NGC 3359 (2025)

This is my version of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 3359, located approximately 59 million light-years (LY) away in the constellation Ursa Major. The galaxy is slightly smaller than our own Milky Way at 108,500 LY across and has two prominent spiral arms with several dense star forming regions. I would have liked to get more than 2.3 hrs of data but if you read my post of my previous image, I was in the process activating my EdgeHD800 and having a humorous time with the stars. This image was after the collimation was adjusted and the focal reducer removed and although the stars do look better, they are not anything to write home about - they looked as if they were pinched somehow.

Originally, I thought it was because the dew heater ring was too tight on the corrector plate, however, a couple of people responded to a youtube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VY7m67G9S8&t=6s) I made about this issue with the suggestion that I was basically heating it too much. I used the AstroZap Dew Heater controller and had it set at 50% power but turned it down to 20% power and the problem went away. After fixing the issue over the next few days I moved on to another project.

Since only 2.3 hrs of data was collected for this image, it was quite noisy, however, the new noise reduction and other processing techniques we have available now do a great job at reducing the noise.

Higher Quality:

https://www.astrobin.com/llm27n/?nc=collection&nce=712

NGC 3359 (2025)
Dates: 3-27-25
Camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro
Telescope: Celestron EdgeHD 800
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 2032mm (native)
F/10 (native)
Focal Reducer: None
Mount: Orion Atlas Pro
Filter Adaptor: ZWO Filter Drawer
Filter: Optolong Luminosity (2-inch)
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Orion ST80
Exposure: Lum 93 x 90
Gain: 139
Offset 0
Temp: -10 C
Processing: Asiair app, PixInsight, Photoshop, BlurXT, NoiseXT, StarX, Bill's Color Masks, Bill's Stretching, GraXpert, Topaz Denoise

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NGC 3310 - Arp 217

This is my version NGC 3310 (a.k.a. Arp 217), a small starburst galaxy approximately 22,000 light-years (LY) across located about 46 million LY away in the constellation Ursa Major. Starburst galaxies are known for extensive star formation. It is believed that the intense star formation and unusual tidal streams were a result of a collision between NGC 3310 and one of its satellite galaxies that occurred 100 million years ago.

The background field that the galaxy resides in is rich in stars and there are many smaller galaxies as well, some of which I labelled. My favorite is the face-on spiral galaxy, PCG31652, located on the lower left side of the widefield image. The cropped image of NGC 3310 shows some very interesting structure especially within the tidal arcs above the spiral arms. There is one stream that crosses an arc perpendicularly resembling a bow and arrow and not surprisingly, NGC 3310 is nicknamed the Bow and Arrow galaxy.

For Some humor:
I imaged this by mistake as I broke out the Edge800 which has been patiently waiting for use since last year. In my rush to set that up on this target during the mainly cloudy chilly nights we have had, this target was on my mind when I dialed in the coordinates for this setup. I am not showing a C8 image since I attempted to culminate the scope at night on a star but I stink at that and the stars were really bad. The next day I decided to culminate the scope in the afternoon when it was warm and bright using the OCAL collimator which I love. While I was at it I removed the Celestron 0.7x Focal Reducer in order to image at F10 for the first time ever. Some have said (@Gary Imm 😄) that focal reducers whack out stars a bit so wanted to test that out as well. I went after this again that night and the stars were definitely better, BUT, the camera had so much dust on it that even with the new flats, the image looked as if it had a bad case of acne or poison ivy. The following day I spent cleaning the camera and ensuring the camera was getting clean by taking test flats at the same time. This method worked really well as the camera was never this clean - there are only two dust bunnies and that's it. Of course the weather turned for the worse and by the time it cleared I went to a different object with this setup.

Higher Quality:
https://www.astrobin.com/fwtrvk/?nc=collection&nce=712

NGC 3310 - Arp 217

Dates: 3-18-25, 3-21-25
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 805mm (644mm w/ FR)
f/7
Focal Reducer: 0.8x AstroTech Field Flatterner/Focal Reducer
Mount: Orion Sirius
Filter Wheel: ZWO
EFW 8 x 1.25"
Filter: ZWO R, G, B, L
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure: L 93 x 90, R 60 x 90, G 49 x 90, B 60 x 90 (6h 33')
Gain: 139
Offset 20
Sensor Temp: -10 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, BlurXTerminator, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, GraXpert, Bill Blanshan Stretching, Topaz Denoise.

