Deep Sky Picture Gallery 2021 - today

Barnard 10 in Taurus, part of the Taurus Molecular Cloud. Not the easiest object for post processing, as gradients and a greenish tint from light pollution makes the color correction a challenge.

Link: Full Res annotated Image Barnard 10

Link: Full Res Image Barnard 10

564x180s Clear + 119x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 46h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + 2x ASI2600MM + TS2600KMG2. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

vdB 158 in Andromeda. Removing gradients in this image was a challenge. But with the help of new machine learning tools like Graxpert I could solve the problem.

Link: Full Res annotated Image vdB 158

Link: Full Res annotated Image vdB 158

360x180s Clear + 120x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 36h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + 2x ASI2600MM + TS2600KMG2. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

CTB1 in Cassiopeia, another faint object in the sky. This object, also known as Abell 85, is not a planetary nebula, but a supernova remnant with a diameter of 36'. The distance is about 10000 LJ and the envelope has a diameter of 100 LJ. According to Binnewies' "Bildatlas der Sternhaufen und Nebel" the progenitor star exploded about 13000 years ago and must have been quite asymmetric to produce this irregularly shaped envelope.

Link: Full Res annotated Image CTB1

Link: Full Res Image CTB1

Link: Full Res starless Image CTB1

60x360s HaOIIISII + 60x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 27h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + 2x ASI2600MM + TS2600KMG2. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Messier 27 in Vulpeca. >Despite the small focal length of the RASAs I was able to get some details out from the outer shell of M27.

Link: Full Res NBRGB annotated Image M27

Link: Full Res NBRGB Image

Link: Full Res HaRGB Image

Link: Full Res RGB Image

Link: Full Res NBRGB starless Image

196x360s Ha + 244x360s OIII + 80x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 56h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + 2x ASI2600MM + TS2600KMG2. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

The Dark Shark Nebula LDN1235 in Cepheus. This target is very close to the Anglerfish nebula, a target I captured a few months ago with the Triple RASAs. A whopping 61h total integration time is the current record for me. It's still a wonder to me how it's possible to get a reasonably good image of such a faint dark nebula from my light-polluted backyard.

Link: Full Res annotated LRGB Image LDN1235

Link: Full Res LRGB Image

Link: Full Res LRGB starless Image

679x180s Clear + 180x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 61h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + 2x ASI2600MM + TS2600KMG2. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

The large Ha regions of Messier 16 and 17, Eagle and Omega nebulae, in Saggittarius. I bought a Canon EF200 f2.8 again, which back then was known for its sharpness in combination with a DSLR. However, in combination with the monochrome, high-resolution full-frame CMOS camera ASI6200MM, it shows a strong coma and chromatic aberration at the edges of the image field. A significant stopping down of the lens would be necessary to improve this.

On the same night, I was able to observe the northern lights here in North Rhine-Westphalia, which is a very rare event. Canon R5 with Irix 15mm f2.5.

Link: Full Res annotated HaRGB Image M16 + M17

Link: Full Res HaRGB Image

Link: Full Res Ha only Image

10x360s Ha + 15x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 3,2h. Canon EF 200 f2.8 L USM Telephoto Lens. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 50mm Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and Berlebach Planet Wooden Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location:Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

The Gamma Cygni Region with the Canon EF 200 f2.8 L USM lens and the ASI6200MM camera. I have built this new imaging rig for widefield astrophotography.

Link: Full Res annotated HaOIIIRGB Image Gamma Cygni

Link: Full Res HaOIIIRGB Image Gamma Cygni

Link: Full Res HaRGB Image Gamma Cygni

Link: Full Res RGB only Image Gamma Cygni

7x360s HaOIII + 20x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 4,4h. Canon EF 200 f2.8 L USM Telephoto Lens. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 50mm Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and Berlebach Planet Wooden Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location:Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

The Wolf Rayet Nebula WR134 in the constellation of Cygnus. The Oxygen 3 emission is quite faint and 10h of OIII data were required to bring out the faint nebulosity around the WR134 Wolf Rayet Star, which is depicted as HD91765 in the annotated version of the image. This star was one of the first three WR stars observed by Charles Wolf and Georges Rayet in 1867. The blue shell is ionized by WR134.

Link: Full Res annotated Image WR134

Link: Full Res NBRGB Image WR134

Link: Full Res NBRGB starless Image WR134

Link: Full Res OIIIRGB Image WR134

115x360s HaSIIOIII 23x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 38h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + 2x ASI2600MM + TS2600KMG2. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

LDN673 in Aquila. The sky in the French Alps is so dark that an integration time of 1.5 hours is sufficient to obtain a reasonably good image of this dark nebula. The cloudy weather and high altitude fog would have anyway prohibited more integration time during the period of my visit at the Col de Restefond. Image below: my mobile imaging rig: the veritable ASA10N f3.8 Newtonian Astrograph with the ASI6200MM and the 10micron GM1000HPS. Last time I was here 2 years ago I had to use the Celestron CGX mount, which drove me nuts with its quirks. The 10micron just works without any issues.

Link: Full Res annotated LRGB Image vdB126

Link: Full Res LRGB Image vdB126

35x180s Clear + 12x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 3,5h. ASA 10N f3.8 + Riccardi Newton Corrector. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 50mm Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and Berlebach Planet Wooden Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: Col de Restefond, France - Bortle Class 2.

LDN673 in Aquila. The sky in the French Alps is so dark that an integration time of 1.5 hours is sufficient to obtain a reasonably good image of this dark nebula. The cloudy weather and high altitude fog would have anyway prohibited more integration time during the period of my visit at the Col de Restefond.

Right Image: the Fort de Restefond with high altitude fog rolling in to my observation location at 2500m.

Link: Full Res annotated LRGB Image LDN673

Link: Full Res LRGB Image LDN673

11x180s Clear + 8x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 1,5h. ASA 10N f3.8 + Riccardi Newton Corrector. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 50mm Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and Berlebach Planet Wooden Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: Col de Restefond, France - Bortle Class 2.

The famous Rho Ophiuci region in Scorpius from my favourite astro location: the Col de Restefond in the French Maritime Alps. In 2024, the weather conditions in Europe were really bad. It was raining cats and dogs on the continent and the sky was cloudy. My trip to Col de Restefond in July 2024 was affected by this situation and I only had 2.5 nights with clear skies that I could use to take some photos under this pristine dark sky in the French Alps at 2500m altitude. In the end, I was not very successful in escaping the very bad weather in Germany by travelling to France. Hopefully in the next few years I will have the opportunity to visit this beautiful place again in better weather conditions. I had made a 2-tile panorama of this region with my TMB APO in 2021, and I always wanted a higher resolution picture of the dense region of the large nebulosity complex. The ASA10N astrograph was the perfect instrument for this goal.

Link: Full Res annotated LRGB Image Rho Ophiuci

Link: Full Res LRGB Image Rho Ophiuci

40x180s Clear + 15x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 4,3h. ASA 10N f3.8 + Riccardi Newton Corrector. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 50mm Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and Berlebach Planet Wooden Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: Col de Restefond, France - Bortle Class 2.

Messier 4 in Scorpius from my favourite astrolocation: the Col de Restefond in the French Maritime Alps.

Image below: Stack of unguided images of the Milkyway at the Col de Restefond with the Canon R5 and the Irix 15mm f2.5.

Link: Full Res annotated RGB Image Messier 4

Link: Full Res RGB Image Messier 4

8x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 1,1h. ASA 10N f3.8 + Riccardi Newton Corrector. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 50mm Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and Berlebach Planet Wooden Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: Col de Restefond, France - Bortle Class 2.

Cygnus Region and summer Milkyway with the Canon EF 100-400 Telephoto Zoom, adapted to the ZWO ASI6200MM Full-Frame CMOS camera.

Link: Full Res annotated LRGB Image

Link: Full Res LRGB Image

35x120s Ha + 8x120s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 2,5h. Canon EF 100-400 Telephoto Zoom. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 50mm Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and Berlebach Planet Wooden Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location:Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

LDN949 or Sh2-119 Flames of Cygnus.

Link: Full Res annotated Image Sh2-119

Link: Full Res Image Sh2-119

29x360s HaSIIOIII+ 39x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 14,5h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + 2x ASI2600MM + TS2600KMG2. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Sh2-101 in Cygnus. The dense nebulosity at the left hand side of the frame is called Tulip Nebula. The star depicted as HD27018 in the annotated version is the energy source for Sh2-101. Originally, this star was probably located in NGC6871 at the upper right corner of the image, according to the "Bildatlas der Sternhaufen und Nebel".

Link: Full Res annotated Image Sh2-101

Link: Full Res Image Sh2-101

35x360s SiiHaOIII + 14x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 12,5h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + 2x ASI2600MM + TS2600KMG2. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Sh2-115 in Cygnus.

Link: Full Res annotated Image Sh2-115

Link: Full Res Image Sh2-115

40x360s HaSiiOIII per channel + 8x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 13h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + 2x ASI2600MM + TS2600KMG2. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

NGC6914 in Cygnus.

