r/amateurastronomy

I was able to capture the moon before the clouds came rolling in this morning.

(Monday, July 06, 2026)

🔭 Celestron NexStar 4SE

📷 Canon Rebel T8i

Single exposure image unedited only cropping. M6 ii 100-300mm usm at 300mm on tripod fully manual capture.

Captured on 2 July 2026 using a Seestar S50, this image combines 1,264 individual 20-second exposures, a total integration time of 7 hours, 1 minute and 20 seconds. Image processed in Siril software using RC Astro tools.

Located approximately 7,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Serpens, M16 is a cloud of predominantly hydrogen gas ionised by intense ultraviolet radiation from hot, young stars. The nebula is an active region of star formation associated with the young open star cluster NGC 6611.

At its heart are the famous Pillars of Creation, enormous columns of dense molecular gas and dust several light-years in length.

Spanning roughly 70 light-years, the Eagle Nebula provides a spectacular view of the physical processes that shape stellar nurseries and drive the formation of new generations of stars

[removed]

My very first picture ever taken of celestial bodies and first post with photo

Taken on Dec. 21, 2025

Credit:
Image Processing: Melina Thévenot
Image Credit: NASA/ESA Hubble WFC3; Michael Wong et al.

Messier 51 (Whirlpool Galaxy)
• 193 × 60s (3h 13m total integration)
• Dwarf Mini
• EQ Mode
• Gain 7
• Astro filter
• Processed in Siril with final touches in Snapseed and Lightroom.

Every extra hour under the stars makes a difference. Looking back at my first attempts, it’s crazy how much more detail comes through when you just let the photons pile up. Still plenty to learn with processing, but this is probably my best M51 so far.

Feedback is always welcome. Clear skies!

Finally wrapped up another project, and I’m pretty happy with how this one turned out despite fighting the Moon and some wind throughout the session.
Telescope: DWARF Mini
Mount: EQ Mode
Filter: DuoBand (Hα/OIII)
Capture Details
271 × 60-second exposures
Total integration: 4 hours 31 minutes
Gain: 60
Target altitude: ~50°
Captured under moonlit skies with intermittent wind
Processed in Lightroom and Snapseed

Taken with Dwarf 3 Telescope. Location: Greek

orion 8" newtonian, eq6r, asi 294mc pro, svbony uhc filter

33 lights, 300 seconds, 100 darks, flats and biases, gain 117.

stacked in seti astro suite, graxpert gradient removal, seti astro spcc, statistical stretch and some curves. starnet star removal and recomposition. Cosmic clarity noise reduction and sharpening.

Acquisition Details:

• Target: LDN 43 (Cosmic Bat) in Ophiuchus
• Dates: June 11 - 15, 2026
• Location: Aveyron, France
• Frames: 172 x 180s (Optolong Clear filter) - Total ~8.6 hours.
• Conditions: Outstanding 9/10 seeing on night 1, settling to 6/10 for the rest.

Equipment:

• Telescope: TS-ONTC Hypergraph 10″ (f/3.4)
• Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC DUO
• Mount: SkyWatcher EQ8R-Pro

Processing: Stacked and processed in PixInsight, with final touches in Affinity. LDN 43 is usually processed with very deep blacks to make the bat shape look dramatic and spooky. I wanted to go a different route and lightened the background to bring out the very faint Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN) and surrounding dust clouds. Bringing up the shadows took a toll on the SNR, but a careful pass of NoiseXTerminator really helped smooth it out while keeping the dust textures intact. It makes the bat look a lot less scary, but I really like this softer perspective.

Full resolution on my website: https://doffinastrophoto.com/astrophotography-ldn43/