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IC443 - Jellyfish Nebula (2025)

This is my latest image of IC 443, a.k.a. SH2-248, commonly called the Jellyfish nebula for its similar appearance to the marine sea creature. It is a giant supernova remnant (SNR) located approximately 5000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Gemini. The exact age is uncertain, however, it is believed that the supernova event that produced what we see now occurred some 3,000 to 30,000 years ago. Recent research from the Chandra X-ray observatory indicates that the explosion that formed the nebula also created a neutron star or pulsar and further suggest the age is likely tens of thousands of years old making the 30,000 year old age more likely.

I really wanted to show the explosion of nebulosity emanating from the left side of the IC443. That portion has a lot of depth especially on the lower left area where there are also some dark nebulae such as LDN 1568. The upper middle area contains a blue oxygen rich region surrounding the star 12 Gemini with a reflection nebula, IC 444, just above that. The small pink gaseous object is on the left edge of the nebula is a small Planetary Nebula, HoCr 1.

I spent a lot of time doing star reduction as it sits in a heavy starfield, but I have a hard time with this because I love stars and typically do not do much reduction. I am still not sure and think I may have over done it but I know others might say I did not go far enough.


High Resolution:
https://www.astrobin.com/9mv1ej/?nc=collection&nce=712

Dates: 1-27-25, 1-29, 2-1, 2-4, 2-17, 2-21, 2-25, 3-1, 3-2, 3-3, 3-4

IC443 - Jellyfish Nebula (2025)
Dates: 1-27-25, 1-29, 2-1, 2-4, 2-17, 2-21, 2-25, 3-1, 3-2, 3-3, 3-4
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
Telescope: Askar FRA300 Pro
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 300mm
F/5
Focal Reducer: None
Mount: ZWO AM3
Filter Adaptor: ZWO Filter Drawer
Filter: IDAS NBZ, Camera UV-IR
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to a ZWO Mini guidescope
Exposure: UV-IR 58 x 90 (1h 27'), NBZ 366 x 300 (30h 30'), Total (31h 57')
Gain: 100
Offset 0
Temp: -20 C
Processing: Asiair app, PixInsight, Photoshop, BlurXT, NoiseXT, StarX, Bill's Color Masks, Bill's Star Reduction, Bill's Stretching, GraXpert, Topaz Denoise

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Sh2-261 Lower's Nebula (2025)

This is my latest version of a colorful object known as Lower's Nebula or SH2-261. The nebula is a hydrogen alpha (Ha) region about 3,200 light-years away in Orion, specifically where the hand meets the club. It also contains a fair amount of sulfur (SII) and a lesser amount of oxygen (OIII). The Orion constellation has so many neat deep sky objects in addition to the most commonly imaged objects. There is only one page of images of beautiful nebulae currently on Astrobin, however, images are increasing quickly as more people discover it. It is named after amateur astronomer Harold Lower and his son Charles who discovered this nebula in 1939 in their home of San Diego.

I first did an HaRGB version in 2020 (7 hr 24 min) with this telescope and camera and then again in 2023 with the Celestron Edge800. This new version is far superior than either of my previous attempts in terms of fine detail although the 2020 version does show a lot of nebulosity. This sits in a pleasant colorful starfield which I wanted to preserve. As such, the only star reduction I did was the standard Star Xterminator default.

Higher Quality:
https://www.astrobin.com/g7puxm/?nc=collection&nce=712

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Sh2-261 Lower's Nebula (2025)
Dates: 1-27-25, 1-29, 2-1, 2-4, 2-17, 2-18, 2-21, 2-25, 3-1, 3-2, 3-3, 3-4
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 805mm (644mm w/ FR)
f/7
Focal Reducer: 0.8x AstroTech Field Flatterner/Focal Reducer
Mount: Orion Sirius
Filter Wheel: ZWO
EFW 8 x 1.25"
Filter: Antlia Ha; ZWO R, G, B, UV
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure: Ha 93 x 300, OIII 99 x 300, SII 95 x 300, R 40 x 90, G 30 x 90, B 37 x 90 (26h 35')

Gain: 139
Offset 20
Sensor Temp: -20 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, BlurXTerminator, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, GraXpert, Bill Blanshan Stretching, Topaz Denoise.

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http://astroquest1.blogspot.com/
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http://youtube.com/AstroQuest1

NGC 1499 - California Nebula (2025)

This is my latest version of NGC 1499, also known as the California Nebula. NGC 1499 is an emission nebula resembling California is approximately 100 light-years long and located only about 1,000 light-years away in the constellation of Perseus. Emission nebulae get their energetic glow from electrons recombining with atoms after they were stripped away by ionizing radiation from nearby stars (hydrogen is most common). The responsible star for this nebula is believed to be Xi Persei (Menkib), the hot blue star on the right central side of the nebula. Halfway up the nebula on the left edge there are a few dark nebulae which show some well defined detail - my favorite is LDN 1464, the most interior.


