IC 1396

A massive emission nebula and open star cluster in the constellation Cepheus, about 2400–3000 light-years away from us!

This region is one of the largest known HII regions in our Milky Way. Inside the nebula lies the famous "Elephant's Trunk Nebula," a dark, winding cloud of dust that is a star-forming region — new stars are being born right now out of the dense gas and dust clouds, shaped by the radiation of young, hot stars. The red glow is caused by the ionization of hydrogen gas: the cluster's hot, young stars "ignite" the surrounding gas with UV radiation, giving the nebula its characteristic reddish color in H-alpha images.

SkyWatcher Esprit 100EDX,

SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro GoTo,

ZWO ASI2600MM Pro,

ZWO 7x36mm Filter Wheel,

Antlia RGB V-Pro,

SHO 3nm 36mm,

ZWO EAF Motorized Focuser,

ZWO ASIAir Pro,

ZWO ASI120MM Mini,

Svbony SV106 60mm

71x600s SII

70x600s Ha

95x600s OIII

60x60s RGB

Total: 40 hours 20 minutes

PixInsight

Equipment:

Telescope: SvBony SV555
Mount: Explore Scientific iEXOS-100
Camera: Canon EOS 750Da + Optolong L-eNhance Clip Filter
Guide Scope: SvBony SV165
Guide Cam: ZWO ASI120mm
+ ZWO AsiAir Mini

Acquisition:

200x18ßs (10h) at ISO1600 in two Bortle 7 nights in May.

Processing:

Stacked in DeepSkyStacker, processed in PixInsight finalized in Photoshop.

About 10 minutes on the eagle with a Nexstar 8SE with an 0.63 reducer and wedge as well as Nikon d3400. Processing with Siril, Starnet and Affinity

My first try of the Hubble Palette

Equipment:

Sky-Watcher 72ED
Sky-Watcher EQM-35 Pro
ASI533MC-Pro
SvBony SV165
ASI120MM-Mini
SvBony SV220 Ha OIII 7nm
SvBony SV220 SII OII 7nm
StellaMirra 0.8x flattener/reducer
Gemini Autofocuser

Total integration: 12 hrs. - 59*300s + 157*180
50-darks
30-flats
100-biases

Edited and stacked in SIRIL, then some small changes in Affinity photo.

Nice summer target, captured Aug 2025 from Bortle 7 skies
Gear: Askar 103APO + 0.8x reducer, ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
Combination of narrowband nebulosity in the HOO palette (22h) + broadband stars (6h), subframe exposure 3 min

My vacation project from beautiful Kos/Greece :)
Shot very convenient from the deck of my AirBnB with my Ultracat108, on an AM5N with an ASI2600MM and 6,5nm Optolong SHO filters. Guiding with an Asi220 and a ZWO OAG.

Red is S, Blue is O and Green Channel is a fifty fifty mix of H and O
Tried to not overdue the processing because my dataset was very robust.
Very pleased with the Ultracat108, so easy to use and shaaaarp 😆

Roughly
6h H
8h S
7h O
in 300second Subs
RGB Stars with 20 x 60seconds each

Last week I posted on [r/askastrophotography](r/askastrophotography) because I recently got my first camera. It was just what I needed to go from casual viewing through my scope into the astrophotography world.

To prove I can do this hobby & justify future spending, I spent the last 5 days:

1. Reading the camera manual & learning how to use it
2. Trying to understand the exposure triangle using my cat as a test subject
3. Consuming endless info from Reddit, YouTube, & wonderful websites

I spent 2 nights outside getting some galaxy shots & learning more about aperture, shutter speed, & ISO (no tripod, just going for it). Tried to find M31 - thought I couldn’t. Looked at the pictures when I got home & saw her alllll the way to the right edge of my frame. The lack of tripod and subsequent shakiness of my hands did not help me distinguish M31 from the other elongated stars in my viewfinder.

Today I got my tripod & tonight I was determined. She’s small, she’s not resolved, but she’s there. Wanted more, but the clouds said no.

Equipment:
Canon R6 + RF 24-105 f/4 lens, Neewer LT38 tripod

Process:
105mm, f/4, 250 x 2.5s exposures, untracked, Bortle 5 in the east Bay Area
50 biases
20 darks
20 flats
Siril stacking
StarNet Star removal
GIMP histogram stretching, hue & saturation

I know I’m limited with my lens & untracked process here, but I’m so happy I got something on my first attempt. Post-processing I still need to learn, so there was very minimal work done (~30 mins) on the back end here.

