AAPOD2 Image Archives - AAPOD2.COM

Sh2-114 — The Flying Dragon Nebula in HOO-RGB

Charles Lillo — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 04:00:39 +0000

Image Title: Sh2-114 — The Flying Dragon Nebula in HOO-RGB

Copyright: Francesco Ianniello Photography

Date image was taken: August 12, 2026

Location: Nerpio Italian Project Remote Observatory (Spain)
Bortle 3 (SQM 21.70)

Data Acquisition Method: Other

Description and Details: Revealing the delicate, ghostly filaments of Sharpless 114, captured over 36 hours of total integration time from the dark skies of Nerpio.

Deep Sky Facts:

Location and Nature: Floating within the constellation Cygnus, this faint H-II emission nebula displays intricate filamentary structures so fine that they often resemble an ancient supernova remnant rather than a typical star-forming region.

The Red Glow of Hydrogen: Dominant, vivid red filaments trace Hydrogen-Alpha emission. This vibrant color reveals exactly where ionized hydrogen gas is recombining, emitting photons in the red part of the visible spectrum.

The Faint Touch of Oxygen: Subtle, ghostly cyan-blue regions highlight doubly ionized oxygen [O III]. Capturing this extremely faint emission required over 20 hours of dedicated integration to successfully distinguish it from the dense background of the Milky Way. Technical Details (Astro_Nipro):

Target: Sharpless 114 (Sh2-114) / Flying Dragon Nebula

Telescope: ASA 250/900 f/3.6

Mount: ioptron CEM 120 EC

Camera: player one astronomy Poseidon-M (IMX571 mono)

Filters / Palette: Antlia Pro 3nm (HOO-RGB)

Integration Time: 36h 10m Total (HA: 15h | OIII: 20h 40m | R: 10m | G: 10m | B: 10m)

Software: Voyager (Acquisition), PixInsight, PhotoshopCC2025

Acquisition: Astro_Nipro Team

Editing: @francesco_ianniello_astrophoto

Name: Francesco Ianniello

Website, Instagram or Facebook Profile: https://www.francescoianniellophotography.it/, @francesco_ianniello_astrophoto

Titans of the Night: 509 Hours on the Vulcan Nebula

Charles Lillo — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 04:00:54 +0000

Image Title: Titans of the Night: 509 Hours on the Vulcan Nebula

Copyright: Team Ager: Aarón de la Casa · Alex Capdevila · Daniel Trueba · Gerard Tàrtalo · Jordi Jofre · Manel Martin · Oscar Royes · Toni Fabiani

Date image was taken: April 15, 2026

Location: Team Ager network: seven located in the Sierra del Montsec, together with the Albatàrrec Observatory. (Lleida, Spain)

Data Acquisition Method: Personal Telescope Setup

Description and Details: Eight members. Eight observatories. Ten telescopes. 509 hours of integration.

This image of the faint Vulcan Nebula is the result of a collaborative project developed by Team Ager, an eight-member group united by a shared passion for deep-sky astrophotography and dark skies.
Over more than 22 months, we combined data from eight observatories forming part of the Team Ager network: seven located in the Sierra del Montsec, together with the Albatàrrec Observatory, which contributed a significant part of the project's data.

A total of 10 refracting telescopes, ranging from 54 to 140 mm in aperture, contributed to the project using different cameras, focal lengths, and filter configurations. The final result contains 509 hours of actual integration, corresponding to approximately 3,244 long-exposure frames.

The integration time was distributed across 28.4 hours of luminance, 33.1 hours of RGB, 211.95 hours of Hα, and 235.55 hours of OIII. The exceptionally large amount of narrowband integration allowed us to reach particularly deep into the faintest structures of the nebula, revealing a complex network of interstellar gas and filaments.
The final processing was carried out in PixInsight, integrating all the data from the different instruments and observatories into a single image. The reddish structures are dominated by hydrogen-alpha emission, while the blue and turquoise structures reveal the contribution of ionized oxygen.

But the depth achieved extends beyond the nebula itself. M81 (Bode's Galaxy) and M82 (the Cigar Galaxy) are clearly visible in the field, accompanied by numerous much fainter background galaxies.

More than an individual image, Vulcan is the result of 22 months of shared work, eight observatories, ten telescopes, and 509 hours of integration, demonstrating how far amateur astrophotography can reach when knowledge, equipment, and collective effort are brought together in a single project.

