******************************************************************************

Photographed at Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada

(285 km by road north of Toronto)

* Temperature 11° C.

* Total exposure time: 8 minutes.

___________________________________________

Description:

High in the northern hemisphere summer and autumn sky our home galaxy, the Milky Way, runs through the constellations Cepheus (left side) and Cygnus (right).

This area of the sky is riddled with glowing red clouds of hydrogen gas, numerous star clusters, and areas of dark foreground gas that obscures the light of millions of stars beyond.

Above and to the left of centre is the bright circular red gas cloud IC 1396. For a close-up view of this nebula made with a 540 mm focal length telescope later the same evening, click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/30787835700

One of the most distinctive gas clouds is the aptly named "North America Nebula", just below and a little right of centre. For a close-up view of this nebula made with a 300 mm lens, click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/29220929561

For a version of this photo WITH labels, click on the right side of your screen, or click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/30348287793

___________________________________________

Technical information:

Sigma 50 mm f/1.4 DG HSM ART lens on Nikon D810a camera body, mounted on Astrophysics 1100GTO equatorial mount with a Kirk Enterprises ball head

Eight stacked frames; each frame:

50 mm focal length

ISO 2500; 1 minute exposure at f/4; unguided

(with LENR - long exposure noise reduction)

Subframes registered in RegiStar;

Stacked and processed in Photoshop CS6 (brightness, contrast, levels, colour balance, colour desaturation)

******************************************************************************

Some updates on the remarkably reliable Laguna.

About 5000 km into the adventure, everything is still working like a charm! (knocks on wood)

By now I have given the engine the service it was due for.

Fresh performance plugs, premium oil and all filters replaced.

It was running fine but the plugs clearly had been skipped at least during it's last service. with the new plugs it notably runs a little happier and feels a little quicker too. The airco-dip has become less notable, as well.

Also the tires have been changed for a nice new set of Dunlop Sport Blueresponse, improving comfort and safety a lot over the dried out, 9 year old Michelins.

Visually one may note that some greyed plastics have received a number of treatments back to black.

And I came across an original set of Renault Laguna 1 Break roof bars. Nothing like the heavy duty rack I used to have on my Berlingo's, but none the less, a nice original find that suits the car well, I think!

Of course, a more rounded picture is forming by now.

Not all is well, but nothing beyond saving.

Pretty much all rubber bushings in the undercarriage are still original and some dry enough to start falling apart. Long beyond their expiration date for sure. It's a miracle the car is as comfortable and silent as it is with all of that going on, but it is slowly becoming more notable for sure. This will be the next project.

Then there is some rust. Parts of the chassis main beams and subframe are brown. But nothing is rotten just yet. So rather sooner than later, that will require treatment.

And the headlight units are worn beyond saving.

But you can still get these new... So no big search for those.

The rest of the bodywork will be much more challenging.

In due time... hopefully, more on that!

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

46-FJ-PB

07-04-2000 - First Admission

28-03-2000 - First Dutch Registration

Original Dutch, Private Sidecode 6 License

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Photographed from mid-town Toronto, Canada, at 21.05 EST (Moon altitude: 61° | Sun 42° below the horizon)

* Temperature -10° C.

The weather has been so bad in southern Ontario for the last almost two months that tonight was the first time since Nov. 22 that I have had the telescope out under a clear sky!

The Moon, in its waxing gibbous phase and 78% sunlit, was riding high over Toronto tonight, just four nights before the total eclipse of the Moon this coming Sunday night. It was quite cold, but there was no wind to blow the telescope around, so I was able to get very clear, high resolution base images from which to make this image.

______________________________________________

Nikon Z7 camera body on Explore Scientific 152 mm (6") apochromatic refracting telescope, mounted on Sky-Watcher AZ-EQ6 SynScan mount.