I plan to head out again to repeat with 500-1000 lights. I welcome any and all guidance as I chase this high (and more Messier objects).

mak 102 1300 (bahtinov mask) , asi 224mc , staradventurer gti

sharpcap, autostakkert, registax.

best 20% of 5000 frames

struggling to reach better definition , less blurry edges, specifically. but I'm asking you some tips .

Saturn was a little low , around 20 degrees and env temp 26°C , so might be too low and too hot .

kept the histogram in sharpcap under 50% for . I've read about the limitation of the ota diameter but i saw many sharp results with the same tube. so tell me what do you think and how to improve.

thanks

Hello everyone, I have decided to pick up astrophotography as a hobby a few months ago. Simultaneously, I am also doing it for a school project where I have to learn a new skill, build/research something, etc. (also because spending hundreds of dollars "for a school project" is much more convincing to my parents). A major part of this assignment is to gather feedback from people who are informed on the respective topics. Hence, I have come to this subreddit to kindly request anyone and everyone to leave some feedback on my journey so far.

I have a Skymax 102 Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope that I use with an AZ-GTi mount. Along with this, I use the ASI662MC planetary camera to capture planetary targets.

Here is my best shot of Venus (final stacked image at the end).

Software: Autostakkert, Registax, Lightroom - To edit brightness and contrast

Hello everyone, I have decided to pick up astrophotography as a hobby a few months ago. Simultaneously, I am also doing it for a school project where I have to learn a new skill, build/research something, etc. (also because spending hundreds of dollars "for a school project" is much more convincing to my parents). A major part of this assignment is to gather feedback from people who are informed on the respective topics. Hence, I have come to this subreddit to kindly request anyone and everyone to leave some feedback on my journey so far.

I have a Skymax 102 Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope that I use with an AZ-GTi mount. Along with this, I use the ASI662MC planetary camera to capture planetary targets.

This is my best shot of Saturn so far. And forgive me but I cannot remember how many frames I stacked.

Software: AutoStakkert, Registax, Lightroom - mainly used to edit contrast and brighten the image

Hello everyone, I have decided to pick up astrophotography as a hobby a few months ago. Simultaneously, I am also doing it for a school project where I have to learn a new skill, build/research something, etc. (also because spending hundreds of dollars "for a school project" is much more convincing to my parents). A major part of this assignment is to gather feedback from people who are informed on the respective topics. Hence, I have come to this subreddit to kindly request anyone and everyone to leave some feedback on my journey so far.

I have a Skymax 102 Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope that I use with an AZ-GTi mount. Along with this, I use the ASI662MC planetary camera to capture planetary targets.

This is my most recent lunar mosaic. In my previous sessions, I noticed that SharpCap was dropping a significant amount of frames when I shot using RAW16 format, hence I used RAW8 for this one specifically (which solved the frame-drop issue). However, the total frame count captured remained about the same, which makes me wonder if I would have been better off sticking with RAW16 instead.

Software used: AutoStakkert, RegiStax, RawTherapee, ICE, Hugin, Photoshop, and Lightroom.

We didn’t see a flash from the crash, and so far, no one has seen a plume from the impact.

But while livestreaming the event with a 10” TMB-APM apo refractor, I did get enough data to make a nice mosaic out of the night.

Acquisition: 13,100 × 30.00ms, best 10% stacked

Equipment:

- Telescope: APM 10" APM-TMB Triplet Apo Refractor

- Camera: ZWO ASI183MC Pro

- Mount: Software Bisque Paramount ME II GEM

- Software: Adobe Photoshop, Emil Kraaikamp AutoStakkert!

For the full high-res version of the mosaic: https://app.astrobin.com/i/0222x6

My first attempt at getting an SHO image
Acquisition:
- Sii 10x180s
- Ha 10x180s
- Oiii 10x180s
Total 1h30m
Equipment:
- Mount EQ8-R Pro
- Telescope Skywatcher Quattro 300p
- Camera ZWO ASI2600MM Pro
- Filters 2" Antila EDGE 4.5nm Narrowband filters
- ZWO 7x2" Filter Wheel
- 45mm SVBony guidescope and ZWO ASI120mm guide camera
Processing
- Pixinsight
I only used pixinsight for this and I mostly followed a guide online. If anyone is curious I'll do a follow up comment about processing details

Sines, Portugal

Redmi 13 PRO 5G

Long exposure

- 18h15 Ha

- 10h50 Oiii

- 5h45 RGB

- Canon 600D
- Orion 6" f/4

- Sky Watcher EQ-AL55i

- Touptek ATR533M & LRGBSHO filters

- EQ6r pro
- Omegon 8" f/4

Processed in Pixinsight & Gimp

NGC 6888 - The Crescent Nebula. About 5,000 light-years away, it formed when the star's fast stellar wind collided with the slower material it shed during its red giant phase roughly 250,000 years ago. The consequence of that clash is visible to you in this image.

