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M81 is a grand design spiral galaxy in Ursa Major about 11. 8 million light years away.
Data Acquisition by Vasudevan S. Jagannathan.
Date: 14, 15, 20 December 2023; 5, 8, 11, 12 January 2024.
Location: Washington DC.
Total exposure time: 25.55 hours.
(L: 7.175 hours / R: 4.842 hours / G: 4.375 hours / B: 9.158 hours).
ASI 2600MM Pro camera.
Baader 2" CMOS Optimized LRGB Filter Set.
WO Fluorostar 91mm f/5.9 triplet APO refractor.
iOptron GEM28-EC mount.
Processed completely in PixInsight as follows:
Created L, R, G and B masters.
Created an RGB image using LRGB combination.
Applied Dynamic Background Extractor (DBE), Background Neutralization and Color Calibration.
Used Blur Xterminator and Noise Xterminator.
Applied a Histogram Transformation to create a stretched RGB image.
Created an L image using LRGB Combination.
Applied the same DBE as for the RGB image.
Used Blur Xterminator, Noise Xterminator and a Histogram Transformation to create a stretched L image.
Applied HDR Multiscale Transform (HDR MT) with same parameters to both the RGB and L stretched images.
Used LRGB Combination to apply the HDR MT-stretched L image onto the HDR MT-stretched RGB image.
Used Star Xterminator to split the above-resulting image into starless and stars only images.
Applied Local Histogram Equalization and Curves Transform on the starless image.
Rejoined the processed starless image and the stars only images with Pixel Math.
Applied Topaz's Denoise AI and Gigapixel AI to the rejoined image for further noise reduction and clarity to get a final result.
Taken with a TMB92L, Hutech-modified Canon T3i DSLR, Orion SSAG autoguider and 50mm guidescope, and Celestron AVX mount. Consists of 25 360-second light frames and 21 360-second dark frames, all at ISO 800, as well as 35 flat and 50 bias frames. Captured with BackyardEOS, stacked in DeepSkyStacker, and processed in Photoshop.
Camera: Zwo Asi183mm Pro
Scope: Lacerta 200/800 Carbon F4
Flattener: Gyulai Pál GPU
Filters: Astronomik Deep-Sky RGB, Astronomik L-3 UV-IR Block, Astronomik 6nm SHO
Mount: Skywatcher EQ-5 Belt-modded
Guiding: Orion 50mm Mini guidescope, Zwo Asi120mm mini kamera, N.I.N.A
Images:
Astronomik 6nm Sii: 80x180s Gain111 -15°C
Astronomik 6nm Ha: 80x180s Gain111 -15°C
Astronomik 6nm Oiii: 80x180s Gain111 -15°C
Programs used: PHD2, N.I.N.A, PixInsight
Hungary, Isaszeg, Bortle 4
Taken with a TMB92L, Hutech-modified Canon T3i DSLR, Orion SSAG autoguider and 50mm guidescope, and Celestron AVX mount. Consists of 24 240-second light frames and 18 240-second dark frames, all at ISO 800, as well as 30 flat and 50 bias frames. Captured with BackyardEOS, stacked in DeepSkyStacker, and processed in Photoshop.
Ha: 218x300s
Oiii: 228x300s
Samyang 135 F2.0 @ F2.8, Zwo Asi183mm Pro at -10°C, Astronomik 6nm filters
The Pleiades, or Seven Sisters (Messier 45 or M45), is an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky.
The cluster is dominated by hot blue and extremely luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Dust that forms a faint reflection nebulosity around the brightest stars was thought at first to be left over from the formation of the cluster, but is now known to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium, through which the stars are currently passing.
You will notice that star colors differ from red, orange and yellow, to blue. This is an indication of the temperature of the star's Nuclear Fusion process. This is determined by the size and mass of the star, and the stage of its life cycle. In short, the blue stars are hotter, and the red ones are cooler.
Gear:
GSO 6" f/4 Imaging Newtonian Reflector Telescope.
Baader Mark-III MPCC Coma Corrector.
Astronomik CLS Light Pollution Filter.
Celestron SkySync GPS Accessory.
Orion Mini 50mm Guide Scope.
Orion StarShoot Autoguider.
Celestron AVX Mount.
QHYCCD PoleMaster.
Celestron StarSense.
Canon 60Da DSLR.
Tech:
Guiding in Open PHD 2.6.2.
Image acquisition in Sequence Generator Pro.
Lights/Subs:
12 x 180 sec. ISO 6400 CFA FIT Files.
Calibration Frames:
50 x Bias
33 x Darks
Pre-Processing and Linear workflow in PixInsight,
and finished in Photoshop.
Astrometry Info:
nova.astrometry.net/user_images/1284610#annotated
RA, Dec center: 56.8543781048, 24.2014291678 degrees
Orientation: 1.21552596549 deg E of N
Pixel scale: 5.70814251699 arcsec/pixel
Martin
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Taken on Wednesday nights session - Ive found the Canon 80D at least a stop or an ISO more sensitive than my old Canon 60Da so I cut my ISO level down to ISO400 - even with that the stars are much more bloated than I would like - I will probably go for 3 mins at ISO400 in future rather than 5 minutes used here.
