Zenithstar 73 + Flat73a

SVBony CLSfilter

iOptron CEM26 + iPolar

ZWO ASI224MC + WO Uniguide 120mm

2/04 = 10 x 2min 45 sec. = 27,5min (nuages sont arrivés trop tôt)

8/04 = 7 x 3 min = 21min (encore les nuages)

AstroM1

(r2x.2)

Rokinon 12mm Ioptron sky tracker single exposure

NGC1333 dans son environnement.

312 poses de 300s avec filtre L pro

ZWO asi 2600 mc pro

ioptron GEM28

lunette Askar FMA 230

siril, pixinsight,photoshop.

Ciel Bortle 6/7

Nikon d810a

50mm

ISO 6400

f/3.2

Foreground: 17 x 30 seconds

Sky: 25 x 25 seconds

This is a 42 shot panorama of the Crux & Carina region of the Milky Way above a dry Lake Norring, 2.5 hours south east of Perth in Western Australia.

The Large & Small Magellanic Clouds can be see to the right side of the image.

Hi Folks,

I just published my latest imaging project!

This is IC 5070, better known as the Pelican Nebula!

This is the result of 18.75 hours of naroband integration - my longest yet! It's a challenge to get this much time on target on Update NY with our weather!

Now that my observatory is operational, I have been capturing data on nights that were marginal enough that I might not have set up my gear in the driveway for them. But this is not a problem for the observatory!

I actually collected 21+ hours but had to remove two hours of data due to thin clouds passing through at some point.

In this image, the "pelican" is lying on its back with its beak up in the air. If you rotate the image 90 degrees counterclockwise, you may see its form better, but I opted to use the landscape format for aesthetic reasons.

I am very pleased with the final image. There is some incredible dust detail that can be seen when view full screen.

The whole story of this project and a detailed processing walkthrough can be seen here:

cosgrovescosmos.com/projects/ic5070-pelican-2025

I have data sets collected for three more targets, so stay tuned as I process and complete those!

Thanks for looking!

Clear Skies,

Pat

TS-Photoline 140mm F6.5

iOptron CEM 70G

ASI 294MC Pro

Antlia ALP-T 2" Dualband 5nm

4h integration - 5mins frames

Nikon d810a

50mm

ISO 3200

f/2.0

Foreground: 12 x 20 seconds

Sky: 54 x 25 seconds

H-Alpha: 14 x 60 seconds

iOptron SkyTracker

This is an 80 shot panorama of the Milky Way and comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) as they both set above Sugarloaf Rock, 3 hours south of Perth in Western Australia. Venus can be seen shining very brightly just to the right of Rho Ophiuchi, enveloped by the Zodiachal Light. The red parts of the sky are hydrogen alpha emitting regions, captured with a filter that isolates that part of the spectrum, the most prominent of which is to the right around Cygnus.

Airglow was also quite strong, thanks to the fact we are at solar maximum which not only produces more active aurora but also airglow. And speaking of aurora, I think there may be a hint of activity to the south with the redder hues near the horizon, though I may be wrong but it doesn't look like airglow to me.

Constelación en que se encuentra: Osa Mayor

Distancia: 27 millones de años luz

De SkySafari:

Messier 101 (#M101) es una galaxia descubierta en 1781, ubicada en la constelación de la Osa Mayor. Con observaciones del telescopio espacial Hubble se ha podido determinar a través de estrellas cefeidas que está a unos 27 millones de años luz. Su diámetro se estima en 170.000 años luz, casi el doble del tamaño de la vía láctea. Es una de las galaxias espirales más grandes conocidas.

M101 ha producido tres super novas en el último siglo. Tiene muchas regiones de formación estelar. Su forma espiral se debe a la interacción con las galaxias satélite.

