u/kbarth001

IC 2574 is a dwarf irregular galaxy located about 12 million light-years away and part of the M81 galaxy group. Unlike structured spiral galaxies, its chaotic appearance is shaped by widespread star formation and enormous hydrogen emission regions scattered throughout its diffuse stellar body.

This image combines deep LRGB data with continuum-subtracted Hα integration to reveal delicate low surface brightness structure together with active star-forming regions embedded across the galaxy.

38.6 hours total integration time.

Equipment: Star Instruments RC10C (254 mm f/7.3)

QSI 660 WSG8 CCD (Sony ICX694)

LRGB + Hα

Captured remotely from Fregenal de la Sierra, Spain.

Processed in PixInsight and Photoshop.

The North America and Pelican Nebulae in Cygnus, captured with the compact DWARF Mini using EQ mode, mosaic mode, and a dual narrowband filter.

This image combines 60 × 90 second exposures and reveals vast hydrogen clouds nearly 2,000 light-years away. The bright “Cygnus Wall” near the lower center is an active star-forming region shaped by intense stellar radiation and winds.

What impressed me most is the unbelievable quality of the DWARF Mini’s automatic processing pipeline. The internal stacking and processing already produced a remarkably clean and detailed result — only very slight Lightroom adjustments were needed to finalize the image.

For such a small and portable system, the amount of faint nebulosity and structure it can recover is genuinely remarkable.

🔭 DWARF Mini

🧪 Dual narrowband filter

⏱️ 60 × 90 s

✨ Total integration: 1h 30m

DWATF Mini, stack of 200 x 1/200sec, treatment in PI

DWARF mini from Bortle 4-5, Cessy, France

40x60sec Astro filter in EQ mode, stack processed in PI

Processed my latest data on Messier 100 together with nearby edge-on companion NGC 4312 in Virgo.

This field is packed with faint background galaxies from the Virgo Cluster and turned out to be one of my favorite galaxy fields this season.

Acquisition

Telescope: PlaneWave CDK17 17" F/6.8 Dall-Kirkham

Camera: ZWO ASI-6200MM Pro

Focal length: 2953 mm

Image scale: 0.53"/px

Bin 2×2

Exposure

R: 67 × 300s

G: 40 × 180s

B: 45 × 180s

Total integration: 9.83h RGB

Processing

PixInsight

Photoshop finishing

I tried to keep a balance between preserving faint galaxy detail and avoiding an overly sharpened look. Feedback welcome!

Seen edge-on from about 25 million light-years away, NGC 4631 is a highly active spiral galaxy shaped by gravitational interaction with nearby companions.

The turbulent star formation inside the disk drives enormous clouds of gas and dust far above the galactic plane, creating the faint halo visible around the galaxy.

Captured remotely from Spain with a PlaneWave CDK17 and ASI6200MM Pro over 22.6 hours of RGB integration.

🔭 PlaneWave CDK17

📷 ASI6200MM Pro

🌌 22.6h RGB

📍 Roboscope Apollo Observatory, Fregenal de la Sierra, Spain

My latest image of Messier 64, the famous Black Eye Galaxy in Coma Berenices, located ~17 million light-years away.

What makes M64 particularly fascinating is that its outer gas disk rotates in the opposite direction of the inner region—likely evidence of a past merger with a smaller galaxy.

This final image combines data from two different imaging systems:

High-Resolution RGB:

• PlaneWave CDK17 (17" f/6.8)

• ZWO ASI6200MM

• 7.2h RGB

Deep L/Ha/RGB Support:

• Star Instruments RC10C (10" f/7.3)

• QSI 660 WSG8

• L: 8.9h

• R: 3.0h

• G: 3.0h

• B: 3.0h

• Ha: 8.0h

Total Integration: 33+ hours

Location: Fregenal de la Sierra, Spain

Processed in PixInsight / Photoshop

My latest deep integration of the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) captured from Fregenal de la Sierra, Spain.

This dataset combines broadband LRGB with 15 hours of Hydrogen-Alpha to reveal star-forming HII regions across the spiral arms and in the interacting companion NGC 5195.

Gear:

RC10 Ritchey-Chrétien

QSI 660 WSG8 CCD

10Micron GM2000

Astrodon LRGB + Ha Filters

Integration:

L: 15h

R/G/B: 4h each

Ha: 15h

Total: 42h

C&C welcome!