Link: Full Res annotated Image

Link: Full Res Image

27x360s Ha + 183x180s Clear + 41x180s color. Total integration time of 14h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + 2x ASI2600MM + TS2600KMG2. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Messier 99 and Messier 98 in Coma Berenices. Triple RASA11 Astrograph. At this point I switched from a camera configuration with two monochrome and and one one-shot color APS-C to three monochrome cameras. Now I can very flexible choose the filter configuration I wish. Furthermore, I purchased a Touptek TS2600KMG2 monochrome camera and replaced the ASI6200MM full-frame camera, as I want to use the ASI6200MM with my mobile imaging rig. So now I have three APS-C monochrome cameras on the three RASAs.

Link: Full Res annotated LRGB Image M99

Link: Full Res LRGB Image M99

342x180s Clear + 152x180s color. Total integration time of 25h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + ASI200MM Pro + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + ASI2600MM + ASI2600MC. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

M100 in Coma Berenices. Taken from a Bortle class 6 sky in the German Muensterland with my mobile Imaging rig. In the full res version of this image Blur Xterminator was very effective to sharpen the image and reduce star sizes without compromising image integrity.

Image below: at the same observation location I have also used my Celestron C14 on the 10micron GM1000HPS mount to do some visual observation. Thanks to the Goto mount I can watch dozens of Messier objects pert night or use the excellent Oculum Herschel Observation Guide.

Link: Full Res annotated Image M100

Link: Full Res Image M100

132x180s Clear + 20x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 10h. ASA 10N f3.8 + Riccardi Newton Corrector. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 50mm Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and Berlebach Planet Wooden Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location:Muensterland, Germany, Bortle Class 6.

NGC2245 in Monoceros. This was the last object in the winter sky that I was able to reach after the bad weather period. Just 20 hours of integration time in only two nights could be collected before the object disappeared behind the trees and the horizon. This is where the triple RASA11 pays off, as in combination with the ultra-fast f-ratio of the instruments I can collect three times as many hours per night as with a single instrument. NGC2245 lies north to the well-known Rosetta nebula NGC2246 and close to the Cone Nebula NGC2264.

Link: Full Res annotated Image NGC2245

Link: Full Res Image NGC2245

46x360s Ha + 122x180s Clear + 105x180s color. Total integration time of 20h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + ASI200MM Pro + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + ASI2600MM + ASI2600MC. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Barnard 30 in Orion. Due to the disastrous weather conditions in central Europe with lots of rain into the spring, Barnard 30 was the only target I was able to photograph during this period. After installing my Triple RASA11, this was a disappointment as I wasn't able to make the most of my new lightning fast astrophotography workhorse.

Link: Full Res annotated Image Barnard 30

Link: Full Res Image Barnard 30

112x360s Ha + 66x360s SII + 262x180s color. Total integration time of 30h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + ASI200MM Pro + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + ASI2600MM + ASI2600MC. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Barnard 3 in Perseus. The winter 2023/2024 between November 2023 and March 2024 was one of the wettest and rainiest in European weather history, leaving only a few clear nights in a four month time period for astronomy.

Link: Full Res annotated Image Barnard 3

Link: Full Res Image Barnard 3

590x180s Clear + 316x180s color. Total integration time of 45h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + ASI200MM Pro + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + ASI2600MM + ASI2600MC. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Barnard 13 and other dark nebulae in Camelopardalis. This is the result of only 2 nights or 40h integration time with three RASA11 astrographs in winter 2023 here in Germany, as bad weather since October prevented any further photography. However, there are a lot of structures visible in the image and even a dim blue glow around the dark dust clouds. The Luminance data was captured with two RASAs in parallel and the ASI6200MM and ASI2600MM and subsequently stacked in Pixinsight.

Link: Full Res annotated LRGB Image Barnard 13

Link: Full Res LRGB Image Barnard 13

563x180s Clear + 236x180s Color. Total integration time of 40h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + ASI6200MM Pro + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + ASI2600MM + ASI2600MC. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Fireworks Galaxy NGC6946 and open star cluster NGC6939 in the constellation Cepheus. This is the result of only 1 1/2 nights in late autumn 2023 here in Germany, as the bad weather since October prevented any further photography. At least the IFN nebula around the galaxy is visible despite the heavy light pollution. The three fast RASA11 optics pay off again!

Link: Full Res annotated LRGB Image Fireworks Galaxy

Link: Zoomed Full Res LRGB Image Fireworks Galaxy

276x180s Clear + 164x180s Color. Total integration time of 22h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + ASI6200MM Pro + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + ASI2600MM + ASI2600MC. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

66h integration time on the Lacerta Nebula Sh2-126!! Another record for integration time, but this is a difficult and faint broadband target for a Bortle 7 sky. It was hard work for processing this huge amount of data and supressing the sky background, as the faint nebulosity is barely visible. All the image files of all three cameras created 100GB of data. About 500GB of intermediate data was created during the calibration and registration procedure in Pixinsight.

The Ha version of the image superimposes 12h of Ha narrowband data to enhance the red hydrogen gas the stretches across the sky.

Link: Full Res annotated NBLRGB Image Sh2-126

Link: Full Res LRGB Image Sh2-126

Link: Full Res HaLRGB Image Sh2-126

600x180s Clear + 120x360s Ha + 480x180s Color. Total integration time of 66h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + ASI6200MM Pro + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + ASI2600MM + ASI2600MC. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

The faint Soap Bubble Nebula, a planetary Nebula in Cygnus with the synonym PN G075.5+01.7 lies near the Cresecent Nebula NGC6888, but was only discovered in 2008 by an amateur astronomer. After 47h of integration time through my new Triple RASA11 astrograph I could finally make this faint PN visible.

Link: Full Res annotated NBRGB Image NGC6888

Link: Full Res NBRGB Image NGC6888

55x360s Sii + 110x360s Ha +160x360s OIII + 300x180s Color. Total integration time of 47,5h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + ASI6200MM Pro + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + ASI2600MM + ASI2600MC. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

43.5h!! Another record for integration time. Although there are much better images of IC5146 - the Cocoon Nebula - with its dark nebular fringes on the Internet, I am amazed at what can be achieved with enough data from a heavily light-polluted sky.

This project was only possible thanks to my massive Triple 11 inch Astrograph setup - the T-1100.

Link: Full Res annotated NBLRGB Image IC5146

Link: Full Res NBLRGB Image IC5146

Link: Full Res HaLRGB Image IC5146

Link: Full Res LRGB only Image IC5146

310x180s Clear + 60x360s Ha + 30x360s HaOIII + 320x180s Color. Total integration time of 43,5h. Triple Celestron 11" Astrograph (2xRASA11 v1 + Celestron C11 Hyperstar v4) + ASI6200MM Pro + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + ASI2600MM + ASI2600MC. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Another personal integration time record so far: 35 hours total integration time for luminance and color. This is the Anglerfish Nebula, or LDN 1247, where LDN stands for Lynd's Catalog of Dark Nebulae. I first tried to image this nebula with my mobile imaging rig and ASA10N f3.8 astrograph, but was unable to collect more than 8h of data due to unfavorable weather in mid-2023 here in Germany.

After setting up my Triple 11" astrograph in my observatory, I was curious if I could photograph this faint object here under the Bortle 7 sky. I was able to collect 24 hours of luminance data using both my RASA11 with clear filter and the C11 Hyperstar for color data. This is really a very challenging target for such a light-polluted sky, and without parallel imaging with three ultra-fast astrographs, this project would not have been possible.

it is fascinating to look at the star forming regions in the center of this nebula, resembling the Eagle Nebula or the Elephants Trunk Nebula.

Link: Full Res annotated LRGB Image LDN 1247

Link: Full Res LRGB Image LDN 1247

488x180s Clear + 242x180s color. Total integration time of 36h. Triple Celestron 11" Astrograph (2xRASA11 v1 + Celestron C11 Hyperstar v4) + ASI6200MM Pro + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + ASI2600MM + ASI2600MC. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

I finally managed to put a third 11" telescope on my 10micron GM3000 mount. In addition to my two RASA11s, I now have the Celestron C11 with the Hyperstar v4 system available. The two RASAs are equipped with the ASI6200MM and 2600MM monochrome cameras with Baader M68 tilter and the Baader UFC filter changing system. The Hyperstar system uses an ASI2600MC color camera. This whole system is massive! I need three instances of N.I.N.A. to run all the cameras and the mount - a logistical nightmare....

NGC7822 in Cepheus has been photographed by me in the past, but since this object is high in the sky in the summer, I photographed this nebula with the full range of Ha, OIII, SII, and color filters. The result has a total integration time of 23.5h for the narrow band version and 13.5h for the HaRGB version.

