30 second exposure in Mount Teide, Tenerife July 2026

Acquisition:

• Ha: 61 subs x 300s
• OIII: 73 subs x 300s
• SII: 90 subs x 300s
• R: 37 subs x 60s (stars)
• G: 31 subs x 60s (stars)
• ⁠B: 39 subs x 60s (stars)
• Bortle 6 sky

Equipment:

• ⁠Telescope: Celestron EdgeHD 800 with 0.7x focal reducer
• ⁠Mount: Celestron CGX
• Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM Pro
• Filters: Antila 3nm SHO
• Filter Wheel: ZWO EFW
• Guide Camera: ZWO ASI174MM Mini with OAG

Pixinsight Processing:

• ⁠Weighted Batch Preprocessing - Stacking
• ⁠SetiAstro - Automatic DBE Background Extraction ⁠
• RC Astro BlurXterminator ⁠
• GraxPert Denoising ⁠
• ⁠SetiAstro - Statistical Stretch
• ⁠PixelMath - ForaxX Dynamic Palette ⁠
• StarNet2 Star removal and replace with RGB Stars

The Ghostly Dust of the Iris Nebula (NGC 7023) ✨

I've been sitting on this project for a while, because I had trouble tastefully processing this incredibly complex dusty region, with a stunning reflection nebula about 1,300 light-years away. While the stars are beautiful, I think it looks absolutely mesmerizing when they are removed.

Flip through the images to see how removing the starfield completely reveals the massive, dark cosmic dust lanes hiding in the background!

20 hours of data was gathered throughout short, short summer nights at my backyard observatory in Bortle 4.5 skies. Sharpstar 13028HNT hyperbolic newtonian at f/2.8

Which version do you prefer? 🔍

Better details image here: https://app.astrobin.com/i/pau097?r=0#fullscreen

The "Tulip Nebula" is located in a vast region of star formation within the constellation Cygnus. You can find the "tulip" in the top right, but I find the surrounding intricate ionized gases are just as fascinating. To my eyes, there's a gigantic bell ringing in the middle.

Fun fact! When the photons represented in this image were emitted about 6,000 years ago, the Earth's axis was not pointed toward the North Star (Polaris) we know and love today. In fact, it aligned almost perfectly with Thuban (Alpha Draconis), a relatively faint star located in the tail of the constellation Draco.

Full frame photo available at: https://app.astrobin.com/i/9dqsdu

Subs: Ha/Oiii 57 x 300s

Total integration time: 4h 45m

Equipment:

• Telescope: William Optics Pleiades 111
• Main camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
• Mount: ZWO AM5N
• Filter: Optolong L-Ultimate 2"
• Accessories: ZWO EAF Pro, ZWO 5x2 EFW
• Guidescope: William Optics Guide Star 61
• Guide camera: ZWO ASI220MM Mini

Processing:

• Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight
  • RC Astro BlurXTerminator
  • RC Astro NoiseXTerminator
  • RC Astro StarXTerminator
• Adobe Photoshop 2026

Hi all !

One of the most fascinating aspects of modern cosmology (and it rlly blows my mind) is that all ordinary matter, meaning stars, planets, interstellar gas, black holes, and every object we can directly observe, accounts for only about 5% of the total energy density of the Universe.

According to the standard cosmological model, the remaining ~95% consists of dark matter and dark energy, two components that cannot be directly observed through electromagnetic radiation.

The existence of dark matter is inferred from several independent observations, including galaxy rotation curves, gravitational lensing, and the large-scale structure of the Universe. In particular, galaxies rotate at velocities that cannot be explained by the gravitational influence of visible matter alone, implying the presence of a substantial amount of non-luminous mass.

Honestly, I think the fact that ~95% of the Universe remains unexplained is what makes cosmology so exciting.

✨ Target: Milky Way + M31

🔭 Mount: Star Adventurer 2i

📷 Camera: Canon EOS 6D mod.

🔎 Lens: Samyang 14mm f/2.8 (f8)

🔬 Sampling: 1.61'/px

🔴 Acquisition: ISO1600

⏰ Integration: 170x60s (2h 50min)

Calibration: 50 dark, 50 flat, 50 dark-flat

💻 Processing: Siril, GIMP, Snapseed

📍 Location: Pantelleria (Italy)

📅 Date: Aug. 11, 2026

🌌 Sky: Bortle 3

Here's the van den Bergh Catalog I completed in 2026

This 2-part poster presents all 159 van den Bergh objects for a total of 374 hours of total integration, with an average of 4h25 / target.

