BACKGROUND
📷 Camera: Canon EOS 6D mod.
🔎 Lens: Samyang 14mm f/8
🔭 Mount: Star Adventurer 2i
🌌 Acquisition: ISO1600
⏰ Integration: 150x60s (2.5h)
💻 Processing: Siril, GIMP, Snapseed
📍 Location: 36°47'34.79"N, 12°3'13.03"E
📅 Date: Aug. 11, 2026
✨ Target: The Andromeda Galaxy
🔭 Mount: Star Adventurer 2i
📷 Camera: EOS 2000D stock
🔎 Lens: Canon EF-S 55mm f/6.3
🌌 Acquisition: ISO800, 14"/px
⏰ Integration: 180x60s (3h)
🧪 Calibration: 25 darks, 60 flats, 100 biases
💻 Processing: Siril, GIMP, Snapseed
📍 Location: Colle Fauniera (Italy) - Bortle 2
📅 Date: Sept. 20, 2025
✨ Target: The Great Hercules Cluster
🔭 Mount: Star Adventurer 2i
📷 Camera: ASI 294 MC Pro Color
🔎 Scope: Askar FMA180 apo (180mm f/4.5)
🕶️ Filter: Broadband IDAS NGS1 (2")
🎯 Guide Camera: ASI 120mm Mini Mono
🦮 Guide Scope: Svbony SV165 (120mm f/4)
🌌 Acquisition: Gain 120 (0°C), 5.32"/px
⏰ Integration: 83x120s (2h 45min)
🧪 Calibration: 40 dark, 40 flat, 40 dark-flat
💻 Processing: Siril, GIMP, Snapseed
📍 Location: Turin (Italy) - Bortle 8
📅 Date: July 18, 2026
✨ Target: The Great Hercules Cluster
🔭 Mount: Star Adventurer 2i
📷 Camera: ASI 294 MC Pro Color
🔎 Scope: Askar FMA180 apo (180mm f/4.5)
🕶️ Filter: Broadband IDAS NGS1 (2")
🎯 Guide Camera: ASI 120mm Mini Mono
🦮 Guide Scope: Svbony SV165 (120mm f/4)
🌌 Acquisition: Gain 120 (0°C), 5.32"/px
⏰ Integration: 83x120s (2h 45min)
🧪 Calibration: 40 dark, 40 flat, 40 dark-flat
💻 Processing: Siril, GIMP, Snapseed
📍 Location: Turin (Italy) - Bortle 8
📅 Date: July 18, 2026
✨ Target: MIZAR/ALCOR + M101
🔭 Mount: Star Adventurer 2i
📷 Camera: ASI 294 MC Pro Color
🔎 Scope: Askar FMA180 apo (180mm f/4.5)
🕶️ Filter: Broadband IDAS NGS1 (2")
🎯 Guide Camera: ASI 120mm Mini Mono
🦮 Guide Scope: Svbony SV165 (120mm f/4)
🌌 Acquisition: Gain 120 (0°C), 5.32"/px
⏰ Integration: 60x120s (2h)
🧪 Calibration: 40 dark, 40 flat, 40 dark-flat
💻 Processing: Siril, GIMP, Snapseed
📍 Location: Turin (Italy) - Bortle 8
📅 Date: June 21, 2026
High above in the constellation of Ursa Major, the magnificent Pinwheel Galaxy (M101) drifts through the darkness nearly 21 million light-years from Earth. Its sprawling spiral arms stretch across more than 170,000 light-years, making it one of the largest spiral galaxies in our cosmic neighborhood.
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Visible in the same field is the famous stellar pair Mizar and Alcor, a celestial landmark known since ancient times. To the naked eye they appear as a close double star, traditionally used as a test of eyesight, yet modern astronomy reveals a far more complex story: together they form part of a remarkable multiple-star system located about 83 light-years away.
This image captures an extraordinary contrast of scales. The light from Mizar and Alcor began its journey toward Earth less than a century ago, while the photons from M101 have traveled for over twenty million years before reaching the camera sensor.
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A nearby stellar family and a distant island universe, sharing the same frame beneath the Great Bear.
