My Top 10 Best Astrophotos

122h integration time - a record!!! Messier 33 in HaOIIILRGB. This is by far the deepest image I have ever obtained. Stars down to 21mag are visible in this image when zoomed into the annotated version with Gaia reference data. The image contains 45 hours of luminosity data from all three RASAs, but also 40 hours of Ha and 15 hours of OIII data to highlight the red Ha regions and OIII of this beautiful galaxy. The Ha data was continuum subtracted using a Pixinsight script, i.e. the red broadband channel was subtracted from the Ha data to highlight only the dense Ha regions. However, I decided to add back the regular Ha data to enhance the red glow around the galaxy, which is either part of M33 or foreground gas in our own Milky Way. I also reduced start size using the Star Xterminator script in Pixinsight, which works great. I would have collected more photons, but the bad weather winter season here in Germany started with overcast skies and rain. To improve the S/N even further, however, I would have to double or even quadruple the integration time per channel to achieve a significant effect, as the S/N only improves with the square root of the number of subframes. Effective AI-supported denoising routines such as in Graxpert help a lot with denoising without impairing the image quality.

Link: Full Res annotated with Ggaia limit magintude NBLRGB Image M33

Link: Full Res NBLRGB Image M33

Link: Full Res LRGB Image M33

Link: Full Res HaOIII only - partly continuum substracted Image M33

409x360s Ha + 154x360s OIII + 898x180s Clear + 543x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 122h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + 2x ASI2600MM + TS2600KMG2. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

4-tile mosaic of the famous Heart Nebula with a total of 80 megapixels. I spent a total of 48 hours capturing the 6 tiles in Ha, OIII and SII as well as RGB with my triple RASA11 astrograph. Of course, it would have been easier to use a shorter focal length optic and the ASI6200MM full-frame camera with 60 MPix to capture the nebula with less effort. But in this case I have the resolution of an optic with 620 mm focal length and 11 inch aperture. However, this can only be realised if the photo is viewed in full resolution. The image processing of such a large amount of data, 4 tiles with 6 channels each, was a pain. I used Pixinsight with the integrated mosaic procedures to align the individual tiles and stitch them together.

Link: Full Res annotated Image heart Nebula

Link: Full Res Image Heart Nebula 80 MPix

Link: Full Res Image Heart Nebula RGB only 80 MPix

120x360s HaOIIISII + 80x180s RGB per channel and per Tile. Total integration time of 48h, so 12h per tile. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + ASI2600MDUO + ASI2600MM + TS2600KMG2. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS, supported by the ZWO DUO guiding chip. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

The Great Andromeda Galaxy, Messier 31. This is the deepest astro image I have ever taken. A total of 23.5 hours with a Celestron C11 Hyperstar at f1.9. The last time I photographed M31 I captured 17 hours with my ASA10N Astrograph at f3.6 and an old Moravian CCD camera. In theory, the Hyperstar is 3.6x as fast as the ASA, with lower resolution of course, since the C11 Hyperstar has 540mm focal length compared to the 900mm of the ASA at f3.6.
In addition, I used Pixinsight for image processing this time and was able to protect the highlights in the core of M31 better than last time. However, I have to admit that the star shapes of the Hyperstar are pretty crappy, especially at the edges of the full image. This image is a vertical crop of the horizontal full image. I had to crop out the edges.

In general, the hyperstar for the C11 has a design limit on star size of 12 microns. So it is not diffraction limited and much larger than the pixel size of the ASI6200.

Link: Full Res Image M31 annotated with B-V star colors

Link: Full Res Image M31

142x180s Ha + 264x180s UHC-S + 21x180s RGB per channel. Total of 23.5h Integration time. Celestron C11 XLT + Starizona Hyperstar v4 f1.9 + ASI6200MM Pro and Baader 2" Highspeed Filters. Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM3000QCI mount. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

The Dark Shark Nebula LDN1235 in Cepheus. This target is very close to the Anglerfish nebula, a target I captured a few months ago with the Triple RASAs. A whopping 61h total integration time is the current record for me. It's still a wonder to me how it's possible to get a reasonably good image of such a faint dark nebula from my light-polluted backyard.

