16 hour integration of the Heart Nebula with the Dwarf 3 telescope

The Heart Nebula can be a challenging object due to its low surface brightness, especially in my neighborhood where I image under Bortle 8/9 skies. The total integration time for this image is 16 hours with 60-second subs captured in EQ mode with the duoband filter on the D3. I used Siril to stack and calibrate the images and to remove the light gradients. I then denoised in Graxpert and sharpened in Cosmic Clarity. The final result was tweaked in Affinity 2. Click the image to see it enlarged, which reveals lots of detail in the nebulosity.

25.5 Hours on M31 with Seestar S50

This image of M31 has a total of 25.5 hours of integration time. Being able to capture the galaxy without using a mosaic just one of the strengths of this little scope. I have hard time processing M31 and I'm never entirely satisfied with the result, inclusing this one. Captured with the D3 and processed in SIRIL, Graxpert, Cosmic Clarity and Affinity 2. I drizzled the individual frames x2.

Fine detail captured in the Horsehead Nebula by the Seestar S50

This is an 11-hour integaration on the Horsehead Nebula. It was processed in Siril, Graxpert, and Affinity 2. I'm surprised at the detail captured (click on the cropped image and you can see how much fine detail the Seestar captured in the nebulosity under the Horse's head). The Seestar never fails to impress me.

The Pelican Nebula with the Dwarf 3

This image is just over 2 hours of integration on the Pelican Nebula. It was taken in Bortle 8/9 skies under a full moon. I used Siril for stacking, stretching, and star processing, with tweaks in Cosmic Clarity, Graxpert, and Affinity 2.

An 8 Hour Integration of the Pelican Nebula with the Seestar S50

This is an 8-hour integration of the Pelican Nebula (EQ mode, 20s individual exposures). using the S50. The frames were stacked and star-processed in Siril with noise reduction and sharpening in Cosmic Clarity. FInal tweaking was done in Affinity 2.

18 hours on the Soul Nebula

Here’s another image of the Soul nebula. This image has a total of 18.3 hours of integration time. It was captured under Bortle 8/9 skies with at least 10 hours under nearly full and full moons. Skyglow and light gradients were big problems; the raw, stacked image did not have much promise. Processing brought out some detail and colors, but also lots of noise, despite the efforts of Graxpert to remove it 🙂. I think I’m done for this year on this object….

The Soul Nebula with the Dwarf 3

Just for fun, here’s 6 hours on the Soul Nebula with the Destf 3. I normally fo lots of post processing, but I thought I’d see what I could do using nothing but my phone. I stacked in Megastack and processed in Stellar Studio (both free packages that conecwith the scope).. I decided to take the stars out so the details in the nebula would be more visible. I then tweaked color and sharpness in Photoshop PS. The scope was in EQ mode with 60s individual exposures,

SH 2-132 The Lion Nebula. 10 Hours with the Seestar S50

Sh 2-132, the Lion Nebula is a great target at this time of year. This image has a total of 10 hours of integration time x 20s subs in EQ mode. The Lion Nebula is powered by two Wolf-Rayet stars which ionize the gas of the nebula and make it glow, raking it with intense interstellar winds. It's a little challenging to image and 10 hours is about the minimum needed to capture the finer details in the gas and dust that surround these stars.

Jupiter--The Wonder that is Digital Processing :)

I found an old image of Jupiter I took in 2022 on 12/25. It was captured with a QHY camera and my 5 inch MAK. The stacked image looked so unpromising that I didn't process it. But then I noticed it on my desktop and, just for fun, dropped it into Registax 6. I was pretty impressed what the wavelet functions pullled out. I maxed out every one of them, and the resulting image is surprisingly decent. It's quite a tribute to the venerable Registax software! I've presented before and after images here for comparison. I also performed auto color balance in Registax.

North America Nebula Mosaic

This is a 3 hour mosaic of the North America Nebula. Stacked on the D3 and processed in Stellar Studio Photoshop PS. Yet again, the D3 did an outstanding job.

The Heart and Soul Nebulas with the Dwarf 3

This is a 2.5 hour mosaic of the Heart and Soul Nebula. Stacked in Megastack and processed in Stellar Studio and Photoshop PS. This is the first time I’ve been able to capture both of these objects in a single imaging session.