Best nine of twelve identical stacked frames - each frame:

● 1253 mm focal length

● ISO 100, 1/250 sec. exposure, f/8

Subframes stacked in Registax

Processed in Photoshop CS6

(cropping, brightness, contrast, colour desaturation)

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Photographed at Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, between 03.10 and 03.38 EDT

(285 km by road north of Toronto)

* Altitude of nebula at time of exposures: 31-34°

* Temperature -2° C.

* Total exposure time: 13 minutes

* 540 mm focal length telescope

For a version of this photo WITH LABELS, click on your screen to the RIGHT of the photo, or click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/30004438900

___________________________________________

Description:

I cannot think of a more famous or more often photographed and observed object in the night sky than M42 & 43 in the constellation Orion. This nebula is visible to the unaided eye smack in the centre of the sword of Orion, hanging down from Orion's three-star belt.

From Wikipedia:

"The Orion Nebula ... is one of the brightest nebulae, and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. M42 is located at a distance of 1,344 ± 20 light years and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. The M42 nebula is estimated to be 24 light years across. It has a mass of about 2000 times the mass of the Sun."

For more information about this object, click here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_Nebula

For another photograph of this nebula made in March 2017, click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/32743247300

___________________________________________

Technical information:

Nikon D810a camera body on Teleview 101is apochromatic refracting telescope, mounted on Astrophysics 1100GTO equatorial mount using an ADM Accessories side-by-side saddle

Main body of the nebula:

Thirteen stacked frames; each frame:

540 mm focal length

ISO 3200; 1 minute exposure at f/5.4; unguided

(with LENR - long exposure noise reduction)

Centre of the nebula:

Eight stacked frames; each frame:

540 mm focal length

ISO 2000; 15 seconds exposure at f/5.4; unguided

Subframes registered in RegiStar;

Stacked and processed in Photoshop CS6 (levels, brightness, contrast, colour balance, sharpening)

******************************************************************************

passer-by records a street music band on her mobile phone

Manufacturer: Lancia Automobiles S.p.A., Turin - Italy

Type: Beta Coupé 1600 Tipo 828 1a Series

Production time: mid-year 1974 - mid-year 1975

Production outlet: 1,978

Engine: 1592cc straight-4 Fiat Twin Cam 828AC.000 DOHC

Power: 108 bhp / 6.200 rpm

Torque: 135 Nm / 4.500 rpm

Drivetrain: front wheels

Speed: 180 km/h

Curb weight: 1010 kg

Wheelbase: 92.5 inch

Chassis: box frame with subframe and self-supporting aluminum uni-body

Steering: rack & pinion

Gearbox: five-speed manual (transversely in-line) / all synchromesh / floor shift

Clutch: single dry plate disc

Carburettor: Weber 34 DMTR21 / Solex C34 CIC-1

Fuel tank: 51 liter

Electric system: 12 Volts 45 Ah

Ignition system: distributor and coil

Brakes front: 9.88 inch hydraulic discs

Brakes rear: 9.88 inch hydraulic discs

Suspension front: independent MacPherson struts, parallel transverse links, lower wishbones, sway bar, coil springs + internal telescopic shock absorbers

Suspension rear: independent MacPherson struts, multi-link, parallel double lower wishbones (A-arm, control arm), sway bar, coil springs + internal telescopic shock absorbers

Differential: helical axle drive 4,214:1

Wheels: 5½J x 14 inch

Tires: 175/70 SR 14

Options: ZF power steering

Special:

- The Beta (1972-1984) was the company's first new model introduced by Lancia after it had been taken over by FIAT in 1969.

- Vincenzo Lancia used letters of the Greek alphabet for his early cars, like Alpha, Beta, Gamma, etc., and as such, Beta had been used on two previous vehicles.

- This 2+2 Coupé, designed in-hous led by Aldo Castagno (Lancia) and Pietro Castegnero (from Carozzeria Pininfarina S.p.A., Cambiano - Italy, but acting as styling consultant), is based on a shortened Berlina chassis (100 inch) and has also the first ever multi-link rear suspension used in a mass produced car, designed by Sergio Camuffo.

