M81 and M82 in RGB blended with narrowband subtracted continuum
This is a quick post on the M81/M82 region, also known as Bode’s and Cigar Galaxies, respectively.
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Spaghetti Nebula, two-panel SHO mosaic with RGB stars
This is a two-panel mosaic of Siemeis 147, AKA Sharpless 2-240, affectionately
known as the “Spaghetti Nebula”. The Spaghetti Nebula is a striking
astronomical object located in the constellation of Taurus. This ethereal cloud
of gas and dust appears as a delicate, curved nebula with intricate filaments
that evoke the image of twisted pasta.
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Quickshot: The Elephant Trunk Nebula (SHO with RGB stars)
I realized that I never processed the Elephant Trunk Nebula that I started taking at the
end of 2024. I had expected to go back and get more data but never did, and now it’s too low.
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The Flaming Star, Tadpoles, and Spider Nebulae
I gathered about 40 hours of narrowband and broadband data for this rendition of the Flaming Star,
Tadpoles, and Spider Nebulae over a ten-day session in late 2024/early 2025.
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2024 in review
2024 was a great year for theAstroShed, and I gathered a lot of faint light
from far away. By far the image that I was happiest with was the Heart Nebula,
but the Horsehead/Flame nebulas and Pleiades aren’t far behind. Click through to see
bigger images.
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The Horsehead and Flame Nebulae, in RGB plus Narrowband
This is my late-2024 take on the Horsehead and Flame Nebulae in a fairly wide view from my
530mm f/5 refractor. This view, taken over ten different nights, is cropped but if you
click through you can see a bigger view along with processing details.
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Pleiades (M45) has some dark secrets
I was able to pull out some darker whispies as well as several
galaxies hidden in the mist while imaging Pleiades, AKA M45 or
“The Seven Sisters” (I count a lot more than seven!).
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Quickshot: The North America Nebula
A quick process of the North America Nebula. This is about eighteen hours of SHO + RGB data and I like how it turned out 
.
See below for acquisition details.
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RGB & SHO image processing workflows, 2024 edition
In the past few years the tools used to process astro-images have made a
generational leap. Tools built into PixInsight, like WBPP (Weighted Batch
Preprocessor), have simplified calibration and integration, while other free
tools, like Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch (GHS), and SetiAstro’s
helpers are making processing in PI
easier (once you learn them). Other, paid tools, like RC-Astro’s *XTerminator tools have amplified the leap. In this post
I’ll walk through a high-level overview of how I process images. It’s
repeatable, pretty streamlined, and I think that you can get pretty good results
without a lot of theory or math.
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Image processing: PixInsight scripts from theAstroShed
I use PixInsight to process my images and I’ve gotten to a point where I feel
that I have a pretty repeatable workflow (note that I didn’t say that I’m
good). I’ve created a few tools along the way that make things easier for me,
which I figured I’d share with the community.
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