My previous images were from 2017 with the Orion ED80 scope & Canon T3i camera and in 2022 with the AstroTech AT115 scope & ZWO ASI1600MM camera. Since the previous images were with different setups, they highlighted different aspects of this iconic object. This latest version represents the widest field of view and shows the most detail. The IDAS NBZ dual band filter was used to collect Ha and OIII data and create a HOO image. Many color variations of this object are found on the web and no one is considered to be the correct blend unless a natural color image was produced. I did collect some RGB data but only for the stars. This was the color that came through after the blend and I did a few adjustments, however, when I went further there was a degradation in detail so went it.


High Resolution:
https://www.astrobin.com/c0om27/?nc=collection&nce=712

Dates: 11-26-24, 12-1, 12-2, 12-3, 12-8, 12-26

NGC 1499 - California Nebula (2025)
Dates: 1-15-25, 1-17, 1-20, 1-23, 1-27
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
Telescope: Askar FRA300 Pro
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 300mm
F/5
Focal Reducer: None
Mount: ZWO AM3
Filter Adaptor: ZWO Filter Drawer
Filter: IDAS NBZ, Camera UV-IR
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to a ZWO Mini guidescope
Exposure: UV-IR 61 x 90 (1h 31'), NBZ 111 x 300 (9h 15'), Total (10h 46')
Gain: 100
Offset 0
Temp: -20 C
Processing: Asiair app, PixInsight, Photoshop, BlurXT, NoiseXT, StarX, Bill's Color Masks, Bill's Star Reduction, Bill's Stretching, GraXpert

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http://youtube.com/AstroQuest1

M97-M108 & many more

This is my latest version of M97 & M108, two different types of Messier objects in one field of view. M97 (also known as the Owl Nebula or NGC 3587) is a planetary nebula located 2000 light-years away in the constellation of Ursa Major. The nebula appears blue due the presence of oxygen gas, however, there is some hydrogen around the rim appearing red in color. The nebula formed approximately 8,000 years ago when the central star began to blow its outer layers away and is currently 2 light-years in diameter. Interestingly, a faint outer halo of oxygen was detected in 1991 and I managed to capture it in this image thanks to collecting over three hours of OIII data.

​M108 (also known as the Surfboard galaxy or NGC 3556) is located approximately 46 million light-years away. At 75 degrees inclination to our line of sight, it is almost edge-on and resembles a Surfboard to some people through a telescope. It has thick dust lanes throughout the disk with blue star clusters and pink Ha regions in the outer arms. I collected over four hours of Ha data which brought out many of these pink regions.

In addition to these main objects, there are many other galaxies in this image. Using PixInsight's annotation feature I counted 120 identified galaxies but there are probably more - many of the 'dots' are not stars but galaxies.

Processing was straightforward except I only blended the Ha data into M108 and the OIII into M97 and only to get the faint outer rim. The dense portion on M97 is straight RGB as it gives the best definition and color in my opinion.

Higher Quality:
https://www.astrobin.com/4lx6lo/?nc=collection&nce=712

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M97-M108 & many more 
Dates: 12-30-24, 1-1-25, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-23

Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 805mm (644mm w/ FR)
f/7
Focal Reducer: 0.8x AstroTech Field Flatterner/Focal Reducer
Mount: Orion Sirius
Filter Wheel: ZWO
EFW 8 x 1.25"
Filter: Antlia Ha; ZWO R, G, B, UV
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure: Ha 54 x 300, OIII 37 x 300, R 43 x 90, G 42 x 90, B 45 x 90 (10h 50')
Gain: 139
Offset 20
Sensor Temp: -20 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, BlurXTerminator, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, GraXpert, Bill Blanshan Stretching.

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NGC 1999

The highlight of this image is the tiny bright reflection nebula, NGC 1999 located in the middle of my image. It is around 1,350 light-years away in the constellation of Orion and is just south of the famous Orion Nebula. The nebula shines not because it is producing its own light but rather from reflected light from the star, V380 Orionis - the star shines on dust in the Orion A Giant Molecular Cloud. The dark area in the center resembling a keyhole was originally thought to be a dark nebula or Bok globule, however, recent studies indicate that it is an empty space which is still quite interesting.

The rest of this region is filled with faint hydrogen gas in addition to the dust from the molecular cloud. It is much less bright than the nearby Orion Nebula but still shows quite a bit of radiating flow structure. There are also many other features in the field such as Herbig-Haro (HH) objects which are objects associated with newborn stars and other reflection nebulae such as IC 430.