Name: Alex Capdevila Corral

Website, Instagram or Facebook Profile: https://www.instagram.com/alex.c.c_astrophotography/ https://www.instagram.com/trueba_d/ https://www.instagram.com/gerardtartalo/ https://www.instagram.com/jordi_jofre_astro/ https://www.instagram.com/toni_fabiani/ https://www.instagram.com/ithil_astro/ https://www.instagram.com/astromirades/

Waning last-quarter mineral Moon

Charles Lillo — Sun, 04 Oct 2026 04:00:13 +0000

Image Title: Waning last-quarter mineral Moon

Copyright: Alessandro Ravagnin

Date image was taken: October 03, 2026

Location: Romano d'Ezzelino

Data Acquisition Method: Personal Telescope Setup

Description and Details: Sometimes the best observing sessions are completely unplanned.

I woke up around 5 a.m. and, unable to fall asleep again, stepped outside to have a look at the sky. Jupiter was shining brightly in the east, the Moon was high above, while Orion and Sirius dominated the southern sky. The atmosphere was remarkably clear and steady — simply too inviting to go back to bed!

So I opened my observatory and spent the early morning capturing this high-resolution mosaic of the waning last-quarter Moon.

The image was processed in a “mineral Moon” rendition, enhancing the subtle color differences across the lunar surface associated with variations in the composition and properties of the lunar regolith.

Even after so many years under the stars, mornings like this can still bring back the same sense of wonder.

Name: Alessandro Ravagnin

Website, Instagram or Facebook Profile: https://astrotrex.wordpress.com/

The Corona Australis Nebula

Charles Lillo — Sat, 03 Oct 2026 04:00:41 +0000

Image Title: The Corona Australis Nebula

Copyright: Tiago Rocha

Date image was taken: September 06, 2026

Location: Guanambi - Bahia - Brasil

Data Acquisition Method: Personal Telescope Setup

Description and Details: The Corona Australis Nebula (NGC 6726/6727) is one of the most elegant masterpieces of the southern sky. Unlike large, reddish emission nebulae, it stands out for its bluish textures and dark dust clouds that seem to paint space in three dimensions. Its characteristic blue glow comes from a reflection nebula, where fine cosmic dust scatters light from hot, newly born stars. This ethereal glow is framed by dense, dark molecular clouds that meander through space, blocking light from the galactic background and creating an incredible sense of depth.

Photo settings:

• ToupTek Hope D60 telescope;
• ToupTek GS 100 guide scope;
• ToupTek SkyEye26AC PLUS camera;
• Exos 2 (EQ5) mount with OnstepX E4;
• ZWO EFW;
• UV/IR-cut filter (integrated);
• 6 hours of exposure with 300s frames;
• Astro Scient Observatory;

Name: Tiago Rocha

Website, Instagram or Facebook Profile: https://www.instagram.com/astro_scient/

LBN 331 - Omicron Cygni

Charles Lillo — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 04:00:16 +0000

Image Title: LBN 331 - Omicron Cygni

Copyright: Eduardo Barbosa

Date image was taken: August 14, 2026

Location: Trevinca Skies - A Veiga, Spain.

Data Acquisition Method: Remote Observatory (Commercial)

Description and Details: A narrowband field beside Omicron² Cygni (32 Cygni) in Cygnus. Convincing impression of a supernova remnant (it isn't one). 39 hours total: 12h each Hα/OIII/SII plus 1h per RGB channel for the stars, mapped HOO with a synthetic luminance built from all three narrowband channels.

Captured remotely from Trevinca Skies, a privately operated remote site, with a Sky-Watcher Esprit 100ED, QHY268M and Astronomik filters. Processed in PixInsight and Affinity Photo.

Name: Eduardo Barbosa

Website, Instagram or Facebook Profile: eduardobarbosa.net

Cosmic Bubbles Sh2-99 & Sh2-100 in HOO-RGB

Charles Lillo — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 04:00:03 +0000

Image Title: Cosmic Bubbles Sh2-99 & Sh2-100 in HOO-RGB

Copyright: Miguel García

Date image was taken: August 14, 2026

Location: A Veiga, Ourense, Galicia, Spain

Data Acquisition Method: Remote Observatory (Commercial)

Description and Details: Description:
Glow in the dense star-forming regions of the Sagitta/Cygnus complex, Sharpless 99 and Sharpless 100 are extremely faint HII regions surrounded by intricate dust structures and subtle ionized gas shells. Located thousands of light-years away along the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, these faint cosmic bubbles require exceptional exposure depth to reveal their delicate emission filaments and surrounding dark dust lanes.