Link: Full Res annotated NBRGB Image NGC7822

Link: Full Res HaRGB Image NGC7822

Link: Full Res NBRGB Image NGC7822

35x360s Ha + 65x360s OIII + 80x360s SII + 200x180s color. Total integration time of 23,5h. Triple Celestron 11" Astrograph (2xRASA11 v1 + Celestron C11 Hyperstar v4) + ASI6200MM Pro + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + ASI2600MM + ASI2600MC. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

My personal integration time record so far: 28h total integration time for single Ha, SII, OIII filters and the color camera. This is the central region of the Elephant's Trunk Nebula. I have taken pictures of this object in the past with my AS10N f3.6 Astrograph at 900mm focal length, but with a very small 4/3 inch CCD sensor. This image now, taken with the two RASAs at f2.2 and two APS-C sized CMOS sensors is much superior to any previous attempts to shoot this target.

Link: Full Res annotated NBRGB Image IC1396A

Link: Full Res NBRGB Image IC1396A

45x360s HaSII + 80x360s OIII + 235x180s color. Total integration time of 28h. Dual Celestron RASA11 v1 + ASI2600MM Pro + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + ASI2600MC. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Messier 100 in Coma Berenices, taken from a Bortle 5 zone in Lichtenau, NRW, Germany, with my 2023 mobile astro imaging rig.

Link: Full Res M100 uncropped

Link: Full Res M100 annotated with B-V colors

25x180s Clear + 10x180s RGB. Total integration time of 3h. ASA 10N f3.8 + Riccardi Newton Corrector. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 50mm Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and Berlebach Planet Wooden Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: Location: Lichtenau, Germany, Bortle Class 5.

Messier 13 in Hercules.

Link: Full Res M13 uncropped

Link: Full Res M13 annotated star magnitudes

Link: M13 annotated

10x180s RGB. Total integration time of 1.5h. ASA 10N f3.8 + Riccardi Newton Corrector. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 50mm Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and Berlebach Planet Wooden Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: Location: Muensterland, Germany, Bortle Class 5.

The Pelican Nebula IC5070 taken with the Dual RASA in the bright nights of May and June during the full moon period. I collected 27h of data with the two RASAs, despite the short nights during the summer months here in Germany. The left image is the full HaSIIOIII RGB image, the image to the right is HaRGB only.

Link: Full Res NBRGB Image IC5070

Link: Full Res RGB Image IC5070

Link: annotated Version IC5070

71x360s Ha + 41x360s SII + 61x360s OIII + 204x180s color. Total integration time of 27h. Dual Celestron RASA11 v1 + ASI2600MM Pro + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + ASI2600MC. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Messier 101 with the Supernova SN2023ixf.

Link: Full Res Image Messier 101 with SN2023ixf dated 26.05.2023

Link: Full Res Image Messier 101 with SN2023ixf dated 19.05.2023

Link: annotated Version Messier 101

20x360s HaOIIISII + 22x180s UHC-S + 22x180s color. Total integration time of 8h. Dual Telescope Setup: Dual Celestron RASA11 v1 + ASI2600MM Pro + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + ASI2600MC. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Messier 106 in Canes Venatici with my new Celestron Dual RASA11 setup.

Messier 106 is actually a difficult target for a Bortle 7 sky, but with the two instruments pointed in parallel at the same spot on the sky, I was able to accumulate 10 hours of integration time. Of course, the low focal length of 620mm of the RASA is not really suited for galaxy imaging, but rather for large-scale nebular regions that will be visible in the sky during the coming summer months.

Link: Full Res Image Messier 106

Link: annotated Version Messier 106

87x180s UHC-S + 107x180s color. Total integration time of 10h. Dual Telescope Setup: Dual Celestron RASA11 v1 + Dual ASI2600MM/MC Pro + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Messier 106 in Canes Venatici, including Hubble's variable nebula in the lower right corner of the frame.

Finally I managed to get my hands on a second used Celestron RASA11 version 1 for a bargain. This one had water damage and had to be cleaned and repaired by me. But now it works perfectly. This dual RASA11 setup is equipped with two ASI2600 cameras, one monochrome and one color version. So now I can take LRGB images with two identical instruments without having to change filters in the middle of the night. I had to modify my dual mounting plate and add an adjustment plate to match the field of view of the second RASA to that of the first. With over 60 kg of payload, the 10micron GM3000 handles this setup with no problem, and still unguided. A GM2000 would have been overloaded with the two heavy RASA OTAs.

The left picture is a Narrowband HaSIIOIII RGB picture, the right one is RGB only, taken with only one of the RASAs and the ASI2600MC color camera. This image was taken in March 2023 quite late for a classical winter target. The weather in winter 2022/2023 was really bad here in Germany and we had many weeks with close to zero clear nights. So I used the last chance for this season to chatch this object low at the light polluted western horizon.

Link: Full Res Image NGC2264

Link: annotated Version NGC2264

25x360s HaOIIISII + 22x180s UHC-S + 60x180s color. Total integration time of 10.5h. Dual Telescope Setup: Dual Celestron RASA11 v1 + ASI2600MM Pro + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + ASI2600MC. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Messier 53 and NGC5053 in Coma Berenike, taken with my new 2023 mobile astro rig, including the excellent ASA10N f3.8 Newton Astrograph. I have used this scope in my observatory for more than 10 years. Now, given the load capacity of the 10micron GM1000HPS mount, I can take this astrograph to darker skies. Well, at least better than in the Ruhrgebiet - an improvement from Bortle 7 to Bortle 5.

This pair of globular star clusters is nicely allocated with some bright reddish stars in the foreground. M53 has a distance of 60000 Lj from the solar system. Its absolute brighness of -8.8mag even outshines M13, but it is three time farther way than M13.

Link: Full Res Image Messier 53

Link: annotated Version Messier 53

10x180s RGB. Total integration time of 1.5h. ASA 10N f3.8 + Riccardi Newton Corrector. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 50mm Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and Berlebach Planet Wooden Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: Location: Muensterland, Germany, Bortle Class 5.

Messier 10 in Ophiucus, taken with my new 2023 mobile astro rig, including the excellent ASA10N f3.8 Newton Astrograph. I have used this scope in my observatory for more than 10 years. Now, given the load capacity of the 10micron GM1000HPS mount, I can take this astrograph to darker skies.

Link: Full Res Image Messier 10

Link: annotated Version Messier 10

8x180s RGB. Total integration time of 1.5h. ASA 10N f3.8 + Riccardi Newton Corrector. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 50mm Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and Berlebach Planet Wooden Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: Location: Muensterland, Germany, Bortle Class 5.

Messier 78 in Orion. This object was also taken with my RASA11 / C11 Hyperstar Dual Telescope Setup. I would have gathered more data, but the weather in early 2023 here in Germany was so bad, that I missed almost the entire winter constellation season. Furthermore, the aquired Touptek TS2600CP color camera had issues with banding and I had to return it and to switch to the ASI2600MC pro in the middle of the project. I was very dissapointed with the Touptek camera. Neither could the dealer help me with the banding issue, nor did I get any feedback from Touptek when I contacted them. And once again proves the old truth: who buys cheap, buys twice...

Link: Full Res Image Messier 78

Link: annotated Version Messier 78

20x360s HaOIIISII + 22x180s UHC-S + 22x180s color. Total integration time of 8h. Dual Telescope Setup: Celestron RASA11 v1 + ASI2600MM Pro + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters and Celestron C11 Hyperstar@f1.9 + ASI2600MC. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

The Monkey Head Nebula, NGC2174, in the constellation Geminorum. This is my first image taken with a dual telescope setup: a Celestron C11 with a Hyperstar v4 system at f1.9 and my newly acquired Celestron RASA11 v1, which I bought on the used market. I also purchased a second APS-C format astro camera, a Touptek TS2600CP color camera, in addition to my ASI2600MM mono camera, which I use with Baader Highspeed filters and a filter drawer. The ASI mono camera was used with the RASA and the color camera with the Hyperstar. Both telescopes were aligned to the same field of view, so I could capture color and mono data simultaneously without having to manually change filters in the middle of the night. The telescope combination worked well and in Pixinsight I was able to align the RASA and Hyperstar images without any problems, even though the Hyperstar has 540mm focal length and the RASA has 620mm. The Touptek camera, on the other hand, was a failure. Unfortunately, the camera sporadically exhibited readouts with banding at the top and bottom of the long edge of the image. This occurred every 2nd or 3rd image, sporadically or several times in a row, and I had to discard many images. In the end, I returned the camera and purchased a much more expensive, but perfectly functioning ASI2600MC Pro.

Link: Full Res Image NGC2174

Link: Annotated Image NGC2174

Link: Starless NB Image NGC2174

Link: RGB only Image NGC2174

39x360s Ha and OIII + 11x360s SII + 10x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 11h. Dual Telescope Setup: Celestron RASA11 v1 + ASI2600MM Pro + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters and Celestron C11 Hyperstar@f1.9 + Touptek TS2600CP. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Thor's helmet, NGC2359, a Wolf-Rayet nebula in the constellation Canis Major. For me it is a small sensation that I could photograph this object from my light polluted backyard observatory thanks to the fast RASA11 f2.2 system. This object reaches only 25° elevation above the southern horizon here in my home town and is only visible for a window of about 2.5h through a gap between tall trees. The whole southern sky is strongly illuminated by the Ruhr area. This image was only possible with the fast RASA telescope, which reduces the required exposure time to a fraction of what would be necessary e.g. with my 4.5" APO.