Had to use a lot of complex morphological transform techniques in PixInsight to reduce star size.
Large B class stars that are gravitationally bound, transit through a dust cloud. Dust clouds tend to refract blue light and absorb red and infra-red (heat) light hence the predominantly blue appearance of the nebulae. The complex lines in the nebulae are thought to be due to magnetic field lines from the stars.
The diffuse blue nebulae are catalogued in the van den Berg catalog of reflection nebulae.
vdB 20 - the Electra nebula
vdB 21 - the Maia nebula
vdB 22 - the Merope nebula
vdB 23 - centred on Alcyone
480/80mm f/6 Altair Starwave refractor
Astro-modified Canon 80D at ISO400, IDAS LPS D1 filter, 21 x 5 minute subs.
NEQ6 pro mount with Rowan belt drives.
Mini-PC with WiFi
Mount WiFi control with ASCOM/AstroPhotography Tool
Camera WiFi control with Backyard EOS
30 dark frames
40 flat frames (electroluminescent panel @ 1/40s)
31 bias frames
Post processed in PixInsight 1.8 and Photoshop
Local parameters:
Temp: 3.7 - 3.9c
Humidity: 74- 79%
Pressure: 998.5 kPa
Camera Sensor Temp: 12-17c
Light Pollution and Weather:
SQM (L) at start of session (2305 hrs UT) =20.14 mag/arcsec2.
SQM (L) at end of session (0130 hrs UT) = 20.2 mag/arcsec2.
Clear, moderately windy at end.
Polar Alignment:
QHY Polemaster alignment -
Error measured by PHD2=0.1 arc minute.
RA drift + 1.93 arcsec/min
Dec drift -0.02 arcsec/min
Guiding:
PHD2 guiding with ZWO ASI290mm/Altair Starwave 206/50mm guider. Dithered.
RA RMS error 0.76 arcsec, peak error -2.73 arcsec
Dec RMS error 0.63 arcsec, peak error 2.94 arcsec
Astrometry:
Center (RA): 03h 46m 19.894s
Center (Dec): +23° 58' 37.974"
Size: 70.4 x 55.9 arcmin
Pixel scale: 1.59 arcsec/pixel
In order to advance beyond a somewhat colorless result arising from using a combination of an OSC camera and a broad band LPF, the integrated image was first separated into starless and stars only components, followed by splitting the starless image into its RGB components which were individually weighted and then recombined using LRGB Combination followed by further processing.
Scope: WO Zenith Star 81mm f/6.9 with WO 6AIII Flattener/Focal Reducer x0.8
OSC Camera: ZWO ASI 2600 MC Pro at 100 Gain and 50 Offset
Mount: iOptron GEM28-EC
Guider: ZWO Off-Axis Guider
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI 174mm mini
Light Pollution Filter: Chroma LoGlow Broadband LPF
Date: 30-31 March 2023 and 2-5 April 2023
Location: Washington D.C.
Exposure: 244x300s subs (= 20.3 hours)
Software: Pixinsight
Processing Steps:
Preprocessing: FITS data > Image Calibration > Cosmetic Correction > Subframe Selector > Debayer > Select Reference Star and Star Align > Image Integration.
Linear Postprocessing: Integrated image > Rotation > Dynamic Crop > Dynamic Background Extractor (subtraction to remove light pollution gradients and division for flat field corrections) > Background Neutralization > Color Calibration > Blur Xterminator > Noise Xterminator.
Nonlinear Postprocessing: Linear postprocessed image > Histogram Transformation > Star Xterminator to separate into Starless and Stars Only images.
Starless image > Histogram Transformation > Noise Xterminator > Local Histogram Equalization > Split RGB Channels > Weight the original channels and use Pixel Math to generate new modified RGB channels.
Apply HDR Multiscale Transform to the L channel (= R channel for broad band image) and the new modified RGB channels.
LRGB combination > LRGB image.
LRGB image > Curves Transformation using color masks > Histogram Transformation (multiple steps as needed) > Local Histogram Equalization (multiple steps as needed) > Final Starless image.
Pixel Math to combine the Final Starless Image and the new Stars Only image > Rejoined image.
Rejoined image > Dark Structure Enhancement > New rejoined image.
New rejoined image > Topaz AI > AI image.
Pixel Math to combine New rejoined image and AI image > Final result.
This is a reprocessing of a shot I took of the Andromeda Galaxy in September of 2013. It was photographed with a modified Canon 500D at prime focus of a 130mm f/7 triplet apochromatic refractor with field flattener. It is a composite of 18 5-minute exposures (90 minutes total), with dark and flat frames applied. It still has some issues, but it's probably the best I can do with the data I have.
This is just 362 ten second frames from the Seestar S50 smart scope. Stacked and quickly processed in Siril. With also a little help from Graxpert and Photoshop. For a tiny little scope and minimal processing, I have to say I’m very impressed!
M101 … commonly known as the Pinwheel Galaxy is about 21 million light years from earth. That’s how long ago the light captured by this tiny little scope on this night left that galaxy. It is about 170,000 light years across and that makes it almost twice as wide as our own Milky Way galaxy. Located in the constellation Ursa Major … or Big Dipper … it is thought to contain a trillion or more stars!
