Your best photos submitted to the magazine this month
PHOTO OF THE MONTH
The Dark Shark Nebula, LDN1235
Catalin Cosar, Henlow, Bedfordshire, 22–28 February 2022
Catalin says: “Along with the dark Shark Nebula, LDN 1235, two reflection nebulae are visible here, vdB 149 and vdB 150, as well as the distant spiral galaxy PGC 67671, behind the shark’s ‘fin’. Gathering the data was easy – the moonless nights helped – but processing it was a different story. It took a few weeks until I was satisfied with the final image.”
Equipment: QHY 268C and QHY 268M cameras, Takahashi FSQ-85EDX refractor, Sky-Watcher EQ8 Pro mount
Exposure: RGB 165x 180”, L 198x 180”
Software: StarNet++, PixInsight
Catalin’s top tips: “For faint, dusty objects like this, there’s no substitute for dark skies, fast optics and lots of integration time (I had over 18 hours). To bring out the nebulosity without distorting the stars, I processed my two stacks, RGB from my colour camera and luminance from my monochrome, separately. Each was stretched and denoised (cleared of unwanted artefacts), then the luminance was deconvoluted (contrast improvement) and the RGB was colour calibrated before combining them. After removing the stars with StarNet++, I stretched them again before adding the RGB stars back in.”
Star trails
Andy Parker, Dungeness Beach, Kent, 1 April 2022
Andy says: “This is a superb dark-sky spot on the coast. I had to edit out a couple of aircraft trails using the eraser tool. If you look closely there’s a meteor near the tower.”
Equipment: Canon EOS RP mirrorless camera, Canon 35mm lens, 3 Legged Thing Punks Travis tripod
Exposure: stars: ISO 200 f/5.6, 5x 14’; foreground: ISO 100, f/8, 183”
Software: Photoshop
ISS transit
Julian Whitfield, Bristol, 17 March 2022
Julian says: “This was four years in the making. Finally, a clear sky combined with an ISS shadow transit of 0.61-second duration.”
Equipment: ZWO ASI174MM camera, Sky-Watcher 300P Flextube Dobsonian
Exposure: 8fps, 0.64ms, gain 102
Software: Photoshop
The Trifid Nebula
Adriano Almeida, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, 19 May 2021
Adriano says: “I was especially pleased with how this shows off the surrounding reflection portion of the Trifid Nebula.”
Equipment: ZWO ASI2600MM camera, William Optics FLT132 refractor, Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro mount
Exposure: Ha 3h 5’, OIII 8h; stars: RGB 2h
Software: APP, Photoshop
Elan Valley nightscape
Thomas Winstone, Claerwen Dam, Rhayader, 25 March 2022
Thomas says: “The capture of this picture – of the Milky Way, an ISS pass, the Zodiacal Light and a meteor over the Elan Valley – involved a 15-minute off-road drive on a bumpy track and a climb up the valley wall in the dark with walking poles and a head torch.”
Equipment: Canon EOS R5 mirrorless camera, Sigma 14mm lens, Gitzo CF tripod
Exposure: ISO 2000, f/2.2, 8x 25”
Software: Photoshop, Lightroom
LBN 531 and LBN 532 in Cepheus
Yann Sainty, Vosges and Moselle, France, 3–10 March 2022
Yann says: “This is the hardest processing I’ve ever done, due to mixing the Ha (Hydrogen-alpha) in with the LRGB, and separately processing the planetary nebula.”
Equipment: ZWO ASI2600MM Pro camera, Takahashi FSQ-106ED refractor, Sky-Watcher ER6-R Pro mount
Exposure: 65h 45’ total
Software: Siril, PixInsight, Photoshop
The Moon
Roger Hyman, Sparkford, Somerset, 8 March 2022
Roger says: “I love all the details and features to see in this waxing crescent Moon I shot from my back garden.”
