Deep Sky Astrophotography

08/21/2026

I had a clear night this past week and couldn't decide what I wanted to point the FRA400 at. So I opened up my old sequence for the Veil Nebula (NGC 6979). I have just over 33hrs on this target starting from 2023 when I first started in astrophotography. I've added a few hours every year since. The processing software has had some updates as well as my XP (experience points for you non-gamers, lol), so I restacked and reprocessed everything today.

The first image is SHO channel combination. The second is HOO. Most of the time you'll see this done only in HOO. But I find there is plenty of Sii in this region and adds some additional color and depth to the final image. It also brings out the very faint nebulosity around the outside of the main structures.

Details:
The Veil Nebula is a massive, visually stunning supernova remnant located approximately 2,400 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus.

It forms the visible segments of the Cygnus Loop, a colossal expanding bubble of ionized gas created when a star roughly 20 times more massive than our Sun exploded between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago. At the time of detonation, it would have shined brighter than Venus and been easily visible during daytime hours. Today, the remnant has expanded to span an area of the night sky nearly six times the diameter of a full moon.

Gear:
Askar FRA400/0.7 Reducer
Antlia 3nm SHO/RGB Filters
EQ6
Wanderer Rotator Mini
MeLe Quieter4C mini PC
NINA
Processed in PixInsight

08/21/2026

Had a few more hours to image the other night and I finally processed the data. There were a lot of bad subs that I eliminated and it reduced the total integration time to about 16Hrs. It brought out some better detail with the surrounding dust around it.

WR 134 is a variable Wolf-Rayet star located around 6,000 light years away from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus, surrounded by a faint bubble nebula blown by the intense radiation and fast wind from the star.

Hope you like it.

08/10/2026

08/01/2026

Tonight I'm finishing the latest M16 Project on the Eagle Nebula with the Pillars of Creation. I'm sharing two version of this target taken over four nights this past month. M16 is only above the horizon for a few hours each night here in the summer so it's difficult to get much imaging time on the few clear nights we have.

The first image has a total integration (exposure) time of 7hrs. The second is a total of 14hrs. I'm putting both of these up side by side to show the importance of longer exposures to reveal faint details as well as sharpen others. You can really see this in the space to the left of center with the faint wisps of dust in the area. You can also see increased detail in the core of the nebula where the Pillars of Creation reside. There is a deeper depth of field that brings an almost 3D effect in this stellar nursery.

The second image is drizzled and has a higher resolution than what FB would allow me to update. So I had to save a version under 4MB to upload. Still, at this size, you can see the difference well enough.

I hope you enjoy the final image in this month's long effort.

Dave

Gear:
Apertura Carbonstar 8" RC Telescope
Touptek 2600M Camera
Touptek RGBSHO Filter Set
Touptek OAG/Guide Cam
EQ6 Mount
MeLe Quieter 4C Mini PC
NINA/PHD2

07/30/2026

Skies were relatively clear last night and got a few more hours on M16, the Eagle Nebula with the Pillars of Creation. As you can see, more detail is coming out with about 10 hours so far. Tonight will be clear again and should get another 3-4hrs. It's not up for long.

The colors on this one were a bit of an accident. Let me know what you think.

07/27/2026

Busy stacking five panels of a mosaic tonight. This is only a small portion of the work going into this piece. There are over 70hrs spent on imaging this target this past month. I'm hoping to finally have enough time to produce a quality image for this very faint target.

07/24/2026

Just finished this little beauty for a friend. This is M16, also known as The Eagle Nebula where the Pillars of Creation reside. This target never gets very high above the horizon and is too low to capture much of the year. It happens to be up right now and I got a few more hours with this one. It's only 7.5Hrs of integration time using SHO and RGB for stars. This is the first time I've combined projects from two different cameras. I first shot this one last September with the 8" Carbonstar RC using my ASI2600MM and only had a few hours. Last night, I used my newer Touptek 2600M and got a few more hours to bring out some additional detail. Not quite as good as the Hubble Space Telescope which made this one famous years ago, but I'll take it.

Messier 16 (M16), also known as the Eagle Nebula, is a young open cluster of stars surrounded by a bright emission nebula famous for the Pillars of Creation, located about 7,000 light-years away in the constellation Serpens Cauda.
Key Facts About M16
Distance: About 7,000 light-years from Earth.
Size: Spans roughly 70 by 55 light-years.
Age: Estimated to be 1 to 2 million years old.

Gear:
ASI2600MM/Antlia RGBSHO Filters
ATR2600M/Touptek RGBSHO Filters
8" Carbonstar RC
Touptek OAG/camera
Wanderer Mini Rotator
MeLe Quieter4C Mini PC
EQ6

07/23/2026

I'm gonna call this one a wrap for now with just over 18hrs integration time.

WR 134 is a massive, variable Wolf-Rayet star located approximately 6,000 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus, famous for its intense stellar winds and surrounding bubble nebula. Star Facts
Distance: About 6,000 light-years from Earth
Constellation: Cygnus
Temperature: Over 63,000 Kelvin
Luminosity: 400,000 times brighter than the Sun
Radius: 5 times the size of the Sun

07/20/2026

Had a full night of imaging last night to bring this one up to a total of 15Hrs of integration time. Last night I switched it up and was taking 2X the O to the S & H channels.

WR 134