- The Beta Series was assembled in Turin (Italy) and in Pamplona (Spain).

Another successful session using the Starizona HyperStar (converts sluggish f/10 telescope into speedy f/2.2). Detailed capture with only 16 minutes of integration time.

Date: October 29, 2025

Bortle Class 5 backyard, SF Bay Area (East Bay)

Capture: 16 x 60-sec subframes, OSC

Telescope: Celestron C9.25 SCT

Accessory: Starizona HyperStar C9.25-v4 lens

Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI 2600MC

Antlia Triband RGB Ultra, 2"

Mount: iOptron GEM45

ZWO ASIAIR Plus Control and Capture

Calibrated with Darks, Flats and Dark Flats

Processed with PixInsight, Photoshop

His Name is Stephan. and he is german. we travelled around with him for a couple of days and ended up sharing a bamboo house boat in Kerela for a night. During My three month stay in india, i met many different people from all over the world. After meeting Stephan, i can now say that Germans are my favorite! i love the ripples around his body and how they subframe him into a little motif

Sensia 200 @ 800 cross processed at a shitty lab in Mumbai

Tech: Pentax K1000 35mm

Prague, Czech Republic

Gypsy Woman…

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Photographed at Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, between 03.00 and 03.24 EDT

(285 km by road north of Toronto)

* Temperature 12° C.

* Total exposure time: 11 minutes

* 540 mm focal length telescope

___________________________________________

Description:

This faint and visually very elusive nebula can be photographed to advantage only in a good dark sky.

Known as the "California Nebula" because of its shape, this glowing cloud of red hydrogen gas is quite large; about five times as long as, and a little wider than, the Moon appears in our sky. The nebula is located 1,000 - 2,000 light years from our solar system, and is about 100 light years from end to end. Radiation from the nearby blue-white star Xi Persei (the brightest star in the frame, below the nebula) causes the nebula to fluoresce.

The California Nebula was discovered by famed American astronomer E.E. Barnard in 1884-5, just in time to be added to Dreyer's New General Catalog (NGC).

For a version of this photo WITH STAR LABELS, click on your screen to the RIGHT of the photo, or click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/28723113074

___________________________________________

Technical information:

Nikon D810a camera body on Teleview 101is apochromatic refracting telescope, mounted on Astrophysics 1100GTO equatorial mount with a Kirk Enterprises ball head

Eleven stacked frames; each frame:

540 mm focal length

ISO 4000; 1 minute exposure at f/5.4; unguided

(with LENR - long exposure noise reduction)

Subframes registered in RegiStar;

Stacked and processed in Photoshop CS6 (brightness, contrast, colour balance, levels)

******************************************************************************

Canon 500N & ef 28-80mm, Fomapan 400 in xtol1:1

Taken at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, and inspired by the Saul Leiter Exhibition at The Photographer's Gallery

Featuring the bright star Merak of Ursa Major.

Dwarf 3

45-second subframes | 5 hours total (over two nights)

(español abajo) The pencil nebula, NGC 2736 in Vela, a very difficult target, about 24 hours in a mix HOO-L+HOO/LRGB (9 hours in O3 and 5 hours in Ha) from my backyard obs in La Colonia, Illapel, Chile. GSO RC 30cms scope, camera STF8300/AO-8, 8 and 16 min subframes at -35°C. Maxim-Registar-CCDStack-Photoshop software. This picture is dedicated to my daughters. Comments welcome, have a nice day !

La nebulosa del lápiz, también conocida como "el rayo de Herschel", NGC 2736, un blanco difícil en la constelación de Vela. Alrededor de 24 horas d exposición en una mezcla HOO-L+HOO/LRGB (con 9 horas de filtro O3 y 5 de H alfa), desde mi observatorio en La Colonia, Illapel, Chile. Telescopio GSO RC de 30 cms, cámara STF8300/AO-8, tomas de 8 y 16 minutos a -35°C. Softwares Maxim-Registar-CCDStack-Photoshop. Este trabajo está dedicado a mis hijas. Comentarios bienvenidos, que tengan un buen día...