Thanks to Rich at Deep Space Astro and his video on processing Seestar images with Siril.
M81/M82 - 20-05-2020 - Saucats
Lights: 300x30" (2h30)
Reprise du traitement avec PixInsight.
DOF: 50
Iso: 1600
Traitement: PixInsight / DxO PhotoLab
Nikon D3100 (Non Défiltré)
Skywatcher 80ED Equinox (80x500)
Skywatcher Az-Gti Equatorial Mode
I'm never satisfied with my process of this galaxy, so I'm just trying to improve my older images.
Samyang 135 F2
Zwo Asi183mm Pro
Skywatcher EQ5 Belt-modded
Astonomik LRGBHSO filters
R: 48x120s Gain 53 -15°C
G: 48x120s Gain 53 -15°C
B: 48x120s Gain 53 -15°C
L: 760x120s Gain 53 -15°C
Ha: 128x300s Gain 111 -15°C
A cosmic snowball of around 150000 stars held together by their own gravity. The remnant of a cluster in a small galaxy orbiting the Milky Way. Most of its stars have been lost to the stronger pull of our Galaxy so just this tight core remains.
Because its members are so tightly packed together, it has a density classification of II – which is reserved for clusters that are particularly rich and compact.
There has been speculation about a dust channel (running from 3 o'clock down to 6 o'clock in this image) caused by dust thrown off from red giant stars in the cluster. Latest measurements suggest this is just asymmetry due to flattening of the "globe" from rotation of the cluster just like Jupiter and the Sun are flattened at their poles.
Size is 16 arcminutes
ZWO ASI2600MC 61 x 2 minute subs at gain 100, offset 50 at 0c.
Equinox ED 900mm f/7.5 scope x0.85 focal reducer.
IDAS P3 LPS 2" filter in focal reducer.
SkyWatcher EQ6 pro mount with Rowan belt drives.
Guided by PHD2 via PrimaLuce 240mm f/4 guidescope.
Atmospheric
Clear throughout. No subs lost.
Light pollution; 20.2 measured with Unihedron SQM (L)
Calibration
50 flats (EL panel at 1/4 second)
50 darks at 0c
50 bias at 0c and 1/16000s
Processing
PixInsight 1.8.8
Polar Alignment:
QHY Polemaster alignment -
Error measured by PHD2= 0.3 arc minute.
RA drift + 2.28 arcsec/min
Dec drift +0.08 arcsec/min
Guiding:
PHD2 guiding with ZWO ASI290mm/PrimaLuce Lab 240/60mm guide scope.
RA RMS error 0.80 arcsec.
Dec RMS error 0.65 arcsec.
Astrometry:
Resolution ............... 0.988 arcsec/px
Focal distance ........... 785.28 mm
Pixel size ............... 3.76 um
Field of view ............ 43' 9.5" x 36' 2.9"
Image center ............. RA: 21 33 36.101 Dec: -0 52 50.06
Equipment:
Scope: Lacerta 72/432 F6 0.85x reduktorral (367mm F5.1)
Mount: Skywatcher EQ-5 Pro Synscan Goto
Guide scope: Orion 50mm mini
Guide camera: ZWO ASI120mm Mini
Main camera: ZWO ASI183MM-Pro cooled monochrome camera
Accessories:
ZWO ASIAIR Pro
ZWO EFW 8x1.25"
Lacerta Dew-heater 20cm
Lacerta Dew-heater 30cm
Programs:
PixInsight
Adobe Photoshop CC 2020
Details:
Camera temp: -15°C
Gain: 111
Astronomik 6nm Ha:
18x300s
10x60s
Spiral galaxy M101 in the constellation of Ursa Major. The spiral arms are a little distorted due to encounters with some nearby dwarf galaxies - two were in my field of view.
Technical Card:
900/120mm f/7 Skywatcher Esprit 120 triplet refractor.
0.85 x Field corrector with 2 inch IDAS P3 LPS filter
ZWO ASI2600MC; 60 x 300 second subs, Gain 100, Offset 25, Temp = -15c.
EQ6 R pro mount . EQMOD control.
Pegasus Astro FocusCube 2 electronic focuser.
Session control; SharpCap 4.1 on laptop.
Controlled from inside house with iPAD
Automated plate solving GOTO and focusing. 8 secs at gain 635.
60 dark frames
50 flat frames (electroluminescent panel A, 3600ms exposure @ 0 gain).
Post processed in PixInsight 1.8.9.
Light Pollution and Weather:
Night 1: SQM (L) =20.3 m/as2
Clear throughout
Polar Alignment:
Error measured by PHD2= 4.1 arc minute.
RA drift +0.32 arcsec/min
Dec drift +0.63 arcsec/min
Guiding:
PHD2 guiding with ZWO ASI290mm/WO GuideStar 61.
Every 7th sub dithered.