I made two versions, one with HaOIIIRGB and one with additional SII data. Of course, more exposure time, especially in RGB and OIII, would have been an advantage. But besides light pollution, the second enemy of astrophotography struck in early 2023: bad weather...

Link: Fullres Image HaOIIIRGB Thors Helmet

Link: Fullres Image HaSIIOIIIRGB Thors Helmet

45x360s Ha + 18x360sOIII + 13x360s SII + 10x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 8h and 9h respectively. Celestron RASA11 v1 + ASI2600MM Pro and Baader 2" Highspeed Filters. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Another image of Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF in late January 2023, this time take with my TMB 115 APO at f5.25. This comet is also known as the "green comet" in the trade press because its halo has a strong greenish tint.

5x60s RGB per channel. Total of 15min Integration time. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer @ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF in mid-January 2023. This comet is also known as the "green comet" in the trade press because its halo has a strong greenish tint. I have to admit that I hate the comet processing in Pixinsight. It is such a pain to remove the stars in the comet image when you have heavy light pollution. It is almost impossible to completely remove the star trails due to the heavy histogram stretching.

Link: Full Res Image

20x60s UHC-S + 10x60s RGB per channel. Total of 50min Integration time. Celestron C11 XLT + Starizona Hyperstar v4 f1.9 + ASI2600MM Pro and Baader 2" Highspeed Filters. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Messier 81, the Bode galaxy, and Messier 82, the Cigar galaxy, in front of the intergalactic flux nebula in the constellation Ursa Major.
I wanted to try to image the faint intergalactic cirrus visible around these galaxies. The images on the web from the IFN are mostly taken from places with little light pollution and dark skies. Here in the Ruhrgebiet the situation is much worse in terms of light pollution. I was really amazed that I could make the IFN visible after 10h integration time with the fast Hyperstar system. What a miracle!

I had to stretch the image extremely and use some other techniques to visualize the IFN. So it's not the most aesthetically beautiful image, but rather a proof of concept.

Link: Full Res Image annotated with B-V star colors

Link: Full Res Image

93x360s UHC-S + 20x180s RGB per channel. Total of 10h Integration time. Celestron C11 XLT + Starizona Hyperstar v4 f1.9 + ASI2600MM Pro and Baader 2" Highspeed Filters. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Barnard 33 or Sh2-277, the famous Horse Head Nebula, and the Flame Nebula NGC2024, among many other nebulae in the constellation of Orion.
Starizona C11 f1.9 Hyperstar system and 11h of integration time from a city sky!

Link: Full Res Image Barnard 33 annotated with B-V star colors

Link: Full Res Image Barnard 33

50x180s UHC-S + 20x180s RGB + 30x360s HaOIII per channel. Total of 11.5h Integration time. Celestron C11 XLT + Starizona Hyperstar v4 f1.9 + ASI2600MM Pro and Baader 2" Highspeed Filters. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Messier 45, the Plejades in the constellation of Taurus is actually a no-go for a Bortle 7 zone with heavy light pollution. Imaging the dim blue reflection nebula and the grey interstellar dust around this cluster of young stars require a dark sky. Otherwise the faint structures cannot be separated from the sky background.
The f1.9 Hyperstar system and 15h of integration time cause miracles and all those structures can suddenly be seen even from a city sky!

Link: Full Res Image M45 annotated with B-V star colors

Link: Full Res Image M45

232x180s UHC-S + 25x180s RGB per channel. Total of 15.3h Integration time. Celestron C11 XLT + Starizona Hyperstar v4 f1.9 + ASI6200MM Pro and Baader 2" Highspeed Filters. Baader M68 Tilter. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

The Great Andromeda Galaxy, Messier 31. This is the deepest astro image I have ever taken. A total of 23.5 hours with a Celestron C11 Hyperstar at f1.9. The last time I photographed M31 I captured 17 hours with my ASA10N Astrograph at f3.6 and an old Moravian CCD camera. In theory, the Hyperstar is 3.6x as fast as the ASA, with lower resolution of course, since the C11 Hyperstar has 540mm focal length compared to the 900mm of the ASA at f3.6.
In addition, I used Pixinsight for image processing this time and was able to protect the highlights in the core of M31 better than last time. However, I have to admit that the star shapes of the Hyperstar are pretty crappy, especially at the edges of the full image. This image is a vertical crop of the horizontal full image. I had to crop out the edges.

In general, the hyperstar for the C11 has a design limit on star size of 12 microns. So it is not diffraction limited and much larger than the pixel size of the ASI6200.

Link: Full Res Image M31 annotated with B-V star colors

Link: Full Res Image M31

142x180s Ha + 264x180s UHC-S + 21x180s RGB per channel. Total of 23.5h Integration time. Celestron C11 XLT + Starizona Hyperstar v4 f1.9 + ASI6200MM Pro and Baader 2" Highspeed Filters. Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM3000QCI mount. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Pac-Man Nebula NGC281 in Cassiopeia. The first time I used the Hyperstar system for the Celestron C11 version 4 at f1.9. And also the premiere for my new mount, the 10micron GM3000HPS - a massive investment despite the uncertain times at the moment.... maybe a bit megalomaniac?

Link: Full Res Image NGC281

97x180s Ha + 40x180s OIII + 84x180s SII + 5x120s RGB per channel. Total of 11.5h Integration time. Celestron C11 XLT + Starizona Hyperstar v4 f1.9 + ASI6200MM Pro and Baader 2" Highspeed Filters. Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM3000QCI mount. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Sh2-119, Flames of Cygnus in a quick shot with 3.5h integration time in HaRGB from Bortle Class 7.

Link: Full Res Image Sh2-119 annotated with B-V star colors

Link: Full Res Image Sh2-119

16x600s Ha + 10x180s RGB per channel, 3.5h in total. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer @ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter. 10micron GM2000QCI mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

NGC7822 in Cepheus.

Link: Full Res Image NGC7822 annotated with B-V star colors

Link: Full Res Image NGC7822

32x600s Ha + 32x600s OIII + 32x600s SII + 20x180s RGB per channel. A total of whopping 21h. ASA 10N f3.8 and the Riccardi 3" Newton Corrector plus the ASI6200MM Pro and Baader 2" Filters. Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM2000QCI mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

vdb126 Loch Ness Nebula. Image taken from the island of La Palma, Spain. This is one of the shots I have aquired during my 2022 vacation on a rented Finca in the city of Puntagorda in the north-western part of the small island La Palma.

Link: Full Res Image vdb126 annotated with B-V star colors

Link: Full Res Image vdb126

44x180s Clear + 10x180s RGB and 3.7h total integration time. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer@ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and 10micron Aries Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: City of Puntagorda, La Palma, Canary Islands, 600 m a.s.l. and Bortle Class 3.

vdb152 Wolfs Cave Nebula with Barnard 175 and LBN538 in Cepheus. Taken from the island of La Palma, Spain. I took this picture during one of my trips to Roque de Los Muchachos with my mobile astrophotography equipment. At an altitude of 2000m a.s.l. I found a good observing site at the so-called Pista de Gallegos, a small road turning north from LP-4 near Roque de Los Muchachos. Due to a weather phenomenon called Calima, observing conditions were difficult, with clouds and very poor seeing. Therefore, I had little time to collect enough light for this very faint object. The colorful circular nebula to the right hand side of the image is LBN538, a so-called Strömgren Sphere.

Image below: I rented a Infinity 16" Dobsonian at the ATHOS Star Campus and drove up the steep road to the water tank near the Llano de Animas, very close to Roque de Los Muchachos and the observatory, but without the inconvenience of driving up the winding LP-4 road. Conditions were near perfect: no clouds, dark Bortle 2 sky, a concrete base for the telescope, and absolute quietness.

Link: Full Res Image Wolfs Cave Nebula

39x180s Clear + 20x180s RGB and 5h total integration time. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer@ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and 10micron Aries Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: Roque de Los Muchachos, La Palma, Canary Islands, 2000 m a.s.l. and Bortle Class 2.

NGC6820 in the constellation Vulpeca. Image taken from the island of La Palma, Spain. This is one of the shots I have aquired during my 2022 vacation on a rented Finca in the city of Puntagorda in the north-western part of the small island La Palma. Due to bad weather conditions I had only very limited time to gather Ha data. So I could only aquire 40 min of Ha, which was blended with the RGB image for increasing the contrast of the hydrogen structures of Sh2-86, 87 and 88.

Picture bottom left: the Milkyway from the garden of the Casa Miramatos near Puntagorda. Picture bottom right: sunset with the sky walk and a wonderful view to the Atlantic Ocean at the Finca Casa Miramar near Puntagorda.

Link: Full Res Image NGC6820 annotated with B-V star colors

Link: Full Res Image NGC6820

4x600s Ha3nm + 24x180s RGB and 4.2h total integration time. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer@ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and 10micron Aries Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: City of Puntagorda, La Palma, Canary Islands, 600 m a.s.l. and Bortle Class 3.