M-1, aka NGC 1952.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_Nebula

This is a tiny target, so I used my intrepid C8 since it has a good reach. However, there's nothing like a long focal length telescope (f/10) and a narrowband filter (L-Ultimate) to humble you. I had a hard time polar aligning and framing using NINA because of the narrow FOV and dark filter. NINA complained that there were not enough stars to plate solve. I used long exposures and high gain, but with no success. I removed the filter, refocused, but plate solving would not work.

I switched to SharpCap and it performed better, but had its own idiosyncrasies. I selected dithering while guiding and left the default settings on. When the mount dithered, the target moved from one side of the frame to the other. Siril was unable to align the subframes in post-processing, so I dug out my old copy of Nebulosity 4.0 and did a manual two star alignment that seemed to work. Because of the stacking artifacts, I had to severely crop the image.

The image looks more like a gold nugget than a supernova remnant. Not the best output, but I learned a lot, like use a focal reducer next time.

February 1, 2026, Tallahassee, Florida, Bortle 7, full moon. Seeing was poor and there were thin layers of high altitude cirrus clouds passing by while imaging.

Old "Halley Era" Celestron C8 (1988 more or less) at native f/10, ASI533MC Pro, L-Ultimate narrowband filter, iOptron HAE29; total of 44 120-second light frames with calibration frames. Gain 100, Offset 10. Stacked and processed using Nebulosity 4, Siril, and Photoshop. Astronomy Tools had this remark about this scope and camera combination: "The ideal pixel size for Poor Seeing (4-5" FWHM) seeing is: 1.33 - 2.5" / pixel. This combination leads to slight over-sampling. Will require a good mount and careful guiding."

This is my best comet image to date. I can see a fair amount of detail in the dust tail, and a decent showing of the "forward" pointing ion tail.

I am not able to identify the fuzzy blob seen directly above the nucleus as seen in this image. PixInsight Annotation script does not show an object at this location. I cannot see an outburst in any of the subframe data. Please comment with any ideas.

ZWO ASI6200MM-P/EFW 2" x 7 (L)

Tele Vue NP101 (4" f/4.3)

Losmandy G11

Luminance filter only.

2s x 24 subs = 2m total integration time

Processied in PixInsight

Finished in Affinity Photo

The Wester Veil with more data 7,5h

This is the first time I use this method on pixinsight, (HOO combination).

-Equipment-

Scope: TS-Optics 94/414 EPDH (414mm focal)

Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro at -5°C

Guiding: ZWO OAG

Guiding camera: ZWO ASI 120MM

Mount: Skywatcher EQ5

Filter: Optrolong L-eXtreme

-Acquisition-

Light : 90x300s (7,5h) at Gain:101 Offset:49

Dark,Flat,Offset

Date : Take on 5 night from 06/13/2021 to 07/12/2021

Location : France-Alsace Bortle 4/5

-Software-

Carte du Ciel, N.I.N.A, Phd2 , PoleMaster and PixInsight

All Processing in Pixinsight

Use EZ_Processing Suite(by darkarchon) in Pixinsight

ForaxX Color combination thecoldestnights.com/

-Pre Processing-

Image Calibration

Cosmetic Correction

Debayer

Subframe Selector

Star Alignement

Local Normalization

Drizzle x2

Crop the black bands from the stacking

-Processing-

Dynamic Background Extraction

Split RGB Channels

Combine 70% of green and 30% of blue into 'Oiii'

Rename R to Ha

EZ_SoftStretch Ha and Oiii

Pixelmath: HOO combination with ForaxX expressions

R = Ha

G = ((Oiii*Ha)^~(Oiii*Ha))*Ha + ~((Oiii*Ha)^~(Oiii*Ha))*Oiii

B = Oii

Curve Transformation ( RGB/K, Hue, Saturation,...)

SCNR (Green 40%)

EZ_HDR

EZ_Star Reduction

Clear skies !