RA RMS error 0.66arcsec
Dec RMS error 0.59arcsec
Astrometry
Resolution ............... 0.900 arcsec/px
Observation start time ... 2025-03-23 20:52:58 UTC
Observation end time ..... 2025-03-24 02:35:13 UTC
Focal distance ........... 861.81 mm
Pixel size ............... 3.76 um
Field of view ............ 1d 33' 42.7" x 1d 2' 38.1"
Image center ............. RA: 14 03 25.884 Dec: +54 19 13.67
Taken from Coral Towers Observatory using an SBIG STL-11000 camera and Takahashi BRC 250 telescope on a Software Bisque PME Mount.
H-alpha filter; 6 hours exposure total (36 x 10 min)
LINK
Other images from this series:
False Colour: www.flickr.com/photos/jbrimacombe/51610243560/
Mono: www.flickr.com/photos/jbrimacombe/51608539717/
Negative Mono: www.flickr.com/photos/jbrimacombe/51608539662/
2.2 hours integration on this little critter. It's very hard to see in a 10-inch SCT even at a semi-fast f/6.3 optical system. Visually, it's a faint hazy ball of light.
Captured with the following specifications:
Meade 10-inch LX200
f/6.3 optics @1600mm.
Nikon D5100 Unmodified
ISO1600
Processed with Deep Sky Stacker
Final processing done in Adobe Photoshop CS3
Taken with a TMB92L, Hutech-modified Canon T3i DSLR, Orion SSAG autoguider and 50mm guidescope, and Celestron AVX mount. Consists of 50 240-second light frames and 28 240-second dark frames, all at ISO 800, as well as 32 flat and 50 bias frames. Captured with BackyardEOS, stacked in DeepSkyStacker, and processed in Photoshop.
Messier 91 is a barred spiral galaxy and is classified as anaemic - this means that it has been subjected to ram pressure stripping as it races through the hot intracluster medium of the Virgo cluster of galaxies. It loses the gas it needs to form young hot blue stars so appears pale and yellowish as a result.
It measures 5.4 x 4.3 arcminutes.
26 x 10 minute subs. Modified Canon 80D at ISO400 on an Equinox 120ED doublet refractor.
See previous wide field for more details.
- A star trails shot with the trails of the brightest stars in the sky over the Milky way on the right side. I'm now quite sure, looking at star maps that the nebulous object to the right of the Milky way is in fact the Andromeda galaxy, which is the nearest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way and sometimes mistakingly called the Great Andromeda Nebula. I have processed this shot to make it look like clockwise star movement by fading the end of the trails since I exposed my bright Milky way frame first.
Now that it's April, the iconic summertime objects are starting to rise high enough before dawn to photograph for northern hemisphere astrophotographers. The Trifid Nebula (M20) is one of my favorites -- a flower-like emission/reflection nebula in Sagittarius. I took the opportunity of a spectacular night up at Fremont Peak to image it through a 6-inch f/9 Ritchey-Chretien telescope -- my first night using this scope. It was mounted on an Orion Sirius EQ-G mount and guided with a StarShoot AutoGuider and Orion 50mm guidescope.
This is a composite of 25 exposures of 6 minutes each with a modified EOS 500D camera at ISO 1600. Dark and flat frames were applied. Images were stacked in DeepSkyStacker and the composite image processed in Photoshop CC.
This is my first image using my new autoguider.
Taken with a TMB92L, Canon T3i DSLR, Orion SSAG autoguider and 50mm guidescope, and Celestron AVX mount. Consists of 29 120-second light frames and 21 120-second dark frames, all at ISO 800, as well as 15 flats. Captured with BackyardEOS, stacked in DeepSkyStacker, and processed in Photoshop. Diffraction spikes courtesy StarSpikes Pro.
Equipment:
Scope: Lacerta 72/432 F6 0.85x reduktorral (367mm F5.1)
Mount: Skywatcher EQ-5 Pro Synscan Goto
Guide scope: Orion 50mm mini
Guide camera: ZWO ASI120mm Mini
Main camera: ZWO ASI183MM-Pro cooled monochrome camera
Accessories:
ZWO ASIAIR Pro
ZWO EFW 8x1.25"
Lacerta Dew-heater 20cm
Lacerta Dew-heater 30cm
Programs:
PixInsight
Adobe Photoshop CC 2020
Details:
Camera temp: -15°C
Gain: 53
Astronomik L-3 UV-IR Block: 30x180s
Astronomik Deep-Sky R: 21x180s
Astronomik Deep-Sky G: 29x180s
Astronomik Deep-Sky B: 30x180s
Dark: 60x
The smaller galaxy, NGC5195 has suffered extensive disruption following a gravitational encounter with the much larger M51 spiral galaxy.
Two tiny galaxies can also be seen - edge-on spiral IC 4277 is just under and to the right of NGC 5195 and IC 4278 is an irregular class galaxy to the right of the junction between M51 and NGC 5195.
Imaged over 18th and 19th March 2025.
Technical Card
900/120mm f/7 Skywatcher Esprit 120 triplet refractor.
0.85 x Field corrector with 2 inch IDAS P3 LPS filter
ZWO ASI2600MC; 60 x 300 second subs, Gain 100, Offset 25, Temp = -15c.
EQ6 R pro mount . EQMOD control.