NGC6357 War and Peace Nebula in the constellation Scorpius, sometimes also called Lobster Nebula. Image taken from the island of La Palma, Spain. This image I have aquired during one of my trips up to the Roque de Los Muchachos with my mobile astrophoto setup.

Picture bottom left: my mobile astrophotography setup during my vacation on La Palma in 2022. The 10micron GM1000HPS, the Aries Tripod and the battery was rentend at the ATHOS Star Campus in Las Tricias. The complete image train is my own setup and was carried in the checked flight baggage. Picture bottom right: the observatory on the Roque des los Muchachos with the GTC to the right and the Gallileo Telescope to the left.

Link: Full Res Image War Nebula annotated with B-V star colors

Link: Full Res ImageWar Nebula

13x600s Ha3nm + 21x180s RGB and 5.3h total integration time. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer@ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and 10micron Aries Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: Roque de Los Muchachos, La Palma, Canary Islands, 2000 m a.s.l. and Bortle Class 2.

Sculptor Galaxy NGC253 and the globular cluster NGC288. Image taken from the island of La Palma, Spain. This image I have aquired during one of my trips up to the Roque de Los Muchachos with my mobile astrophoto setup. In an altitude of 2000m a.s.l. I found a decent observation location at the so called Pista de Gallegos, a small road that turns north from the LP-4 near the Roque de Los Muchachos. Observing conditions that night were quite good, with no wind and temperatures around 7°C. The Calima weather phenomenon was over, but the seeing conditions had not fully stabilized yet.

Link: Full Res Image Sculptor Galaxy annotated with B-V star colors

Link: Full Res Image Sculptor Galaxy

35x360s Clear + 14x180s RGB and 5.6h total integration time. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer@ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and 10micron Aries Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: Roque de Los Muchachos, La Palma, Canary Islands, 2000 m a.s.l. and Bortle Class 2.

Messier 7 in the constellation Scorpius, the southernmost object in Charles Messier's catalog. The image was taken from the island of La Palma, Spain. This is one of the images I took during my vacation in 2022 at a rented finca in the town of Puntagorda in the northwestern part of the small island of La Palma. Due to the southern latitude of La Palma, M7 was high enough above the horizon for a successful photo. The small town of Puntagorda provided astonishingly a quite dark sky, much darker than any location back home in Germany. My rented Finca was located near Puntagorda in the middle of a Pine tree forest and with a wonderful view to the Atlantic Ocean. Visibility was absolutely miserable these days due to the so-called Calima weather phenomenon. This happens when the usual north-east trade wind is replaced by hot winds from the south or the Sahara. Increasing high clouds, boisterous wind and great air turbulence made observation and photography a bit difficult for me during this time. Therefore the stars are somewhat bloated.

16x180s RGB and 2.4h total integration time. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer@ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and 10micron Aries Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: City of Puntagorda, La Palma, Canary Islands, 600 m a.s.l. and Bortle Class 3.

This is the Blue Horesehead Nebula, or IC4593 in the constellation Scorpius. This blue reflection nebula lies near the star 14 Scorpii, called Jabbah (sounds familiar to Star Wars nerds). This faint nebula is difficult to observe in northern Europe because the southern constellation Scorpius is often splilled by light pollution. Narrowband filters cannot be used for this broadband target. However, it was no problem to photograph it in the French Alps under the Bortle 1 sky. Also, there were about 4 hours of astronomical twilight at this observing site in July, just after the summer solstice, while there is no astronomical twilight at this time of year where I live.

Picture below: my observation site in an old quarry at the Col de Restefond in 2600m altitude.

Link: Full Res Image IC4592 annotated with B-V star colors

Link: Full Res Image IC4592

30x180s RG + 100x180s B and 8h total integration time. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer@ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: Col de Restefond, France.

Barnard 312, a dark cloud in front of the star fields of the summer milkyway in the constellation scutum, close to the star gamma Scutii.

Image below: myself pointing to the bright summer milkyway. Such shots are possible due to the extremly fast Sigma Art 28mm f1.4 lens I recently aquired. This is probably the best and fastes widefield astro photo lens out there.

Link: Full Res Image Barnard 312 annotated with B-V star colors

Link: Full Res Image Barnard 312

9x180s RGB per channel and 1.5h total integration time. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer@ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: Col de Restefond, France.

Messier 6 in the constellation Scorpius. This is one of the southernmost objects in Charles Messier's deep sky catalog. Together with the nearby open star cluster Messier 7 it is one of the most beautiful open star clusters in the sky. Thanks to the good horizon visibility at Col de Restefond, I was able to photograph this object near the horizon. During this time of the year there is only a narrow time window of about 2h were this object is high enough above the horizon and can be photographed.

Image right: The Fortin Restefond, an old abandoned fort at the Col des Restefond and the summer Milky Way. Taken with the extremely fast Sigma ART 28mm f1.4 lens on the Canon EOS R. Some visitors have set up a tent at the foot of the Fortin, beautifully lit in orange.

Link: Full Res Image Messier 6 annotated with B-V star colors

Link: Full Res Image Messier 6

14x180s RGB per channel and 2h total integration time. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with Riccardi APO Flattener@ 825mm f7. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: Col de Restefond, France.

Messier 22 in the constellation Sagittarius. This globular cluster is one the of the top showpieces of the summer sky.

Picture below: Polartrail, together with my imaging set-up and the BMW 4-series Grand Coupe. Canon EOS R + Irix 15mm f2.5.

Link: Full Res Image Messier 22 annotated with B-V star colors

Link: Full Res Image Messier 22

10x180s RGB per channel and 1.5h total integration time. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with Riccardi APO Flattener@ 825mm f7. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: Col de Restefond, France.

The dark nebula Barnard 68 in the constellation Ophiucus. I finally managed to visit the French Col de Restefond in the Maritime Alps for a second time. After my first visit in 2021, I took advantage of a small window of good weather during the new moon phase in July 2022 to spend three days at this pristine site at 2800m altitude. Dark clouds like Barnard 68 can be photographed under such dark skies with comparably short exposure times. At home in Germany such targets are unreachable due to light pollution. The right picture is annotated in Pixinsight.

Picture below: Panoramic shot of the Milkyway Arch above the Col de Restefond. Canon EOS R@6400 ASA and IRIX 15mm f2.5, 15s each.

Link: Full Res Image Barnard 68

Link: Crop of the Little Ghost Planetary Nebula

9x180s RGB per channel and 1.5h total integration time. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer @ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: Col de Restefond, France.

Messier 3 in the constellation Bootes. As the picture of M5 below, I have taken it on the International Teleskop Treffen ITV in Gedern in 2022.

I was surprised about the many very red stars in the field. Therefore I created an annotated version with B-V Star color magnitudes. Indeed, there are many old Population 2 stars in and around the globular cluster. These are either from the lower right half of the Herzsprung-Russel diagram, i.e. red dwarf stars, or for the brightest exemplars in the globular clusters from the horizontal Red Giant Branch. So overall a lot of bright red stars. The faint bluish stars are white dwarf stars. Please compare this image with NGC7209 below, an open star cluster with a much more diverse population of stars.

I used the arcsin stretch procedure in Photoshop described by Frank Sackenheim of astrophotocologne in one of his youtube videos. It worked well to push the star colors without desaturating the cores of the star discs too much.

Link: Full Res Image Messier 3 annotated with B-V star colors

9x180s RGB per channel. TS Photoline 140mm f6.5 Carbon Triplet APO and the Riccardi Model 1 Flattener plus the ASI6200MM Pro and Baader 50mm Filters. Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM2000QCI mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding. Location: ITV Gedern, Germany

Messier 5 in the constellation Serpens. I have taken this picture on the International Teleskop Treffen ITV in Gedern in 2022. After 2 years COVID pause the biggest telescope meeting in Europe took place again. On two nights I could take some pictures, despite the short nights and some clouds. I am still struggeling with the TS140 APO and the relatively large focuser backlash, causing a bit of starbloating in the autofocus procedure in N.I.N.A. All in all however, it performed well.

I was surprised about the many very red stars in the field. Therefore I created an annotated version with B-V Star color magnitudes. Indeed, there are many old Population 2 stars in and around the globular cluster. These are either from the lower right half of the Herzsprung-Russel diagram, i.e. red dwarf stars, or for the brightest exemplars in the globular clusters from the horizontal Red Giant Branch. So overall a lot of bright red stars. The faint bluish stars are white dwarf stars.

Link: Full Res Image Messier 5 annotated with B-V star colors

9x180s RGB per channel. TS Photoline 140mm f6.5 Carbon Triplet APO and the Riccardi Model 1 Flattener plus the ASI6200MM Pro and Baader 50mm Filters. Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM2000QCI mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding. Location: ITV Gedern, Germany

The open star cluster NGC7209 in Lacerta with the new TS Photoline 140mm f6.5 Carbon Triplet APO at 910 mm focal length and the ASI6200MM Pro astro camera. The Riccardi 3" Model 1 flattener was used to ensure a flat field across the large full-frame sensor area of the ASI6200. After two weeks of searching for the correct backfocus of the TS140 combination with the Riccardi flattener and modifying the camera adapter with my lathe, I found a working distance of about 89mm (including the offset for 3mm Baader filters). The 140mm f6.5 triplet obviously has considerable field curvature, more than most other APOs out there.

