This is NGC 6888 also known as the Crescent Nebula. I do not understand the name at all. Some people call i the Horseshoe Crab Nebula or Euro Sign nebula. I like the name Space Brain Nebula.
This was my first narrowband image. I processed it using an HOO Palette. I’m quite proud of the results I was able to achieve with this. I had originally planned on getting some RGB data for star colors, but time and the weather worked against me.
I’ve made a lot of upgrades over the last year. The biggest upgrade I made recently was to make the jump to mono. This will have been my third camera upgrade as well (fourth if you count my initial jump from a DSLR to a cooled CMOS).
I first jumped from a Canon 7D (Unmodified) to a ZWO ASI071 MC Pro, then went to a ZWO ASI2600MC Pro and now finally a ZWO ASI2600MM Pro. This jump to mono required me to get a filterwheel and a set of filters.
This is going to be an interesting jump to a new chapter of imaging.
Messier 27 is also known as the Dumbbell Nebula or the Apple Core Nebula. M27 is a bright planetary nebula about 1227 light-years away.
This was my second attempt at this target. I was able to get about two hours of exposure time between clouds. I want to get more time with this, but I was eager to put my focal reducer on and start going for the Milky Way targets.
Messier 51, also known as the Whirlpool Galaxy is a face-on spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici located about 30 million light-years away from us.
I took this in June over multiple times and was able to collect about 8 hours of data.
This is my second attempt at Messier 13, the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules. When I attempted this target last year I only had about 10 minutes of data.
This time I was able to spend a lot more time and get about 2 hours of data. I want to attempt this again, with even more time.
Messier 101, commonly known as the Pinwheel Galaxy is a great target to image during galaxy season. I captured this image over multiple nights in NJ and at a dark site in Cherry Springs, PA.
With this target, I had gone back to my native focal length of 952mm by removing my Starizona Apex 0.65x Focal Reducer.
I had to throw away over 50 frames during this session due to focusing issues I was facing with NINA.
This is M81 & M82, also known as Bode’s and the Cigar Galaxy. This is a pair of beautiful galaxies in Ursa Major. Also in this image, is NGC3077.
This group of galaxies is the closest galaxy group to our own very local group of galaxies which include the Milky Way
This was the first target I imaged with my new telescope, the Explore Scientific FCD 100 Carbon Fiber 127mm Triplet. This was a total of 18 hours and 50 minutes of exposure time.
Is it NGC 2237 or 2244 or something else? It’s the Rosette Nebula, and multiple star clusters are part of what we normally call the Rosette Nebula. Regardless of what objects are cataloged, the whole target is beautiful.
This was the first light for my new Optolong L-eXtreme filter. I did take this image back in December 2020, but I just finally had a chance to finish the write-up for this spectacular target.
In my whole astrophotography career (which is really short), I’ve been using multiple guide scopes to guide. I finally decided to pull the trigger on an Off-Axis Guider (OAG). I recently purchased an Explore Scientific ED127 CF. This was an upgrade from the aluminum model. Purely from an aesthetic point of view, I did not want to have a white scope on top of my new shiny black carbon fiber scope. There is also the bonus of having a lighter setup as well.
I’m excited and nervous to set up something new and also to move away from a setup that has been working and been rock solid for me.
Now I’m looking forward to spending an endless amount of time getting the back focus between the OAG and the camera working correctly.
If you are interested in purchasing these items, here they are.
Messier 78 or NGC 2068, also known as Casper the Friendly Ghost (not sure how it applies, I don’t see a ghost), is a bright blue reflection nebula in Orion. The nebula can be found between Betelgeuse and closer towards Alnitak.
This is the first multi-night imaging session that I planned. I captured this over three nights totaling a little over 14 hours of data.
I also learned some new techniques in PixInishgt while processing this target.
