Cosmic Flames in the night: IC 405 The Flaming Star Nebula!IC 405 (aka Caldwell 31) shows a nebula located in the constellation Chariot (Auriga), about 1500 lightyears from Earth. But what makes it really interesting is its story!The bright blue star in the middle of the fog, AE Aurigae, was not born in the fog. This is a so-called "runaway star" (runaway star), which travels through the cloud of gas and dust at a high speed of about 200 km/second. AE Aurigae ejected from Orion Nebula about 2–2.5 million years ago as a result of a close gravitational encounter or collision with a stellar system. It has been running in space ever since and now it passes through this area, lighting it up like a huge cosmic torch. The red areas are an emission from ionized hydrogen gas caused by the ultraviolet radiation of the star. The blue parts are a reflection of the blue starlight reflected from the dust clouds. This is a dynamic passing moment in space. In a few million years the star will move on and the fog will darken again.

Binoculars: SkyWatcher Quattro 200/800 Newton (Converted)

Mechanica: Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro GoTo Mechanica

Camera: ZWO ASI 220MM mini monochrome camera

Camera: ZWO ASI 585 MC-Pro színes, hűtött kamera

Filter: Optolong L-Quad Filter (2")ZWO EAF focus engine

Accessory: Lacerta fan cap for 8-inch newton

Accessories: ZWO ASIAir Plus Camera/Mechanics Control Unit

Corrector: SkyWatcher coma corrector for F/4 binoculars

Accessory: ZWO 2" drawer filter holder (Mark II) with M54 gear

Accessory: Lacerta heated dew cap 8 inches

Guide: ZWO large free aperture off-axis guide (OAG-L)

Expo: 289x180 sec Rgb plus correction

Copyright: Blahó Norbert Astrophotography

This is a 3 panel mosaic spanning from the North American Nebula (NGC 7000) to Swan Lace.With a few nights nomad (Bortle 3/4) and many nights at home (Bortle 7/8), I managed to accumulate about 15 hours per panel.15 hours at f/2, to give you an idea, it corresponds to about 90 hours of posing at f/5 (with the same instrument), which is not negligible.

Setup :SIGMA ART 135mm to F2Camera

ZWO Astrophotography asi 20600mc

AIRFilter Antlia Astronomy Filter duo band HaOIII high speed Monture AM515 hours of laying in 300s per panelTotal 45hProcessing Astro Pixel Processor / Pixinsight / photoshop

Copyright: Cedric Humbert

VdB 141 — the Ghost Nebula — is one of those targets that rewards patience. Rather than loud emission or bright color, it’s all about subtle dusty structure and reflected starlight. Located in Cepheus, this object is a reflection nebula illuminated by nearby young stars, with dark molecular dust carving out the distinctive “ghostly” appearance that gives it its name. The flowing wisps and layered dust lanes almost feel alive, with new details appearing the longer you stare at it. This one was a fun challenge because preserving the faint dusty texture without crushing or over-processing it was the whole game. Definitely a target that feels more atmospheric than dramatic—and that’s exactly what makes it special.

Telescope: celesteon edge 9.25

Camera: Asi2600MM Pro

Mount: GM 1000 HPS

Copyright: Juan Lopez

M92 is one of the oldest and most brilliant globular clusters in the Milky Way, located about 27,000 light-years away in the constellation of Hercules. Containing roughly 300,000 tightly packed stars within a sphere about 100 light-years across, this ancient stellar city shines at magnitude 6.3 and can be glimpsed with the naked eye from dark-sky locations. Though often overshadowed by the nearby and more famous M13, M92 is nearly as impressive, displaying a dense, concentrated core and a rich population of stars that formed more than 13 billion years ago.

The stars of M92 are remarkably poor in heavy elements, indicating that the cluster formed during the earliest epochs of our galaxy's history, before successive generations of stars enriched the cosmos with heavier materials. This pristine composition, combined with its great age, makes M92 an important laboratory for studying stellar evolution and the formation of the Milky Way. High-resolution observations from the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes reveal a dazzling swarm of ancient suns packed so closely together that a hypothetical planet within the cluster would see thousands of bright stars illuminating its night sky.

600x 180s for a total of 30 hours. I captured it with a ZWO ASI2600MC Duo, Orion 10RC, iOptron HAE43, and ZWO ASIair Plus. I processed it in APP, PI, and Photoshop.