Captured across multiple dark nights from A Veiga (Ourense, Spain), this deep nearly 52-hour integration combines broad-band RGB star color with narrow-band Hydrogen-alpha (Ha) and Oxygen III (OIII) data (HOO palette). The resulting image highlights the faint bluish OIII structures interwoven with the prominent red Ha glow while maintaining natural star colors and background dust detail.

Technical Details:

Target: Sharpless 99 (Sh2-99) & Sharpless 100 (Sh2-100)

Date: August 2026

Location: A Veiga, Ourense, Galicia, Spain

Telescope: APM 107/700 Refractor

Camera: ZWO ASI 2600MM Pro

Filters: RGB + Narrowband Ha & OIII (Baader 36mm)

Integration: ~52 hours total

Software: N.I.N.A., PHD2, PixInsight

Name: Miguel García

Website, Instagram or Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/people/Miguel-Garcia/pfbid02eHyDqMbWHdheFTkPFru9QapstDk7gQUnXHagUFfHHXQur2nBdrBWSkbF58yuxSkLl/

NGC 6819 &8 the glowing interstellar medium of the Cygnus constellation

Charles Lillo — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 04:00:20 +0000

Image Title: NGC 6819 in the foreground of the glowing interstellar medium of the Cygnus constellation

Copyright:

Date image was taken: August 11, 2026

Location: Alqueva Dark Skies, Portugal

Data Acquisition Method: Personal Telescope Setup

Description and Details: Imaged from Portugal over 3 nights in August 2026 with an Astro-Physics 130mm mounted on an AP Mach1 mount.

The HOO image is the result of 7 hours of imaging through H and O filters to capture the nebulosity and 1.5 hours each through R, G and B filters to capture the stars.

NGC 6819 is a rich open star cluster located in the constellation Cygnus.

The faint red glow behind NGC 6819 is part of the widespread hydrogen-alpha emission nebulosity that fills much of Cygnus. It comes from thin clouds of ionized hydrogen gas, which emit strongly at the deep-red Hα wavelength of 656.3 nm when energized by ultraviolet radiation from nearby hot stars.

Name: Jean Yves Beninger

Website, Instagram or Facebook Profile: www.lesbeninger.com

vdB 152 (Wolf's Cave Nebula) and LDN 1221

Charles Lillo — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 04:00:24 +0000

Image Title: vdB 152 (Wolf's Cave Nebula) and LDN 1221

Copyright: Deval Singh

Date image was taken: September 10, 2026

Location: Hanle, Ladakh (india)

Data Acquisition Method: Personal Telescope Setup

Description and Details: Silent and ancient, a cosmic serpent glides through the northern sky. Caught in the delicate interplay between dust and starlight, the reflection nebula vdB 152 glows like a celestial torch at the tip of a towering, opaque dust lane known as LDN 1221. Here in the Cepheus Flare, cosmic dust grains scatter the soft light of the embedded star BVD 111, painting the dark canvas of space with vivid shades of blue. Surrounding this stellar sanctuary, dense interstellar dust clouds cloak the background stars, weaving intricate dark lanes that reveal the quiet, ongoing birth of stars within our Milky Way.

Captured under the pristine Bortle 1 skies of the Hanle Dark Sky Reserve in Ladakh, India, this image highlights the incredible transparency of high-altitude night skies. Even without the aid of dual-narrowband filters, the ultra-dark conditions allowed a standard broadband setup to reveal not only the subtle brown dust and blue reflection details, but also the faint background H-alpha filaments and delicate OIII emissions woven throughout the region.

Acquisition Details:
Targets: vdB 152 (Wolf's Cave Nebula) and LDN 1221
Location: Hanle Dark Sky Reserve, Ladakh, India (Bortle 1)
Event: HDSR Hanle Star Party (September 2026)
Telescope: Askar SQA55
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Air
Mount: ZWO AM5
Filter: ZWO IR/UV Cut
Integration: 7h 30m (150 x 180 sec)
Calibration: Darks, Flats, and Biases

Name: Deval Singh

Website, Instagram or Facebook Profile: instagram : @Rtastronomy, facebook : Deval SIngh

Minkowski 2-51 Planetary Nebula

Charles Lillo — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 04:00:31 +0000

Image Title: Minkowski 2-51 Planetary Nebula

Copyright: Douglas J Struble

Date image was taken: September 19, 2026

Location: Taylor, MI USA

Data Acquisition Method: Personal Telescope Setup

Description and Details: Minkowski 2-51 (M 2-51) is a planetary nebula, cataloged as PN G103.2+00.6. It is the ionized circumstellar material expelled during the late evolutionary stages of a low- to intermediate-mass star. It’s not captured often and tried to do it justice.