Datos de la imagen:

Exposure: 21hr 12min LRGB (79 x 3min Luminance, 43 x 3 min Red, 45 x 3 min Green, 44 x 3 min Blue, 32 x 3 min Ha)

Telescope: #Celestron #EdgeHD #C925

Camera: #PlayerOne #Poseidon-M

Focal ratio: f10

Focal length: 2350 mm

Capturing software: NINA

Filter: #Optolong L, Optolong R, Optolong G, Optolong B

Mount: #iOptron #CEM60

Guiding: PlayerOne #Xena with PlayerOne #OAG Max and #PHD2

Dithering: Yes

Calibration: 30 darks, 30 flat darks, 50 flats

Processing: #PixInsight

Date: 19-Ene-2025, 22-Ene-2025, 23-Ene-2025, 30-Ene-2025, 24-Mar-2025

Location: #Bogotá, #Colombia

Hi Folks,

This is a deep 25-hour narrowband view of NGC 7380 (The Wizard Nebula) in Cepheus, captured from my Whispering Skies Observatory in upstate New York.

NGC 7380 is a bright nebula located 7-8,000 light-years away in the constellation of Cepheus.

This SHOrgb integration revisits the Wizard with a focus on subtle, faint structures — the sculpted gas towers and diffuse hydrogen glow surrounding the main cluster.

The data were captured under Bortle 5 skies using the William Optics 132mm FLT with Flattener/0.8X reducer at f/5.5, an ASI2600MM-Pro camera, and an IOptron CEM 60 mount.

Given our local weather patterns, it’s remarkable that I achieved this level of integration. To date, this is my longest yet!

The nice part of this capture was working from my new observatory. I took advantage of these wonderfully long fall nights to keep my four scopes running as much as I could! During 5 nights in this last Lunar Cycle, I was able to collect data on eight different objects!

I now have it set up so that I only need to spend 10 minutes at the start of the night to open the roof and remove lens caps. And another 10 minutes in the morning to close and secure the roof and replace lens caps. Most of the remaining time, I sleep on the sofa in my Astro Man Cave - where I can monitor progress and control things as needed. If something goes wrong, my phone wakes me up with a notification. So data captured, sleep preserved - a wonderful combination!

Newer equipment, longer integration times, and current processing tools have led to an image that reveals more microstructure in the nebula than was seen in my earlier 2021 rendition.

🔗 A full project write-up — including capture timeline, annotated overlays, and comparative crops — is on my website: CosgrovesCosmos.com:

cosgrovescosmos.com/projects/ngc7380-wizard-2025

Thanks for looking!

Clear Skies,

Pat

Optics : TEC140 Apo + ZWO EAF + Televue Barlow 2” 4x

Mount : Ioptron CEM70G & Ioptron TriPier;

Filter : Lunt B600 Calcium K wave length;

Camera : ZWO ASI 174 MM;

Software : FireCapture, AutoStakkert, Photoshop, Topaz Labs Photo AI.

Equivalent Focal Length = 3920 mm

Sun active region : NOAA 13664

Casalecchio di Reno - Italia

44° 29’ 29” N

11° 14’ 58” E

Optics : TEC 140 APO (980 mm F 7.0)

Filter : Baader Planetarium D-ERF 160 mm

Beloptik Telecentric 5x

Filter H alfa : Coronado PST

Filter H alfa : Solar Spectrum S.O. 1.5 0.5A

Camera : ZWO ASI 174 MM;

Equivalent Focal lenght : 4900 mm.