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Photographed at Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada

(285 km by road north of Toronto)

* Temperature 11 degrees C.

Total exposure time: 15 minutes.

* 540 mm focal length telescope

___________________________________________

Description:

This is a large and quite faint emission nebula and star forming region over 100 light-years across, located about 2,400 light-years away in the constellation Cepheus. It is energized by the bright, bluish central multiple star. The very small Elephant’s Trunk nebula (IC 1396A) is inside the dark elongated globule just to the right of centre.

From one web site: "The brightest star (38,000 times brighter than the Sun) ... [at the lower left edge of the nebula] is mu Cephei. It is a red supergiant star with a diameter larger than the orbit of Saturn, some 2536 times the diameter of the Sun. It is one of the largest stars we know of. Also called Herschel’s Garnet Star, mu Cephei is a variable star that varies in magnitude from 3.4 to 5.1 over a period of approximately 730 days."

For a view of this same nebula made with a 200 mm lens on July 1 of this year, click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/28078652915

For a version of this photo WITH LABELS, click on your screen to the RIGHT of the photo, or click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/31041148481

__________________________________________

Technical information:

Nikon D810a camera body on Teleview 101is apochromatic refracting telescope, mounted on Astrophysics 1100GTO equatorial mount with a Kirk Enterprises ball head

Fifteen stacked frames; each frame:

540 mm focal length

ISO 6400; 1 minute exposure at f/5.4; unguided

(with LENR - long exposure noise reduction)

Subframes registered in RegiStar;

Stacked and processed in Photoshop CS6 (brightness, contrast, colour balance, levels)

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Widefield shot of M31 - taken with waxing crescent in the night sky

Taken using a 55-250mm telephoto lens at 170mm f/7.1

Canon EOS 700D on a HEQ5 Pro mount

1 hr 30 mins of subframes, 3 mins each at ISO 800

Stacked and processed in DSS and GIMP.

NGC 4039, the antennae galaxy, LRGB 8.5 hours total, 16min subframes, telescope GSO 30cms f8 native (mild descollimation), camera STT8300 at -35°C, AO-8 unit; from La Colonia, Illapel, Chile. This is a tribute to my Master (RIP) Daniel Verschatse who won a prize with this same object years ago.

Venice, Italy

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Photographed at Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada

(285 km by road north of Toronto)

between 23.10 and 23.13 EDT

* Altitude of comet's head at time of exposures: ~12°

* Temperature 17° C.

* Total exposure time: 1.25 minutes

* 660 mm focal length telescope

___________________________________________

Description:

This comet has been touted as the brightest in a generation. The last comet that I can remember being this bright was Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997, which was undoubtedly the best comet that i will have seen in my lifetime.

This visitor to the inner solar system was discovered on March 20 this year by astronomers during the NEOWISE mission of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) space telescope (hence the name of the comet). It reached naked eye visibility this month, and I finally got into a dark sky - with no Moon in the sky to wash out the fainter outer reaches of the tail - on July 17.

In this view we see the bright head of the comet at the left side, with the broad yellowish dust tail fanning out to the right, and the fainter, narrow bluish plasma or ion tail bordering the dust tail at the top.

At the time of this photo, Comet Neowise was 78 million km (0.52 astronomical units ("AU") - the distance from Earth to the Sun) from the Sun, and 109 million km (0.73 AU) from Earth, and shone at a brightness of third magnitude, with a 10 degree tail.

___________________________________________

Technical information:

Nikon D810a camera body on Tele Vue 127is (127 mm - 5" - diameter) apochromatic astrograph, mounted on Astrophysics 1100GTO equatorial mount

Five stacked frames; each frame:

660 mm focal length

ISO 3200; 15 sec. exposure at f/5.2; unguided

With long exposure noise reduction

Subframes stacked in RegiStar;

Processed in Photoshop CS6 (levels, brightness / contrast)

***************************************************************************

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) I imaged this remotely from Spain 31st December 2022 4:30am with Epsilon 180ed and ZWO ASI2400MC pro. Exposure time was 45mins total using 60s subframes.

