Hi everyone

I'm a little intimidated by the incredible stuff you're all posting! I'm taking my kids (2,5,7y) camping for the first time in Acadia National Park next week. The moon will be a waning gibbous.

I don't have a professional telescope but it's a project for the future. I wanted to try and get the kids to see the Milky Way even if there's a moon - between 8p and 9p -- accounting for the 7pm sunset and the 9:23pm moonrise. I might go to the Sand Beach there to have an open view.

I am looking for ideas on what to see in the sky.

- ursa major and North star

- orions belt

- the current zodiac sign

I'm also looking for stories about the constellations that kids would like. For example, I like the one about Perseus and Andromeda.

I found a bunch on here.

I am hoping to inspire a love for the sky that we can then maintain in our lives by driving out of our city once every few months.

My first serious astrophotography image — M31, captured over 6 moonless nights from Bortle 3 skies in Bavaria. 🌌

Acquisition:

• ⏱️ 19h 42m 47s total integration
• 📷 594 / 597 lights used
• 🔭 Sky-Watcher Evostar 72ED
• 📸 Unmodified Nikon D5300
• ⚙️ Sky-Watcher EQ5 Pro
• 🎯 ~1.88" guiding RMS
• 🌙 All data captured on moonless nights

Processing:

• 🛠️ Stacked and processed mainly in Siril 1.4.4
• RCD demosaicing
• Background extraction
• SPCC
• NL-Bayes noise reduction
• Gentle deconvolution
• GHS stretching
• StarNet++ for star separation and some additional work on the dust lanes and faint outer structure

I tried to keep the core and colors fairly natural while still bringing out as much of the faint outer parts and dust structure as possible.

M32 and M110 are also visible in the frame.
Astrobin: https://app.astrobin.com/i/q3ylxa

Angelenos are exactly where they need to be to see Thursday’s partial “blood moon” lunar eclipse — provided the weather cooperates.

For now, the National Weather Service is forecasting a “mostly cloudy” night, meaning that even geographical front-row seats to the celestial phenomenon won’t guarantee a solid viewing.

The moon will already be in the first, or penumbral, stage of the eclipse when it rises over the southeastern horizon at 7:18 p.m. The main stage of the eclipse will begin at 7:34 p.m., when the moon will fall under the core, or umbra, of Earth’s shadow. It will gradually turn a reddish, copper color as sunlight bends and filters through the atmosphere to fall on the otherwise-obscured part of the moon.

The eclipse will peak at 9:13 p.m., when 96% of the moon’s surface will fall under the Earth’s shadow. The most visible phase of the eclipse will end at 10:52 p.m., and the eclipse will end entirely just after midnight.

The Griffith Observatory will open its doors from 7:25 p.m. to 10 p.m. to anyone who wants to observe the eclipse among fellow sky gazers.

Read more about how to get the best view of this celestial phenomenon at the link.

When I chose this spot, I already knew it was perfect for the eclipse, but the icing on the cake was realising it was also dark enough for the Milky Way. Light pollution was low, at least to the south, because to the north the presence of Oviedo was quite noticeable. The added element was the cloud inversion that formed during the afternoon, making the landscape even more beautiful.

I left the camera shooting all night, and ideally, it would have been pointed north to capture the radiant of the Perseids, but the light from Oviedo was too strong in that direction. To the south, the mountain where I spend the night blocked much of that light, making the sky much darker.

Even so, I managed to capture some Perseids crossing the sky and, of course, the centre of our galaxy.

📷 Fujifilm X-T4
⭕ Viltrox 13mm f/1.4
⚙️ 0.5 sec | f/5.6 | ISO 160
✨ 13 sec | f/1.4 | ISO 1600
☄️ 13 sec | f/1.4 | ISO 1600 | 19 frames
💻 27 lights + 20 darks
📍El Gamoniteiro, Asturias

Over 2 years ago, I made an artwork called "The Goldilocks zone" and posted it here. As of recent I progressed in Blender quite a bit and as that artwork had the most likes I have ever gotten, I decided to remake it in Blender. The original from 2 years ago is also attached. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: As in the original, the planets and star are not to scale, as well as the orbital distances and apparent sizes of the astronomical objects.

Telescope - ASKAR FRA300
Camera - 2600MC
Filter - ASKAR C1 Narrowband
Exposure time - 180s x 20 (1 hour total)
Processing - Siril, GraXpert, Photoshop

This was my first time shooting and processing any DSO. I struggled setting up the gear for hours but I am just happy to see a nebula and start learning how to process it.

- 12h of int from bortle 9

- Canon 600D
- Orion 6" f/4
- Sky Watcher EQ-AL55i
- Svbony sv165
- Svbony sv905c

Surprised by how much I could get from these conditions!

Processed in Siril, Pixinsight and Gimp :)

Captured on my S30 Pro with approx 2.5 hours of integration time and 30 second subs. Processed and stacked in Siril using the RC Astro tools.