Mount : Ioptron CEM70G & Ioptron TriPier;

Software : FireCapture by Torsten Edelmann, AutoStakkert3 by Emil Kraaikamp, ImPPG by Filip Szczerek,

Adobe Photoshop

Casalecchio di Reno - Italia

44° 29’ 29” N

11° 14’ 58” E

Date:2022-5-24 22:56~26:27

Location: Mt. Zao (1587m), Miyagi

Optics: Sharpstar 15028HNT(420mm F2.8)

Mount: iOptron CEM70G

Camera: Canon EOS 6D(HKIR)

Exposure: 120s x 92f + 10s x 20f (ISO1600)

Guinde: ASI120mm PHD2

While concentrating on a long imagining session of Comet Wirtanen, I almost missed the close conjunction of Mars and Neptune happening at the opposite end of the sky. I quickly captured a few shots before the planetary pairing set behind the tree line. On this evening, the two were only about 20 arc minutes apart. The image was captured with a Canon 80D and a Canon 200 mm f/2.8L II lens. (ISO 1600, f/3.5, 20 sec).

Winter Milky Way in the constellations Canis Major, Monoceros, Orion, Gemini, Taurus, Capella and Perseus.

Several sveral deep sky objects are visible and labeled.

For the unlabeled version check flic.kr/p/FtmzDK

Hutech modified Canon EOS 6D

Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8

15x60s @ ISO1600

iOptron Skytracker

Stacking with fitswork

Equipment:

Askar 185 Apo

ZWO 178MM

iOptron CEM120

NGC 1342 is a very impressive open cluster in Perseus characterized with 50 to 100 stars and which are well detached from the background sky and without a concentrated core. With an apparent diameter of 15 arc-minutes across, the cluster is dominated by multiple magnitude 8, 9 and 10 stars lying predominantly in a horizontal lane. NGC 1342 lies at a distance of 1,170 light-years away and is estimated to be fairly young at only 450 million years-old

Date captured 03/12/2016

London

TAK 130 Telescope

Ioptron CEM60 Mount

QSI 690 CCD

L 5 x 120 sec

R 5 x 120 sec

G 5 x 120 sec

B 5 x 120 sec

A second panorama taken from the Bonneville Salt Flats, this time with my Nikon D600 and Rokinon 24mm f1.4 lens on the iOptron Skytracker mount. I wanted to compare the combinations to see if I could get similar quality from the D7000 and Tokina lens on the tracking mount. It's a lot easier to stitch together the super wide images from the Tokina, but the sharpness isn't as good.

Also got photobombed by the fuzz! While I was out on the salt flats taking pictures a cop flipped on his lights, I thought he had pulled someone over. After a few minutes he started backing up, then pulling forward, then he drove down a ways and drove back, very strange stuff. The next morning as I drove back and passed the area there was a car in the median stuck in the mud, bumper tore off and laying on the ground, with a few cops and a tow-truck sitting around. Someone either dozed off at the wheel or had a little too much fun in Wendover...luckily if you drive off the road it's basically completely flat for hundreds of yards (or miles depending which way you go) and the area around the highway is either salt or mud.

At first I was kinda pissed because his bright lights were going to be annoying to edit, but I got a few shots when he turned them off. I decided the story was kind of funny so I used one for this picture with his lights on.

With this simple photo, I wanted to show the "apparent size" of a few very popular galaxies. Look how M51 and M101 are about the same "apparent size" as Alkaid and Mizar, which are two stars in the constellation "The Big Dipper".

Just a couple of "Little Galaxies" out there among the stars.

Nikon D750a, Rokinon 135mm, Ioptron CEM26 mount.

56) 2-minute, ISO-1600, F2.8 subs, guided and stacked.

Pixinsight and Photoshop

Packsaddle WMA, Oklahoma

1-29-22, 3:22 am - 5:27 am. Bortle-2 sky.

Date: 2020-10-18 3:12(JST)~

Camera: ASI294MC-pro

Optics: Celestron RASA 11", heuibII filter

Mount: iOptron CEM70G

Exposure: (180sec.+30sec.+10sec) x 10 flames (gain 120)

2020-11-3: Photo replaced.

Two frame composite with a Canon 35mm lens and iOptron SkyTracker. Assembled with Photoshop.

Hi Folks,

Back in June, I had three clear nights that I used to pursue a narrowband image of Messier 17, also known as the Omega Nebula.