Cheers

Peter Shah

This image of NGC1499 was generated from the monthly image data given to iTelescope subscribers. The data was captured on their T80 telescope at E-Eye Fregenal de la Sierra on 27/10/2023.Because so few files had already been calibrated, the master files were created in AstroPixelProcessor before being processed in Pixinsight. The image is made up from 6 x LRGB 180s subframes giving a total integration time of 1.2 hours.

Scrapped, the last MOT expired September 2012 when it failed a test. Rotten front subframe mounts.

Seen in Fratton.

Our closest neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy.

Another shot made with the new telescope OS Veloce RH200.

Also this image is a quite short expusure of the subject in a 4.5° field of view.

LLRGB made with all 10min subframes time are 30:30:30:30. A car passed during the exposure so a subtle reflection in form of an arch is visible on the image... What a pity.

Thanks for watching!

Venice, Italy

The Tyne ferry "Pride of the Tyne" viewed within the mechanism which raises and lowers the landing with the tides.

Manufacturer: Renault S.A., Boulogne-Billancourt (Paris) - France

Type: NN Torpédo 6CV

Production time: 1924 - 1928

Production outlet: ± 150,000

Engine: 951cc straight-4

Power: 15 bhp / 1.980 rpm

Drivetrain: rear wheels

Speed: 60 km/h

Curb weight: 810 kg

Wheelbase: 104.7 inch

Chassis: ladder frame with wodden subframe and separate body

Steering: screw and nut

Gearbox: three-speed manual + reverse / floor shift

Electric system: Bosch 12 Volts with starter/generator by Rhone, Paris

Ignition system: Bosch magneto

Brakes front: mechanical drum brakes

Brakes rear: mechanical drum brakes

Suspension front: semi-elliptic leaf springs

Suspension rear: transverse leaf springs

Rear axle: live

Differential: spiral bevel

Wheels: closed discs

Special:

- The model NN, aka Renault 6CV, was designed by Louis Renault and at first shown at the 1924 Mondial de l'Automobile in Paris.

- In the early '20s Renault released a series of new models, recognizable by their "cheese plate radiator” or "shovel-nosed" hood, with prominent "gills" on the sides of the bonnet/hood for cooling.

- The radiator was placed behind the engine, with the gas tank behind that (note the two caps on the hood).

- In 1927 it became the first car to make a solo trip across the Sahara Desert.

- The NN Series was assembled in Billancourt, France and available as this 2-door Roadster, as 2-door Coupé Limousine, as 4-door Torpédo, as 4-door Landaulet-Taxi, as 4-door Limousine and as rolling chassis for coachbuilders.

- In 1928 the larger and heavier NN2 was introduced (1928-1929), recognizable by the bumpers.

Full write up here: theastroenthusiast.com/a-luminous-m101-with-outer-spiral-...

Big, beautiful spiral galaxy M101 is one of the last entries in Charles Messier’s famous catalog, but definitely not one of the least. About 170,000 light-years across, this galaxy is enormous, almost twice the size of our own Milky Way galaxy. M101 was also one of the original spiral nebulae observed by Lord Rosse’s large 19th century telescope, the Leviathan of Parsontown. M101 shares this modern telescopic field of view with more distant background galaxies, foreground stars within the Milky Way, and a companion dwarf galaxy NGC 5474 (upper left). The colors of the Milky Way stars can also be found in the starlight from the large island universe. Its core is dominated by light from cool yellowish stars. Along its grand design spiral arms are the blue colors of hotter, young stars mixed with obscuring dust lanes and pinkish star forming regions. Also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy, M101 lies within the boundaries of the northern constellation Ursa Major, about 23 million light-years away. Its companion NGC 5474 has likely been distorted by its past gravitational interactions with the dominant M101.

