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M101 - The Pinwheel Galaxy

62x90s at 100 gain

ASI 533MC Pro

No filters

Orion 8" f/5 newtonian with Baader gen 1 coma corrector

Orion Atlas EQ-G mount

Overall, I think this turned out quite well for how short of an exposure it was. Apologies for taking so long to post this one.

While I am happy to have a mount that can perform better while handling heavier payloads, it is a bitch and a half to set up due to its size and weight, so I am still in the market for a harmonic mount in the near future.

My first choice is the ragdoll 20 pro but after a tripod and pier extension that'll probably run me about 2500 USD. I'm keeping my eye out for used AM5s and such but I don't have high hopes.

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Guess who has a new setup?

As a reward to myself for graduating today with two semesters in a row of straight As, I bought some used equipment to finally take part in galaxy season! Namely, a 2009 Orion EQ-G mount and 2008 Orion 8" f/5 newtonian OTA.

It's not the strainwave I was hoping for but it has a much higher weight capacity compared to the AVX, and this one has already been hyper tuned. The previous owner said he regularly got between 0.4 and 0.7 RMS guiding depending on seeing conditions. I haven't been able to test this quite yet because it seems that I need to lower my OAG for it to be within the imaging circle of this telescope.

As for the telescope itself, it's lovely, if quite heavy. I still need to perfect the collimation, but I'll borrow a Cheshire eyepiece from my professor for that. Otherwise, I only need to replace the focuser so that I can mount my EAF.

My first test target was M81, for which I took 51x30s at 100 gain and -15C

My second target was M101, for which I took 85x30s of exposure at the same gain and temperature.

These images honestly came out remarkably well considering that they are such short subs(due to lack of guiding), using the wrong calibration frames, and not even an hour each of exposure.

Unfortunately, the coma corrector is old as well and likely not designed for the size of modern sensors like the IMX533, so in subs, there is significant coma and vignetting at the edges, which is also likely why my OAG has been useless so far. At least since I plan to use this for galaxies, none of my targets should fill the frame more than M81, so the prism intruding on the already small imaging circle shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Overall, I'm very happy to finally be out again doing this! I missed imaging so so much but there was simply nothing to capture with my 490mm refractor, so this 1000mm reflector will be perfect for some of the larger galaxies this season and perhaps planetary nebulae later in the year. Clear skies, y'all!

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IC-443 The jellyfish nebula

Ha+O3 45x300s

S2+O3 35x300s

Taken from Bortle 7

Celestron AVX

Askar 71F

ZWO ASI533MC Pro

Askar Color Magic C filters

Processed with Siril and Cosmic Clarity

I actually took and processed this back in March but totally spaced and forgot to post it here! To give an update, I've been trying to fix up an old sct for galaxy season, but after 3 failed attempts to find a fitting dovetail, I've given up on it, at least for now. Instead, I am buying some used equipment from a guy at my local astronomical league and will be replacing my AVX with an Orion Atlas EQ-G that has already been hyper tuned. It's not the strainwave I was looking for, but it will perform far better than my current mount and has a higher weight capacity, necessary for the Orion 8" f/5 newtonian he is selling me alongside it.

In other awesome news, I am graduating community college finally! On may 23rd I walk across the stage wearing this cap featuring the school's mascot as a constellation.

I've already been accepted to transfer to the exact 4 year university I wanted to go to, specifically to study astronomy!

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Wait did you take these pictures yourself? Am I understanding that correctly?

I did! Using my equipment, I take many long exposures and use software to put them together and bring out details while reducing noise. For example, my horse head nebula image was 25 pictures of 300 seconds(5 minutes) each for a total of 2 hours and 5 minutes of exposure time.

Every image I have posted here was made entirely using my own data

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The Horse Head and Flame nebulae

25x300s Ha+OIII

ASI 533MC Pro

Askar 71F f/6.9 quadruplet refractor

Askar Color Magic C1 2" mounted filter

Celestron AVX mount

Sorry for completely disappearing for a while! I've been busy with classes and having a rough time with opportunities to collect and process data. This was mostly processed in Siril with my normal workflow but with the addition of Cosmic Clarity instead of Graxpert for sharpening and denoising.

Overall I'm very happy with how this turned out for only two hours of data but the stars are VERY green, so I'll likely want to get at least half an hour unfiltered to replace them, which tbh is probably something I should make more of a habit as I start doing SHO pallet images as well as for any target near brighter stars as I'm working on with the jellyfish nebula. Though, converting this image to HOO may have been able to fix this.

Otherwise, I have a good amount of data on the large nebula complex in Auriga but I'm having no luck getting it to form a proper mosaic(and no, I'm not buying Astro Pixel Processor) so I might just wait for Siril 1.4 to finally launch so I can stack the mosaic directly.

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So apparently I never got around to posting this image of M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, which was the last thing I took with my DSLR before my camera came. 10x600s 800iso. I'm not very happy with the huge dust spots on the left side but I do love how much color I was able to bring out!

Eventually I plan to redo this in a 2x2 mosaic with my current camera or possibly using loaner equipment so I can learn monochrome imaging and attempt to capture the O3 nebula that was discovered a few years ago. Regardless, I have other targets that are higher priorities for me right now.

The reason I'm realising I hadn't posted it was because I was actually mentioned in a local astronomy newsletter by someone that attended the event I took this at!