I have included an annotated version with B-V star color magitudes to demonstrate the good correlation of the star colors in the image with the scientific values. The TS 140 has reasonable color correction for photographic use despite its fast aperture of 6.5. For visual use, the lens' slight undercorrection could be a deal-breaker for ambitious visual observers.

Link: Full Res Image NGC7209 cropped and annotated with B-V star colors

6x180s RGB per channel. TS Photoline 140mm f6.5 Carbon Triplet APO and the Riccardi Model 1 Flattener plus the ASI6200MM Pro and Baader 50mm Filters. Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM2000QCI mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany.

This pictures combines the view on the planetary nebula LOTR5 and the Galaxy NGC4725 and NGC4747

This images is an unusual combination of an RGB image with a combination of OIII as additional luminance data and as bluegreen color data only for the disc of the planetary nebula. I was surprised that I was able to get a usable image of this very dim and large planetary nebula from my light polluted backyard observatory.

Link: Full Res Image LOTR5 in OIIIRGB

Link: Full Res Image LOTR5 in OIIIRGB, annotated

36x600s OIII + 41x180s RGB per channel. ASA 10N f3.8 and the Riccardi 3" Newton Corrector plus the ASI6200MM Pro and Baader 2" Filters. Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM2000QCI mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany.

The Seagull Nebula Sh2-296 in the constellation Canis Major.

I had to postpone this project last winter because the weather was not good in early 2021 and I could not collect enough integration time with my mobile astro-rig. So in March 2022, when there was an unusually good weather period all over Europe with many clear nights, I took the chance to drive to my new observing site in Lichtenau with excellent horizon visibility and record this beautiful nebula. Because of its size and brightness this is one of the most beautiful Ha regions visible from the northern hemisphere.

Left: HaRGB, right: SIIHaOIIIRGB.

Link: Full Res Image Sh2-296 in HaRGB

Link: Full Res Image Sh2-296 in SIIHaOIIIRGB

12x600s SII Ha OIII per Filter+ 25x180s RGB per channel. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer @ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Lichtenau, East Westfalia, Germany

The famous Sombrero Galaxy M104 in the constellation of Corvus. Here in the norther part of Germany it does not reach a hight elevation over the horizon. Therefore only had a small time window for image integration and light pollution on the horizon makes it difficult to work out finer details. Furthermore, my mobile imaging rig only has 600mm focal length, which is not much for such a small object.

Image below: a 360 Degree Night Panorama of my observation location at the wind park near the city Lichtenau. The view is amazing, although the wind mills obstruct parts of the sky, make quite some noise and add light pollution with its red position lights.

Link: Full Res Image M104 in LRGB

15x600s Clear + 10x180s RGB per channel. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer @ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Lichtenau, East Westfalia, Germany

Again M95 and M96 and other Galaxies but with a wider field of view and 9h integration time in total in RGB and with a clear filter.

Link: Full Res Image M96 in RGB

Link: Full Res Image M96 in RGB annotated

54x360s Clear + 25x180s RGB per channel. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer @ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Muensterland, North-Rhine Westfalia, Germany

The Galaxies M95 and M96 in the constellation of Leo. As always, when I take Galaxy pictures here in my backyard observatory in the Ruhrgebiet, light pollution makes it almost impossible to catch finer details.

Link: Full Res Image M95 in RGB

Link: Full Res Image M95 in RGB annotated

21x180s Clear + 10x180s RGB per channel. ASA 10N f3.8 and the Riccardi 3" Newton Corrector plus the ASI6200MM Pro, Baader 50mm Filters and the Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM2000QCI mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany.

The open Star Cluster M44 - the Beehive Cluster or Praesepe - in the constallation Cancer with 6h total integration time to catch the dim background galaxies that are visible if you zoom into the picture.

Right image: polar trail and a wind mill, taken with the Canon EOS R and the IRIX 15mm f2.5. Approx. 30x600s = 5h integration time, stacked in Photoshop.

Link: Full Res Image M44 in RGB

73x180s Clear + 16x180s RGB per channel. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer @ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Lichtenau, East Westfalia, Germany

The open star cluster M41 in the constellation Canis Major. This beautiful open star cluster is unfortunately low in the sky and the sky gradients are a challenge.

Image on the right: a 360° panorama of the entire winter night sky at the wind farm in Lichtenau with a fisheye projection. The panorama was taken from about 15 images with the EOS R and the IRIX 15mm f2.5 and stitched in Microsoft ICE, currently the best panorama stitcher.

Link: Full Res Image M41 in RGB

9x180s RGB per channel. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer @ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Lichtenau, East Westfalia, Germany

M42, the Great Orion Nebula, in HaRGB HDR. The HDR process was done in Photoshop to work out the fine details of the Hydrogen gas around the bright nebulosity of M42.

Image to the right: the 10micron GM1000 with the TMB APO and the ASI6200 pointing at the Orion nebula. Image taken with the Sigma ART 28mm f1.4 lens, one of the best lenses for night scapes.

Link: Full Res Image M42 HaRGB

28x600s Ha + 170x180s RGB per channel. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer @ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Muensterland, North-Rhine Westfalia, Germany

The field of IC405 and IC410 - the Flaming Star Nebula and the Tadpole nebula in the constellation Auriga. In early 2022 I was looking for a new observation location for my mobile astro imaging rig with my new 10micron GM1000HPS. I was planning to shoot some object of the winter sky deep in the southern horizon. After a long search on Google maps I found a suitable observation spot on a wind farm in East Westfalia. Not the darkest spot, but an easily accessible gravel yard. This place has a spectacular view onto the large wind parks in this area and the southern horizon. A perfect spot to take nightscapes and timelapse shots of the night sky.

Link: Full Res Image IC405+410 HaRGB

Link: Full Res Image IC405+410 HaRGB annotated

15x600s Ha + 30x180s RGB per channel. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer @ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Lichtenau, East Westfalia, Germany

The Nebula IC410 or Tadepole nebula in the constellation of Auriga.

Link: Full Res Image IC410 HaOIIIRGB

24x600s Ha + 18x600 OIII + 14x600s SII + 10x180s RGB per channel. ASA 10N f3.8 and the Riccardi 3" Newton Corrector plus the ASI6200MM Pro and Baader 2" Filters. Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM2000QCI mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany.

Once again the Heart Nebula, but this time with my ASA 10N Newtonian Astrograph with the 3" Riccardi corrector at 950mm f3.8. The ASI6200M provides a large field of view despite the longer focal length of the telescope. Tedious optimisation measures now provide an almost fully illuminated full-frame image. I now also use the Baader M68 Tilter, which was recently launched. The main problem with full-frame cameras is the tilt of the image sensor in the camera body. ASI and other camera manufacturers do not do a good job here. To eliminate the tilt, ASI offers a tilt plate, but frankly it is useless because the screws to eliminate the tilt are hidden by the filter wheel and the M68 adaption. I have spent long nights and hours of trial and error trying to eliminate tilt with unsatisfactory results. For each optimisation cycle, I have to unscrew the camera from the telescope, remove the entire filter wheel, make minor adjustments to the tilt plate, put everything back together, screw the camera to the telescope, take a picture and analyse the tilt. Terrible. And now the Baader filter comes into play. The tilt adjustment screws are on the side of the unit, easily accessible with a small Allen key while the camera is taking a live video stream through the telescope. In just one hour, I was able to almost completely eliminate the tilt using the camera's live view. Really convenient! The remaining irregularities in the star image are caused by a slight distortion of the mirror cell, which are meanwhile fixed.

The upper version is a HaOIIIRGB and the lower one a HaSIIOIIIRGB.

Link: Full Res Image HaOIIIRGB

Link: Full Res Image SIIHaOIIIRGB

17x600s Ha+OIII + 30x600s SII + 6x180s RGB per channel. ASA 10N f3.8 and the Riccardi 3" Newton Corrector plus the ASI6200MM Pro and Baader 2" Filters. Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM2000QCI mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany.

The Lobster Claw Nebula with the ASA10N f3.8 Astrograph from my Home Observatory in the Ruhrgebiet. A total of 21h Narrowband data in Ha, OIII and SII and 2,5h RGB data were processed in Pixinsight and combined and processed in PS. SII is red, Ha is green and OIII blue. Stars were removed in Starnet++ and RGB stars added with blend mode Lighten in PS.

Link: Full Res Image SIIHaOIIIRGB

Link: Full Res Starless Narrowband Image

310min SII +520min Ha + 440min OIII + 48min RGB per channel. ASA 10N f3.8 and the Riccardi 3" Newton Corrector plus the ASI6200MM Pro and Baader 2" Filters. 10micron GM2000QCI mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding on the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany.