When I blinked the images, I discovered to my horror that two full nights of the data were unusable due to a focus issue! I was devastated. We don't get that many clear nights!

I use focus offsets in NINA to optimize my capture. Something had invalidated that table, causing my issue.

However, the joy of having an observatory means that I can now capture data on marginal nights that I would have previously skipped. By capturing a few hours here and there on these marginal nights, I ended up with 17 hours on M17!

This was shot on my William Optics 132 FLT platform with a focal length of 720mm at f/5.5. I added some RGB frames on my last night so that I could use natural color stars.

The full details of this imaging project, including a detailed processing walkthrough, can be seen here:

cosgrovescosmos.com/projects/m17-shorgb#page

Thanks for looking!

Clear Skies,

Pat

Annular Solar Eclipse Composite Image, October 14, 2023 - Odessa Texas. The University of Texas Permian Basin (UTPB). Canon Ra, EF200mm f/2.8L II USM +2x III = 400mm, 1/640 sec, f14, ISO 3200, Thousand Oaks Threaded Camera Filter 72-T, iOptron SkyTracker Camera Mount

I needed a way to stabilize my 200mm lens so I came up with my own way of securing the lens and camera on the ballhead. This has been pretty stable so far. Everything is adjustable and won't interfere with the alignment scope but of course adds weight.

Found in the constellation of Vulpecula.

M: iOptron EQ45-Pro

T: WO GTF81 Refractor

C: ZWO ASI1600MC-Cooled

G: 200mm (FL) Finder and PHD2

GC: ZWO ASI120MC

RAW16; FITs

Temp: -25 DegC

Gain 200; Exp 180s

Frames: 16 Lights; 4 Darks; 0 flats

60% Crop

Capture: Sharpcap

Processed: DSS; LR, PS, Gradient Exterminator.

Sky: No moon, calm, no cloud, good seeing.

1,360 light years distant.

Optics : TEC 140 F/7 Apo + TeleVue barlow 2" 4X

Filter : Baader Cool-Ceramic Herschel Wedge + Baader Solar Continuum Filter (540 nm) 2";

Equivalent focal lenght : 3920 mm

Camera : ZWO ASI 174 MM;

Mount : Ioptron CEM70G & Ioptron TriPier;

Software : FireCapture, AutoStakkert, Photoshop.

Casalecchio di Reno - Italia

44° 29’ 29” N

11° 14’ 58” E

facebook | flickr | 500px | instagram | dcfever

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獵戶座大星雲 Great Orion Nebula

冬夜王者獵戶座是每年也要拍一下才安心。本在十月的時候拍了一輯，但未到心中的效果只好先存著。幸好今個月再到山上遇上好天氣再繼續補了些光子，今次算是滿意了。

除了主角 M42 獵戶座大星雲及其旁邊的 NGC1977 走佬人星雲外，這次還希望演示一下週邊暗一點的星雲。如相片右邊很漂亮的連串IC428 / IC427 / NGC1999；走佬人上方的 IC420；還有 M42 上方的那一抹 VDB42。

M42 的顏色動態很寬，在處理上有很大彈性。我個人偏好 M42 中央光亮耀眼一點，顯出這個造星區的威力。不知大家喜歡那一種風格呢？

Photo by - Michael Leung

日期：2015-10-18 / 2015-12-18

地點：梅州陰那山

相機：CentralDS 600D @ -10c / -22c

望遠頭：Borg 90FL w/0.72x reducer 360mm f/4

赤道儀：iOptron ZEQ25 / Guided QHY5LII Mono

設定：ISO1600, 240s x58 (Core 30s / 10s / 2.5s x15) (Dark, Bias)

香港拍攝難度：★ (五星最難)

建議鏡頭焦距：200 ~ 400mm

適合拍攝月份：10 月 ~ 2 月 (香港)

Nikon d810a

85mm

ISO 6400

f/2.8

Foreground: 12 x 30 seconds

Sky: 32 x 30 seconds

iOptron Skytracker

Hoya Starscape filter

This is a 44 shot panorama of the Milky Way setting above The Pinnacles Desert, 2 hours north of Perth in Western Australia.