I've also created an interactive PDF version of this poster with pop-up descriptions of each object as you mouse-over the images: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uuf5MQph3m7ZhLZYi-tcjIYaAM9_9iKm

Equipment used:

Setup 1:
Mount: IOptron SkyGuider Pro
Camera: Nikon D5300 astromod
OTA: William Optics Zenithstar 61II + Field Flattener FLAT61A
Focal/Aperture: 360 mm @ f/5.9
Filter: Radian Telescopes 2" Triad Ultra Quad-Band Narrowband Filter
H-beta:5nm, OIII:4nm, H-alpha:4nm, SII:4nm
Guide scope: William Optics Uniguide 32mm
Guide camera: ZWO ASI120MM mini + ASIair Pro

Setup 2:
Mount: IOptron SkyGuider Pro
Camera: Nikon D5300 astromod
OTA: Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR
Accessories: Pixel TW-283 remote controller

All images have been processed in PixInsight. The Poster was done in LibreOffice Impress.

You can also see

• the Messier Catalog here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/s/fW0WgnWDJ6
• the Caldwell Catalog here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/s/nL1VD6Yyrx
• the Sharpless Catalog here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/s/0l9AMvy3PQ

Partial lunar eclipse, shot with a DWARF Mini. 3-frame bursts aligned and stacked in Siril, then cropped and arranged chronologically.

The Eagle Nebula is an emission nebula located in the constellation Serpens, around 6,500 light-years away. It’s a massive star-forming region filled with clouds of gas and dust, with the famous Pillars of Creation being one of its most recognizable features.
Shot with a Canon R6 Mark II and a Sky-Watcher Quattro 150, with 60 hours of total integration.
Processed in Siril using Cosmic Clarity for sharpening and denoising, background extraction, and Histogram Transformation for the stretch.

Nikon z9 and 400mm 2.8f, in my backyard 😁

Just an old neat effect of dolly zoom into a galaxy! From 300 mm focal length to 25 mm. Created in Blender.

Here's the Sharpless Catalog I completed in 2025

This 3-part poster presents all 313 Sharpless objects for a total of 705 hours of total integration, with an average of 4h25 / target.

Completing the Sharpless Catalogue marked a major milestone for me. It was a lot of work for sure and took some good amount of motivation and perseverance but it is very rewarding to complete such massive project.

Equipment used:

Setup 1:
Mount: IOptron SkyGuider Pro
Camera: Nikon D5300 astromod
OTA: William Optics Zenithstar 61II + Field Flattener FLAT61A
Focal/Aperture: 360 mm @ f/5.9
Filter: Radian Telescopes 2" Triad Ultra Quad-Band Narrowband Filter
H-beta:5nm, OIII:4nm, H-alpha:4nm, SII:4nm
Guide scope: William Optics Uniguide 32mm
Guide camera: ZWO ASI120MM mini + ASIair Pro

Setup 2:
Mount: IOptron SkyGuider Pro
Camera: Nikon D5300 astromod
OTA: Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR
Accessories: Pixel TW-283 remote controller

All images have been processed in PixInsight. The Poster was done in LibreOffice Impress.

You can also see

• the Messier Catalog here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/s/fW0WgnWDJ6
• the Caldwell Catalog here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/s/nL1VD6Yyrx
• the van den Bergh Catalog here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/s/YxDFjWwQ06

Three nights, Aug 31, Sep 1, and Sep 2 2026, from my backyard in Fort Mill, SC (Bortle 6).

Scope: William Optics RedCat 71, 348mm f/4.9
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro, gain 100, cooled
Filter: Optolong L-Ultimate 3nm dual narrowband
Mount: ZWO AM3N, guided with SVBony SV106 and ASI220MM Mini via ASIAir, 0.35 to 0.55” RMS
Integration: 207 x 350s = 20.1 hours, calibrated with 25 darks, 50 flats, and 50 dark flats

Processing in Siril 1.4.2: stacked with winsorized sigma rejection and noise weighting, SPCC, channel split into Ha and OIII, synthetic luminance built from the linear channels at 0.90 Ha / 0.10 OIII, independent GHS stretches, BlurXTerminator, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, HOO style palette with a custom PixelMath luminance ratio combine, star recomposition, saturation.

