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[YellowSubmarine]

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Happy cow Pic in Switzerland.

Some cows have all the luck...

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Easter eve in SW.PA (Smithton)

 

[grasshopper]

Ain't it the truth.

"In '69, I was twenty one and I called the road my own
I don't know when that road turned onto the road I'm on."

Funny how some songs parallel our lives - even down to the exact years!

June of 69, I hitchhiked from MD to CA last bit of fun before school started in the fall. I was 18 and I don't know what I want..

 

[GravitySucks]

Any Shoresy fans here?

 

[donheff]

I haven't posted any astrophotos for a while. Here are three, all recently captured with a $500 Seestar S50 smartscope from my roof in light polluted (Bortle 9) Washington, DC. First up is the Wizard Nebula (NGC 7380) about 8500 light years away in the constellation Cepheus. 2nd is the Pacman Nebula (SH2-184) about 9500 light years away in Cassiopeia. And 3rd is Comet Lemmon (C/2025 A6) which is currently passing the sun and starting its trip to the Oort Cloud or someplace far, far away for about 1160 years

 

[Koolau]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

 

[richardsok]

Wife and I in Venice about five yrs ago. This is one of my favorite photos.

 

[splitwdw]

DonHeff, Thanks for posting those pictures.

 

[donheff]

I forgot to post my favorite from back in late August -- C63, The Helix Nebula, also known as "The Eye of God." This is a planetary nebula, the gaseous remanent of a collapsing star, glowing from the light of the remaining white dwarf at its center. It is practically a neighbor; about 650 light years away in Aquarius. Its only visible to me for a brief period low in the southern August sky, so it is hard to get enough time on it to get a good image. This one has 6 hours of exposures. If I can double or triple that with more time next year, I will be able to bring out more detail.

 

[Koolau]

I forgot to post my favorite from back in late August -- C63, The Helix Nebula, also known as "The Eye of God." This is a planetary nebula, the gaseous remanent of a collapsing star, glowing from the light of the remaining white dwarf at its center. It is practically a neighbor; about 650 light years away in Aquarius. Its only visible to me for a brief period low in the southern August sky, so it is hard to get enough time on it to get a good image. This one has 6 hours of exposures. If I can double or triple that with more time next year, I will be able to bring out more detail.

I assume the extra time would be on subsequent nights?

Honestly had no idea the capability of consumer equipment. Amazing. Thanks for sharing.

 

[donheff]

I assume the extra time would be on subsequent nights?

Honestly had no idea the capability of consumer equipment. Amazing. Thanks for sharing.

On deep space objects like this, you can combine data over long periods of time, even years, because they are so distant their motion is not apparent to equipment at amateur resolution. Comets are a different kettle of fish. Their movement against the star field is noticeable in minutes so you need to use special processsing steps to separately align the stars and comets. And you don’t combine data over more than a hour or so, never from subsequent nights. Planetary rotation coupled with their brightness calls for integration of video frames over short periods.

The advent of inexpensive smartscopes is dramatically changing amateur deep space astrophotography. Three years ago I would have to have assembled thousands of dollars of components to do this. It was impractical in my city location so I rented time on high end equipment around the world.

 

[homestead]

I forgot to post my favorite from back in late August -- C63, The Helix Nebula, also known as "The Eye of God." This is a planetary nebula, the gaseous remanent of a collapsing star, glowing from the light of the remaining white dwarf at its center. It is practically a neighbor; about 650 light years away in Aquarius. Its only visible to me for a brief period low in the southern August sky, so it is hard to get enough time on it to get a good image. This one has 6 hours of exposures. If I can double or triple that with more time next year, I will be able to bring out more detail.

Nice photo. Thought of the Ring Nebula when I first saw your picture, Do you have that one too?

 

[Koolau]

On deep space objects like this, you can combine data over long periods of time, even years, because they are so distant their motion is not apparent to equipment at amateur resolution. Comets are a different kettle of fish. Their movement against the star field is noticeable in minutes so you need to use special processsing steps to separately align the stars and comets. And you don’t combine data over more than a hour or so, never from subsequent nights. Planetary rotation coupled with their brightness calls for integration of video frames over short periods.

The advent of inexpensive smartscopes is dramatically changing amateur deep space astrophotography. Three years ago I would have to have assembled thousands of dollars of components to do this. It was impractical in my city location so I rented time on high end equipment around the world.

Thanks for the treatise on astronomical photography. I'm truly amazed at the capabilities of your equipment.

 

[donheff]

Nice photo. Thought of the Ring Nebula when I first saw your picture, Do you have that one too?

Yes, but the Seestar field of view is large for the Helix and dwarfs the Ring Nebula. Here are the full field of view and a cropped version from about 2.5 hours of exposures. The Ring Nebula is great in a long focal length telescope.

 

[donheff]

Thanks for the treatise on astronomical photography. I'm truly amazed at the capabilities of your equipment.

It is excellent for deep space objects of the right size. It is not good for planetary. Planets are tiny dots compared to these objects. You need a long focal length telescope. Big reflectors capture some stunning planetary photos.

 

[FedRetired50]

Holiday lights are up. There are 6 more colored spots along my driveway behind me.

 

[donheff]

Is there a new photo thread? This one seems largely abandoned. Nevertheless, I will post a few of my 2026 astrophotos. And few they are since clouds have intervened. All of these were taken from my roof in light polluted DC with an inexpensive Seestar S50 "smartscope"" processed in Pixinsight and Photoshop. The image with the little white crawlers is the Tadople Nebula, the blue one is Thor's Helmet, and the comet is Panstarrs from a couple of weeks ago. It is currently brightening but hidden from me by clouds.

 

[Just_Steve]

Wow this thread has been floating around for 5 years before I joined, can't believe I have never seen it.
I just read the whole thing all 81 pages. I remember a lot of people that aren't here anymore and I am sure you guys and gals who have been around even longer remember a lot more.

 

[Luvtoride]

Great Photo Steve! That’s what retirement should look like!

Here is my latest while on a Viking River Cruise in Budapest now.

 

[Just_Steve]

Great Photo Steve! That’s what retirement should look like!

Here is my latest while on a Viking River Cruise in Budapest now.

Nice pic, love the backdrop.

 

[donheff]

I just realized this was intended to be a thread for recent photos of ourselves. Sorry to dump a bunch of nebulae in here. I will have to search out the other photography thread. In the meantime here is a recent photo of me. .

 

[Luvtoride]

What art gallery is that at Don? You traveling too?

 

[donheff]

What art gallery is that at Don? You traveling too?

That was last year at the Art Institute in Chicago. I'm traveling soon. Scandinavia on a bike tour.

 

[COcheesehead]

One of our pups enjoying his new backyard. Photo credit to my wife.

 

[Koolau]

I just realized this was intended to be a thread for recent photos of ourselves. Sorry to dump a bunch of nebulae in here. I will have to search out the other photography thread. In the meantime here is a recent photo of me. .

I thought that portrait was still tucked away in my closet!