Melotte 15 image reprocessed in OHH Palette

Melotte 15

This is around 24 hours of total integration time on Melotte 15, the open cluster in the center of the Heart Nebula, and the areas around it. Individual subs were 20 seconds in EQ mode. I processed in Siril, SETI Astro, Affinity 2, and Graxpert. I’m in Bortle 8/9, so I had some gradients to remove, but the S50 captured some nice detail in the dust and gas clouds.

Comet Lemmon

Comet Lemmon.

10 min x 10 second exposures. S50. Color is a little strange, but at least it’s there :)

The Double Cluster in Perseus

The Double Cluster in Perseus. This is a 4.5 hour capture with one minute subs. Stacked on the D3 and processed in Stellar Studio. This is an object where the wide field of the D3 really excels. It also did a great job of capturing the colors of the stars.

The Ghost of Cassiopeia Seestar S50

This image of the Ghost of Cassiopeia has 12 hours of total integration time with the astro filter, including 1.5 hours of narrowband data. The inidividual exposures were 20 seconds each. I live in Bortle 8/9 skies, so the non-narrowband image had horrible light gradients which took a lot of processing in Graxpert and Affinity 2 to remove. I stacked, stretched and star processed in Siril, and did other work in Cosmic Clarity, Seti Astro and Affinity. The Ghost of Cassiopeia is region containing both emission and reflection nebllas. It is energized by the giant star Gamma Cassiopeia, which can be seen at the edge of the image. The star is 55,000 brighter than our sun and 19 times its mass.

19.5 Hours on M31 with the Dwarf 3

This is a 19.5 hour integration of M31 with the Dwarf 3 with 60s subs. I stacked, stretched and star processed in Siril. I used Cosmic Clarity for sharpening and denoising, and Graxpert to fix gradients. Final tweaking was done in Affinity 3 and Photoshop.

28.5 hours on WR134 with the Seestar S50

Here's WR134 again--this time with 28.5 hours of integration time. It was processed in Siril, Seti Astro and Affinity 2 using set of astro macros. I definitely overdid it on Cosmic Clarity!

The Bubble Nebula--16h with the Seestar S50

This is a cropped image of a 16 hour integration (EQ mode, 20s exposures). It was processed in Siril, Graxpert, Cosmic Clarity, and Affinty. The Seestar pulled out some nice detail for such a small aperture. I may try with even more data, if the skies ever clear here in NC 🙂

WR 134--8 Hours with the Seestar 50

I need a lot more data to get a good image of this object: WR134. WR 134 is a Wolf-Rayet star with a typically very high surface temperature and strong stellar winds. The whole ring-shaped shock nebula is not visible in this image, but part of it is (the blue, curved structure). I haven't seen an image of this object with an S50, so I thought I would try to see if I could capture it. This image has 1510 x 20s exposures in EQ mode. It was processed in SIril, Graxpert, and Photoshop.

Here's V2, with slightly more aggressive processing :)

Elephant Trunk 26 hours processed in Siril, Seti Astro Suite and Cosmic Clarity

Here's he same data as my last Elephant Trunk post processed in Siril and Seti Astro Suite/Cosmic Clarity. The differences are quite interesting. I think I prefer this version.

A 26 hour integration of the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula

This image of the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula consists of 26 hours of 1 minute integrations. It was stacked and the stars were fixed in megastack and stellar studio. The image was further processed in Siril and Photoshop.

The Lagoon Nebula with the Seestar S50

This is probably the best image of the Lagoon Nebula I have ever taken. The Lagoon is a tough object for me as my southern horizon is mostly tall trees. I also live in a large city--about a mile and a half from downtown in Bortle 8/9 skies. I do have daughter who lives in Indiana and I took the S50 with me on a recent visit. I'm glad I did. She has Bortle 5 skies and conditions were excellent for imaging. This pic is a crop of the nebula. The image has a total of 1.5 hours of integration time. It was stacked and stretched in Siril, with star processing also in Siril. I processed the resulting image in Cosmic Clarity, and tweaked it in Affinity and Photoshop. I'm amazed at the detail the Seestar was able to pull out. I kept saturation and brightness low in order to show the maximum detail, which washes out on a brighter image. EDIT--just added another version of this image, with the gradient fixed in Graxpert.

The Elephant Trunk Nebula with the Dwarf 3 telescope.

This is a slightly cropped image of the Elephant Trunk Nebula. Total integration was 3.1 hours. The image was stacked and stars were fixed in Stellar Studio. I then imported the FIT file into Siril, performed photometric calibration, removed the stars, stretched the image, and saved as a TIFF file. I tweaked the TIFF in Affinity 2 and saved as a PNG.