Pegasus Astro FocusCube 2 electronic focuser.
Session control; SharpCap 4.1 on laptop.
Controlled from inside house with iPAD
Automated plate solving GOTO and focusing. 8 secs at gain 635.
60 dark frames
50 flat frames (electroluminescent panel A, 3500ms exposure @ 0 gain).
Post processed in PixInsight 1.8.9.
Light Pollution and Weather:
Night 1: SQM (L) =19.98 m/as2
Clear throughout - stopped at Moonrise
Night 2: SQM (L) =20.03 m/as2
Session stopped by cloud
Polar Alignment:
Error measured by PHD2= 0.5 arc minute.
RA drift - 0.04 arcsec/min
Dec drift - 0.10arcsec/min
Guiding:
PHD2 guiding with ZWO ASI290mm/WO GuideStar 61.
Every 6th sub dithered.
RA RMS error 0.53 arcsec
Dec RMS error 0.39arcsec
Astrometry
Resolution ............... 0.900 arcsec/px
Observation start time ... 2025-03-23 20:52:58 UTC
Observation end time ..... 2025-03-24 02:35:13 UTC
Focal distance ........... 861.81 mm
Pixel size ............... 3.76 um
Field of view ............ 1d 33' 42.7" x 1d 2' 38.1"
Image center ............. RA: 14 03 25.884 Dec: +54 19 13.67
Description: This image of the Andromeda Galaxy M31 was developed from 184x300s subs or 15.3 hours of total exposure time. The nonlinear post processed image was first split into its RGB components, followed by the application of appropriate weighting factors to the green and red channels, further followed by LRGB Combination. The resulting image was post processed using Curves Transformation with various color masks.
Date / Location: 21-23 September and 8-10 October 2022 / Washington D.C.
Equipment:
Scope: WO Zenith Star 81mm f/6.9 with WO 6AIII Flattener/Focal Reducer x0.8
OSC Camera: ZWO ASI 2600 MC Pro at 100 Gain
Mount: iOptron GEM28-EC
Guide Scope: WO 50mm Uniguide Scope
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI 290mm
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Light Pollution Filter: Chroma LoGlow Broadband
Processing Software: Pixinsight
Processing Steps:
Preprocessing: I preprocessed 184x300s subs (= 15.3 hours) in Pixinsight to get an integrated image using the following steps: Image Calibration > Cosmetic Correction > Subframe Selector > Debayer > Select Reference Star and Star Align > Image Integration.
Linear Postprocessing:
Dynamic Background Extractor (doing subtraction to remove light pollution gradients and division for flat field correction) > Background Neutralization > Color Calibration > Blur Xterminator > Noise Xterminator.
Nonlinear Postprocessing and additional steps:
Histogram Transformation > Star Xterminator to create Starless and Stars Only Images.
Starless Image > Noise Xterminator > Local Histogram Equalization > Multiscale Median Transform > Split RGB channels > Create new green and blue channels > LRGB Combination > Curves Transformation using various color masks.
Stars Only Image > Morphological transformation.
Pixel Math to combine the Starless Image with the Stars Only Image to get a Reinstated Image.
Reinstated Image > Dark Structure Enhancement > Topaz AI.
Pixel Math to combine the (non-AI) Reinstated Image with the Topaz AI Image to get a final image.
Not far east of the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud is M25 (IC 4725). Plenty of hot, young blue stars here.
This is a stack of 57 45s exposures taken with an Atik 314L+ color CCD camera with a Baader light pollution filter. The scope is a Celestron Edge HD 925 at f/2.3 with Hyperstar.
Preprocessing in Nebulosity with bias, dark, and flat frames; registrration, stacking, and initial processing in PixInsight; final touches in Photoshop. North is roughly at the top in this view.
The bright area left of the center of this image is the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud or M24. It is fairly large on the sky, so I decided to try shooting it with the Nikon D5100 instead of through the telescope. When I realized how many objects were nearby, it seemed like a good idea to expand the field of view.
There are 10 Messier objects present. These include four bright emission nebulae. From top to bottom, those are M16 (Eagle Nebula), M17 (Swan or Omega Nebula), M20 (Trifid Nebula), and M8 (Lagoon Nebula). Star clusters M25 and M23 are to the left and right, respectively, of the star cloud. Star cluster M21 is just above and left of the Trifid Nebula. M18 is a small star cluster between M17 and M24. In the lower left corner, globular cluster M28 is in view. There are many other NGC and IC objects present, along with dark clouds that represent areas dense with dust which blocks the view of background stars.
This is a stack of 47 60s exposures at a focal length of 90 mm and ISO 2000 from Mt. Pinos, CA. Dark, flat, and bias frames were applied in PixInsight, with registration, stacking, and additional processing in that program. Final touches in Photoshop.
North is roughly at the top in this view.
Observed 23-24, 26-28 April 2025 from Washington D.C.
Equipment: WO Fluorostar 91mm f/5.9 triplet APO refractor with Adjustable Field Flattener 68III with ASI 2600MM Pro (monochrome) as the main camera.
WO Uniguide 50 f/4.0 guide scope with ASI 290MM as the guide camera.