Link: Full Res annotated LRGB Image LDN1235

Link: Full Res LRGB Image

Link: Full Res LRGB starless Image

679x180s Clear + 180x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 61h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + 2x ASI2600MM + TS2600KMG2. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

This is a revisit of Bode's Galaxy M81 and M82, the Cigar Galaxy, in the constellation Ursus Major. I had already imaged this target in 2023 with a predecessor version of my current triple RASA11 equipment, but only for 10 hours. The intention was to capture more of the integrated flux nebula around these two galaxies and the faint Ha glow. I put in a total of 63 hours of integration time, over 33 hours of which was with a clear filter alone. Also visible is the satellite galaxy PGC28757, also known as UGC 5336 or Holmberg IX, an irregular dwarf galaxy near M81, as well as NGC3077. As the background with the IFN is emphasised in the image processing, it is difficult to remove satellite and aircraft trails.

Link: Full Res annotated Image Messier 81

Link: Full Res Image Messier 81

39x360s Ha + 669x180s Clear + 172x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 46h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + ASI2600MDUO + ASI2600MM + TS2600KMG2. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS, supported by the ZWO DUO guiding chip. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

43.5h!! Another record for integration time. Although there are much better images of IC5146 - the Cocoon Nebula - with its dark nebular fringes on the Internet, I am amazed at what can be achieved with enough data from a heavily light-polluted sky.

This project was only possible thanks to my massive Triple 11 inch Astrograph setup - the T-1100.

Link: Full Res annotated NBLRGB Image IC5146

Link: Full Res NBLRGB Image IC5146

Link: Full Res HaLRGB Image IC5146

Link: Full Res LRGB only Image IC5146

310x180s Clear + 60x360s Ha + 30x360s HaOIII + 320x180s Color. Total integration time of 43,5h. Triple Celestron 11" Astrograph (2xRASA11 v1 + Celestron C11 Hyperstar v4) + ASI6200MM Pro + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + ASI2600MM + ASI2600MC. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Another personal integration time record so far: 35 hours total integration time for luminance and color. This is the Anglerfish Nebula, or LDN 1247, where LDN stands for Lynd's Catalog of Dark Nebulae. I first tried to image this nebula with my mobile imaging rig and ASA10N f3.8 astrograph, but was unable to collect more than 8h of data due to unfavorable weather in mid-2023 here in Germany.

After setting up my Triple 11" astrograph in my observatory, I was curious if I could photograph this faint object here under the Bortle 7 sky. I was able to collect 24 hours of luminance data using both my RASA11 with clear filter and the C11 Hyperstar for color data. This is really a very challenging target for such a light-polluted sky, and without parallel imaging with three ultra-fast astrographs, this project would not have been possible.

it is fascinating to look at the star forming regions in the center of this nebula, resembling the Eagle Nebula or the Elephants Trunk Nebula.

Link: Full Res annotated LRGB Image LDN 1247

Link: Full Res LRGB Image LDN 1247

488x180s Clear + 242x180s color. Total integration time of 36h. Triple Celestron 11" Astrograph (2xRASA11 v1 + Celestron C11 Hyperstar v4) + ASI6200MM Pro + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + ASI2600MM + ASI2600MC. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

The Eagle Nebula, or Messier 16 in the constellation of Serpens. I used three clear nights to take out my mobile astro rig with the Celestron CGX mount and the TMB 115 APO to a bit darker place than my observatory to take this picture of this hughe Ha region. This obseravation location on the so-called Haarstrang in Northrhine Westphalia has a very good view to the horizon and much darker skies than the Soester Börde or the Ruhrgebiet. I have made a short video of this astro excursion. It can be viewed on my Youtube channel:

Link to the Youtube Video

Link: Full Res 60Mpix Image

Link: Central part of Nebula

14x600s HA and OIII plus 8x360s RGB. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer @ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter. Celestron CGX mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding on the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Haarstrang, Germany.

vdb152 Wolfs Cave Nebula with Barnard 175 and LBN538 in Cepheus. Taken from the island of La Palma, Spain. I took this picture during one of my trips to Roque de Los Muchachos with my mobile astrophotography equipment. At an altitude of 2000m a.s.l. I found a good observing site at the so-called Pista de Gallegos, a small road turning north from LP-4 near Roque de Los Muchachos. Due to a weather phenomenon called Calima, observing conditions were difficult, with clouds and very poor seeing. Therefore, I had little time to collect enough light for this very faint object. The colorful circular nebula to the right hand side of the image is LBN538, a so-called Strömgren Sphere.