The nebula consists primarily of gas expelled from the progenitor star during its asymptotic giant branch (AGB) evolution. After losing its outer envelope, the star's exposed core became extremely hot and began ionizing the previously expelled material.

The resulting nebula emits strongly through collisionally excited forbidden lines and hydrogen recombination lines.

Name: Douglas Struble

Website, Instagram or Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/AstrophotographyByDouglasJStruble/

Pelican Nebula and Neighbors

Charles Lillo — Sun, 27 Sep 2026 04:00:29 +0000

Image Title: Pelican Nebula and Neighbors

Copyright: Maciej Enerlich

Date image was taken: September 18, 2026

Location: Rudka 12-100
Poland

Data Acquisition Method: Personal Telescope Setup

Description and Details: This image of the Pelican Nebula and its surrounding Cygnus clouds is based almost entirely on narrowband data.

The final result combines 8 h 50 min of dual-band Ha/OIII data captured with the Optolong L-Ultimate and 7 h 30 min of dedicated SII data acquired through the SVBony SV227 5 nm filter, with only a very small amount of unfiltered data added. The total integration time is 16 h 26 min with 300s frames. I also used 18 and 6s frames with no filter for rgb stars

My goal with this project was not only to reveal the rich structure of the region — the glowing emission, dark dust lanes and subtle transitions across the field — but also to build an SHO-style narrowband image using a one-shot color camera.

Even though I use a ZWO ASI2600MC Pro, I try to create SHO images to show that this kind of processing is not reserved only for mono cameras. Of course, a monochrome setup remains the more direct and flexible solution for true narrowband imaging, but I wanted this image to demonstrate that it is still possible to experiment with the SHO palette and achieve a satisfying result with an OSC/MC camera as well.

For me, this is part of the fun: exploring how far a color camera can be pushed in narrowband work, and showing that SHO can also be an interesting creative path for MC users.

Equipment:
Telescope: Askar 103 APO + 0.8× reducer
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
Mount: Proxisky Ragdoll 17 Pro
Filters: Optolong L-Ultimate 2", SVBony SV227 SII 5 nm 2"
Acquisition: ZWO ASIAIR Mini, ZWO EAF
Processing: PixInsight, Astro Pixel Processor, Adobe Photoshop

Name: Maciej Enerlich

Website, Instagram or Facebook Profile: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/macieje.astrofotografia/

LDN 1082 (Sea Horse)

Charles Lillo — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 04:00:19 +0000

mage Title: LDN 1082 (Sea Horse)

Copyright: 2026 Jürgen Terp

Date image was taken: September 10, 2026

Location: Puntagorda, Spain (La Palma)

Data Acquisition Method: Personal Telescope Setup

Description and Details: Between the end of one Calima and the arrival of the next, I was lucky enough to have two beautiful nights under the stars on La Palma, spending them capturing the Seahorse Nebula in Cepheus.

I used my William Optics RedCat 51 on a Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi, my compact mobile setup for trips and vacations. The first night was especially memorable: calm conditions, no wind gusts, and wonderfully dark skies. After a day surrounded by the beauty of La Palma, there is something truly special about spending the night beneath its stars.

9–10 September 2026
14 hours total integration time
169 × 300 s

Name: Jürgen Terpe

Website, Instagram or Facebook Profile: https://app.astrobin.com/u/JuergenTerpe

A Galactic Farewell to Summer

Charles Lillo — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 04:00:51 +0000

Image Title: A Galactic Farewell to Summer - and Not Only That…

Copyright: Salvatore Cerruto

Location: Marina di Modica, Sicily, Italy

Data Acquisition Method: Other

Description and Details:

During the session, and again in the following days, I was already thinking about how I would approach the post-processing in order to obtain the result I had in mind.
I had roughly planned the workflow: alignment, calibration and stacking in Siril, followed by refinement and blending with the landscape in Photoshop.
It is a workflow I have learned over the years through many hours of study, countless attempts, mistakes, and even entire projects discarded after spending hours in front of the computer.
The process has become fairly reproducible by now, but it can still require a very different amount of work each time. The starting conditions are never quite the same, and something that appears straightforward on paper can easily become much more complicated.