The Wizard Nebula with the Dwarf 3 Telescope

This image of the Wizard Nebula has almost 12 hours of integration time. Individual integration times were 45s and 60s. I used Siril for stacking, histogram adjustment and star processing. Additional processing was performed with Cosmic Clarity and Affinity Photo 2. Bortle 8/9.

C 34 with Seestar

5.5 hours of C34. Stacked and stretched in Siril. Seti Astro/Cosmic clarity and Affinity for final finishing.

The Whole Veil

This is a 2 hour mosaic of the Veil Nebula and Pickering’s Triangle. Stacked in Megastack with initial processing in Stellar Studio and finished in Photoshop.

The North America Nebula

It’s remarkable how far small scopes and semi-automated processing have advanced. I am loving the new Dwarf 3 software update. This image is a scheduled mosaic of the North America Nebula using the D3. The image is 140 x 45s mosaic frames. I stacked it in Megastack and did initial processing in Stellar Studio—both provided woth the D3. Final processing was in PS Express. I’m quite pleased with the result.

Leo Triplet (Seestar S 50)

5 hours on the Leo Triplet in EQ mode. I'm impressed with the amount of detail the scope captured in that time (zoom in to see it). Bortle 8/9. Processed in Siril, SETi Astro, Graxpert, and Affinity 2/JR Macros.

The Moon on April 8, 2025

I finally got around to processing an image of the Moon captured at the beginning of the month under exceptional seeing conditions. This image is a stack of 700 from a total AVI capture of 1400 frames. Stacked in Autostakkert, wavelets in Registax 6, and the size of the final image was doubled in Astrosurface.

The Tulip Nebula—Hubble Palette

This image is just over 3 hours of integration on the Tulip Nebula. The image was stacked with star processing, initial histogram stretch, and Hubbleization in Siril. Main processing in SETI Astro Suite (with Cosmic Clarity), and further tweaks in Photoshop.

NGC 2064

77 minutes on NGC 2064. I tried a new workflow: stacking and star removal/restoration in Siril, noise reduction and background gradient removal in Graxpert, image enhancement in SETI Astro Suite, and final tweaks in Photoshop.

The Moon on April 4, 2025. Seestar S50.

The Moon under exceptional seeing on April 4, 2025. A stack of 500 from 1000 captures with 2X enlargement.

The Sun Today--April 4, 2025

The Sun today, showing some interesting spot groups. The spots in two linear groups toward the center of the image, has the potential to produce M-Class flares.

The Moon with the Dwarf 3

I was able to capture the moon under superb seeing conditions last night. This image is a stack of the best 350 from 700 captures. It was stacked in Autostakkert with very minimal wavelets in Registax 6. There's lots of detail if you zoom in. The image is a testament not only to the seeing conditions, but to the optics of the Dwarf 3. There are three craters in the center of the disk on the terminator. The first is Theophilus, is a 60-mile-wide ring that borders the shore of Mare Nectaris (Sea of Nectar). On this image, you can see the long shadow cast by the cluster of mountain peaks at Theophilus's center 4,600 feet in height). Next to Theophilius is Cyrillus. Part of its circumference has been breached by Theophilus. The adjacent crater,Catharina, is similarly-sized, but it lacks a central peak and its walls have partly disintegrated. Near Catharina's rim you can see the Rupes Altai mountain range. Not bad for a 35mm lens :) Compare this image with the Seestar 50 image posted earlier.

The Moon with the Seestar S50

I was able to capture the moon under superb seeing conditions last night. This image is a stack of the best 500 from 1000 captures. It was stacked in Autostakkert with very minimal wavelets in Registax 6. There's lots of detail if you zoom in. The image is a testament not only to the seeing conditions, but to the excellent optics of the Seestar S50. There are three craters in the center of the disk on the terminator. The first is Theophilus, is a 60-mile-wide ring that borders the shore of Mare Nectaris (Sea of Nectar). On this image, you can see the long shadow cast by the cluster of mountain peaks at Theophilus's center 4,600 feet in height). Next to Theophilius is Cyrillus. Part of its circumference has been breached by Theophilus. The adjacent crater,Catharina, is similarly-sized, but it lacks a central peak and its walls have partly disintegrated. Near Catharina's rim you can see the Rupes Altai mountain range.

