Your best photos submitted to the magazine this month
The Spaghetti Nebula, Simeis 147
Yann Sainty, France, 11 October 2021–1 March 2022
Yann says: “The Spaghetti Nebula is an object that I’d always dreamed of shooting, but I knew it wouldn’t be easy. I decided to put all the chances on my side by travelling to shoot where the weather would allow it: from the Vosges mountains to Alsace (camping in 0˚C) and Moselle in the east, down to Valensole and several other locations in the south. It took me two months and a total of 3,600km to acquire 55 hours of data for a final two-panel mosaic of 15,000 x 12,000 pixels.”
Equipment: ZWO ASI2600MM Pro camera, Takahashi FSQ-106ED refractor, Sky-Watcher ER6-R Pro mount
Exposure: Panel 1: Ha 71x 600’’, OIII 78x 600’’, RGB 90x 10” each; Panel 2: Ha 94x 600’’, OIII 78x 600’’, RGB 90x 10” each
Software: Siril, PixInsight, Photoshop
Yann’s top tips: “For a big, faint supernova remnant, a good monochrome camera like the ASI2600MM – with high quality filters, like the Antlia 3nm – is key, plus a fast focal length scope. I recommend at least 600’’ sub frames to catch as much light as possible. Take time with processing: I processed the object without stars and added them afterwards. A two-panel mosaic demands more time, but the results are worth it.”
Solar activity
John Chumack, Dayton, Ohio, USA, 5 March 2022
John says: “It’s so nice to see the Sun with so much activity again, with at least four active regions, several filaments, bright plages, sunspot groups and plenty of prominence activity all around the limb.”
Equipment: QHY5L-II CMOS camera, Lunt LS60 solar telescope with B1200 filter, Bisque MYT mount
Exposure: 4.2ms, 495 frames stacked
Software: RegiStax
Winter Circle
Chris Platkiw, Hella, Iceland, 3 March 2022
Chris says: “I waited in –6˚C wind chill for the clouds to clear and grabbed this view of the winter constellations.”
Equipment: Canon EOS R mirrorless camera, Canon 17–35mm lens, Benro A0685F tripod
Exposure: ISO 6400 f/3.2, 30x 15”
Software: Starry Landscape Stacker, PixInsight, Photoshop
Arp 271
Warren Keller and Mike Selby, El Sauce Observatory, Rio Hurtado, Chile, 3 June 2021
Warren says: “MaxIm DL’s deconvolution filter helped to pull out the fine detail from this beautiful pair.”
Equipment: FLI ProLine PL 16803 camera, PlaneWave PW1000 Nasmyth astrograph
Exposure: L 17h, RGB 6h each
Software: PixInsight, Photoshop, MaxIm DL
Lunar X and V
Jamie Cooper, Whilton, Northants, 8 February 2022
Jamie says: “Here’s an eight-pane mosaic showing the first quarter Moon with the Lunar X and V visible along the terminator.”
Equipment: ZWO ASI290MM camera, Sky-Watcher 250PDS Newtonian reflector, EQ6 mount
Exposure: 80fps, 4,000 frames, best 100 stacked
Software: AutoStakkert!, RegiStax, Photoshop
The Saturn Nebula, NGC 7009
Fernando Oliveira de Menezes, Jales, São Paulo, Brazil, 7 October 2021
Fernando says: “I’ve combined a wide-field and a close-up view of this nebula that’s shaped like our favourite ringed planet.”
Equipment: ZWO ASI6200MC camera, Sky-Watcher 150ED refractor, CEM60 mount
Exposure: 64x 50”
Software: SGPro, PixInsight, Photoshop
The Cone Nebula/ Christmas Tree Cluster
Jeffrey Horne, Nashville, Tennessee, USA, 26 November 2021–19 February 2022
Jeffrey says: “I hadn’t planned on spending over 100 hours on this image, but as I kept piling on data, more and more detail appeared.”
Equipment: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro camera, TPO UltraWide 180 refractor, Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro mount
Exposure: Stars 350x 5”, narrowband 759x 480”
Software: APP, PixInsight, Photoshop
NGC 6744
Basudeb Chakrabarti, via Telescope Live, El Sauce Observatory, Chile, 29 November, 5 and 6 December 2021
Basudeb says: I’m always fascinated by the sheer beauty of galaxies. The deep-sky target NGC 6744 was quite a difficult target when it came to post processing.”
Equipment: FLI ProLine PL9000 camera, Planewave CDK24 astrograph, Mathis MI-1000 mount
Exposure: 16h 50’ total
Software: DeepSkyStacker, PixInsight, Photoshop
The Rosette Nebula
Rachael and Jonathan Wood, Doncaster, 3–6 January 2022
Rachael says: “This image was produced using a fake Hubble palette, as this target really reveals its different layers when you can see the range of gas and colour within.”
Equipment: ZWO ASI294MC Pro camera, Sky-Watcher Evostar ED80 refractor, Sky-Watcher EQ5 Pro mount
Exposure: 8h total
Software: APP, Photoshop
The Heart Nebula – Ed Holt, Mutford, Suffolk, 5 March 2022 – Equipment: Canon 60D DSLR, Sky-Watcher Evostar 80ED refractor, Celestron CG-5 Adv GT GEM mount 
The Needle Galaxy, NGC 4565 – Simon Watts, Farnham, Surrey, 22 February 2022 – Equipment: ZWO ASI533MC camera, Celestron 8-inch EdgeHD Schmidt-Cassegrain, SkyWatcher HEQ5 Pro mount 
The Pelican Nebula – Anthony McAvoy, Camborne, Cornwall, 14 January 2019 – Equipment: QSI 583wsg camera, William Optics GT81 refractor, Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro mount 
Antares and Venus – Sérgio Conceição, Serpa, Alentejo, Portugal, 7 October 2021 – Equipment: Canon R6 mirrorless camera, Canon 15–35mm lens 
Moon close-up – Sonia Turkington, Stockport, Manchester, 6 March 2021 – Equipment: Google Pixel 6, Sky-Watcher 10-inch Dobsonian 
The Orion and Running Man Nebulae – Simon Worger, Hampshire, 26 and 27 February 2022 – Equipment: ZWO ASI183MM camera, StellaMira 90mm refractor, iOptron GEM45 mount 
The Seagull Nebula – Martin Bracken, Chelmsford, 25–27 February 2022 – Equipment: ZWO ASI294MC Pro camera, Sky-Watcher Esprit 100ED refractor, Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro mount 
The Jellyfish Nebula – Carl Parnell, Dawlish, Devon, 27–28 January 2022 – Equipment: ZWO ASI294 Pro camera, William Optics RedCat 51 refractor, Celestron AVX mount 
The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy – Jason Matter, Okeechobee, Florida, USA, 28 February–6 March 2022. – Equipment: ZWO ASI2600MM Pro camera, Stellarvue SVA130T refractor, Astro-Physics 1200GTO mount 
The Lobster Claw Nebula in Hubble and standard palette – Phil Swift, Lowton, Warrington, 2 January–26 February 2022 – Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM camera, Sky-Watcher Evostar ED80 refractor, Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro mount 
The Cone Nebula – Adriano Almeida, MIssissauaga, Ontario, Canada, January–February 2022 – Equipment: ZWO ASI2600MM camera, Meade 80mm refractor, iOptron CEM26 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