Copyright: Scotty Bishop

Barnard 150 (also known as LDN 1082) is a famous dark nebula located in the northern constellation of Cepheus, approximately 1,200 light-years from Earth. This fascinating astronomical object is universally nicknamed the Seahorse Nebula. It extends across the sky for about 1 degree, a size comparable to that of two full moons placed side by side. Within the dark filament are three exceptionally dense dust nuclei (cataloged as LDN 1082 A, B, and C). These nuclei are veritable stellar cradles where gravity is collapsing matter to give birth to new stars, visible only in the infrared.

Technical Data

Sky-Watcher Newton 200/1000 @ 950

ToupTek Astronomy Cameras ATR2600C

Light 142x300"

Optolong Astronomy Filter L-Quad

N.I.N.A. Acquisition

Phd2 Guide

Sky-Watcher Eq6r Pro

Average Moon Phase 92%

May 28, 29, 30, 2026

Sannicola LE, Italy

SQM 19.48

Best Resolution

https://www.flickr.com/photos/191152007@N04/55308756435/in/dateposted-public/

Vulcano Nebula, located in the Big Dipper constellation. Close to the Bode and Cigar Galaxies -M81 & M82-, among remnants of stardust -IFN-, this extremely faint nebula is hidden within it.

Since we can't afford a remote hosting service, gathering enough signal required 15 field trips during the New Moon, under low temperatures and good atmospheric conditions free of clouds and wind.

Equipment and exposition times:

Carlos: Askar FRA600, FRA x0.8 reducer, Player One Artemis M camera, 36mm Player One filter wheel, filters Antlia L + Ha edge 4.5nm de 36mm, Skywatcher EQ6 Pro equatorial mount and DIY rotator.

Jose Luis: Takahashi FSQ85, ZWO ASI2600mm camera, 36mm ZWO filter wheel, Astronomik RGB, Ha & O3 6nm filters, Warp Astron WD20 equatorial mount, ZWO OAG L with ZWO 220 mini camera and DIY rotator.

180x120s L

76x120s R

76x120s G

76x120s B

72x600s O3

448x300s O3

431x300s Ha

Total 99h of expositions

Control Software: ASCOM, NINA, PHD2 & Astap

Imaging processing software: Pixinsight & Photoshop

Copyright: Jose Luis & Carlos

Zeta Ophiuchi is the third brightest star in the constellation Ofiucus; with magnitude +2.54, it is a main sequence blue star located 440 light years from Earth, with a mass 20 times greater than that of the Sun.

Like the stars of its class, it emits matter through large amounts of stellar winds, at a speed of 1600 km/s. Part of this interstellar material is ionized by star radiation, resulting in the Sh2-27 emission nebula.

Zeta Ophiuchi is a star from a complex past, likely expelled from her birthplace by a powerful star explosion.

Previous observations have shown that Zeta Ophiuchi was once in a close orbit with another star, before being ejected at about 160,000 kilometers per hour when this companion was destroyed by a supernova explosion over a million years ago.

The Zeta Ophiuchi leak produces this kind of shock wave called bow shock due to its strong stellar wind that precedes it, compressing and heating the dusty interstellar material and modeling the compression wave.

🌌 Light: 225 x 300 seconds

F Filter: Optolong L-Para

📷 Camera: Asi 294 mc pro

🔭 Telescopio: Sky-Watcher 200/1000 PDS

⚙️ Montatura: Skywatcher Eq 6r Pro

🛰️ Acquisizione: Asiair Plus

💻 Software: DSS - Pixinsight – Photoshop

📅 Shots: 14-16-17-20/05/2026

📍 Location: Torricella (TA) ITALY

✨ Sky SQM: 19,90

✍️ Author: PRO’ GIACOMO.

Known as the Whirlpool Galaxy, M51 is one of the sky’s most iconic grand-design spirals, located about 31 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici. Its sweeping spiral arms glow with clusters of young blue stars, pink hydrogen clouds, and dark lanes of interstellar dust, all shaped by a long gravitational interaction with its smaller companion galaxy, NGC 5195. Together, the pair form a striking cosmic portrait that has become a favorite target for both professional observatories and backyard astrophotographers.

