Your best photos submitted to the magazine this month

PHOTO OF THE MONTH

A huge solar prominence

Jay Bolt, Crigglestone, West Yorkshire, 18 July 2022

Jay says: “I had been capturing sunspots when I noticed a huge prominence forming on the Sun’s limb. The seeing was unusually good early in the morning, allowing for very precise focusing and capturing of the plasma eruption. Solar activity has been steadily increasing over the last few years, and I am particularly pleased with the magnetic detail that processing has brought out on the chromosphere.”

Equipment: Altair Hypercam 174M camera, Explore Scientific AR127mm refractor, Daystar Quark Chromosphere Ha eyepiece filter, Sky-Watcher EQ6-R mount
Exposure: 1,500 frames of SER format video, best 20% selected
Software: AutoStakkert!, Photoshop, Astra Image, Topaz DeNoise, Topaz Sharpen

Jay’s top tips: “For solar imaging using a Quark Chromosphere, aim for exposures of 5–10ms for the chromosphere to ‘freeze’ the effects of seeing. I use gain and the histogram to achieve exposure rates of 5ms on my Altair 174M, and take 2,000 to 3,000 exposures, with the histogram peaking around 60 per cent and taking care that the top end is not clipped. For the prominences, ignore the histogram and increase exposure to bring out the detail. Typically this is around max gain and 20ms on my camera. I then shoot for 20–25 seconds. My image is a composite: the prominences are overlaid onto the chromosphere, then colourised.”

The Shark Nebula

Shawn Nielsen, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, July 2022

Shawn says: “There is a lot to see in this image including LDN1235, vdB149, vdB150 and galaxy PGC 67671. The Shark Nebula is faint and requires a lot of time to really bring out the colours.”

Equipment: QHY268M camera, StarField Optics 8-inch astrograph, Sky-Watcher EQ6 mount
Exposure: 17.5h
Software: PixInsight

Supermoon over the Needles

Cenk Albayrak-Touyé, Highcliffe beach, Dorset, 13 July 2022

Cenk says: “I used the PhotoPills app to work out the direction of moonrise. Right on cue, I glimpsed some orange behind the Needles. After running down the beach with my tripod to adjust the angle slightly, I managed to capture the resulting photo.”

Equipment: Canon EOS RP mirrorless camera, Sigma 150–600mm lens, K&F Concept S210 tripod
Exposure: ISO 800 f/8, 0.8”
Software: Lightroom

Saturn

Padraig Connor, Belfast, 18 July 2022

Padraig says: “I took this shot of Saturn during the heatwave in mid-July when the atmosphere was calmer than usual. I manually tracked it across the sky and it was quite difficult to keep the planet centred in such a small region due to the lack of a motorised mount.”

Equipment: ZWO ASI224MC camera, Sky-Watcher 200P Dobsonian
Exposure: 3’
Software: SharpCap, PIPP, AutoStakkert!, RegiStax

Double star Albireo

Tony Moss, Downham Market, Norfolk, 8 June 2022

Tony says: “Alberio is a favourite of mine and was nicely positioned above all the local light pollution. I wanted to see how well I could capture the colours and details.”

Equipment: Altair Hypercam 269C camera, Altair 8-inch Ritchey–Chrétien, Celestron AVX mount
Exposure: 20x 30”
Software: SharpCap, APP, GIMP

The Moon

Sonia Turkington, North Reddish, Stockport, 10 July2022

Sonia says: “I love imaging the Moon and have done for about 25 years. I never get tired of looking at it. I always use my smartphone, as it takes better photos than my Canon. I take a few photos until I think I’ve got the perfect one.”

Equipment: Google Pixel 6 smartphone, Sky-Watcher Skyliner 250PX Dobsonian
Exposure: ISO 51 f/1.9, 1/101”
Software: Google Photos

Comet C/2017 K2 (PanSTARRS)

Martina McGovern, Cambridge, 14 July 2022

Martina says: “I planned the shot in advance, even though there was a full Moon, and the clouds parted for a bit to let me capture this beauty near M10 while it was at its closest approach to Earth. It won’t pass by Earth again for perhaps another million years.” 

Equipment: ZWO ASI294MC Pro camera, Sharpstar 100 QII refractor, Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro mount
Exposure: 54’
Software: PixInsight, DeepSkyStacker, Photoshop, Topaz DeNoise

The Flame Nebula

Kfir Simon, Tivoli Farm, Namibia, 30 July 2019

Kfir says: “This great nebula is often overlooked because it has a very famous neighbour – the Horsehead Nebula – and imaging it has its challenges because of the very bright star Alnitak nearby in Orion’s Belt.”

Equipment: FLI ML8300 CCD camera, ASA 12-inch f/3.8 astrograph, ASA DDM85 mount
Exposure: 4h
Software: MaxIm DL, Photoshop

M13, The Great Hercules Cluster

Patrick Cosgrove, Honeoye Falls, New York, 29–31 May 2022

Patrick says: “I’ve imaged M13 in the past, but I wanted to try it again and do the best job possible. I captured 8.5 hours of LRGB data and used several methods to maximise the sharpness. I was delighted with the result!”

Equipment: ZWO ASI2600MM Pro camera, Astro-Physics 130mm EDT refractor, iOptron CEM60 mount
Exposure: 8.5h
Software: PixInsight, Photoshop

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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