Image below: I rented a Infinity 16" Dobsonian at the ATHOS Star Campus and drove up the steep road to the water tank near the Llano de Animas, very close to Roque de Los Muchachos and the observatory, but without the inconvenience of driving up the winding LP-4 road. Conditions were near perfect: no clouds, dark Bortle 2 sky, a concrete base for the telescope, and absolute quietness.

Link: Full Res Image Wolfs Cave Nebula

39x180s Clear + 20x180s RGB and 5h total integration time. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer@ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and 10micron Aries Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: Roque de Los Muchachos, La Palma, Canary Islands, 2000 m a.s.l. and Bortle Class 2.

The famous Rho Ophiuci region in Scorpius from my favourite astro location: the Col de Restefond in the French Maritime Alps. In 2024, the weather conditions in Europe were really bad. It was raining cats and dogs on the continent and the sky was cloudy. My trip to Col de Restefond in July 2024 was affected by this situation and I only had 2.5 nights with clear skies that I could use to take some photos under this pristine dark sky in the French Alps at 2500m altitude. In the end, I was not very successful in escaping the very bad weather in Germany by travelling to France. Hopefully in the next few years I will have the opportunity to visit this beautiful place again in better weather conditions. I had made a 2-tile panorama of this region with my TMB APO in 2021, and I always wanted a higher resolution picture of the dense region of the large nebulosity complex. The ASA10N astrograph was the perfect instrument for this goal.

Link: Full Res annotated LRGB Image Rho Ophiuci

Link: Full Res LRGB Image Rho Ophiuci

40x180s Clear + 15x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 4,3h. ASA 10N f3.8 + Riccardi Newton Corrector. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 50mm Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and Berlebach Planet Wooden Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: Col de Restefond, France - Bortle Class 2.

Messier 51 in Canes Venatici with NGC5195 and lots of other galaxies. This is of course not the first image I have taken of this beautiful Galaxy. Long exposure images of M51 taken under dark skies show a lot of interstellar gas and dust. So I wanted to try to capture the intergalactic flux nebula around M51 from a Bortle 7 zone. I needed 32 hours of integration time in RGB and Ha. There are many small and faint background galaxies visible, only a fraction of which have a PGC name! I had to discard many of the images in the red channel due to technicals issues. Finally, I aquired a brand new ASI2600MDUO with an integrated guiding chip.

Link: Full Res annotated Image Messier 51

Link: Full Res Image Messier 51

41x360s Ha + 113x180s Red + 225x180s GB per channel. Total integration time of 32h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + ASI2600MDUO + ASI2600MM + TS2600KMG2. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS, supported by the ZWO DUO guiding chip. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Sh2-224 in the constellation Auriga, also known as the Chinese Hat Nebula. It is a rather faint narrow-band object that presents a challenge in light-polluted skies. The first version I created is a two-colour Ha-OIII narrowband version with RGB star colours. The blue gas cloud indicates strong OIII emission parallel to the red Ha glow. I also created a HaOIIISII version with 5 hours of additional SII data in the green channel.

Link: Full Res annotated Image Sh2-224

Link: Full Res Image Sh2-224 in Ha OIII OIII

Link: Full Res Image Sh2-224 in Ha OIII SII

104x360s Ha + 148x360s OIII + 50x360s SII + 10x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 31h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + 2x ASI2600MM + TS2600KMG2. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

NGC1990 in Orion. The bright star is Epsilon Orionis or Alnilam, the centre of the three belt stars of Orion. At the lower edge of the image (in the west) is the reflection nebula IC423 and further down would be Delta Orionis, the western belt star, which is just outside the field of view. The blue reflection nebula is difficult to recognise against the bright background of the sky. Orion's belt is located far to the south of my observation point. In addition, the south wall of my observatory blocks the lower of the three RASAs. Therefore, I can only take pictures of this region on a few days in winter.

Link: Full Res annotated Image NGC1990

Link: Full Res Image NGC1990

38x360s Ha + 357x180s Clear + 99x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 36h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + 2x ASI2600MM + TS2600KMG2. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Barnard 10 in Taurus, part of the Taurus Molecular Cloud. Not the easiest object for post processing, as gradients and a greenish tint from light pollution makes the color correction a challenge.