Captured in extraordinary detail, this view of M51 reveals the turbulent beauty of galactic evolution in progress. Tidal forces between the two galaxies continue to trigger waves of star formation while subtly distorting their structures over millions of years. Although the Whirlpool Galaxy spans roughly 60,000 light-years across, its delicate spiral pattern remains visible even through modest telescopes, offering observers a glimpse into the dynamic processes that shape spiral galaxies throughout the universe.

🔭Evostar 72 ed + 0.85 flattener

⚖️ AZ-GTi guided via Svbony SV165 + ZWO Asi 120 MM mini

📸 ZWO ASI 585 MC Pro (T = -10 ℃)

🔴Baader UV / IR cut 1,25”

🧩 140 x 180s light frames stack + calibration frames

🏙️ Bortle 7 (Lublin suburbs, Poland)

🕹️Raspberry Pi 5 (8 GB/1 TB) (Kstars) + PHD2

�💻 Stacked in Siril. Edited in PixInsight with SetiAstro, RC Astro plugins and Affinity Photo 2.

Copyright: Damian Gorylewski

The stunning complex LDN 134 – LDN 169 – LDN 183, along with the faint glowing nebulae LBN 10-11-15, lies near the constellations of Libra and Ophiuchus, around 325–340 light-years from Earth. These are among the closest interstellar clouds to us.

Dark nebulae are immense clouds of gas and dust that block the light of background stars, creating dramatic cosmic shadows. Despite spanning only a few light-years, this compact region offers a fascinating glimpse into the cold interstellar medium.

One of the highlights is LDN 183, an extremely cold cloud (~10K) where future low-mass stars may eventually form.

Bright stars from Serpens, including μ Serpentis and β Serpentis, shine through and around the clouds, enhancing the incredible depth and contrast of this celestial landscape.

Takahashi Epsilon-180ED

ZWO ASI6200MM Pro

📸 Exposure

R: 70×130″

G: 25×130″

B: 38×180″

L: 100×180″

⏱ Total acquisition: 10h 19m 50s

Copyright: Julien De Winter

Strada provinciale 56, Noto (SR), iOptron SkyGuider Pro, Nikon Z6III, NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR, Z TC 1.4x, Baader AstroSolar

Copyright: Salvo Lauricella

This is a beautiful example of a barred spiral galaxy (like our own Milky Way) seen face on from our vantage point. It's located about 22.5 million light years from Earth.

For better resolution please visit my web site:

http://www.feraphotography.com/DSRO-North/Ngc3344.html

PlaneWave CDK17 17" f/6.8 Astrograph

PlaneWave L-500 Mount

Moravian C3-61000 Pro CMOS Camera

Total exposure: LRGB 19.75 hours

Deep Space Remote Observatories - North at Sierra Remote Observatories in California

December 2025-March 2026

Data acquisition by Bob Fera and Steve Mandel

Image processing by Bob Fera

Description and Details: NGC 4725 and Its Entourage of Galaxies
In this image the protagonist is NGC 4725, a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices, about 40 million light-years away from us. Its structure features a single well-defined spiral arm. The shot also shows other galaxies in the NGC 4725 Group, including NGC 4712 at the bottom, a lenticular galaxy, and NGC 4747 at the top, an irregular galaxy. NGC 4725 hosts an active galactic nucleus, with a supermassive black hole at its center emitting energy as it devours matter.

Technical Data:
Telescope/Mount: Skywatcher 150/750 Heq5 pro
Camera: 294 MC PRO
Integration & Filters: 185 x 300" Optolong L-QEF
Acquisition: Asiair mini
Guide Scope: Take 60/240
Guide Camera: ZWO 224 with UV/IR cut
Location: Faggiano (TA)
Bortle Class: 6
Dates: 17-19-20-21/05/2026
Processing Software: DSS-Graxpert-PS

‍ ‍Name: Raffaele Calcagno

Messier 88 (M88; NGC 4501) is a spiral galaxy, one of more than 2,000 galaxies in the Virgo Cluster. It’s about 50-60 million light years away from us in the constellation Coma Berenices. It’s inclined towards us at an angle of about 64 degrees, giving it a three-dimensional appearance. It is made up of about 400 billion stars, and more than 131,000 light years across. It’s relatively small on the sky, but that’s what this telescope specializes in! I included some Ha-filtered frames, which made a nice contribution to the image by subtly showing some red structures in the spiral arms near the core.