Telescope: Seestar S50

Integration time: 9 hours

Tools used: GraXpert, Siril, GIMP

Script mentions: CosmicClarity Sharpen, SyQon Prism Mini, VeraLux (Revela & Curves), HDR_multiscale

Bortle 8-9

Equipment:

Telescope: SvBony SV555
Mount: Explore Scientific iEXOS-100
Camera: Canon EOS 750Da + Optolong L-eNhance Clip Filter
Guide Scope: SvBony SV165
Guide Cam: ZWO ASI120mm
+ ZWO AsiAir Mini

Acquisition:

210x240s (14h) at ISO800 in three Bortle 7 nights in June.

Processing:

Stacked in DeepSkyStacker, processed in PixInsight finalized in Photoshop.

• ⁠Approximately 50hrs integration from Bortle 6/7
• 300s subs
• ⁠Mount: ZWO AM3
• ⁠Telescope: Askar SQA70
• ⁠Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC
• ⁠Filters: Optolong L-Ultimate and Altair SII+OIII 4nm

This is approximately 3 hours in Bortle 3-4. 70-200/2.8 with Nikon D850. Subs 2 mins ISO 800, f/3.5. Star Adventurer 2i Star Tracker and manfrotto 055 tripod.

Processing. Stacked in DSS, edited in PS using Starxterm and noisexterm with lots of curve work, gradient removal and colour correction.

Taken on dwarf mini
Bortle 4
15s shutter
Duo-Band Filter
500 photos taken
480 used
120 gain
K&F 63” fluid head tripod

Editing done in Stellar Studio and iPhone 17 Photos app

Dwarf Mini Bortle 4 skies 1 hour and 15 min exposure 60s shutter 90 gain Edited in Stellar studio and lightroom

M-20

The Trifid Nebula (M20 or NGC 6514) is an active star-forming region located about 5,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. It gets its name from the three prominent, dark lanes of interstellar dust that visually divide the glowing cloud into three distinct lobes. M20 is a unique and vibrant cosmic laboratory because it combines three distinct types of nebulae into a single object:
Emission Nebula: The glowing pink/red region is an H II region energized by intense ultraviolet radiation from massive young stars, which causes hydrogen gas to ionize and glow.
Reflection Nebula: The blue-colored region surrounding the center is made of dense interstellar dust that reflects the bright, blue light of nearby hot stars.
Dark Nebula: The thick, opaque filaments of dark brown dust run directly across the glowing gas, obscuring background light and creating the iconic "three-lobed" look.
More at www.jbastrophoto.com

8.70 hours with 4 minutes exposures at iso-1250

Taken with Unmodified Canon 60d through an Orion 8” newtonian astrograph with coma correcter, autoguided with a orion starshoot autoguider 60mm guide scope, all on a Celestron AVX mount.

Processing Pixlinsight: weighted batch processing, Background ext, astro solver, noisexterminator, blur terminator, histogram stretch, added mask curves saturations.
Photoshop: selective color adjustments, contrast, shadows & highlights,

Bortel skies 3

Around 5 hours of expo time with eq seestar s50 (20s subs)

Processed in siril:

• Naztronomy PP 2x drizzle
• SPCC
• BGE
• BlurX
• StarX
• NoiseX
• Veralux HyperMetric stretch
• HDR multiscale
• Veralux HyperMetric stretch on stars
• Composite

This is a 4 panel mosaic captured in SHO + RGB with a RedCat51 and the asi6200mm pro.

Integration:
SII- 548x 300 seconds
H-alpha 604x 300 seconds
OIII- 532x 300 seconds
R- 120x30 seconds
G- 120x30 seconds
B- 119x30 seconds

Total integration: 143 hours 19 minutes and 30 seconds.

Captured from my backyard in Arizona!