Today's Sun with the Dwarf 3

I'm impressed with the quality of the D3 solar filter. It really pulls out detail on the sun, including the solar granulation, which I did not expect to see with such a small aperture. This image is today's Sun. It's a stack of 39 x 1000th sec images. The stacked PNG was wavelet processed in Registax 6 to resolve the fine detail and then cropped.

The Christmas Tree Cluster

7 hours of integration on the Christmas Tree Nebula in Bortle 8/9 pulls out a reasonable amount of detail. This is a cropped image, stacked, drizzled, stretched and star processed in Siril, with final processing in Affinity 2 with JR macros.

The Rosette Nebula

The Rosette Nebula. This image has a total integration time of 4.5 hours (individual integrations of 45s at gain 60). Processed in Siril, Topaz Denoise, and Affinity Photo. Bortle 8/9.

M 42–6 hours of integration

6 hours of M42. Processed in Siril and Affinity Photo 2 with JR Macros. Zoom in on the core to see the 4 stars of the Trapezium.

M 42 with JR Astrophotography Macros

I've posted images of M 42 here before. It's a tough object, because bringing out faint nebulosity without blowing the core is a real challenge. There's also a temptation to over process, exaggerating details within the nebula at the expense of losing a more natural image. This image is a stack of 3 hours of 10s and 20s integrations. I stacked and removed stars in Siril. All other processing was done in Affinity 2, using the incredible JR Astrophotography macros. The result is an image with the core intact and subtle details of the nebula visible. I think it looks as if M42 and the Running Man are sailing on a stormy ocean. Again--full credit for this image goes to JR Macros!

The Horsehead Nebula with the Dwarf 3

Here's an image of the Horsehead Nebula captured under my Bortle 8/9 skies. There's 2.38 hours of total integration time, captured in 45s/gain 60 individual exposures with DB filter. I processed the image in Siril, Topaz Denoise, and Affinity Photo.

The Moon--First Light with the D3

This is my first light image with the Dwarf D3. The moon was low in haze, and moved between tree branches during the imaging session. Nevertheless, the D3 captured a decent amount of detail for a 35mm imaging lens. This image is heavily cropped as the scope has a very wide field of view. The scope captures MP4 videos, and I took 1000 frames, coverted them to AVIs in PiPP, and stacked and processed 700 of them in Registax 6.

A New Toy--the Dwarf D3 telescope

Another toy arrived yesterday--the DWARFLAB D3--a tiny scope with a 35 mm 6-element apochromatic main imaging lens and small wideangle lens for Milky Way imaging (among other things). Of course, the clouds rolled in, but I was able to do some imaging, most of it through the clouds themselves. My first light object was the Moon, just to check focusing and function. I'll post that image later. The second was M42 because it is relatively bright and easy to capture. Setting up the scope in EQ mode was a simple, semi-automated process. The imaging chip in the scope, a Sony IMX678 Starvis 2 does an excellent job of capturing faint images with relatively low noise. I captured 40 minutes of M42 before heavy cloud came in, using the built-in narrowband filters in the scope. I drizzle processed the image stack in Siril as the scope significantly undersamples (making the native 4K frame 8K). I then heavily cropped the image horizontally, and the result (below) is quite pleasing. The original frame was much wider, and promises to offer great capabilites to image larger DSOs (like the Heart Nebula, for example). The scope is so small, you could almost clip it to your belt, so its a definite travel scope for me.

A Runaway Star

A runaway star careening through space at 36 miles per second, emitting a storm of radiation that energizes the nebula it ploughs through. While this scenario sounds like science fiction, it can be found easily in the night sky in the form of the Flaming Star Nebula. IC405 is both an emission and reflection nebula in the constellation Auriga. The central star, AE Aurigae, is a runaway and probably began its journey in the area of Orion’s belt, perhaps as part of a high radial velocity binary system from which it was ejected when its companion went supernova. The nebula itself is about 9 light years across, and is a turbulent mix of gas and dust, The presence of dust in the region of the star suggests that it only recently entered the nebula and that the period of the cloud’s most extensive modification lies ahead. This image is a stak of 4.5 hours total integration, processed in Siril and Affinity.

Seestar S50 mosaic of M81 and M82

This is a mosaic of M81 and M82I captured last night with the S50. I set the scope in EQ mode and captured just over 5 hours of data in 20s individual integrations. I did not use the DB filter. I used the FIT format mosiac put together by the Seestar, and tweaked it in Siril and Affinity Photo. I'm very pleased with the way mosaic mode is working now. It seems to be faster and it does a better job of assembling the mosaics.