Tekkies:

Acquisition, focusing, and control of Paramount MX mount with N.I.N.A., TheSkyX. Guiding with PHD2. Primalucelab low-profile 2″ Essato focuser, ARCO rotator and Giotto flat panel. Equipment control with PrimaLuce Labs Eagle 4 Pro computer. All pre-processing and processing in PixInsight. Acquired from my SkyShed in Guelph. Average transparency and average or better seeing. Acquired under variable moon illumination from April 22 to May 16, 2026. 

Celestron 14″ EDGE HD telescope at f/11 (3,931 mm focal length)  and QHY600M-SBFL camera binned 2×2 with Optolong filters.

Copyright: Ron Brecher

2 paragraph snippet for aapod2 on Abel 1656

Known as the Coma Cluster, Abell 1656 is one of the richest galaxy clusters in the night sky, containing more than 1,000 identified galaxies packed into a region over 20 million light-years wide. Located roughly 320 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices, this immense gathering of galaxies is dominated by giant elliptical systems such as NGC 4874 and NGC 4889, surrounded by countless smaller galaxies scattered across the frame like distant islands of light.

Abell 1656 also played a major role in the discovery of dark matter. In the 1930s, astronomer Fritz Zwicky studied the motions of galaxies within the cluster and found they were moving far too quickly to be held together by visible matter alone.

Description and Details: Taken on Feb 13-14, this 11-hour image of the Coma Cluster (Abel 1656) was captured on my Carbonstar 150, Zwo 585 mc pro, and was shot all on broadband.

The Coma Cluster is a large galaxy cluster in the constellation Coma Berenices and features hundreds of tiny galaxies.

Name: levin green

A three-faced nebula — emission, reflection, and dark dust woven into a single stellar nursery

Messier 20, the Trifid Nebula (NGC 6514, Sharpless 30), is an H II region and embedded young stellar cluster in the constellation Sagittarius, lying within the Sagittarius–Carina Arm of the Milky Way along one of the richest star-forming corridors visible from Earth — as one of the most iconic and frequently imaged deep-sky objects in the southern sky, M20 is rarely seen at this scale, and the 9000 mm focal length of the ASA Astrosysteme AZ 1500 brings the nebula into close range, resolving the fine structure of the dust lanes, the texture of the ionisation fronts, and the embedded detail within the bright central cavity that wider-field treatments cannot reach

The nebula lies at an approximate distance of 4,100 light-years, with literature values spanning roughly 2,700 to 5,200 light-years owing to the difficulty of reddening corrections through the dense Sagittarius foreground — its apparent angular size is approximately 28′, corresponding to a physical extent on the order of 40 light-years across the visible emission complex, with an integrated visual magnitude of approximately 6,3

The ionised emission lobes are powered principally by HD 164492A, an O7,5 III star of more than twenty solar masses, the dominant member of a multiple system embedded at the convergence of the dark dust lanes near the geometric centre of the nebula — its ultraviolet output excites the surrounding hydrogen, producing the dominant Hα emission, while OIII traces the hotter inner ionised cavity nearest the exciting cluster — the three-lobed appearance is the signature of Barnard 85, a foreground absorbing dust complex whose lanes silhouette the bright H II region into the divided form for which the nebula was named by John Herschel — the cooler reflection nebula visible toward the southern portion of the field, illuminated by the B-type star HD 164514, is composed of dust scattering blue starlight rather than emitting in its own right, and the cometary globules and bright-rimmed pillars along the periphery mark sites where the O-star radiation field is eroding and compressing the surrounding molecular cloud

The Trifid is one of the youngest known star-forming regions in the local Galaxy, with an estimated age of only a few hundred thousand years — infrared imaging from the Spitzer Space Telescope has revealed more than thirty embryonic protostars and over a hundred newly formed stars deeply embedded in the dust, hidden entirely from optical view, and Hubble observations have resolved evaporating gaseous globules and a stellar jet emerging from a young stellar object near the eastern lobe, evidence of ongoing triggered star formation as ionisation fronts driven by the central O stars compress nearby cloud cores and induce gravitational collapse — the nebula thus offers a simultaneous view of three distinct nebular phenomena — emission, reflection, and absorption — co-located within a single active stellar nursery

Imaged in LRGB, Hα, and OIII on the ASA Astrosysteme AZ 1500,

Camera Moravian C5A 150M, at Observatorio El Sauce, Chile

Image Acquisition Mike Selby and Wolfgang Promper, Processing: Mike Selby

Description and Details: G296.5+10.0, often nicknamed the “Siren Nebula”, is a large and extremely faint supernova remnant located in the southern skies. Shaped by the shockwave of a stellar explosion interacting with the surrounding interstellar medium, its delicate filaments and fragmented shell reveal the violent aftermath of a star that ended its life thousands of years ago.