And this is where the second farewell begins…

After years of spending so many hours behind a computer processing my images, this time I decided to experiment with something different and put OpenAI's new frontier model, ChatGPT Astra, to the test. I downloaded the files from my SD card, organized them into just a couple of folders and, essentially, told it:
"Take care of it. These are my RAW files, these are the light frames, these are the dark frames, and this is the landscape. Use Siril and Photoshop and deliver the finished image."

The mouse cursor began moving on its own.

About ten minutes later, it presented me with a Milky Way image that I would have struggled to improve upon myself - and certainly not in ten minutes.

But most importantly, the image had not been artificially generated.

What I was looking at was already there, inside my files.
It was the signal I had actually captured a few nights earlier on my camera sensor. It was real light from the sky, light that had travelled through space, reached Earth, and been recorded during those hours spent beside the sea.
The artificial intelligence had not invented that Milky Way. It had worked with the real signal contained in my RAW files, trying to extract as much information from it as possible.
After only a few manual stylistic adjustments, the image was essentially complete. I would say that around 90 percent of the final work had already been done.

And from that moment on, a series of conflicting thoughts began to emerge - some positive, others much less so.
On one hand, perhaps I can finally devote more of my time to what I find most beautiful and rewarding about astrophotography: contemplating the night sky during an imaging session and discovering places where we become guests of darkness and silence, places where we can slow down and reconnect with the cosmos.
It is an experience that modern human beings are gradually losing.
On the other hand, there is a feeling that is difficult to ignore.
A machine can understand my intentions and perform the work better - or at least far more quickly - than I could do it myself.
The creative process of slowly revealing the sculpture hidden inside a rough block of marble, something that had been an integral part of my photography for years, suddenly seems as though it may no longer necessarily need me.

There is the excitement of having reached a new frontier, but also the bittersweet feeling of having left something behind.
The more enthusiastic part of me says that a new journey can only begin when something is left behind. The more cautious part wonders whether all of this could make me intellectually lazy, preventing me from continuing the path of study, experimentation, mistakes and countless hours of work that brought me to where I am today.
Perhaps, with time, these still-disordered thoughts will eventually converge into a new understanding.

But one thing seems certain:
the world - photography included, but certainly not photography alone - is changing at an unprecedented pace.

Technical data:
Nikon D800 + Sigma ART 35mm f/1.4
- 60 frames for the sky at f/4, ISO-1250, 45 seconds
- 8 frames for the foreground at f/4, ISO-800, 60 seconds
Post: Siril + Photoshop + ChatGPT Astra

Name: Salvatore Cerruto

Website, Instagram or Facebook Profile: https://www.instagram.com/salvatore_cerruto/

Gecko and Friends

Charles Lillo — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 04:00:22 +0000

Image Title: Gecko and Friends

Copyright: Dirk Fuchs

Date image was taken: September 07, 2026

Location: Eltville, Germany (Bortle 5)

Data Acquisition Method: Personal Telescope Setup

Description and Details: Apart from the Gecko Nebula itself and the dominating bright red hydrogen clouds the numerous „small“ background galaxies make this image special.

I collected the data for this image of the Gecko Nebula (LBN 437) in constellation Lacerta during 7 nights in August/September 2026 with a small refractor and an OSC camera from my balcony in Eltville, Germany - Bortle class 5.

The image represents 30.4 hours of total exposure time (15.9h without filter and 14.5h dual narrowband) - taken with following equipment:
telescope: Askar SQA85
camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Air
mount: ZWO AM5N
filter: Optolong L-eXtreme (Ha/OIII)

Stacked, cropped and processed with Siril (including GraXpert, RC Astro and VeraLux plugins), Ha channel from dual narrowband data added to RGB image with Continuum Subtraction.
Some final adjustments with Photoshop Elements.

Name: Dirk Fuchs
Website, Instagram or Facebook Profile: @deepsky.traveller

IC 434 & M42

Charles Lillo — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 04:00:24 +0000

Image Title: IC & M42

Copyright: Olivier Bernard

Date image was taken: September 19, 2026

Location: Gourette 64 France Bortle 3

Data Acquisition Method: Personal Telescope Setup

Description and Details: Acquisition details: Astro-modified Canon EOS R6 with a Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L USM, mounted on a Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro and guided with a Lacerta MGEN-3. Antlia ALP-T Dual Band 5nm Highspeed filter. 70 × 300-second exposures, totalling 5 hours 50 minutes, captured from Gourette under Bortle 3 skies on September 18–19, 2026. Acquisition with APT and processing with PixInsight.