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✨ Target: MIZAR/ALCOR + M101
🔭 Mount: Star Adventurer 2i
📷 Camera: ASI 294 MC Pro Color
🔎 Scope: Askar FMA180 apo (180mm f/4.5)
🕶️ Filter: Broadband IDAS NGS1 (2")
🎯 Guide Camera: ASI 120mm Mini Mono
🦮 Guide Scope: Svbony SV165 (120mm f/4)
🌌 Acquisition: Gain 120 (0°C), 5.32"/px
⏰ Integration: 60x120s (2h)
🧪 Calibration: 40 dark, 40 flat, 40 dark-flat
💻 Processing: Siril, GIMP, Snapseed
📍 Location: Turin (Italy) - Bortle 8
📅 Date: June 21, 2026
✨ Target: ALKAID + M51
🔭 Mount: Star Adventurer 2i
📷 Camera: ASI 294 MC Pro Color
🔎 Scope: Askar FMA180 apo (180mm f/4.5)
🕶️ Filter: Broadband IDAS NGS1 (2")
🎯 Guide Camera: ASI 120mm Mini Mono
🦮 Guide Scope: Svbony SV165 (120mm f/4)
🌌 Acquisition: Gain 120 (0°C), 5.32"/px
⏰ Integration: 90x120s (3h)
🧪 Calibration: 40 dark, 40 flat, 40 dark-flat
💻 Processing: Siril, GIMP, Snapseed
📍 Location: Turin (Italy) - Bortle 8
📅 Date: June 15, 2026
✨ Target: ALKAID + M51
🔭 Mount: Star Adventurer 2i
📷 Camera: ASI 294 MC Pro Color
🔎 Scope: Askar FMA180 apo (180mm f/4.5)
🕶️ Filter: Broadband IDAS NGS1 (2")
🎯 Guide Camera: ASI 120mm Mini Mono
🦮 Guide Scope: Svbony SV165 (120mm f/4)
🌌 Acquisition: Gain 120 (0°C), 5.32"/px
⏰ Integration: 90x120s (3h)
🧪 Calibration: 40 dark, 40 flat, 40 dark-flat
💻 Processing: Siril, GIMP, Snapseed
📍 Location: Turin (Italy) - Bortle 8
📅 Date: June 15, 2026
✨ Target: CANES II GROUP
🔭 Mount: Star Adventurer 2i
📷 Camera: ASI 294 MC Pro Color
🔎 Scope: Askar FMA180 apo (180mm f/4.5)
🕶️ Filter: Broadband IDAS NGS1 (2")
🎯 Guide Camera: ASI 120mm Mini Mono
🦮 Guide Scope: Svbony SV165 (120mm f/4)
🌌 Acquisition: Gain 120 (-10°C), 5.32"/px
⏰ Integration: 67x120s (2h 14min)
🧪 Calibration: 40 dark, 40 flat, 40 dark-flat
💻 Processing: Siril, GIMP, Snapseed
📍 Location: Turin (Italy) - Bortle 8
📅 Date: June 13, 2026
✨ Target: CANES II GROUP
🔭 Mount: Star Adventurer 2i
📷 Camera: ASI 294 MC Pro Color
🔎 Scope: Askar FMA180 apo (180mm f/4.5)
🕶️ Filter: Broadband IDAS NGS1 (2")
🎯 Guide Camera: ASI 120mm Mini Mono
🦮 Guide Scope: Svbony SV165 (120mm f/4)
🌌 Acquisition: Gain 120 (-10°C), 5.32"/px
⏰ Integration: 67x120s (2h 14min)
🧪 Calibration: 40 dark, 40 flat, 40 dark-flat
💻 Processing: Siril, GIMP, Snapseed
📍 Location: Turin (Italy) - Bortle 8
📅 Date: June 13, 2026
✨ The M66 Group (Leo Triplet)
📷 ASI 294 MC Pro Color
🔭 Star Adventurer 2i
🔎 Askar FMA180 apo (180mm f/4.5)
🕶️ Broadband Filter IDAS NGS1 (2")
🌌 Gain 120 (-10°C), 32x120s (1h 4min)
🧪 40 dark, 40 flat, 40 dark-flat
💻 Siril, RawTherapee, GIMP, Snapseed
📍 Turin (Piedmont, Italy) - Bortle 8
📅 May 20, 2026
✨ The M66 Group (Leo Triplet)
📷 ASI 294 MC Pro Color
🔭 Star Adventurer 2i
🔎 Askar FMA180 apo (180mm f/4.5)
🕶️ Broadband Filter IDAS NGS1 (2")
🌌 Gain 120 (-10°C), 32x120s (1h 4min)
🧪 40 dark, 40 flat, 40 dark-flat
💻 Siril, RawTherapee, GIMP, Snapseed
📍 Turin (Piedmont, Italy) - Bortle 8
📅 May 20, 2026
📷 ASI 294 MC Pro Color
🔭 Star Adventurer 2i
🔎 Askar FMA180 apo (180mm f/4.5)
🕶️ Broadband Filter IDAS NGS1 (2")
🌌 Gain 120 (-10°C), 35x120s (1h 10 min)
🧪 40 dark, 40 flat, 40 dark-flat
💻 Siril, RawTherapee, GIMP, Snapseed
📍 Turin (Piedmont, Italy) - Bortle 8
📅 May 14, 2026
📷 ASI 294 MC Pro Color
🔭 Star Adventurer 2i
🔎 Askar FMA180 apo (180mm f/4.5)
🕶️ Broadband Filter IDAS NGS1 (2")
🌌 Gain 120 (-10°C), 35x120s (1h 10 min)
🧪 40 dark, 40 flat, 40 dark-flat
💻 Siril, RawTherapee, GIMP, Snapseed
📍 Turin (Piedmont, Italy) - Bortle 8
📅 May 14, 2026
📷 ASI 294 MC Pro Color
🔭 Star Adventurer 2i
🔎 Askar FMA180 apo (180mm f/4.5)
🕶️ Broadband Filter IDAS NGS1 (2")
🌌 Gain 120 (-10°C), 35x120s (1h 10 min)
🧪 40 dark, 40 flat, 40 dark-flat
💻 Siril, RawTherapee, GIMP, Snapseed
📍 Turin (Piedmont, Italy) - Bortle 8
📅 May 14, 2026
M81 Group & IFN — The Beginning of Galaxy Season: a nearby assembly of interacting galaxies, dominated by M81 and M82, bound by gravity and shaped by tidal encounters; their light traveling ~12 million years to reach us. Around them, the faint Integrated Flux Nebula — interstellar dust illuminated by the combined glow of the Milky Way — weaves a barely visible veil across the scene.
This is one of the first highlights of Galaxy Season — the time of year from March to July when our night sky opens a window into the depths of intergalactic space, revealing countless distant galaxies. This is a scene reimagined as a cosmic tarot card.
• ASI 294 MC Pro Color
• IDAS NGS1 (2")
• Askar FMA18 Pro (180mm f/4.5)
• 2h integration
• Bortle 5 sky
⚠️ DISCLAIMER ⚠️
The tarot-style frame is AI generated
This is part of a series I'm calling Starotography — star · tarot · photography. Each card features my own (real) astrophotography framed with AI-crafted Art Nouveau illustrations that match the object's name or mythology. The Rosette Nebula basically designed itself.