This image was captured remotely from Deep Sky Chile using an Askar 130SQA refractor, in collaboration with Guillaume Le Mouellic and Eric Tombarel. Beyond the intricate structures of the supernova remnant itself, the field also led to the discovery of a previously unknown planetary nebula, adding an additional layer of scientific and aesthetic interest to this deep southern sky region.

Acquisition details:

* Askar SQA130 refractor
* Pegasus Astro NYX-101 mount
* Player One Astronomy Zeus Mono camera (-20°, Gain 125)
* Antlia Astronomy Filter 50 mm filters
* OIII 3 nm: 21h (130 × 600s)
* Hα 3 nm: 23h (140 × 600s)
* RGB V-Pro: 5h for each channel (60 × 300s each)

The supernova remnant G296.5+10.0 — also known as PKS 1209-51/52 — most likely originated from the explosion of a massive star that underwent gravitational core collapse (“core-collapse supernova”). Current evidence suggests it came from an evolved massive star, probably a red supergiant, or possibly a star that experienced a phase of strongly magnetized stellar winds before exploding.

What makes this object particularly fascinating is that:

it exhibits a very pronounced bilateral structure (“double-shell” appearance),
its magnetic field shows a highly unusual organization,
and it contains a compact central object: 1E 1207.4−5209, a neutron star believed to be the remnant left behind by the explosion.
Radio and polarization studies indicate that:

the remnant is expanding into an environment already shaped by the wind of the progenitor star,
this wind was likely magnetized and rotating,
which could explain the remarkably symmetrical morphology of the remnant.
Current estimates suggest:

a distance of approximately 1.4 to 2.1 kpc (~4,500–7,000 light-years),
and an age of around 14,000 years.
Regarding its exact origin:

it is probably not a thermonuclear Type Ia supernova,
but rather the result of the core-collapse of a massive star.
It is also believed that the magnetic field and stellar winds of the progenitor star prior to the explosion strongly influenced the present appearance of the remnant, making it an excellent laboratory for studying:

the interaction of stellar winds,
galactic magnetic fields,
and the evolution of massive stars before they explode.
For this image, each member of the team produced their own personal processing version, and it was Guillaume Le Mouellic who discovered, while processing his data, the presence of a previously unknown planetary nebula within the wide field of this image.

‍ ‍Copyright: Michael BOUYER

This is one of my best images of the Sombrero Galaxy (M104) and one of the most interesting targets I have worked on because of the huge number of tiny background galaxies spread across the field along with the faint outer halo and diffuse streams surrounding the galaxy.

The main challenge during processing was to carefully bring out the extremely faint structures without over-stretching the data or introducing excessive noise. I spent significant time working in PixInsight and Photoshop to maintain a natural balance between the galaxy, IFN, and background sky.

Telescope: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120 ED Pro

Reducer: Riccardi 0.75× Field Reducer

Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM Pro

Mount: ZWO AM5 Harmonic Drive

Filters: Antlia 3nm LRGB (2")

Location: AstroCamp, Nerpio, Albacete, Spain

Sky Quality: Bortle 1

Elevation: 1670m

Total Integration: 33.5 Hours

Processing: PixInsight & Adobe PhotoshoP

Image Processing: Harshwardhan Pathak

Sol in H-alfa 17.05.2026

iOptron CEM70G, Lunt Solar Systems LS60THaDS60PT/B1200, Point Grey Grasshopper3 GS3-U3-28S4M

Copyright: Salvo Lauricella

C/2025 R3 PanStarrs in RGB (6 x 60s on each channel). Total integration 18 minutes. São Carlos, SP, Brazil. Bortle 7. The only cloudless date in May was 05/05/2026.

SkyWatcher Quattro 254mm F/4 telescope. Skywatcher EQ6R Pro mount. ZWO ASI 2600MM camera. Optolong RGB filters. N.I.N.A, PHD2, EQMOD, PixInsight.

Copyright: Marcelo Fernandes