Equipment: Altair Hypercam 183C Pro camera, William Optics Zenithstar 126 refractor, Celestron CGX mount
Exposure: 12.5ms, gain 400, 500 frames, best 25 per cent stacked
Software: SharpCap, AutoStakkert!, Photoshop, Topaz DeNoise AI
The Antennae Galaxies
Basudeb Chakrabarti, via Telescope Live, Hurtado Valley, Chile, 13 March 2022
Basudeb says: “It was very difficult to bring out the details of the core area.”
Equipment: FLI ProLine PL9000 camera, Planewave CDK24 astrograph, Mathis MI-1000 mount
Exposure: 4h 20’ total
Software: DeepSkyStacker, PixInsight, Photoshop
Sunspots
Arturo Buenrostro, Dallas, Texas, 27 March 2022
Arturo says: “These are the sunspots AR 2975/6, which are part of the fantastic solar activity we are now experiencing in Solar Cycle 25.”
Equipment: ZWO ASI178MM camera, Lunt 60mm H-Alpha telescope, doublestacked 50mm filter, B1200 blocking filter, Sky-Watcher AZ-EQ6 Pro mount
Exposure: 50” video, 2,500 frames stacked
Software: AutoStakkert!, RegiStax, Photoshop
Eta Carinae Nebula – Taranjot Singh, Brisbane, Australia, 12 March 2022 – Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM camera, Askar FRA400 astrograph, Sky-Watcher ER6-R Pro mount 
The Pinwheel Galaxy – Paul Humberstone, Llandudno, 22 and 23 March 2022 – Equipment: ZWO ASI294MC Pro camera, Celestron 8-inch EdgeHD Schmidt-Cassegrain, Sky-Watcher ER6-R Pro mount 
The Milky Way over Stair Hole – Russell Carr, Lulworth Cove, Dorset, 9 April 2022 – Equipment: Fuji X-T2 mirrorless camera, Fuji 16–55mm lens, Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 
The Sun awakens – Sue Silver, Sheffield, 8 March 2022 – Equipment: ZWO ASI120MC-S camera, Lunt LS60THa solar telescope, Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro mount 
The Sadr region – Diptiman Nandy, via Telescope Live, Oria, Almería, Spain, 19 August–14 December 2021 – Equipment: FLI PL16083 camera, Takahashi FSQ-106ED, Paramount MX+ mount 
24-hour star trails – Mary McIntyre, north Oxfordshire, July 2020–April 2021 – Equipment: Canon 1100D DSLR, Canon 10–18mm lens, static tripod 
The Flaming Star & Tadpole Nebulae – Kevin Earp, Willington, Bedford, February –March 2022 – Equipment: ZWO ASI294MC Pro camera, Sky-Watcher Esprit 100ED refractor, Sky-Watcher NEQ6 Pro mount 
M78 and the Horsehead Nebula – Nicolas Martino, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France, 28 February 2022 -Equipment: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro camera, TS-Optics 76EDPH refractor, Sky-Watcher EQM-35 Pro mount 
NGC 210 – Warren A Keller and Mike Selby, via Obstech, El Sauce Observatory, Chile, 2 April 2022 – Equipment: FLI PL16803 camera, PlaneWave PW1000 Nasmyth astrograph 
The Flaming Star & Tadpole Nebulae – Nick Perkins, Evercreech, Somerset, 21–26 March 2022 – Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM Pro camera, William Optics RedCat51 refractor, Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro mount 
The Pinwheel Galaxy – Lee Hore, north Cornwall, 23–24 March 2022 – Equipment: ZWO ASI294MC camera, Sky-Watcher EvoStar 72ED refractor, Sky-Watcher AZ-GTi mount
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Whether you’re a seasoned astrophotographer or a beginner, we’d love to see your images. Email them to contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com. Ts&Cs: www.immediate.co.uk/terms-and-conditions
We’ve teamed up with Modern Astronomy to offer the winner of next month’s Gallery a Hama Lens Pen, designed for quick and easy cleaning of telescope optics, eyepieces and camera lenses. It features a retractable brush and non-liquid cleaning element. www.modernastronomy.com • 020 8763 9953