The region around the Lobster Claw Nebula, the Bubble Nebula, the Cave Nebula and the Northern Lagoon Nebula in the constellation of Cepheus is scattered with countless other interesting deep sky objects. Image taken with the TS 76EDPH f4.5 in two different Narrowband-RGB versions with a total of 12h integration time in NB and RGB.

Link: Full Res Image HaOIIISIIRGB

Link: Full Res Image HaSIIOIIIRGB

16x600s Ha + 24x600s OIII + 10x600s SII + 20x180s RGB per channel. TS Sharpstar 76EDPH at 342 mm f4.5. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount with Tacklife 500Wh LiIon Powerstation and Mount Wizzard Model Maker. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding on the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Soester Börde, North Rhine Westphalia, Germany.

This is the Sadre Region in Cygnus, captured with the TS 76EDPH f4.5 + ASI6200 full format CMOS camera and the 10micron GM1000HPS mount. Combination of Ha and OIII signal as a bicolor image with a synthetic green channel. Star removal by Starnet++ and RGB stars added in PS. The Crescent Nebula in Cygnus stands out by its greenish blue colour due to the strong OIII emission compared to the abundant Hydrogen Gas and its reddish Ha emission.

Picture to the right: a large excavator stands in front of the northern starry sky at one of my observation site in the Soester Börde in North Rhine Westphalia at the foot of a wind turbine. My new mount, the 10micron GM1000HPS works like a dream. No more midnight tinkering with cheap junk Chinese mounts.

Link: Full Res Image Sadre Region

32x600s Ha + 12x600s OIII + 5x180s RGB per channel. TS Sharpstar 76EDPH at 342 mm f4.5. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount with Tacklife 500Wh LiIon Powerstation and Mount Wizzard Model Maker. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding on the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Ruhrgebiet, North Rhine Westphalia, Germany.

Another version of the Heart Nebula. But this time I captured the Heart Nebula in conjunction with the Soul Nebula using my recently aquired TS 76EDPH f4.5 Astrograph at a focal length of 342 mm and the ASI6200MM full format camera. The combination of short focal length and full frame sensor provides a 6x4° field of view. I aquired over 14 h of narrowband and RGB data in several nights.

Unfortunately, the colour correction of the reducer in the blue spectral range is below average and produces unsightly halos around the stars. However, it can be fixed by using the tool for chromatic abberation correction the CamerRaw Filter of PS. I used the classical Hubble Palette with SII as red, Ha as green and OIII as blue and changed the color of green to a more orange teal to get the golden tone of many Hubble narrowband pictures.

I can also proudly present for the first time my new 10micron GM1000HPS mount and the Berlebach Planet wooden tripod, which I recently bought second-hand at a good price :-)

Link: Full Res Image Heart and Soul Nebula

24x600s SII + 22x600s Ha + 38x600s OIII + 5x180s RGB per channel for star colors. TS Sharpstar 76EDPH at 342 mm f4.5. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount with Tacklife 500Wh LiIon Powerstation and Mount Wizzard Model Maker. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding on the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Soester Börde and Ruhrgebiet, North Rhine Westphalia, Germany.

This is the Heart Nebula in the constellation of Cassiopeia. I created three different versions in the image processing with the narrowband and broadband frames that I took during my 2021 trip to the Silvretta Hochalpenstrasse in Austria: HaRGB, HaOIIIRGB and RGB only. All pictures are taken from the Silvretta Hochalpenstrasse in the Austrian Alps with my TMB 115 APO, the ASI6200MM and the Celestron CGX mount. This nebula is probably my all time favourite astrophotography object in the norther sky because to its beauty and complexity.

Link: Full Res Image HaRGB

Link: Full Res Image HaOIIIRGB

Link: Full Res Image RGB

12x600s Ha and OIII, 22x180s RGB per channel. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer @ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter. Celestron CGX mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding on the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Bieler Höhe, Silvretta Hochalpenstrasse, Austria.

Astronomy at the Silvretta High Alpine Road in the Austrian Alps in September 2021. The long term parking area at the Bieler Höhe, a large gravel yard, is probably one of the best spots for Astronomy in the Alps. Looking to the West, a small chapel stands before the mountain range of the Silvretta group in Tirol with the rising constellation orion as a winter messenger in late September 2021.

Link: Best Astro Observation Locations in the Alps

My equipment during this astrophotography trip to the Alps. Mount: Celestron CGX with Star Sense Auto Align Module. Tacklife 500Wh LiIon Powerstation. Telescope: A&M TMB 115/805 Triplet APO Refraktor with Carbon Tube and 3.5" Starlight Feathertouch Focuser. Riccardi 0,75x M82 Reducer and Field Flattener. Camera: ZWO ASI6200MM Pro with 7x2" Gilter Wheel and Baader RGB and NB Filters. Guiding: Svbony 50mm Guidescope with ZWO ASI 120mini. Computer: hp Elite X2 with N.I.N.A Astrophotography Suite and PHD Guiding. Last but not least: BMW 4er Grand Coupe.

Barnard 150 in Cepheus (left picture) and M11 in Scutum (picture to the right), taken from the Silvretta Hochalpenstrasse in Austria.

Link: Full Res Image Barnard 150

Link: Full Res Image M11

25x180s RGB. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer @ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter. Celestron CGX mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding on the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Bieler Höhe, Silvretta Hochalpenstrasse, Austria.

The Helix Nebula, taken from the Silvretta Hochalpenstrasse in Austria. Left: HaRGB version with 2h of Ha narrowband data as Luminance and 90min RGB broadband data per channel. Right: Ha+OIII Bicolor Narrowband image with Ha as red, a synthetic green channel with a blend of OIII and Ha, and OIII as blue. Star colors were introduced by removing stars in the NB picture with the aid of Starnet++ and overlaying stars from the RGB image into the starless NB image.

Link: Full Res Image HaOIIIHaRGB

Link: Full Res Image HaOIIIRGB

12x600s Ha and OIII + 20x180s RGB. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer @ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter. Celestron CGX mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding on the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Bieler Höhe, Silvretta Hochalpenstrasse, Austria.

NGC7000, the North America Nebula and the Pelican Nebula in four different versions: RGB only, HaRGB, HaOIIISIIRGB and SIIHaOIIIRGB. The latter images have a total of around 21h integration time, aquired across several nights in the French Alps and back home in Germany.

Link: Full Res Image RGB

Link: Full Res Image HaRGB

Link: Full Res Image HaOIIISIIRGB

Link: Full Res Image SIIHaOIIIRGB

27x600s Ha + 47x600s OIII + 23x600s SII + 30x180s RGB per channel. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer @ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter. Celestron CGX mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding on the hp Elite X2 Tablet.Location: Col du Restefond, France and several locations in Germany.

This is a 100MPix 2-tile mosaic of the Antares Region in Scorpius and Rho Ophiuci. Each tiles has a resolution of 60 Mpix taken with the ASI6200MM Pro monochrome cooled CMOS camera with RGB Filters of Baader. The scope is my TMB 115/805 with the large M82 Riccardi 0,75x Reducer at 600mm focal length with 1.3"/arc-second resolution. Stitching the two tiles of the mosaic in Pixinsight and Photoshop was a pain due to colour and light gradients caused by the inevitable glow of the light pollution of the French Riviera close to the horizon, which is even visible at the Col du Restefond in the French Alps 150km away. I imaged the region until it vanished behind the horizon. The horizon line formed by of the surrounding mountains at my observing location in an old quarry at an altitude of 2600m is quite low and you have a much better horizon view to the south than in any other easily accessible hight altitude location in the Alps that I have been to. I wish I had more time to collect further subframes to improve S/N, but the short nights in July and the low altitude of Scorpius only allowed about 3h imaging per night.

The picture to the right hand side shows my observation location at the Col du Restefond in the French Alps in an old quarry in 2600m altitude. A stone wall protected me against the western winds and the horizon view to West, South and East was very good. In the West there is a pronounced brightening of the horizon caused by the nearby city of Barcelonette. Photo taken with the Canon EOS R and the Irix Firefly 15 mm@f2.5.

Link: Full Res 100Mpix Image

Link: Astrophotography on the Col du Restefond in the French Alps

23x180s RGB per tile, 2-tile mosaic with 2x60Mpix. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer @ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter. Celestron CGX mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding on the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Col du Restefond, France.

The Lagoon and Trifid Nebula with a full frame 60MPix CMOS camera at 600mm focal length. This shot was taken on the Col du Restefond in the French Alps in July 2021 at an altitude of 2600m. The Col du Restefond is probably one of the darkest spots in Europe and has an almost perfect dark sky and a very good view towards the southern horizon. During my stay the sky quality meter measured 21.7mag sky brightness. This shot was taken with my TMB 115/805 Triplet APO and the large M82 0,75x Riccardi Reducer at 600m f5.25. I used the ASI6200MM Pro full format cooled CMOS camera at -15°C. The scope and the reducer are optimized to fully illuminate the large chip without any annoying vignetting and good sharpness in the corner for red and green wavelength. The gigantic resolution of 60 MPix makes it possible to create cropped enlargements with a still high image resolution. The image crop of the Lagoon Nebula M8 to the right still has the size of a 4/3" sensor like the ASI1600/QHY163.

