I recently created a video walking through my process of using both SHO and dynamic narrowband combinations when processing images in Pixinsight. This post puts that video in written form. If you want to watch the video, I have it embedded at the bottom of the post.
The Cosmic Seagull: Capturing IC 2177
This was my final winter target, The Seagull Nebula. I’ve been wanting to shoot this for years and I finally got around to it.
The Christmas Tree Cluster (NGC 2264): A Celestial Holiday Decoration in the Winter Sky
Discover the beauty of the Christmas Tree Cluster (NGC 2264). Learn about this often-overlooked celestial object, see my narrowband imaging process, and compare the SHO vs. Pixelmath processing techniques that I used.
Messier 35 & NGC 2158: Two Beautiful Star Clusters in the Gemini Constellation
In-between projects, I decided to take a break from shooting 10+ hour nebulas and shoot something that will only take me 1 night–a star cluster. Learn more how I created this photo.
Winter Astrophotography Targets
Winter may be the best season for astrophotography. It’s cold, but here are 15 targets that will be worth the chill.
The Orion Nebula M42 & Pixinsight Walkthrough
I’ve been doing astrophotography for 2 years now and although I’ve tried shooting the Orion Nebula before, I never fully produced an image until now. It’s one of the most popular targets, a favorite of beginners, and ironically complicated to shoot and process!
Jellyfish Nebula IC 443
The Jellyfish Nebula IC 443 is fun to photograph wide field because of its surrounding environment, specifically, the cloud that looks like it’s coming out of its head. I shot this for 10 hours and used some fun techniques in Pixinsight. These techniques included layering my Ha as a luminance layer over the RGB image and using morphological transformation to reduce the noisy star field from my under-sampled setup.
Shooting Pleiades in Light Pollution
I shoot in light polluted skies outside New York City and although the Pleiades stars are bright, capturing its accompanying dust and reflection nebula is a challenge.
California Nebula
Another amazing nebula of the Winter skies, the California Nebula was the first nebula I shot in mono with my then new ASI533MM and Antlia 3nm narrowband filters.
The Pleiades (2022)
Taken in December 2022 – January 2023, this was my first picture of The Pleiades which is also my (and many other photographers) favorite thing in the sky.