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The Jellyfish Nebula - IC443 - SH2-248

45*300s in HOO

Askar 71F

ASI 533MC Pro

Askar Color Magic C1 Ha+O3

Bortle 5.5ish

This nebula is one of the most studied supernova remnants in existence, thought to be 30-35k years old. It is located in the constellation Gemini, approximately 5kly away from Earth.

It felt great to finally get out and have a great night again! My guiding was still awful and unfortunately I seem to have gotten a cat hair on the lens, causing the awful diffraction spikes on Propus, the brightest star in the image, but I'm very happy with how this turned out! Next time I get the opportunity to go out to the state park I shot this from, I'll use my other filter to capture S2 and O3 data so I can experiment with more pallettes.

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Birthday update!

Today is my birthday and I thought I'd update y'all on what's happening.

1. I have fixed my guiding it seems, at least enough that deconvolution can handle my slightly oblong stars

2. I finally caved and ordered a mini PC as my laptop has been crapping out in the cold. I was hoping to wait on it longer but oh well. At least now I don't have to go out in the cold as much once things are all set up, nor do I have to shake my mouth a bunch walking out to check on things. The mini PC and printer supplies should arrive Sunday.

3. Unfortunately work has been giving me fewer hours, so things could be kinda tight for a bit, but I'll manage.

4. Before I had to pack up early the other night, I managed to get another hour or so of the lobster claw nebula (SH2-157) in Ha and OIII and these filters work very nicely!

Thank you to everyone who's supported me so far!

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I now own a photo printer!

I found one for only $20 at goodwill(ew) the other day and I'm waiting on ink and paper to arrive. Once that's here, I can start trying to edit for printing and make up to 8"x10" prints. I'll have to figure out mailing things but I'm happy to offer these for sale once they're ready!

I'll make another post when the time comes, but I'll likely only sell prints of the images I've taken with my 533mc, which is only my most recent version of the triangulum galaxy right now.

In other news, snow and wind has kept me inside, but hopefully I'll get a chance to go out again and get several hours of the lobster claw nebula(sh2-157) in ha and o3.

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Happy new year everyone!

I was finally able to get outside again the other night and I'm pretty much not sick anymore! Unfortunately, I'm still struggling with guiding, though I think I might've finally figured out that my problem is chasing the seeing. After pruning, I ended up with 1200s of the first panel of the soul nebula and 1800s of the lobster claw nebula.

Unfortunately, my laptop was struggling in the cold so that night was screwed anyway, but it still felt great to go out again and finally try out filters!

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Not sure where else to ask this, but does anyone here have experience with Etsy and/or Prodigi? Since I'm stuck at home and waiting for good weather I figure I might as well get a jump on the possibility of selling prints of my astrophotography.

Any help is appreciated!

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Triangulum Galaxy

22x300s

I'm going stir crazy with no classes, being sick, and getting taunted by clear but way too cold weather so I've reprocessed this yet again. This time I was given suggestions by people way more experienced to not let the blacks clip and have a pure black background. Not entirely sure how I feel about it because it's not quite evenly illuminated, but there's a lot more detail in the galaxy itself, especially around the edges.

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I want to be completely clear that I do not, under any circumstances humor astrology, religion, or any other form of pseudoscience. If you want to use space as an aesthetic, do the work to actually learn about it instead of taking the first thing that seems cool and quirky.

Basically, don't come to my page if you're anti-science.

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Unfortunately last night ended up being a total bust. I think the dew was screwing with my guiding. I was planning to do a 2x2 mosaic of the Andromeda galaxy but all of my shots turned out poorly. Chances are this was also the last good night of the year 🤷‍♀️

Next time I go out though, I should have my dual band filters and I plan to start with the bubble nebula since it can fit in a single panel.

For now, enjoy the final edited version of my triangulum galaxy shot

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M33 - Triangulum Galaxy

22x300s 100 gain 0 offset -15C

This galaxy is our second nearest neighbor after Andromeda at 2.73mly away and is fairly close to it in the night sky.

I'm back! I ended up getting the ASI 533MC Pro on a Black Friday sale and this is the first proper image I've gotten with it! I'm very satisfied with how little noise the sensor has and the USB passthrough simplifies things quite a bit.

I do wish I could've gotten the monochrome version of the camera but that alone would've put the price up by $200, let alone the cost of filters and a wheel. In the meantime, I only plan to get a pair of dual band filters and have my eye on a set so that I can snag them as soon as they go on sale.

This picture I believe is honestly print worthy, though likely only for smaller prints such as 4x6" or 5x7". I'll be learning to edit for that and seeking out a local print shop while I wait for another good night. Once I have that set up, I'll be happy to ship these anywhere in the country.

As always, feel free to support me through Kofi as I could use all the help I can get these days.

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I finally have a guide camera!

I managed to find an SV905C on FB marketplace for only $40, about ⅓ of the list price. Amazon was also having a small sale on the cheapest guide scope, bringing it from $54 to $41 or so.

This should speed up my set up so I don't have to spend 45 minutes getting under 10" of polar alignment and allow me to take much longer and more stable exposures!

It may also let me do a little bit of planetary photography if I drag my old ass SCT out, but that's probably not gonna happen much.

Now I'm just waiting for a good sale on the Askar color magic c set of filters or any cooled imx533 sensor camera 🤞

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There are a fair few faux feminist statements I hate, but “We are the daughters of the witches you couldn’t burn” is one of them.