Your best photos submitted to the magazine this month
PHOTO OF THE MONTH
Aurora streamers over the White Mountains
John Chumack, Chena River Recreation Area, Alaska, 31 March 2022
John says: “I love the dark skies here. I could easily see several deep-sky objects with the unaided eye, including the Andromeda Galaxy, M31, which you can spot just below the green ‘piano keys’ in this shot. It’s usually almost –30˚C here, but this year it was actually –8˚C. This was much better for my camera batteries, which didn’t drain as fast.”
Equipment: Canon 6D DSLR, Tokina 16-28mm lens, Bogen trip
Exposure: ISO 3200 f/2.8, 6”
Software: Adobe Camera Raw
John’s top tips: “To shoot aurorae, it’s vital to find a low, dark location with no cities directly to your north. Be sure to mount your camera stably on a tripod, especially on uneven terrain. Avoid touching the camera as this will blur your image; use a remote switch or timer. Choose a wideangle, fast lens such as 14–24mm and f/1.4, f/2.8 or f/3.5. Exposure times can be as much as 30 seconds, but 5–10 seconds will help keep details sharp. Don’t worry about noise (unwanted artefacts). You can either take a dark frame and subtract the noise later or use a ‘denoise’ tool when you are post processing.”
The Eagle Nebula
Diptiman Nandy, remotely via El Sauce Observatory, Rio Hurtado, Chile, 24 August – 19 November 2021
Diptiman says: “I’ve been doing astrophotography for eight months now. Processing this image was a great challenge.”
Equipment: FLI ProLine PL9000 camera, PlaneWave CDK24 astrograph, Mathis Instruments MI-1000 Equatorial Fork Mount
Exposure: Ha 22x 600”, OIII 25x 600”, SII 26x 600”
Software: DeepSkyStacker, PixInsight, Photoshop
Sunspot montage
Peter Lewis, Sutton, London, 18–26 April 2022
Peter says: “This montage captures AR2993–2996 over eight days as Earth rotated around the Sun.”
Equipment: Samsung S20 smartphone, Orion SkyQuest 8-inch Dobsonian, Orion solar filter
Exposure: ISO 50, 1/350”
Software: Google Photo Editor
Crater Plato
Alfonso Merino, Madrid, Spain, 17 April 2022
Alfonso says: “Most of the time my targets are deep-sky objects, but sometimes it’s nice to take a moonwalk.”
Equipment: ZWO ASI120MC-S camera, Sky-Watcher Skymax 127 Maksutov-Cassegrain, Sky-Watcher NEQ6 Pro mount
Exposure: 180” video
Software: AutoStakkert!, RegiStax
Star trails over a tulip field
Dario Giannobile, Blufi, Sicily, 26 March 2021
Dario says: “Taking advantage of the almost full Moon, I let the stars draw circles above this field of wild tulips.”
Equipment: Canon 6D DSLR camera, Canon 8–15mm lens, Manfrotto MT190XPRO4 tripod
Exposure: ISO 400 f/4, 30”
Software: Photoshop
The Whale and Hockey Stick Galaxies
Michael Clem, Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, US, 30 April & 1 May 2022
Michael says: “This was a tough capture: I had to wait for the galaxy pair to rise high enough to clear power lines. Then I had to throw away an hour of subs due to planes and satellites. Frustrating, to say the least.”
Equipment: ZWO ASI533MC camera, Astro-Tech AT115EDT refractor, Sky-Watcher EQM-35 Pro mount
Exposure: 37x 5
Software: PixInsight
Partial solar eclipse
Tomás Andonie, Santiago, Chile, 30 April 2022
Tomás says: “I planned ahead for the trajectory of the Sun and luckily had a clear view from my home to take a shot every 10 seconds for the whole hour. The weather was perfect too.”
