Lmst

I should say that the reason I got the Altair set though is because Askar only makes the Color Magic duo-band filters in 2" and I wanted 1.25" filters for my ASI585MC. So that could also be a deciding factor too.

I like both of them, but the Altair set has a narrower bandwidth than the Colormagic filters. I could only get the C1+C2 filter set at the time, but Askar also has higher-quality D and E sets which I'm sure are just as good as the Altair ones. The C set is super cheap though (as far as 2" filters go, anyway).

If I had to start over and pick only one, I'm not sure which I would choose.

Thanks! 😊

This image was somewhat complex to process because it was captured by two telescope rigs simultaneously.

Rig 1 details:
- Askar 130PHQ w/ 0.7x reducer
- ZWO ASI2600MC
- iOptron HAE29
- 20x180s Askar Color Magic C1 (H+O) filter
- 20x180s Askar Color Magic C2 (S+O) filter

Rig 2 details:
- William Optics RedCat 51
- ZWO ASI585MC
- iOptron HAE16C
- 10x180s Altair 6nm Ha+OIII filter
- 30x180s Altair 6nm SII+OIII filter
- Stacked and edited in PixInsight w/ BlurX, NoiseX, and StarX

Here's my first pass at data I captured last night (June 14) of the Eagle Nebula (M16) in SHO narrowband.

Just a reminder of what SHO narrowband means:
- Red shows light emitted by sulphur
- Green shows light emitted by hydrogen
- Blue shows light emitted by oxygen

The second image is a smaller crop around the center of the nebula to show off the details of the so-called "Pillars of Creation"

#astronomy #astrophotography

A field of stars with a cloud of multicolored gas that has a resemblance to a large bird of prey striking at some prey

A smaller, cropped version of the same image, showcasing the center of the nebula and the large finger-like structure of gas and dust known as the "Pillars of Creation"

Hmmm... maybe I'll get a pic of GAL 084.0+00.8 with my 8" EdgeHD if I get a chance.

The North American Nebula (NGC 7000) and Pelican Nebula (IC 5070) in HOO narrowband. These two nebulae are in the constellation Cygnus and are about 2,600 light-years away.

Captured from June 8-10, from my apartment and an annoying amount of smoke in the air. Oh yeah, and it was a full moon.

Details:
- RedCat 51
- ASI2600MC w/ Askar Colormagic C1 filter
- 111x300s
- PixInsight w/ BlurX and NoiseX

#astronomy #astrophotography

This is the pic I got on Sunday night of the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex.

If you look closely, you might see some artifacts in the image because a power pole appears in a few of the subframes. This area is very low in the sky at my latitude which made it difficult to get the data as clean as I'd like. I decided that I should try to collect more data if I can, so this isn't the final version, but it's still cool.

#astronomy #astrophotography

A field of closely packed stars with the frame centered on a large area of gas and dust in the Ophiuchi constellation. There are three obvious clouds of gas: one blue, one red, and one yellow.

Here's my take on one of the classics: the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51)

It's technically two galaxies (NGC 5194 and NGC 5195) about 23-31 million light-years away from us in the process of merging. It will eventually be a featureless blob of a lenticular galaxy, but at the moment it's a mesmerizing sight.

#astronomy #astrophotography

A field of stars, with a large spiral galaxy in the center. There is another lenticular galaxy to the left of it that almost looks as if it's getting sucked down into a whirlpool

I've seen some great pics come out of Seestars. The biggest things that will help you are using it in equatorial mode and saving the subs off for processing in something like PixInsight or Siril.

The rig I used:
- Askar FMA180pro
- ZWO ASI585MC
- iOptron HAE16C
- ASIair Plus

Oh, trust me, there was plenty of crud from light pollution that I had to edit out to get it too look nice lol

The pic I got last night was of the Owl Nebula (M97) and the Surfboard Galaxy (M108).

The Owl Nebula is a relatively young and relatively close planetary nebula about 2,000-ish light years away. The Surfboard Galaxy, on the other hand, is about 46 million light years away.

#astronomy #astrophotography

A field of stars with a small, blue globe of gas with a red outer fringe at the center of the frame (M97), and a side-on view of a spiral galaxy to the right (M108)

Why would you call the back side of the moon "dark" when it gets just as much light as the front?

Stacked video

Askar 130PHQ w/ 0.7x reducer (700 mm focal length, f/5.4) and ZWO ASI2600MC camera

Celestron EdgeHD 8" with 0.7x reducer and a ZWO ASI294MM camera

And while I was setting up on Tuesday night (Apr 29), I was impressed by how the moon looked and took a some pics of it. It was cool to be able to see the literal dark side of the moon as it reflected earthshine back at us.

#astronomy #astrophotography

Photo of the moon, but the dark face is visible and lit crescent of the moon is just an oversaturated sliver of light

I also got a quick pic of Jupiter on Sunday night (Apr 27) while I was setting up. Only in Luminance because I was using my monochrome camera at the time, but it still turned out really well.

When I was capturing the image, I thought I was seeing the Great Red Spot, but it looks like it's the shadow of one of the moons (Io?)

#astronomy #astrophotography

A black-and-white image of Jupiter with the cloud bands and three of its moons clearly visible.

My pic of M101 (Pinwheel Galaxy) from last night

#astronomy #astrophotography

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