This picture is taken with a 120mm lens on my camera that was hooked onto my telescope mount so it could track and not get star streaks. 25 30 second individual images stacked together to reduce the noise level. The noise goes down as the square root of the number of pictures so doing 25 pictures will reduce the overall noise level 5 fold. Noise in dark images causes the little colored speckles in the darkest parts of the picture. Ion trail is on the left and dust trail on the right.
02_22nd_comet_and_meteor
Here is a 10 second picture just like the one above except it is taken from the telescope mount and tracks the stars which are real sharp in this picture but the rocks are a little blurred. No Rocket booster in this one. This picture is made up of 25 images and the stars and comet is sharp but the rocks are really distorted since each picture is taken by the camera in a different position. The stars are aligned for stacking for a sharper comet and star image.
The image below is taken by a 714 mm refractor telescope to get up close. This was 25 images stacked. Notice the blue glow of the ions in the head of the comet. The apparent size of the comet is about as big as a planet but the actual comet nucleus is only a few Km. in diameter and wouldn't even be visible without the dust and gas being spewed out of it.
The Andromeda Galaxy only 2.5 million LY away and is relatively bright. This image is made by taking 25 3 minute images and stacking them with Deep Sky Stacker and then processing it with Lightroom to get more contrast and detail. The telescope is an 8 pound 4 inch diameter F7 714 mm telescope with a carbon fiber tube to make it really light. This probably is my best image and is 14 Mb.
These are either dust clouds that reflect light from bright stars or gas that gets excited by UV light and then emits at different wavelengths according to the gas that is present. Brighter ones can just be seen in binoculars. Most of these require 20 to 30 3 to 5 minute exposures to get a good image. The Orion Nebula is the brightest one and you can actually get a good image with just one picture since it is bright and it doesn't have as much noise. The picture is still better with stacked images and total exposure of about an hour. These images show improvement over time learning the skills to do it. Orion 4 seconds with 300 mm F 5.7 telephoto zoom lens. Just one picture with lots of noise in it. This was just taken on a tripod.
Several images stacked and tracked to get rid of noise.
40 1 minute images with Nikon D750 and telescope. I have a new astrocamera that will get better images this winter from Orion Nebula.
Eagle Nebula. About 2 hour total exposure taken with Nikon camera.
This is same nebula taken with a ZWO ASI294 astro imaging camera that is cooled to -10 C which reduces noise and it is also more sensitive to hydrogen alpha (deep red). It almost looks like a different nebula. 2 hours total exposure.
The dark read splotches in the middle of the nebula are the famous Pillars of creation that were made famous with an image from Hubble. This image is done with my 4 inch telescope in my back yard.
Here is the image taken with the $10 billion plus hubble. You can see the pillar in the middle and the projection to the right of it in my image. The Hubble picture was taken in infrared and strange wavelengths of light to bring out things almost in 3 D.
Here is a 60 minute image of the Lagoon Nebula with my Nikon camera.
Same Nebula with the astro camera cooled to -10 C. This is the prettiest nebula picture so far. This has lots of Hydrogen alpha that the Nikon won't pick up because it has an IR filter that takes most of H Alpha out.
These images that are taken at high magnification of about 400 X with a 10 inch reflector. These are done by taking movies with about 2000 frames and letting software pick out the best 5% or so and stacking them.
Full Moon by Astrocam Video stacked stitched and woked on and flipped.
Moon full resolution.
Jupiter July 4, 2020.
Mars
Moon new camera.
Saturn July 4, 2020.
Crab Nebula is a supernova remnant from an exploding supernova in the year 1054. There is a spinning neutron star creating a very strong pulsar from the middle of it. Its apparent size is about 1/4 the diameter of the moon and this image is from 3 hours of exposure and then enlarged considerably.
Dumbell nebula looks like a dumbbell. This one was overexposed and I need to repeat it sometime.
Heart Nebula even bigger than the Soul.
Helix Nebula looks sort of like an eye. Some call it the eye of God. This is how it looks with a little tweaking to bring out the color.
Orion Nebula with my astrocamera cooled to -10C taken through a narrow band filter with transmits the glow from hydrogen and oxygen and not much of anything else.