This was one of the most challenging objects in capturing and processing. The Readers' Digest version of difficulties follow. When imaging LRGB between 12-30-24 and 1-4-25 streaks appeared in most of the 90 second exposures taken over a couple of hours each day - it was as if an armada of satellites were passing by over a couple of hours on a certain trajectory over several nights. I was able to process them out in PS. Speaking of processing, I spent a few days almost ready to post the results only to start over from scratch. The original was more dependent on the luminosity data. The luminosity did bring out some interesting detail in certain regions that was different from what the Ha brought out, however, it degraded an even larger portion of the image. Ultimately the reason for the degradation is the same reason I do not image nearby NGC 1909, the Witch Head Nebula, the light pollution to the south is noticeably worse especially at lower altitudes.

Hydrogen looked really good as it was unaffected by the poor sky conditions. I did numerous blends in the red channel, luminosity channel, and additional blend. I also blended some of the LRGB portions from the original processed image into this version. I was having trouble with adjusting the red color so I asked my wife for assistance - I like the resulting deep red color.

Dates: 12-30-24, 1-1-25, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-15, 1-17, 1-20, 1-23

Higher Quality:
https://www.astrobin.com/htbva6/?nc=collection&nce=712

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NGC 1999 (2025)
Dates: 12-30-24, 1-1-25, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-15, 1-17, 1-20, 1-23

Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 805mm (644mm w/ FR)
f/7
Focal Reducer: 0.8x AstroTech Field Flatterner/Focal Reducer
Mount: Orion Sirius
Filter Wheel: ZWO
EFW 8 x 1.25"
Filter: Antlia Ha; ZWO R, G, B, UV
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure: Ha 67 x 300, UV 141 x 90, R 53 x 90, G 43 x 90, B 66 x 90 (13h 9')
Gain: 139
Offset 20
Sensor Temp: -20 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, BlurXTerminator, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, GraXpert, Bill Blanshan Stretching.

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The Pleiades - M45 w/ H-alpha (2024)

This is my latest image of Messier 45, The Pleiades Cluster (Seven Sisters), in the constellation Taurus. Lying 444 light-years away it contains over 1,000 stars loosely bound by gravity however only few of the brightest ones give it its fame. The blue reflection nebula around the star cluster is a result of the cluster just passing through a gigantic dust cloud.

For this project I decided to use my 300mm Askar telescope combined with the ZWO ASI2600MC camera to get a wider field of view than previous attempts. In addition I went after some of the faint hydrogen surrounding the cluster with my IDAS NBZ dual band filter. The dual band filter picks up Hydrogen (Ha) at 656.3nm and Oxygen (OIII) at 495.9nm (& 500.7nm) with a bandwidth of 12nm for both Ha and OIII. The newer IDAS NBZ-II has a bandwidth of 10nm for Ha and 8nm for OIII which narrows the light band thus filtering more of the undesired light (i.e. better). Surprisingly the stacked image using the NBZ filter was not too different from the straight color image without any additional filter other than the built in camera UV/IR. I believe the 12nm bandwidth for the OIII was enough to overlap with the normal reflection color - sometimes a wider bandwidth has an advantage.

For this image, however, I separeted NBZ image into indivual RGB channels and only used the red channel data which is actually the Ha. I then blended that into the normal color image to make this HaRGB image. Of course I wanted to collect more data but obtaining it was a bit difficult with crazy weather. We did have some clear nights but the best ones seemed to be when the moon was out. It is OK to image with narrowband filters when the moon is out using the general rule of thumb: farther than 60° for Ha and 120° for OIII. The problem with M45 was that the moon not only was within 60° of M45, it was directly in front of it.

High Resolution:
https://www.astrobin.com/2ld9ky/?nc=collection&nce=712

Dates: 11-26-24, 12-1, 12-2, 12-3, 12-8, 12-26

The Pleiades - M45 w/ H-alpha (2024)
Dates: 11-26-24, 12-1, 12-2, 12-3, 12-8, 12-26
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
Telescope: Askar FRA300 Pro
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 300mm
F/5
Focal Reducer: None
Mount: ZWO AM3
Filter Adaptor: ZWO Filter Drawer
Filter: IDAS NBZ, Camera UV-IR
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to a ZWO Mini guidescope
Exposure: UV-IR 575 x 90 (14h 22'), NBZ 190 x 300 (15h 50'), Total (30h 12')
Gain: 100
Offset 0
Temp: -10 C
Processing: Asiair app, PixInsight, Photoshop, BlurXT, NoiseXT, StarX, Bill's Color Masks, Bill's Star Reduction, Bill's Stretching, Topaz Denoise, GraXpert

https://www.instagram.com/astroquest1/
http://astroquest1.blogspot.com/
https://www.astrobin.com/users/kurtzepp/collections/
http://youtube.com/AstroQuest1