Your best photos submitted to the magazine this month
PHOTO OF THE MONTH
The Seahorse Nebula
Emil Andronic, Bushey, Hertfordshire, 7 September–2 October 2021
Emil says: “This is the dark nebula Barnard 150 in LRGB (Luminance, Red, Green and Blue). Living in London suburbs under Bortle 7 skies has put me off trying to image dark nebulae, but I’ve been wanting to capture this target for ages and I had to try and see if it was possible.”
Equipment: ZWO ASI294MM Pro camera, Astro-Tech AT 106LE triplet apo refractor, Sky-Watcher AZ-EQ6 mount
Exposure: L 100x 180”, R 50x 180”, G 50x 180”, B 50x 180”
Software: SG Pro, Astro Pixel Processor, PixInsight, Photoshop
Emil’s top tips: “Light pollution is a major issue for me. To combat it, a mono camera has some great advantages. Combined with a light pollution filter instead of a luminance one, you’ll get much better contrast and detail for targets like dark nebulae. Wait for the perfect time when the target is at its highest and there’s no Moon. Keep the camera gain and exposure time relatively low to stop the sensor being swamped by light, but gather more Luminance (L) data than the Red, Green and Blue (RGB) channels to suppress unwanted noise.”
The Heart and Soul Nebulae
Martin Bracken, Chelmsford, 25 September–3 November 2021
Martin says: “This six-panel mosaic shows what can be achieved using amateur equipment and narrowband filters even in lightpolluted conditions.”
Equipment: ZWO ASI294MC Pro camera, Sky-Watcher Esprit 100ED refractor, Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro mount
Exposure: each panel 60x 300”
Software: NINA, DeepSkyStacker, MS ICE, PixInsight, Photoshop
The Pleiades
Matthew Shutter, Tring, Buckinghamshire, 2 November 2021
Matthew says: “I captured this using my new dedicated astro camera. It improves the signal-to-noise ratio of my image.”
Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM Pro camera, William Optics Zenithstar 73 apo refractor, iOptron GEM28 mount
Exposure: L 180’, R 60’, G 60’, B 60’”
Software: PixInsight
The Andromeda Galaxy
Paul Gordon, Rochford, Essex, 1 and 3 October 2021
Paul says: “It was a clear night with stable seeing so I targeted Andromeda as it was close to the zenith and favourably placed.”
Equipment: ZWO ASI533MC camera, William Optics Zenithstar 73 apo refractor, Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro mount
Exposure: 51x 2’, gain 300
Software: SharpCap, DeepSkyStacker, Topaz, Photoshop
Satellite sky
Adam Gray, New Forest, Hampshire, 13 August 2021
Adam says: “This highlights the problem with the number of satellites in our skies. I was imaging the Perseids, but the only meteor here is to the left of the star Vega.”
Equipment: Canon 2000D DSLR, Samyang 14mm lens, Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i
Exposure: ISO 1600 f/2.8, 84x 30”
Software: Photoshop
Sunspots
Arturo Buenrostro, Dallas, Texas, USA, 30 October 2021
Arturo says: “Accelerating solar activity reveals new landscapes”
Equipment: ZWO ASI178MM camera, Lunt 60mm H-Alpha telescope with doublestack 50mm filter and B1200 blocking filter, Sky-Watcher AZ- EQ6 Pro mount
Exposure: video of 3,500 frames (70”)
Software: FireCapture, AutoStakkert!, RegiStax, Photoshop
Comet passing Antares
José Chambó, remotely via Siding Spring Observatory, NSW Australia, 5 October 2021
José says: “Comet C/2020 T2 (Palomar) adds a note of discordant green as it moves between dark clouds of dust, reflection nebulae illuminated by the red supergiant star Antares, ancient globular clusters and clouds of ionised hydrogen. All this, perhaps, is one of the most dramatic landscapes in the Milky Way.”
Equipment: FLI ProLine 16803 camera, TeleVue NP127 refractor, 10Micron 2000 HPS mount
Exposure: 11’ total
Software: PixInsight
The Little Rosette Nebula
Chad Leader, North Brentwood, Maryland, USA, 6, 7 and 9 September 2021
Chad says: “Although not an object that is photographed very often, Sh2-170 boasts some interesting details when imaged at a longer focal length.”
Equipment: ZWO ASI294MM Pro camera, Celestron 8-inch EdgeHD OTA, Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro mount
Exposure: Ha 96x 300”, OIII 94x 300”, SII 83x 300”
Software: PixInsight
Supernova remnant CTB-1
Bill Batchelor, Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada, July–August 2021
Bill says: “This large but very faint target is a challenge, especially through several nights of thick smoke from regional forest fires.”
Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM Pro camera, William Optics FLT98 refractor, Celestron Advanced AVX mount
Exposure: Ha 13h, OIII 8h, SII 3h
Software: SG Pro, PixInsight
The Heart Nebula – Danny Lee, Folkestone, Kent, 29 September 2021 – Equipment: Canon 650D DSLR, William Optics RedCat 51 refractor, Sky-Watcher EQ5 Pro mount 
The Helix Nebula – Mainak Chakraborty, Kolkata, India, 2 October 2021 – Equipment: QHYCCD QHY294C Pro camera, William Optics Redcat 51 apo refractor, iOptron Sky Guider Pro mount 
Cosmic question mark (NGC 7822) – Carl Gough, Littlehampton, West Sussex, 21–26 October 2021 – Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM camera, Samyang 135mm lens, Sky-Watcher EQ6-R mount 
The Pleiades – Callum Wingrove, Stanmore, London, 2 and 3 November 2021 – Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM Pro camera, SharpStar 94EDPH triplet apo refractor, Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro mount 
The Orion Nebula – Ben Brotherton, Herefordshire, 2 November 2021 – Equipment: ZWO ASI533MC camera, Sky-Watcher 8-inch Newtonian, Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro mount 
Widefield view including NGC 7822, Little Rosette Nebula and CTB-1 – Prabhu, Buraq dam, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, 11 October 2021 – Equipment: ZWO ASI294MM Pro camera, Samyang 135mm lens, Sky-Watcher AZ-EQ6 mount 
The Heart Nebula – Nick Lake, Chicago, USA, September–October 2021 – Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM Pro camera, Celestron 8-inch Rowe-Ackermann Schmidt astrograph, iOptron CEM40 mount 
Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko passes the Crab Nebula – José Chambó, remotely via New Mexico Skies, Mayhill, New Mexico, USA, 9 October 2021 – Equipment: SBIG STL-11000M camera, Takahashi FSQ-106ED f/5.0, Paramount GT-1100S mount 
The Pleiades – Ash Bull, Ockbrook, Derby, 24 October 2020 and 3 November 2021 – Equipment: ZWO ASI071MC Pro camera, Celestron 8-inch Rowe-Ackermann Schmidt astrograph, iOptron CEM70 mount 
The Wizard Nebula – Nigel Arnold, York, 29 September and 8 October 2021 – Equipment: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro camera, Sky-Watcher Esprit 100ED refractor, Celestron CGX Mount 
IC 1871 (within the Soul Nebula IC 1848) – Chad Leader, North Brentwood, Maryland, USA, September–October 2021 – Equipment: ZWO ASI294MM Pro camera, Celestron 8-inch EdgeHD OTA, Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro mount 
The Heart and Soul Nebulae – Jeffrey Horne, Nashville, Tennessee, USA, 11 October 2021 – Equipment: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro camera, TPO UltraWide 180 triplet apo refractor, Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro mount
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