I chose to dump a lot of integration time with longer subframes (28 hours worth of 3 minute frames) to try to reveal some of the fainter outer arms not shown in most astrographs. I think I succeeded quite well – you can see the three fainter arms take shape on the left side of the galaxy. Compared to my last image of M101, this is quite the improvement!

You can view all the background galaxies in this image: flic.kr/p/2n8WdGu

Website: theastroenthusiast.com/

Instagram: www.instagram.com/the_astronomy_enthusiast/

Full version: theastroenthusiast.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/rosette...

Starless version: theastroenthusiast.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/starles...

I highly recommend opening the full version to take a closer look at some of the finer details revealed by the large integration time. A starless copy is also provided to show off fainter detail.

This incredibly detailed image of the Rosette nebula was created from more than 110 hours of exposure across three continents — Europe, USA, and Oceania. We combined 1064 subframes and 6791 minutes of exposure to reveal faint details previously masked by lower amounts of data. The high exposure time also allowed us to sharpen fine features, giving the image more contrast and revealing more fine structures.

On the top of the image lies a wispy structure of bok globules and dust, framed by the glowing ionized gas behind it. The center of the image displays the faint particle streams created by sulfur and oxygen gas blown away from the bright cluster of stars. Just below the center of the rosette nebula lies a beautiful mountain-like structure created by sulfur and hydrogen gas. Through the center of the image, faint wisps of glowing sulfer gas are visible above the dominant oxygen gas.

Credits:

Image Acquisition: Jens Unger (www.instagram.com/jazz.astro/), Rob Olson (www.instagram.com/the.robservatory/), Dominic Annis (www.instagram.com/domnuch/), Justin P. (www.instagram.com/justadudewitha_camera_/), Amrit Prasad (www.instagram.com/amrit.insta/), Tommy Lease (www.instagram.com/colorado_astro/), Jay Aigner (www.instagram.com/aignerastro/)

Image Processing: William Ostling (theastroenthusiast.com/), Justin P. (www.instagram.com/justadudewitha_camera_/)

We would love to have you in our astrophotography group! The link to join is in our Instagram bio: www.instagram.com/friendly.cosmos/

Some of the 50000 or so starlings that return each day at dusk to roost on the metal subframe of the pier - Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales

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Photographed at Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada

(285 km by road north of Toronto)

between 23.10 and 23.13 EDT

* Altitude of comet's head at time of exposures: ~12°

* Temperature 17° C.

* Total exposure time: 1.25 minutes

* 105 mm focal length lens

___________________________________________

Description:

This comet has been touted as the brightest in a generation. The last comet that I can remember being this bright was Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997, which was undoubtedly the best comet that i will have seen in my lifetime.

This visitor to the inner solar system was discovered on March 20 this year by astronomers during the NEOWISE mission of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) space telescope (hence the name of the comet). It reached naked eye visibility this month, and I finally got into a dark sky - with no Moon in the sky to wash out the fainter outer reaches of the tail - on July 17.

In this view we see the bright head of the comet at the bottom near the horizon, with the broad yellowish dust tail fanning out to the right, and the fainter, narrow bluish plasma or ion tail bordering the dust tail to the left.

At the time of this photo, Comet Neowise was 78 million km (0.52 astronomical units ("AU") - the distance from Earth to the Sun) from the Sun, and 109 million km (0.73 AU) from Earth, and shone at a brightness of third magnitude, with a 10 degree tail.

___________________________________________

Technical information:

Nikkor AF-S 70-200 mm f/2.8 G ED VRII lens on Nikon D810a camera body, mounted on Astrophysics 1100GTO mount with a Kirk Enterprises ball head

Six stacked frames; each frame:

105mm focal length

ISO 3200; 30 sec. exposure at f/5.6; unguided

With long exposure noise reduction

Subframes stacked in RegiStar;

Processed in Photoshop CS6 (levels, brightness / contrast, colour balance, deblurring of tree horizon)

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Sunset through the rock hole

This a monochrome image that was captured in Ha narrowband only, with subframes of 10 minutes each. I had intended to capture OIII and SII as well, but the target was above my limited southern horizon for only about an hour. More to come if I can get some more limited "peeks" before its gone for this season, and certainly more to come if I go to WInter Star Party next year.

