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.

M42

M42 is a tempting target for a small scope. Even a few minutes of imaging will capture a surprising amount of detail. Though easy to image, the nebula is tough to process as the bright core inevitably "blows out" unless great care is taken. My aim in this image was to capture subtle details and colors in the main nebula and the attendant Running Man Nebula, while leaving the stars of the Trapezium visible in the heart of M42. This image has a total integration time of 3.3 hours. It was processed with Siril and Affinity Photo.

The Monkey Head Nebula

This image of the Monkey Head nebula has 7 hours of integration (20- and 30-second exposures). Stacking and initial processing in Siril, tweaks in Affinity. The nebula is being rapidly eroded by the high stellar winds from the young stars it contains.

IC 410--The Tadpoles

Located in the constellation of Auriga, IC 410 looks like a pair of tadpoles swimming through space. This 100 light year across nebula of ionized hydrogen is shaped by the stellar winds from the hot, young stars of the open cluster NGC 1893. This image consists of 3.8 hours of integration, processed in Siril and Affinity Photo.

M 78

Messier 78 (NGC 2068) is a reflection nebula in the constellation of Orion and is the brightest visible reflection nebula. Charles Messier added it to his famous Catalog in 1780. This area if part of the Orion B molecular cloud complex, which contains adjacent nebulae NGC 2064, 2067, and 2071. In the 19th Century, Lord Rosse, with his massive telescope in Birr Castle, Ireland, thought he saw evidence of a spiral structure in the nebula. The nebula is energized by young, hot stars which give it its distinctive blue color. This image is a small stack of 442 x 10s integrations with the Seestar. I plan on capturing more data.

Lunar Occultation of Mars

On the 13th of January, the Wolf Moon occulted (moved in front of) Mars for observers here in the US. This event is hard to image due to the brightness of the moon and the relative faintness of Mars. These images are very close crops and follow the event right to the points at which Mars vanishes behind the moon.

The Horsehead Nebula

This image of the Horsehead Nebula consists of just over 4 hours of total integration time. Stacked and processed in Siril, GraXpert, Affinity, and Topaz.