Chroma 36mm LRGB Filter Set
iOptron GEM28-EC mount
Data: 14.11 hours (242x210s subs) with Luminance filter. 3.50 hours (60x210s subs) with Red filter. 3.56 hours (61x210s subs) with Green filter. 3.44 hours (59x210s subs) with Blue filter.
Processed fully within PixInsight 1.9.3 Lockhart.
First light of 2020 was quite splendid from the new location of the Loowit Imaging Observatory. The new location has a much wider view of the southern sky and afforded me the much-desired opportunity to capture longer data on Orion's Sword last night.
When I showed my girlfriend this very target in the eyepiece with the 10" LX200, she was quite surprised at the eyepiece difference vs. what you saw on the camera. Space is quite amazing!
Taken with a TMB92L, Hutech-modified Canon T3i DSLR, Orion SSAG autoguider and 50mm guidescope, and Celestron AVX mount. Consists of 35 120-second light frames and 31 120-second dark frames, all at ISO 800, as well as 35 flat and 50 bias frames. Captured with BackyardEOS, stacked in DeepSkyStacker, and processed in Photoshop.
Both Open Clusters in the constellation Gemini. Both area the same size but appear different because of the distance between them. M35 is 2800 light years away and NGC 2158 is five times more distant. M35 contains about 200 stars and has a magnitude of 5.2. It is about 100 million years old.
Equipment Celestron 200mm Newtonian Reflector on an AVX mount and Canon 500D.
Guided with ZWO 60mm guidescope and SSAG with PHD 2.6
Stacked in DSS and finished in CS2
Exposures: 7x480s, 4x180s, 4x120s at ISO 800 with Darks and Bias.
Taken with a TMB92L, Canon T3i DSLR, and Celestron CG-4 mount. Consists of 29 40-second light frames and 24 40-second dark frames, 25 5-second light frames and 25 5-second dark frames, all at ISO 800, as well as 11 flat images, stacked in DeepSkyStacker and processed in Photoshop.
Taken with a TMB92L, Canon T3i DSLR, Orion SSAG autoguider and 50mm guidescope, and Celestron AVX mount. Consists of 59 90-second light frames, 40 90-second dark frames, 40 10-second light frames, 20 10-second dark frames, and 40 5-second exposures, all at ISO 800, as well as 15 flats. Captured with BackyardEOS, stacked in DeepSkyStacker, and processed in Photoshop.
Messier 97 is a planetary nebula in Ursa Major estimated to be about 2600 light years away.
The 16th magnitude central star is about 0.7 solar masses and is a remnant white dwarf having shed its outer layers about 6000 years ago based on the expansion of the nebula and then working backwards.
The nebula has a mass of about 0.15 solar masses.
Our own Sun may eventually meet a fate like this.
The remnant white dwarf has a surface temperature in the tens of thousands of degrees and glows brightly in UV causing fluorescence of oxygen (green-blue) and hydrogen (red) in the nebula.
36 x 6 minute exposures. Processed and drizzled in PixInsight
iTelescope T3
Takahashi 150/1095mm refractor
SBIG CCD camera 2048 x 2048 pixels.
Image centred on:
RA: 11h 14m 49.475s
Dec: +55d 01m 5.361s
Field of view 33.4 x 34.1 arcminute
Image scale 0.69 arcsec/pxl
Description: This is my image of the Andromeda Galaxy M31 based on about 15 hours of total exposure time. The angular size of M31 is a huge 178x63 arcminutes which occupies a significant portion of the APS-C sensor of my camera. Since there are also numerous background stars, finding a relatively star-free area to do a Background Neutralization is a bit of a challenge. I also found achieving a proper color balance to be another challenge. Various sources indicate the presence of an outer bluish halo encompassing the core. I tried to achieve my objective by applying a series of Curves Transformations while protecting the background with a mask. As a side note, while numerous stars are present, I decided against applying a Morphological Transformation to reduce their brightness because in doing so I detected an undesirable ringing effect. One possible solution is to apply Multiscale Linear Transform with deringing selected. However, I have not tested that option.
Date / Location: 21-23 September and 8-10 October 2022 / Washington D.C.
Equipment:
Scope: WO Zenith Star 81mm f/6.9 with WO 6AIII Flattener/Focal Reducer x0.8
OSC Camera: ZWO ASI 2600 MC Pro at 100 Gain
Mount: iOptron GEM28-EC
Guide Scope: WO 50mm Uniguide Scope
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI 290mm
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Light Pollution Filter: Chroma LoGlow Broadband
Processing Software: Pixinsight
Processing Steps:
Preprocessing: I preprocessed 184x300s subs (= 15.3 hours) in Pixinsight to get an integrated image using the following steps: Image Calibration > Cosmetic Correction > Subframe Selector > Debayer > Select Reference Star and Star Align > Image Integration.
Linear Postprocessing: Rotation > Dynamic Crop > Dynamic Background Extractor (subtraction to remove light pollution gradients and division for flat field corrections) > Background Neutralization > Color Calibration > Noise Xterminator.
Nonlinear Postprocessing: First Histogram Transformation > Second Histogram Transformation > First Local Histogram Equalization > Second Local Histogram Equalization First Curves Transformation > Second Curves Transformation > Third Curves Transformation > SCNR Noise Reduction.