Equipment:

ZWO ASI6200MM-P/EFW 2" x 7 (Ha)

TeleVue NP101is (4" f/4.3)

Losmandy G11

Software:

Captured in NINA

Processed in PixInsight

Integration:

Ha 4 x 600s = 0:40

It's not the best time here for astrophotography, the nights are short the summer solstice approaches.

But I managed to have 3 hours of data on the Western Veil

The Western Veil (also known as NGC 6960) is a part of the Cygnus Loop a large a supernova remnant whose explosion dates back 10.000 years.

The Western Veil is a nebula made of ionized gas and dust located about 1,400 light years from Earth

-Equipment-

Scope: TS-Optics 94/414 EPDH (414mm focal)

Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro at -5°C

Guiding: ZWO OAG

Guiding camera: ZWO ASI 120MM

Mount: Skywatcher EQ5

Filter: Optrolong L-eXtreme

-Acquisition-

Light : 36x300s ( 3h ) at Gain:101 Offset:49

Dark,Flat,Offset

Date : Take on 3 night 06/13-15/2021

Location : France-Alsace Bortle 4/5

-Software-

Carte du Ciel, N.I.N.A, Phd2 , PoleMaster and PixInsight

All Processing in Pixinsight

Use EZ_Processing Suite(by darkarchon) in Pixinsight

-Pre Processing-

Image Calibration

Cosmetic Correction

Debayer

Subframe Selector

Star Alignement

Local Normalization

Drizzle x2

Crop the black bands from the stacking

-Processing-

Linear Fit

Channel Combination

DBE

EZ_Deconvolution

Background Neutralization

Photometric Color Calibration

SCNR (green 50%)

EZ_Denoise

EZ_Soft Strech

EZ_HDR

Curves Transformation with mask on nebula for Saturation, Hue and K channel

EZ_Star Reduction

Clear skies !

Manufacturer: Auto Union AG, Auto Union AG, Chemnitz - Germany

Type: F4 Series Lastwagen

Engine: 692cc straight-2 two-stroke water-cooled

Power: 20 bhp / 4.000 rpm

Speed: 85 km/h

Production time: 1934 - 1936

Production outlet: unkown

Curb weight: 800 kg

Special:

- Auto Union was the result of a merger between four companies in 1932: Wanderer, DKW, AUDI and Horch.

- The emblem represents this amalgamation with its four rings, one representing each company.

- The shares were sold in 1964 to Volkswagen and from that time on they were called Auto Union (without DKW).

- In 1969, NSU became part of the union and became known as AUDI NSU. In 1985, it offically became known as AUDI.

- From 1931 until Juli 1963 they were build at Audi works in Zwickau, Germany.

- This DampfKraftWagen (DKW) "Lastwagen" / lorry was based on the F4 Series (1934-1935), having front wheel drive.

- It has a three-speed manual gearbox (with a lockable freewheel device), a "Krückstockschalthebel" / "umbrella stick" coming out of the dashboard, a 6-Volts electric system, a 32 liter fuel tank and front wheel drive.

- Its self-supporting body was supported by a U-profile plywood subframe, has rear hinged "suicide" doors for easier access and egress, independent suspension and drum brakes all around.

A complete rework and framing from my previous version of the Pleaides.

This version was to show more of the dust clouds surrounding the reflection nebula which is just as interesting as the star cluster and it's nebula itself.

Captured from my home in Gérgal, Almería, Spain in two nights on the 28 and 29th of November 2021

Subframes:

Red: 168 x 120s = 5.6h

Green 172 x 120s = 5.7h

Blue 172 x 120s = 5.7h

Calibration

20 x Darks and Flat Darks

​​​​​​​20 x Flats per filter for each night

Margate, 2021.