Hey everyone, I’m Artem.
My wife and I have been building something for space exploration, and I’d love to get the perspective of people here who are genuinely interested in space.
We’re trying to build a single interactive environment where you can explore the universe rather than just look at information about it.
Not just the Solar System — the idea is to eventually cover everything from nearby objects and planetary systems to stars, galaxies and much further out, while connecting the exploration experience with the scientific information behind those objects.
We’re still very early, so I’m not going to pretend we’ve figured it all out.
What I’m curious about is this:
If you could freely explore the universe from your computer today, what would you actually want to be able to do?
Explore objects? Travel through space? See how things change over time? Compare systems? Get detailed scientific information while exploring? Something completely different?
My wife and I are building toward this idea, and I’d genuinely love to hear what people here think the experience should be.
No sales pitch — just trying to understand what space enthusiasts would actually want.

if you want a bit of dense reading, to have perspective on the way astronomy has changed in a century. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Short_History_of_Astronomy_(1898)/Chapter_11/Chapter_11)

My friend is currently working on the next Golden Record. It's set to be launched into space in 2030. I talked about it—and her specific qualifications to be part of the project (as a musician and photographer, she's focused on visual+audio content)—extensively on my podcast, but since I don't want to be banned, I'm not posting the link here (if you want it, hit me in the comments and I'll send it over!). Some interesting questions she posed when it comes to curating the history of humanity:

• What do we include?
• What's considered "big"? What's "small"?
• When it comes to geography, 70% of the earth's surface is water, but 70% of the pictures won't be of water.
• Similarly, when it comes to biodiversity, bacteria make up an estimated 50% of all species diversity on Earth, but 50% of the visual+audio content won't be of bacteria.
• How do we do the storytelling of the earth and of all species justice?
• How do we put it in a language+context that aliens can understand?

I'm so curious to hear what y'all think about such a vast undertaking.

If you decide to create a solar system up to 2ly from the sun, Would that star create a binary star system with the sun or it can be orbiting the galaxy center in sincrony with our sun? This is because i want to keep the sun as a mono-star.

i want astronomic coherence to make it natural.

Here's the Caldwell Catalog I completed in 2024

This poster presents all 109 Caldwell objects for a total of 162 hours of total integration, with an average of 1h16 / target.

I've also created an interactive PDF version of this poster with pop-up descriptions of each object as you mouse-over the images: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xDiGxWqF7KshgNnRnv9TAI-t71U4jcNF

Northern Hemisphere objects have been imaged with the following equipment:
Mount: IOptron SkyGuider Pro
Camera: Nikon D5300 astromod
OTA: William Optics Zenithstar 61II + Field Flattener FLAT61A
Focal/Aperture: 360 mm @ f/5.9
Guide scope: William Optics Uniguide 32mm
Guide camera: ZWO ASI120MM mini + ASIair Pro

Southern Hemisphere objects have been imaged with the Slooh Chile Observatory using the following equipment:
Mount: Software Bisque Paramount MEII GEM
Camera: FLI Proline PL16803 Monochrome CCD Camera
OTA: PlaneWave Instruments CDK17
Focal/Aperture: 2938 mm @ f/6.8
Filters: Astrodon Tru-Balance Generation II E-Series Filters (LRGB)

All images have been processed in PixInsight. The Poster was done in LibreOffice Impress.

You can also see:

• the Messier Catalog here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/s/fW0WgnWDJ6
• the Sharpless Catalog here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/s/GZiLZtl33D
• the van den Bergh Catalog here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/s/YxDFjWwQ06

I was wondering if anyone else saw it or better yet, might have recorded it.

This last eclipse I kinda socially reserved for myself. Normally I'll have company over 'cause I'm the nerd with a telescope when facebook astronomy fans surface.

This eclipse i wanted to see what would show its face during maximum. So i setup my 8" flextube dob and had my 32mm Orion 70deg WF eyepiece mounted. I was especially focused not so much for the moon but the space around the moon at maximum, that's why i choose my largest wide-field.

I'm watching the clock and us turn into position and in the void at the 7:00 position, a couple seconds into maximum, appears a star out at the distant 7:00 position. By the brightness and it popping in right then, i was guessing it was about a mag 9 object. That was pretty cool unto itself.

But then something popped in a couple moments later between the moon and the new mystery star. This object was so faint i questioned whether it was really there or i was seeing a reflection, a spot of dust on my EP, or something. So I moved the scope slightly and the object didn't move. It was so faint that its light wasn't even constant. If I had to put a number on it, i'd guess somewhere around a mag 12-14 object. It kinda faded in and out for about 30 seconds and then the blackness returned.

Did anyone catch something in that area. If you're curious, I'd appreciate it if you took a second look.
From my viewpoint on the Dob, Copernicus was to the upper left of the moon. And i was at about 33 deg N latitude.

Some places are worth visiting even at night. I photographed this one in nearby open air archaeological museum. Hope you'll agree.

Shot on Sony a7RV, Viltrox 27mm f1.2 Pro and with help of Syrp Genie Mini II pan&tilt kit. Edited in PTGui, Siril, PS and LR. Exposure info - 20 frame panorama, each at 10s, f1.2 and ISO 1600.