Taken during last year's camping trip to Killarney Provincial Park. Can you spot the Andromeda galaxy?

7hrs RGB 130mm Petzval Refractor @ F/5.4 700mm FL. ZWO ASI1600 Filter Wheel Focus Motor AsI Air ASI120 Guide camera Ioptron iEQ45pro mount

Optics : TEC140 Apo + TeleVue Barlow 2" 2x

Mount : Ioptron CEM70G & Ioptron TriPier;

Camera : ZWO ASI 174 MM;

Equivalent Focal lenght : 1960 mm.

Software : FireCapture, AutoStakkert3, Adobe Photoshop

Copernicus Crater

Casalecchio di Reno - Italia

44° 29’ 29” N

11° 14’ 58” E

breezy and -7f / -22c but clear. beats the alternative!

ann arbor, mi 20.01.2019

The Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888) photographed from my backyard using a colour camera. 🔭

Telescope: Celestron 1100 EdgeHD

Camera: ASI2600MC

Mount: iOptronCEM70EC

Frames: 154X240sec

Processed: PixInsight, PS

Optics : TEC 140 APO (980 mm F 7.0)

Filter : Baader Planetarium D-ERF 160 mm

Beloptik Telecentric 5x

Filter H alfa : Coronado PST

Filter H alfa : Solar Spectrum S.O. 1.5 0.5A

Camera : ZWO ASI 174 MM;

Equivalent Focal lenght : 4900 mm.

Mount : Ioptron CEM70G & Ioptron TriPier;

Software : FireCapture, AutoStakkert3, Adobe Photoshop

Casalecchio di Reno - Italia

44° 29’ 29” N

11° 14’ 58” E

Rho Ophiuchi and Antares region

Photo By Bill Wang

Post Processing By Fluorine Zhu

Image Telescope/Lens : Samyang 135mm F/2 @F3.2

Image Camera : Nikon D5100(mod)

Mount : iOptron iEQ30Pro

Frames : RGB(3min*29)

The Flaming Star Nebula IC405.

Was treated to some clear skies on Christmas eve and managed to collect Ha & Oiii data on this object.

Ha = 14x900s

Oiii = 10x900s

Synthetic Green

Taken with the iOptron SkyTracker Pro Camera Mount. Exposure time: 3 minutes.

- www.kevin-palmer.com - The core of the milky way galaxy was shining brilliantly as it set behind the Bighorn Mountains. This is a 2-image composite, with a 10 minute tracked exposure of the sky, and then another for the foreground.

Nikon d810a

35mm

ISO 1600

f/1.8

Foreground: 24 x 25 seconds

Sky: 79 x 20 seconds

H-Alpha: 10 x 60 seconds

iOptron SkyTracker

This is a 113 shot panorama of the summer Milky Way arch above the mud cracked surface of Lake Yenyening, 2 hours east of Perth in Western Australia.

There was lots of wispy cloud moving from the west to the east as you can see on the left side of the image with a few bloated stars. Also quite a bit of airglow.

AT65EDQ

ZWO ASI183MM non cooled

iOptron iEQ45 w 8406 HC

55 @ 120 seconds gain 50

ZWO Lum filter

guided with QHY5Lii M

Color: from old DSLR data for now

Software: ASCOM POTH, SharpCap Pro 3.1, Photoshop CC 2017, Google remote desktop, CdC, APT - Astro Photography Tool, PixInsight 1.8 Ripley PixInsight, ProDigital Software Astronomy Tools Actions Set

Accessories:Arduino Focuser DIY FocuserPro2 arduino focus motor ( Robert Brown)

Data source: Backyard

Prise avec l'hypergraph newton ts150/420 f2.8

camera QHY695A

64 x 600s OIII

total 10h50

62 x 300s HA

Monture CEM120 Ioptron

traitement Pixinsight et photoshop

Hacia un tiempo que no publicaba nada de astro.