Link: Full Res 60Mpix Image M8+M20

17x180s RGB, 18x600s Ha. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer @ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter. Celestron CGX mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding on the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Col du Restefond, France.

The Milkyway Arch above the mountain panorama of the Col du Restefond in the French alps. During a trip to this remote and dark spot in the southern alps I capured the milkyway with my Canon EOS R and the IRIX Firefly 15mm f2.5.

Left: single shot with 20s at ISO6400.

Right: Panorama shot of the Milkyway, 6 frames, 20s at ISO3200, stiched in Microsoft Image Compositing Editor, which is currently probably the best panorama maker on the market.

Link: Full Res Image Milkyway Arch

The Omega Nebula Messier 17 in RGB, taken on the Col du Restefond in the French Alps. The sky near the horizon is very dark despite the light pollution of the French Riviera. The gigantic resolution of 60 MPix makes it possible to create cropped enlargements with a still high image resolution. The image crop of M17 to the left still has the size of a 4/3" sensor like the ASI1600/QHY163.

Link: Full Res 60Mpix Image

Link: central part of Nebula

13x180s RGB, TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer @ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter. Celestron CGX mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding on the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Col du Restefond, France.

Full Frame image of the entire Cirrus Loop or Veil Nebula region, also called Cirrus Nebula. The picture includes: NGC6960, the Eastern Veil Nebula with the bright star 52 Cygni, sometimes called Witch's Broom. NGC6992 and NGC6995, the western part of the Cygnus Loop. Pickering Triangle towards the central of the Cygnus Loop.

The left picture is a Narrowband HaOIIISII image with RGB data for star colours. Narrowband data were taken in my home observatory in Germany. The picture to the right is an image taken with R, G and B filters and Ha for luminance. Those frames were taken on the Col du Restefond in the French Alps.

Link: Full Res 60Mpix Image in HaOIIIRGB

Link: Full Res 60Mpix Image in HaRGB

Link: Full Res 60Mpix Image in Candy Version

24x180s RGB, 9x600s HaOIIISII. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer @ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter. Celestron CGX mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding on the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Col du Restefond, France.

The Eagle Nebula, or Messier 16 in the constellation of Serpens. I used three clear nights to take out my mobile astro rig with the Celestron CGX mount and the TMB 115 APO to a bit darker place than my observatory to take this picture of this hughe Ha region. This obseravation location on the so-called Haarstrang in Northrhine Westphalia has a very good view to the horizon and much darker skies than the Soester Börde or the Ruhrgebiet. I have made a short video of this astro excursion. It can be viewed on my Youtube channel:

Link to the Youtube Video

Link: Full Res 60Mpix Image

Link: Central part of Nebula

14x600s HA and OIII plus 8x360s RGB. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer @ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter. Celestron CGX mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding on the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Haarstrang, Germany.

The Starburst Galaxy Messier 94 in the constellation of Canes Venatici. This is one of the first test shots with the new 3" Riccardi Newton Corrector on my now modified ASA 10N and the ASI6200 full format camera. The outer ring of this galaxy is not visible due to the bright sky background.

10x360s RGB with the ASA 10N f3.8 and the Riccardi Newton Corrector plus the ASI6200MM Pro and Baader 2" Filters. 10micron GM2000QCI mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding on a Windows PC. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany.

The Planetary Nebula PK 164.31.1, also known as Jones-Emberson 1 in the constellation Lynx. It is a fairly large planetary nebula but with a low surface brightness of only 17mag. This picture is a Ha-OIII Bicolor Narrowband image with Ha as red, OIII+Ha as green and OIII as blue, plus a RGB image for star colours. Due to the light pollution a RGB image only is not feasible for this faint object. The white dwarf, that expelled the ring-like structure, can be spotted in the middle of the nebula.

Link: Full Res Image

Narrowband: 28x600s Ha for red and green, 28x600s OIII for green and blue. 14x180s RGB for star colours. ASA 10N f3.6 plus Canon EF1,4x II @f5. 10micron GM2000QCI mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. ZWO ASI 6200MM Pro + Baader 2" CCD-Filter. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding on a Windows PC. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany.

IC443 is also called the Yellyfish Nebula and is located in the constellation of Gemini. Late in the winter season I could use three clear nights to catch this object low in the western sky. As the sky in the western horizon is heavily light polluted by the big cities of the Ruhrgebiet, I had to struggle with nasty gradients in the large field of view of the ASI6200MM full format camera. I used my ASA10N f3.6 astrograph for this object. Illumination in the corner of the full format could be better and is also a big challenge if you have a bright sky background. Compared to my first picture of this object a couple of years ago with the same optics, but a 4/3" CCD camera, the larger field of view of the ASI6200MM provides a more pleasing end result but needs much more attention in image processing.

Link: Full Res Image

Narrowband: 16x600s Ha for red, 16x600s OIII for green and 16x600s SII for blue. 5x180s RGB for star colours. ASA 10N f3.6 astrograph with 3" Wynne corrector. 10micron GM2000QCI mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. ZWO ASI 6200MM Pro + Baader 2" CCD-Filter. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding on a Windows PC. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany.

The famous region of Barnard 33, or Horse-head Nebula, and the Flame Nebula in Orion. The TMB 115mm APO@ 520mm focal length, combined with the full format chip of the ASI6200 provides a large field of view and a high resolution. S/N could be better; the constellation of Orion is in the southern sky and this part of the sky is heavily light polluted by the city lights of the Ruhrgebiet. Furthermore, I only had limited time to capture this object due to bad weather in late winter 2021 here in Germany. The picture to the right is a cropped version of the same image, approximately the size of an APS-C chip.

Link: Full Res Image

Narrowband: 16x600s Ha for red, 16x600s SII for green and 7x600s OIII mixed with SII for blue. 3x180s RGB for star colours. TMB 115/805 with BORG super-reducer @f4.5. 10micron GM2000QCI mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. ZWO ASI 6200MM Pro + Baader 2" CCD-Filter. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding on the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany.

Same image of the Rosetta Nebula as below, but this time a HaRGB composite. I only used 3x180s RGB and 15x600s Ha for luminance. Nevertheless the S/N is impressively good thanks to the ASI62000MM, which has little noise and no amp glow.

Link: Full Res Image

19x600s Ha for luminance and 3x180s RGB for star and nebula colour. TMB 115/805 with BORG super-reducer @f4.5. Celestron CGX Star Sense Auto Align. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. ZWO ASI 6200MM Pro + Baader 2" CCD-Filter. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding on the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Marsberg and Lippborg, Germany.

The Rosetta Nebula NGC2239 in the constellation of Monoceros. This image was taken with the new ASI6200MM Pro and 2" Baader Filters with my TMB 115-805 TMB Triplet APO and a BORG Super-reducer @f4.5 on the Celestron CGX mount. Despite having a fixed observatory, I decided to take the equipment to a darker location for imaging this object in the souther winter sky, as this part of the sky is heavily polluted in the Ruhrgebiet. I took images in two nights near the town of Lippborg and near Marsberg. The latter location was quite dark and remote. This is a false colour composite from Ha, SII and OIII, blended with a bit of RGB for star colours. The ASI6200MM is a killer camera with zero amp glow and lots of pixel to work with. Image to the right: my mobile imaging setup at the observing site at a wind park.

Link: Full Res Image

Narrowband: 15x600s each for HaSIIOIII, 3x180s RGB. TMB 115/805 with BORG super-reducer @f4.5. Celestron CGX Star Sense Auto Align. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. ZWO ASI 6200MM Pro + Baader 2" CCD-Filter. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding on the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Marsberg and Lippborg, Germany.

The Rosetta Nebula NGC2239 in the constellation of Monoceros. This image was taken with the new ASI6200MM Pro and 2" Baader Filters with my TMB 115-805 TMB Triplet APO and a BORG Super-reducer @f4.5. Although the image train is able to illuminate the large full format field of the gigantic 60Mpx chip of the ASI 6200, I had to crop the final image due to light reflections inside the tube caused by the bright waxing moon in the vicinity of the nebula. The image was taken near the town Billerbeck in the Muensterland in Germany, a Bortle 4 zone. However, the moon was quite bright this evening. This was also the first time I used my new Celestron CGX Mount and the Celestron StarSense AutoAlign Module outside of my backyard. This module add on is very convenient way to align your mount to the sky and do a polar align. Much easier than with my old EQ6 mount.

Narrowband: 19x600s Ha for red and green, 10x600s OIII for green and blue. No RGB yet. TMB 115/805 with BORG super-reducer @f4.5. Celestron CGX Star Sense Auto Align. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. ZWO ASI 6200MM Pro + Baader 2" CCD-Filter. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding on the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Billerbeck, Muensterland, Germany.

Deep Sk picture made between 2012 and 2020 can be found here.

Older Deep Sky pictures from 2011 and earlier can be found here.