An open cluster of young stars forming in a zone of hydrogen - either as cold dense dark clouds or less dense bright areas of gas emitting strongly in the hydrogen alpha wavelength.
Eventually, the light pressure of ultraviolet radiation from the young stars will push the clouds of gas away leaving just an open cluster like the Pleiades.
Infrared analysis of the iconic Eagle dark nebula shows more young stars forming within.
16 x 10 minute Hydrogen alpha sub-exposures on itelescope T21, a 1939mm focal length, f/4.5 corrected Dall-Kirkham scope.
Astrometry
Center (RA, hms): 18h 19m 12.203s
Center (Dec, dms): -13° 48' 03.394"
Size: 31.2 x 26.3 arcmin
Radius: 0.340 deg
Pixel scale: 0.956 arcsec/pixel
Orientation:Up is 0.886 degrees E of N
LATEST VERSION: flic.kr/p/2oiXJz6
Messier 66 / M66 / NGC 3627
Messier 65 / M65 / NGC 3623
NGC 3628 / The Hamburger Galaxy
The Leo Triplet, also known as the M66 Group, is a small group of galaxies about 35 million light-years away. M66 (lower right) is a spiral galaxy about 95,000 light-years in diameter, with striking dust lanes and blue star clusters along its spiral arms. M65 (upper right) is another spiral galaxy; its warm color indicates a lack of star formation. NGC 3628 (left) is a spiral galaxy seen edge-on. It has a tidal tail 300,000 light-years long (faintly visible to its lower left) resulting from gravitational interactions with its companions.
Total integration: 14 hours 53 minutes (893 minutes)
03/13/19: 321 x 60 seconds ISO800
03/13/19: 2 x 120 seconds ISO800
03/16/19: 313 x 60 seconds ISO800
01/26/20: 46 x 120 seconds ISO400
01/26/20: 1 x 60 seconds ISO400
02/15/20: 43 x 120 seconds ISO400
02/22/20: 38 x 120 seconds ISO400
Location: Charlottesville, VA
SQM: 19.22 mag/arcsec^2 (Bortle 6)
Camera: Canon T3i (stock/unmodified)
Average camera temperature: 75 F (24 C)
Telescope: Explore Scientific ED80 f/6.0 Apochromatic Refractor (with ES field flattener)
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G
Guide scope: Svbony 50mm f/4.0 Guide Scope
Guide camera: Orion StarShoot AutoGuider
Software: N.I.N.A. with ASTAP (slewing and plate solving), PHD2 (guiding), Magic Lantern (image capture)
Pre-processed with PixInsight, processed with PixInsight and Paint.NET
The Ring Nebula
A planetary nebula - a star has ejected its outer layers as it nears the end of its life. The central remnant white dwarf gives off extremely hard UV light which makes the shells of gas fluoresce. Blue/Green is Oxygen. Red is Hydrogen and Nitrogen. Yellow is an overlap of Green + Red.
At a diameter of 1 arc minute, it is only about 60 pixels across at this image scale. The central white dwarf which has a surface temp of about 100000c can just be seen.
Diameter is 1 arcminute
ZWO ASI2600MC 61 x 3 minute subs at gain 100, offset 50 at 0c.
Equinox ED 900mm f/7.5 scope x0.85 focal reducer.
IDAS P3 LPS 2" filter in focal reducer.
SkyWatcher EQ6 pro mount with Rowan belt drives.
Guided by PHD2 via PrimaLuce 240mm f/4 guidescope.
Atmospheric
Clear throughout. No subs lost.
Light pollution; 20.02 measured with Unihedron SQM (L)
Calibration
50 flats (EL panel at 1/4 second)
50 darks at 0c
50 bias at 0c and 1/16000s
Processing
PixInsight 1.8.8
Polar Alignment:
“Resume from Park” - I left the scope up from last time.
Error measured by PHD2= 0.2 arc minute.
RA drift + 1.27 arcsec/min
Dec drift +0.05 arcsec/min
Guiding:
PHD2 guiding with ZWO ASI290mm/PrimaLuce Lab 240/60mm guide scope. Multi-star guiding.
RA RMS error 0.61 arcsec.
Dec RMS error 0.64 arcsec.
Astrometry:
Resolution ............... 0.987 arcsec/px
Focal distance ........... 785.59 mm
Pixel size ............... 3.76 um
Field of view ............ 33' 10.2" x 26' 8.7"
Image center ............. RA: 18 53 35.937 Dec: +33 01 49.32
There was a little tilt between focuser draw tube and focal reducer which distorted the stars. I used Free Transform in Photoshop to distort and tilt the image back again!
Overall, I need to get the colour balance sorted out and probably use no more than about 2 minute exposures.
Stack of 43 15s ISO2500 exposures with a Nikon D5100 on a Celestron Edge HD 925 at focal length 2150 mm under Bortle 8/9 skies.