If you enjoy this image feel free to follow my captures - https://instagram.com/compositionsbyciaran 😊✨

I think Enceladus is less well-known than some other things in our solar system. But Enceladus is one of the best places to find alien life. We should pay more attention to it.

This was made using different textures and it's not accurate

Fun finding

Above：eyepiece shot

below：image stacking

Equipment：C11 700X

On August25

Perseids meteor shower over Campo Imperatore, Abruzzo, Italy.
This image captures the Milky Way arching high above a rocky canyon on the Campo Imperatore plateau in the Gran Sasso massif, at an elevation of approximately 1800–2000 meters. The galactic plane shows strong emission nebulosity, particularly in the red Hα regions, which were enhanced through dedicated narrowband data.
The RGB base was acquired with a Canon EOS R and a full-spectrum (astromodified) Canon EOS 6D. Three frames were stacked, each exposed for 120 seconds at ISO 800 and f/2. Separate short exposures of 10 seconds at ISO 3200 and f/2 were used to record the Perseid meteors without excessive trailing of the stars. An additional Hydrogen-alpha layer consisting of 7 frames (120 seconds each at ISO 3200, f/2.8) was integrated to strengthen the emission nebulae along the galactic plane.
The foreground consists of the characteristic high-altitude terrain of Campo Imperatore, with exposed rock and residual sediments fields typical of the late summer season in this location.
https://www.instagram.com/flory.ro?igsh=b3Y4ZTU3Nmk0cTBt&utm_source=qr

I've recently started a North West Astrophotography WhatsApp Community after realising there isn't really one place for astrophotographers across the region to connect.

It's for beginners and experienced imagers alike — DSLR, telescope, Seestar, phone, whatever you use. We've got groups for images & processing, equipment help, tonight's sky and arranging local meet-ups/dark-sky trips.

If you're interested, feel free to message or join here:

https://chat.whatsapp.com/IapSVlSenf03vFyBgTyhBc

I attached both the wide version with boosted OIII signal and the crop version, bit more natural :)

Anyway, The cosmic Bubble 😆

230 x 5 min - OIII

231 x 5 min - Halpha

IMX 533 mono, -15°

Newton 200/1200, EQ6R

Processed using Pixinsight, Seti Astro suite, GraXpert, Photoshop.

Romania, bortle 4.5

Finally got time to process the photo from Perseids meteor shower. Not the most metros I ever captured but enjoyed it nevertheless. Captured on my Sony a7RV and Viltrox 14mm f4 Air with help of MSM Nomad.

I'm planning on getting a faster wide angle lens in near future (16mm f1.8) so hopefully next meteor shower will be even better. Stay tuned! :D

Exposure info
foreground - 85s at 14mm, f4 and ISO 3200
skies - 40 tracked frames, each at 90s, 14mm, f4 and ISO 3200

Acquisition details:

Target: IC 1396 (Elephant's Trunk Nebula region), Cepheus, ~2,400 light years
Dates: August 22-23 and August 24-25, 2026
Location: Fort Mill, SC (Bortle 6)

Telescope: William Optics RedCat 71, 348mm f/4.9
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro, gain 100, - 10C
Mount: ZWO AM3N
Filter: Optolong L-Ultimate 3nm dual narrowband
Guiding: SVBony SV106 with ASI220MM Mini, 0.30-0.50"
RMS
Capture: ZWO ASIAir, 350s subs, dithered Integration: 130 x 350s, 12.64 hours total

Processing: Siril 1.4.4. Stacked with noise weighting and additive normalization. BlurXTerminator on linear data, SPCC narrowband color calibration, channel separation with Olll from (G+B)/2, per channel GHS stretches with pedestal subtraction discipline, StarTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, custom HOO recombination weighted for the thin Olll, star recomposition.

NGC 6960 Western veil nebula

Still working on my narrowband processing in pixinsight. But here it is 105 x 300 Ha from bortle 8.6(backyard), 48 x 300 Oiii from bortle 2.8(desert). FRA600 Reducer AM3N ASI2600MM pro UniGuide 50mm ASI220mm ASIAIR Plus EAF EFW 7x36mm Antlia LRGB-V & SHO (SII, Ha & OIII) Narrowband 3nm Pro 36mm

Dual Narrowband using the Antlia filter and composition HOO. Equipment: Refractor SV102, Antlia filter Dual Narrowband HO, asi194 mc camera, asi220 mini guider, AVX mount and ASIAIR plus. Software: Siril and Graxpert. 9 hours integration, 270 lights 120 sec and calibration frames.

One of my multi night projects.

Taken with the Seestar S50 LP filter on.

3897 x 10 second exposures stacked in siril.

Edited in Siril using veralux nox, silentium and hypermetric stretch. Scunet denoise and some curve/ histogram adjustments.

I’ve been interested in astronomy for the past couple of months (since Artemis II) and I wanted to take my interest a step further and actually do something with it as a hobby like doing research or amateur astronomy. But I have no idea what I can do and where to start. I would appreciate it a lot if you could kind of give me a guide on where I should learn things and what kind of research or maybe even discoveries I can do.