Name: Olivier Bernard

IC 2944 in (HS)(HS)OO palette

Charles Lillo — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 04:00:37 +0000

Image Title: IC 2944 in (HS)(HS)OO palette

Copyright: Thiago Prado

Date image was taken: April 24, 2026

Location: Ponta Grossa, Paraná, Brazil.

Data Acquisition Method: Personal Telescope Setup

Description and Details: IC 2944, the Running Chicken Nebula, is an absolute joy to image. It features intricate detail that is typically rendered in HOO or SHO. For this capture, I experimented with a custom palette by creating a synthetic (SH) channel—combining the S and H channels based on a weighted average of their respective SNRs. Using this (SH) layer for Red and Luminance in an (SH)(SH)OO combination brought out subtle structures that standard blends often miss.

Setup: Askar 80 PhQ f/5.7, ASI2600MM, Optolong RGB filters for stars and SHO (7nm) filters. Total integration time: 11h 55min. Bortle 7.

Name: Thiago Prado

Website, Instagram or Facebook Profile: https://www.instagram.com/astro.ut/

Montes Apenninus

Charles Lillo — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 04:00:03 +0000

Image Title: Montes Apenninus

Copyright: BEMAN ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY

Date image was taken: August 24, 2026

Location: Gran Canaria, Canary Islands

Data Acquisition Method: Personal Telescope Setup

Description and Details: Equipment:
Telescope - SkyWatcher Newton Black Diamond 200/1000
Camera - PlayerOne Ares M-Pro
Mount - SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro
Filter - Astronomik ProPlanet 642 BP IR-Pass 2"

Exposures: 500

Name: BEMAN ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY

Website, Instagram or Facebook Profile: https://www.instagram.com/bemanastrophotography

Werner and Aliacensis Craters

Charles Lillo — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 04:00:09 +0000

Image Title: Werner and Aliacensis Craters

Copyright: AstroAndre

Date image was taken: September 03, 2026

Location: Cassino, Italy

Data Acquisition Method: Personal Telescope Setup

Description and Details: High-resolution view of the prominent lunar crater Werner, featuring its terraced walls and distinct central peak, surrounded by a heavily cratered landscape.

Equipment & Capture Details:
- Telescope: Omegon Dobson Advanced X 203/1200
- Camera: ZWO ASI662MC
- Accessories: 2x Barlow Lens, UV/IR cut filter

Software & Processing:
Captured 10000 frames on FireCapture, processed on PIPP, Autostakkert, WaveSharp3 and GIMP. ~1500 frames stacked.

Name: Andrew Parisi

Website, Instagram or Facebook Profile: https://www.instagram.com/_astroandre_/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

A glimpse around the Total Solar Eclipse in Spain 2026

Charles Lillo — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 04:00:37 +0000

Image Title: A glimpse around the Total Solar Eclipse in Spain 2026

Copyright: Engelbert Vollmer

Date image was taken: August 12, 2026

Location: León, Spain

Data Acquisition Method: Personal Telescope Setup

Description and Details: The crescent of the sun grows narrower and narrower. The last rays shine through lunar valleys for a few seconds. Protuberances suddenly sparkle in brilliant red. The corona becomes visible - the sun’s outer atmosphere. An extremely thin, hot plasma that extends millions of kilometers into space along the sun’s magnetic field lines. For us a hundred seconds filled with fascination. Suddenly it’s over; a blinding beam of light dazzles and expands. And then the Sun is back - a narrow crescent appears and slowly grows larger. And we know that the 250-kilometer drive from our hotel on the rainy coast to León, Spain, was well worth it.

My sequence shows the corona as an HDR image taken in 1 EV increments from 1/1000 to 1/2 second. The sections to the left and right of the corona last only a few seconds—12 seconds on the left and 6 seconds on the right.