The Triffid Nebula using a remote telescope at telescope live stacked using photoshop and coloured using Siril
Taken with a TMB92L, Canon T3i DSLR, Orion SSAG autoguider and 50mm guidescope, and Celestron AVX mount. Consists of 33 130-second light frames and 33 130-second dark frames, all at ISO 800, as well as 32 flat and 50 bias frames. Captured with BackyardEOS, stacked in DeepSkyStacker, and processed in Photoshop.
Taken with a Sigma AF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG at 200mm and f/5, Canon T3i DSLR, and Celestron Advanced VX mount. Consists of 35 light and 35 dark frames, each a 90-second exposure at ISO 800, and 21 flat frames. Captured with BackyardEOS, stacked in DeepSkyStacker, and processed in Photoshop.
The Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters and Messier 45, are an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. It is among the star clusters nearest to Earth, it is the nearest Messier object to Earth, and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky.
The cluster is dominated by hot blue and luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Reflection nebulae around the brightest stars were once thought to be left over material from the formation of the cluster, but are now considered likely to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium through which the stars are currently passing.
Equipment:
Scope: Lacerta 72/432 F6 0.85x reduktorral (367mm F5.1)
Mount: Skywatcher EQ-5 Pro Synscan Goto
Guide scope: Orion 50mm mini
Guide camera: ZWO ASI120mm Mini
Main camera: ZWO ASI183MM-Pro cooled monochrome camera
Accessories:
ZWO ASIAIR Pro
ZWO EFW 8x1.25"
Lacerta Dew-heater 20cm
Lacerta Dew-heater 30cm
Programs:
PixInsight
Adobe Photoshop CC 2020
Details:
Camera temp: -15°C
Gain: 53
Astronomik L-3 UV-IR Block: 92x180s
Astronomik Deep-Sky R: 16x180s
Astronomik Deep-Sky G: 14x180s
Astronomik Deep-Sky B: 20x180s
Dark: 60x
Flats: 20x / filter
Bias: 100x
Dark Flats: 100x
Imaging with a combination of an OSC camera and a dualband pass LPF yields a result that is lacking in richness of color. In order to extract a color-rich image from the data, the integrated image was first separated into starless and stars only components, followed by splitting the starless image into its RGB components which were individually weighted and then recombined using LRGB Combination followed by further processing.
Scope: WO Zenith Star 81mm f/6.9 with WO 6AIII Flattener/Focal Reducer x0.8
OSC Camera: ZWO ASI 2600 MC Pro at 100 Gain
Mount: iOptron GEM28-EC
Guide Scope: ZWO ASI 30mm f/4
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI 120mm-mini
Light Pollution Filter: ZWO Duo-Band Light Pollution Filter
Date: 24-25, 29-30 April and 2, 4-5 May 2022
Location: Washington D.C.
Exposure: 261x300s subs (= 21.75 hours)
Software: Pixinsight
Processing Steps:
Preprocessing: FITS data > Image Calibration > Cosmetic Correction > Subframe Selector > Debayer > Select Reference Star and Star Align > Image Integration.
Linear Postprocessing: Integrated image > Dynamic Crop > Dynamic Background Extractor (subtraction to remove light pollution gradients and division for flat field corrections) > Background Neutralization > Color Calibration > Blur Xterminator > Noise Xterminator.
Nonlinear Postprocessing: Linear postprocessed image > Histogram Transformation > Star Xterminator to separate into Starless and Stars Only images.
Starless image > Noise Xterminator > Local Histogram Equalization > Split RGB Channels > Weight the original channels and using Pixel Match generate new modified RGB channels.
First LRGB Combination > Uncheck L channel, check modified RGB channels > New RGB image.
Apply the same HDR Multiscale Transform to the L channel (=R channel for dualband pass image) and New RGB image > Modified L channel and new RGB image.
Second LRGB Combination > Check the L channel, uncheck the RGB channels > Apply Instance to the new RGB image to generate a New Starless image.
New Starless image > Apply various color masks > Curves Transformation > Histogram Transformation (as needed) > Local Histogram Equalization (as needed) > Final processed Starless Image.
Stars Only Image > Morphological Transformation > New Stars Only image.
Pixel Math to rejoin the Final processed Starless Image and the new Stars Only image > Rejoined image.
Rejoined image > Dark Structure Enhancement > New rejoined image.
New rejoined image > Topaz AI > AI image.
Pixel Math to combine New rejoined image and AI image > Final result.
Camera: Nikon D50
Exposure: 30m (14 frames) ISO 800 RGB
Focus Method: Prime focus
Telescope Aperature/Focal Length: 203×812mm
Mount: LXD75
Telescope: Meade 8" Schmidt-Newtonian
Guided: Yes - PHD Guiding
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Adjustments: cropped/leveled in Photoshop
Location: Flintstone, GA
Taken from Coral Towers Observatory using an SBIG STL-11000 camera and Takahashi BRC 250 telescope on a Software Bisque PME Mount.
H-alpha filter; 6 hours exposure total (36 x 10 min)
LINK
Other images from this series:
False Colour: www.flickr.com/photos/jbrimacombe/51610243560/
Mono: www.flickr.com/photos/jbrimacombe/51608539717/
Negative Mono: www.flickr.com/photos/jbrimacombe/51608539662/