Esta fue la última sesión con el RC6.

NGC 672 es una galaxia espiral barrada tipo (SB s) situada en la constelación del Triángulo a una distancia de aproximadamente 8 Megaparsec de la Tierra. Su masa se estima en alrededor de 8 mil millones de masas solares.Se encuentra cerca de 85.000 años luz de otra galaxia espiral, IC 1727 con la que interactúa gravitacionalmente. De hecho, se han identificado filamentos de materia oscura que conectan las dos galaxias (observatoriosspag.es)

104 x 90' = (2h36') - Gain 1600, Offset 10, -10ºC

Equipo:

Telescopio/Telescope: TS RC 6"

+ Reducto ccd47 - Focal 910 mm

Montura/Mount: Ioptron ieq45 PRO

Seguimiento/Guiding: tubo SV106+QHY5IILM

Camara/Camera: QHY294C

Control: Astroberry

Procesado: StarTools+PS

Iturrieta, Alava

17/5/2021

Comet C/2019 L3 (ATLAS) passes the small open cluster NGC 2266. Processed once to register the stars, again to register the comet and composited in Photoshop.

Explore Scientific ED102 0.1m f/7 refractor, ZWO ASI294MC camera, UV/IR cutoff filter, iOptron CEM25P mount, ASIAir controller, Processed in Astro Pixel Processor, Lightroom, and Photoshop.

Nikon d810a

50mm

ISO 8000

f/2.5

Foreground: 7 x 10 seconds

Sky: 12 x 30 seconds

IOptron SkyTracker

Hoya Red Intensifier filter

This is a 19 shot panorama of the Milky Way rising above a dead tree on the shores of Lake Ninan, 2 hours north east of Perth in Western Australia. The tree was light painted with a dedicated, low level light, astronomy torch placed just to the left of the image.

Photo By Li Fang

Post Processing By Fluorine Zhu

Image Telescope/Lens : TAKAHASHI TSA120

Image Camera : Atik One 6.0

Mount : iOptron CEM60

Integration : 28.5 hours (LRGB)

Optics : TEC 140 APO (980 mm F 7.0)

Filter : Baader Planetarium D-ERF 160 mm

Filter H alfa : Daystar Quark Cromosphere

Mount : Ioptron CEM70G & Ioptron TriPier;

Camera : ZWO ASI 174 MM;

Focal lenght : 4116 mm.

Software : FireCapture, AutoStakkert3, Adobe Photoshop

Casalecchio di Reno - Italia

44° 29’ 29” N

11° 14’ 58” E

Nikon d810a

50mm

ISO 2000

f/1.8

Foreground: 15 x 20 seconds

Sky: 47 x 25 seconds

H-Alpha: 10 x 60 seconds

iOptron SkyTracker

This is a 62 shot panorama of the Milky Way rising above the Lily Windmill at Stirling Range National Park, 4 hours south east of Perth in Western Australia.

The windmill is a full sized authentic Dutch style flour mill built by Dutch immigrants about 30 years ago. The owner was kind enough to allow me to walk onto his property to photograph the windmill.

The airglow on this particular night was the strongest I have ever seen, really crazy. As usual now, the red areas of the sky are hydrogen alpha regions captured thanks to a screw on filter which isolates the Ha wavelength.

The Stirling Ranges can be seen in the background with some cloud creeping over them from the south.

Update:

Winner Best Nightscape Photo at Perth Astrofest 2024

Interacting galaxies M81, M82 and NGC 2691 in Ursa Major

36x90"

gear: canon rebel t4i modded, explore scientific ed102, ioptron cem25p, orion startshoot autoguider + st80