Name: Engelbert Vollmer

NCG 7023 IRIS NEBULA

Charles Lillo — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 04:00:24 +0000

Image Title: NCG 7023 IRIS NEBULA

Copyright: George Chatzifrantzis

Date image was taken: August 07, 2026

Location: Chalkidiki - Greece

Data Acquisition Method: Personal Telescope Setup

Description and Details: Equipment :
OTA : Celestron C11 XLT
Mount : Skywatcher EQ8
Camera : ZWO 533mm
Filters : Astronomik CLS,R,G,B
Guiding : Stellarvue SV80ST2 via Lodestar X2
Software : Dss - Pix - Ps
Exposure :
L : 22h30m
RGB : 3h
Location : Interstellar Observatory - Greece

Name: George Chatzifrantzis

Website, Instagram or Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeChatzifrantzis?locale=el_GR

Owl Star Cluster NGC 457

Charles Lillo — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 04:00:14 +0000

Image Title: Owl Star Cluster NGC 457

Copyright: giacomo pro'

Date image was taken: August 20, 2026

Location: Torricella (TA) ITALY

Data Acquisition Method: Personal Telescope Setup

Description and Details: Nel cuore della costellazione di Cassiopea, a circa 7.900 anni luce dalla Terra, si trova NGC 457, uno degli ammassi aperti più suggestivi del cielo autunnale. Conosciuto con i soprannomi di Ammasso della Civetta o ET Cluster, questo gruppo di stelle colpisce immediatamente per la particolare disposizione dei suoi astri, che sembra delineare la sagoma di una creatura dalle grandi orbite luminose.
Scoperto da William Herschel nel 1787, NGC 457 è un giovane ammasso aperto, composto da numerose stelle nate dalla stessa nube di gas e legate ancora dalla gravità. La sua età relativamente giovane, stimata in alcune decine di milioni di anni, fa sì che tra le sue componenti siano presenti stelle molto luminose e massicce.
A dominare la scena sono Phi Cassiopeiae e HD 7902, due stelle particolarmente brillanti che contribuiscono a formare quelli che, nella celebre interpretazione figurativa, sembrano essere i grandi occhi della Civetta. La loro luminosità contrasta con quella delle numerose stelle più deboli che compongono il corpo e le "ali" dell'ammasso.
La forma che riconosciamo nell'immagine è naturalmente una straordinaria pareidolia cosmica: non esiste una struttura fisica che leghi le stelle secondo il disegno della Civetta. È la loro casuale disposizione prospettica, osservata dalla Terra, a creare questa figura così riconoscibile e affascinante.
NGC 457 rappresenta quindi uno degli esempi più belli di come l'astronomia possa incontrare l'immaginazione: un insieme di stelle nate dalla stessa nube interstellare che, a migliaia di anni luce di distanza, sembra trasformarsi nei grandi occhi di una creatura che osserva silenziosamente il cosmo.

Description & Details Translation

In the heart of the constellation Cassiopeia, approximately 7,900 light-years from Earth, lies NGC 457, one of the most striking open clusters in the autumn sky. Known by the nicknames "Owl Cluster" or "ET Cluster," this group of stars immediately catches the eye due to the peculiar arrangement of its stars, which appear to outline the silhouette of a creature with large, bright eyes.

Discovered by William Herschel in 1787, NGC 457 is a young open cluster composed of numerous stars born from the same gas cloud and held together by gravity. Its relatively young age, estimated at a few tens of millions of years, means that very bright and massive stars are present among its components.

Dominating the scene are Phi Cassiopeiae and HD 7902, two particularly brilliant stars that help form what, in the famous figurative interpretation, appear to be the Owl's large eyes. Their brightness contrasts with the numerous fainter stars that make up the body and "wings" of the cluster.

The shape we recognize in the image is, of course, an extraordinary cosmic pareidolia: there is no physical structure linking the stars in the shape of an owl. It is their accidental perspective arrangement, as observed from Earth, that creates this recognizable and fascinating figure.

NGC 457 thus represents one of the finest examples of how astronomy can meet imagination: a group of stars born from the same interstellar cloud that, thousands of light-years away, appears to transform into the large eyes of a creature silently observing the cosmos.
Light: 65 x 60 seconds
Filter: Optolong L-QEF
Camera: Asi 294 mc pro
Telescope: Sky-Watcher 200/1000 PDS (CUSTOM)
Mount: Skywatcher Eq 6-r Pro
Acquisition: Asiair Plus
Software: DSS - Pixinsight – Photoshop
Shots: 20/08/2026
Location: Torricella (TA) ITALY
Sky Bortle: 6
Author: PRO’ GIACOMO.

Name: giacomo pro'

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