Your best photos submitted to the magazine this month
PHOTO OF THE MONTH
The Heart and Soul Nebulae
Basudeb Chakrabarti, remotely via IC Astronomy Observatory, Almería, Spain, 21 February 2022
Basudeb says: “Located about 6,000 lightyears from Earth, the Heart and Soul Nebulae create a vast star-forming complex that makes up part of the Perseus spiral arm of our Milky Way Galaxy. I have been obsessed with the sheer beauty of the nebulae since I started astrophotography one and a half years ago. I processed the Heart Nebula six months ago. But this time I have done a two-panel mosaic to capture these two beautiful nebulae in a single frame. ”
Equipment: FLI PL16083 camera, Takahashi FSQ-106EDX4 refractor, Paramount MX+ mount
Exposure: Heart 26h 50’; Soul 20h 40’
Software: PixInsight, Photoshop
Basudeb’s top tips: “My tip is that it’s better to gather as much data as possible from a single target rather than taking less data from multiple targets. Before combining the individual channels, I would suggest visualising your final colour rendition of the image. I recommend taking additional time and extra precautions during the deconvolution process in PixInsight to render sharper and more beautiful stars. During the postprocessing, it’s a good idea to make multiple small changes, step by step, instead of applying a big change at once.”
Aurora and a Perseid meteor
Olli Reijonen, Syrjävaara, Finland, 12 August 2022
Olli says: “The strengthening aurora borealis was already visible in the sky, and while photographing the Northern Lights I saw two handsome early Perseids, one of which, with good luck, was exposed in a frame. At the same time, the last noctilucent clouds of autumn began to rise.”
Equipment: Olympus OM-D E-M5 mirrorless camera, 8mm fisheye lens, tripod
Exposure: ISO 800 f/1.8, 1”
Software: Photoshop
The Fireworks Galaxy
Roland Gooday, Wantage, Oxfordshire, 6 August 2022
Roland says: “I was hoping to bring out as much detail as I could while retaining a natural-looking colour, with as little exposure time as the weather allowed.”
Equipment: Altair Hypercam 533C camera, Celestron EdgeHD 8-inch aplanatic Schmidt-Cassegrain, Sky-Watcher EQ6-R mount
Exposure: 5h 30’
Software: PixInsight
Trio of planets
Ollie Bacon, Kirkby, Merseyside, 12 August 2022
Ollie says: “I put the images together in a montage to show the current differences in the apparent sizes of Jupiter, Mars and Saturn, as well as the variations in colour of the three planets.”
Equipment: ZWO ASI120MC-S camera, Sky-Watcher Skymax 127 Maksutov-Cassegrain, Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro mount
Exposure: 1,200 frames
Software: PIPP, AutoStakkert!, RegiStax, Photoshop
NGC 6729
Ethan Wong Yew Hoe, Mersing, Malaysia, 26 August 2022
Ethan says: “This molecular cloud in Corona Australis has always intrigued me. It requires excellent sky conditions and sufficient aperture to pull in those dim and dusty structures. A bonus object is nearby globular cluster NGC 6723.”
Equipment: QHY533C camera, StellaMira 90mm triplet refractor, iOptron CEM26 mount
Exposure: 35x 180”
Software: PixInsight, Photoshop
Solar prominence in red
Kevin Earp, Bedford, 4 August 2022
Kevin says: “I used a mono colour scheme for the disc, with the prominence colourised against a white background, to try to accentuate its details.”
Equipment: ZWO ASI174MM camera, Sky-Watcher Esprit 100 refractor, DayStar Quark Chromosphere eyepiece, Sky-Watcher NEQ6 Pro mount
Exposure: best 20% of 500-frame video
Software: SharpCap, AutoStakkert!, RegiStax, Photoshop
August supermoon
Vicki Pink, Southampton, 12 August 2022
Vicki says: “My imaging run was due to finish around 2:30am, but I caught sight of the full Moon just peacefully hanging there in the gap between the houses. How could I resist taking some snaps?”
Equipment: Altair Hypercam 269C Pro camera, Sky-Watcher 72ED Evostar refractor, Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro mount
Exposure: 16ms, two-panel mosaic, 300 frames each
Software: SharpCap, AutoStakkert!, RegiStax, Photoshop
The Lion Nebula
Richard Guest, Kingswinford, West Midlands, 15 June 2022
Richard says: “The Lion Nebula in the constellation of Cepheus was a new target to me. I used an IDAS NBZ Nebula Boost filter to draw out the ionised hydrogen and oxygen. After using PixInsight and Topaz DeNoise, the nebula just seemed to leap out of the image!”
Equipment: ZWO ASI2600MC camera, Celestron NexStar Evolution 8-inch EdgeHD Schmidt-Cassegrain
Exposure: 90x 60”
Software: PixInsight, Topaz DeNoise
Constellations in colour
Paolo Palma, Naples, Italy, 2020–2022
Paolo says: “In the last two years I have captured all the stars up to mag. +5 visible from Naples, about 1,300 in all. I defocused the stars to make the colours clearer and make mosaics of the constellations. This is Aquila, Delphinus, Sagitta, Vulpecula and Equuleus.”
Equipment: Samsung A5 smartphone, Sky-Watcher Stargate 450P Synscan Dobsonian
Exposure: ISO 8000 f/2, 1/11”
Software: GIMP
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