Rosette I can't get this all in one frame and may try to do a mosaic if I get the time.
Christmas Tree Nebula dualband filter ZWO 300 sec X20 -20 390 gain
29__Flame_Nebula_dualband_filter_ZWO_300_sec_X20_-20_390_gain-2
Horsehead 600 sec x 17 120 gain dithered -20
Horsehead 600 sec x 17 120 gain dithered -20 closeup
Orion Nebula
Wizzard Nebula Very dim and cropped
Orion Nebula 560mm equivalent focal length. 64 three minute images out of 80 images. Imager temp -20C which reduces internal noise about 20 fold. Took 5 hours plus to get 80 images. Processing with Deep Sky Stacker and Lightroom took about 2 hours.
Casper the Friendly Ghost
Thors Helmet 180 seconds
M78 is a reflection nebula where bright stars reflect off dust and there is almost no emission from hydrogen or oxygen gas. There is dark dust that covers up the glowing dust.
M35 is an open star cluster with quite a few really big hot blue stars and some orange stars for some contrast. Not striking like the glowing emission nebulae.
Here is a picture taken from my daughter's house at 9,000 feet in Conifer, CO. The moon is setting just as it was getting light on the snow covered mountains. Nikon D 750 with 350mm zoom lens no tripod. I woke up and saw this out the window and ran for the camera. I guess you would consider this astrophotography.
The Leo Triplet of 3 galaxies
The Hamburger Galaxy up close. It is the right galaxy in the Leo Triplet
The Sombrero Galaxy up 30 to 40 degrees in the South Sky. Scientists think there is a 1 billion solar mass black hole in the middle of the core.
The Whirlpool Galaxy with about 6 hours of imaging to get the noise out. This one is near the big dipper.
M106 from 4 inch telescope 4 hours of exposure. About 20 million LY away.
East Veil Nebula. Part of a supernova remnant.
North American Nebula Star forming area. I can only get part of it in my field of view. Imagine that it is the gulf of mexico.
Pelican Nebula. I guess it looks like a Pelican or maybe there is a rabbit head in there.
45x2 minute exposures of the Pleiades cluster
3 hour image made with multiple 10 minute exposures of the Andromeda Galaxy
Soul Nebula Emission nebula close to the Heart nebula. Looks a little like a CT scan of the head to me but I am biased this way.
Rosette Nebula - Emission Nebula that is a little off center and slightly too big to get it all in. This one is bright and easy to get a good image. If I figure out how to get 2 images stitched with these red nebulae I will send it some day.
Witches Broom Part of the West Veil Nebula - supernova remnant.
Heart Nebula Looks like the right and left ventricle and septum of the heart. I can't get it all into one field of view so some is missing.
Milky Way at Bell Rock. 12 15-second exposures. 3/13/22
Hercules Cluster
Milky Way at Cathedral Rock
Inspiration Point with Milky Way
The Lobster with Claws was a difficult object to get.
The Soul nebula wouldn't fit in one frame so I took 2 and stitched them together. I think the color was a little different in each so the nebula looks 2 toned.
Here is the California Nebula shot last night. It is too large for one frame so I took 3 different images and spliced them together as a Mosaic image. I set up each image area manually.
I stayed up most of the night watching the lunar eclipse and took lots of pictures. Here is my blood red total eclipse picture. Taken at 4:24 AM. Stacked 10 images - Processed with lightroomCC then Topaz Denoise.
This is a reflection nebula that is made of dust and gas and most of the light comes from the giant star Rigel in Orion. This is about 900 light years away. The reflection nebula is really dim but with some processing you can bring it out. You really can't see it just looking through the telescope.
Christmas Tree Nebula - Merry Christmas 2022
Sunspots January 11, 2023
Andromeda Galaxy from 40 images taken over four nights.
Orion Nebula Long Exposure
Beginning of Eclipse 2024 showing sun spots - K9SG
Eclipse 2024 showing corona - K9SG
Eclipse 2024 with corona and solar flares - K9SG
Giant Sunspot 5-10-24
Sunspots 8-13-24