Equipment: Nikon D3300 DSLR, Nikkor 55–300mm lens, Baader solar filter, Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i, K&F Concept tripod
Exposure: ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/3200”
Software: Photoshop
The Milky Way
Basudeb Chakrabarti, West Bengal, India, 13 March 2022
Basudeb says: “We reached the remote Namthing Pokhri Lake at 3:45am. It was so dark I couldn’t even see my hand. I was setting up my camera alone in that desolate place, trembling with fear that a leopard would attack me.”
Equipment: Nikon D5200 DSLR camera, Tokina 11–16mm lens, tripod
Exposure: sky: ISO 3200 f/2.8, 100x 20”; foreground: ISO 800 f/5.6, 5x 5”
Software: Sequator, PixInsight, Photoshop
The North America Nebula
Kevin Earp, Bedford, 4 May 2022
Kevin says: “The L-eNhance filter on my one-shot colour camera gives me lots of palette options. I chose a false Hubble-style palette to emphasise the beauty of the Cygnus Wall. With only 2.5 hours of total integration, I’m pleased how it turned out.”
Equipment: ZWO ASI294MC Pro camera, Sky-Watcher Esprit 100 apo refractor, Sky-Watcher NEQ6 PRO mount, Optolong L-eNhance filter, ASIair Plus controller
Exposure: 29x 300” sub exposures; gain 120
Software: Astro Pixel Processor, Photoshop
NGC 1367 – Warren Keller and Mike Selby, El Sauce Observatory, Rio Hurtado, Chile, 5–7 November 2021 – Equipment: FLI Proline 16803 camera, PlaneWave PW1000 and CDK700 Nasmyth astrographs 
The Cone and Fox Fur Nebulae – Prabhu, Razeen Desert and Buraq dam, UAE, 13 December 2021 and 25 March 2022 – Equipment: ZWO 294MM Pro camera, GSO 8-Inch Ritchey–Chrétien astrograph, Sky-Watcher EQ6 Pro mount 
Bode’s Galaxy, M81 – Jeffrey O Johnson, Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA, 7 April 2022 – Equipment: QSI690WSG camera, Takahashi TOA-130F refractor, Takahashi EM200 mount 
The Wizard Nebula – Ian J Crichton, Dalgety Bay, Scotland, 26, 27 March and 8, 9 April 2022 – Equipment: QHY294M Pro camera, Sky-Watcher Esprit 150ED refractor, Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro mount 
Ptolemaeus and Rupes Recta lunar craters – John Brown, Leicester, 9 April 2022 – Equipment: ZWO ASI290MC camera, Sky-Watcher Skymax 127 Maksutov-Cassegrain, Sky-Watcher AZ-GTi mount 
Equinox sunset – Tom Howard, Isle of Wight, 22 March 2022 – Equipment: Nikon D7500 DSLR, TS-Optics 65mm refractor, Sky-Watcher EQ6 mount 
Planetary parade – John Chumack, Dayton, Ohio, USA, 27 April 2022 – Equipment: Canon 6D DSLR, Canon 24mm–105mm lens, tripodCanon 6D DSLR Camera, Canon 24-105mm lens, set to 44mm, F9, ISO 400, 1.3 second exposure. 
NGC 4559 – Ron Brecher, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, 1 May 2022 – Equipment: QHYCCD QHY600M camera, Sky-Watcher Esprit 150ED refractor, Paramount MX mount 
The Moon, Venus and Jupiter – Peter Louer, Tenerife, 27 April 2022 – Equipment: Canon 6D DSLR, Canon 100–400mm lens 
NGC 4216 – Simon Watts, Farnham, Surrey, 2 April 2022 – Equipment: ZWO ASI533MC Pro camera, Celestron 8-inch EdgeHD Schmidt-Cassegrain, Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro mount 
Partial solar eclipse – Tomás Slovinsky, Atacama, Chile, 30 April 2022 – Equipment: Canon 6D DSLR, Tamron 100–400mm lens, Leofoto LM-405C tripod
ENTER TO WIN A PRIZE. HERE’S HOW
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