Hello there
Last november I picked up astrophotography as a new hobby, here you can find some of my pictures and the progress I made since then.
I am using a Celestron C8 SGT (XLT) with an Advanced VX tripod and the Canon 7D Mark II to take the pictures.
For post processing and stacking I always used PixInsight.
So let's kick it off with my first image:
M42 - Theorion nebula.
Orion nebula is the brightest nebula in the night sky and therefore an easy target to start with.
This is was my very first deep space object that I photographed.
It is the result of the best 80% of 101x 30s exposures.
The moon
This was the very first image I took through the telescope ever
This is where I started to increase my exposure times
M82 - A galaxy 11.8 million light years away.
This is my first attempt at a galaxy.
Note that this galaxy is super dense and holds a super massive black hole in its center.
Taken with 315x 15s exposures @ISO1600. Stacked best 80% and post processed in PixInsight
M51 - The whirlpool galaxy
The Whirlpool galaxy (M51) which is 23 million light years away.
What you see here are actually two galaxies, where the smaller is getting torn apart by the bigger one.
132x 30s exposures @ISO1600
M97 - The Owl nebula
This is a planetary nebula, which basically consists of ionised gas being "thrown out" into space by the central star, which is also about to collapse into a white dwarf.
This picture was taken with 149s x 30s @ISO1600 exposures, which results in a little more than 1 hour of exposure time.
Jupiter - our biggest planet (captured its rotation)
Jupiter from 29th April, taken 2 images 16 minutes apart. 2x 10'000 pcitures stacked using PIPP.
captured with a 3x barlow lense
M101 - The Pinwheel galaxy
This galaxy has a diameter of 170'00 Light years and is bigger than our galaxy, the milky way. This galaxy is 22 million light years away from earth.
This galaxy looks very asymetrical, since there are 5 neighbour galaxies, not visible in this picture that tear it apart with their gravity.
Are you still with me? I know its a long post, but the best is yet to come!
NGC4565 - The needle galaxy
The needle galaxy is one of the galaxies that we see almost perfectly edge-on from earth. NGC4565 is located around 30 million light years away. Also visible in the image are a few very faint and distant galaxies.
96x60s @ISO1600 exposures
M60
The bigger blurry galaxy in the center is an eliptical galaxy, that has a supermassive black hole in the center (1000x heavier than the one from the Milky Way). While the galaxy holds a lot more mass than ours, it is also smaller resulting in a very dense galaxy (that's why it appears so blurry). This galaxy is around 53 million light years away.The second bigger galaxy right next to it is called NGC 4647 and is 60 million light years away and orbits the galaxy M60.
Also on this image are around a dozen of very faint and distant galaxies.
10x 300s luminance, 7x 300s RGB stacked and post-processed in PixInsight.
[url=http://imgur.com/3SqJIE5]
[/URL]
M63 - The sunflower galaxy
After a small break I aquired a new image:
The M63 galaxy, also called the sunflower galaxy is around 30 million light years away and has a diameter of around 50'000 light years. Special about this galaxy is the relativaly big amount of "knots", where new stars form.
2hours of data (LRGB) stacked in PixInsight.
NGC6888 - The Crescent nebula
This is my latest and newest image. It is the remnant of a supernova around 4700 Light years away. It is estimated to have exploded 250'000 - 400'000 years ago.
140x 90s @ISO1600 stacked in PixInsight
So this was it, sorry for the long post!
Hope I could share my passion for astronomy with you guys. Space trully is an awesome and mind blowing place
Last november I picked up astrophotography as a new hobby, here you can find some of my pictures and the progress I made since then.
I am using a Celestron C8 SGT (XLT) with an Advanced VX tripod and the Canon 7D Mark II to take the pictures.
For post processing and stacking I always used PixInsight.
So let's kick it off with my first image:
M42 - Theorion nebula.
Orion nebula is the brightest nebula in the night sky and therefore an easy target to start with.
This is was my very first deep space object that I photographed.
It is the result of the best 80% of 101x 30s exposures.
The moon
This was the very first image I took through the telescope ever
This is where I started to increase my exposure times
M82 - A galaxy 11.8 million light years away.
This is my first attempt at a galaxy.
Note that this galaxy is super dense and holds a super massive black hole in its center.
Taken with 315x 15s exposures @ISO1600. Stacked best 80% and post processed in PixInsight
M51 - The whirlpool galaxy
The Whirlpool galaxy (M51) which is 23 million light years away.
What you see here are actually two galaxies, where the smaller is getting torn apart by the bigger one.
132x 30s exposures @ISO1600
M97 - The Owl nebula
This is a planetary nebula, which basically consists of ionised gas being "thrown out" into space by the central star, which is also about to collapse into a white dwarf.
This picture was taken with 149s x 30s @ISO1600 exposures, which results in a little more than 1 hour of exposure time.
Jupiter - our biggest planet (captured its rotation)
Jupiter from 29th April, taken 2 images 16 minutes apart. 2x 10'000 pcitures stacked using PIPP.
captured with a 3x barlow lense
M101 - The Pinwheel galaxy
This galaxy has a diameter of 170'00 Light years and is bigger than our galaxy, the milky way. This galaxy is 22 million light years away from earth.
This galaxy looks very asymetrical, since there are 5 neighbour galaxies, not visible in this picture that tear it apart with their gravity.
Are you still with me? I know its a long post, but the best is yet to come!
NGC4565 - The needle galaxy
The needle galaxy is one of the galaxies that we see almost perfectly edge-on from earth. NGC4565 is located around 30 million light years away. Also visible in the image are a few very faint and distant galaxies.
96x60s @ISO1600 exposures
M60
The bigger blurry galaxy in the center is an eliptical galaxy, that has a supermassive black hole in the center (1000x heavier than the one from the Milky Way). While the galaxy holds a lot more mass than ours, it is also smaller resulting in a very dense galaxy (that's why it appears so blurry). This galaxy is around 53 million light years away.The second bigger galaxy right next to it is called NGC 4647 and is 60 million light years away and orbits the galaxy M60.
Also on this image are around a dozen of very faint and distant galaxies.
10x 300s luminance, 7x 300s RGB stacked and post-processed in PixInsight.
[url=http://imgur.com/3SqJIE5]
[/URL]M63 - The sunflower galaxy
After a small break I aquired a new image:
The M63 galaxy, also called the sunflower galaxy is around 30 million light years away and has a diameter of around 50'000 light years. Special about this galaxy is the relativaly big amount of "knots", where new stars form.
2hours of data (LRGB) stacked in PixInsight.
NGC6888 - The Crescent nebula
This is my latest and newest image. It is the remnant of a supernova around 4700 Light years away. It is estimated to have exploded 250'000 - 400'000 years ago.
140x 90s @ISO1600 stacked in PixInsight
So this was it, sorry for the long post!
Hope I could share my passion for astronomy with you guys. Space trully is an awesome and mind blowing place