Link: Full Res annotated Image Barnard 10

Link: Full Res Image Barnard 10

564x180s Clear + 119x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 46h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + 2x ASI2600MM + TS2600KMG2. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Fireworks Galaxy NGC6946 and open star cluster NGC6939 in the constellation Cepheus. This is the result of only 1 1/2 nights in late autumn 2023 here in Germany, as the bad weather since October prevented any further photography. At least the IFN nebula around the galaxy is visible despite the heavy light pollution. The three fast RASA11 optics pay off again!

Link: Full Res annotated LRGB Image Fireworks Galaxy

Link: Zoomed Full Res LRGB Image Fireworks Galaxy

276x180s Clear + 164x180s Color. Total integration time of 22h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + ASI6200MM Pro + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + ASI2600MM + ASI2600MC. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Messier 22 in the constellation Sagittarius. This globular cluster is one the of the top showpieces of the summer sky.

Picture below: Polartrail, together with my imaging set-up and the BMW 4-series Grand Coupe. Canon EOS R + Irix 15mm f2.5.

Link: Full Res Image Messier 22 annotated with B-V star colors

Link: Full Res Image Messier 22

10x180s RGB per channel and 1.5h total integration time. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with Riccardi APO Flattener@ 825mm f7. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: Col de Restefond, France.

Sculptor Galaxy NGC253 and the globular cluster NGC288. Image taken from the island of La Palma, Spain. This image I have aquired during one of my trips up to the Roque de Los Muchachos with my mobile astrophoto setup. In an altitude of 2000m a.s.l. I found a decent observation location at the so called Pista de Gallegos, a small road that turns north from the LP-4 near the Roque de Los Muchachos. Observing conditions that night were quite good, with no wind and temperatures around 7°C. The Calima weather phenomenon was over, but the seeing conditions had not fully stabilized yet.

Link: Full Res Image Sculptor Galaxy annotated with B-V star colors

Link: Full Res Image Sculptor Galaxy

35x360s Clear + 14x180s RGB and 5.6h total integration time. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer@ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and 10micron Aries Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: Roque de Los Muchachos, La Palma, Canary Islands, 2000 m a.s.l. and Bortle Class 2.

Ok, it comes as no surprise in Mid 2020: Photos of Comet Neowise! One of the brightest Comets of the last decades, perfectly visible from the northern hemisphere after its perihelion in early July 2020. I took the opportunity to make a short trip to Switzerland to the Gurnigel Pass and the Gantrisch Nature reserve to take photos of the Comet. The more southern latitude of Switzerland compared to Northern Germany resulted in a darker northern horizon during the grey nights after summer solstice. The used lenses for those photos had f-stops of f4 and f5.5, unfortunately not fast enough for this object. Next time I am hopefully better prepared. Image processing of the moving comet against the fixed backdrop of stars in Pixinsight was a nightmare.

Canon EOS R unmodified plus Canon EF 500 f4 L IS II USM, RF 24-105 f4 and EF 100-400 L IS II USM. Skywatcher EQ6 mount. Data reduction and processing in Pixinsight and Photoshop. Location: Gantrisch, Switzerland.

66h integration time on the Lacerta Nebula Sh2-126!! Another record for integration time, but this is a difficult and faint broadband target for a Bortle 7 sky. It was hard work for processing this huge amount of data and supressing the sky background, as the faint nebulosity is barely visible. All the image files of all three cameras created 100GB of data. About 500GB of intermediate data was created during the calibration and registration procedure in Pixinsight.

The Ha version of the image superimposes 12h of Ha narrowband data to enhance the red hydrogen gas the stretches across the sky.

Link: Full Res annotated NBLRGB Image Sh2-126

Link: Full Res LRGB Image Sh2-126

Link: Full Res HaLRGB Image Sh2-126

600x180s Clear + 120x360s Ha + 480x180s Color. Total integration time of 66h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + ASI6200MM Pro + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + ASI2600MM + ASI2600MC. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

CTB1 in Cassiopeia, another faint object in the sky. This object, also known as Abell 85, is not a planetary nebula, but a supernova remnant with a diameter of 36'. The distance is about 10000 LJ and the envelope has a diameter of 100 LJ. According to Binnewies' "Bildatlas der Sternhaufen und Nebel" the progenitor star exploded about 13000 years ago and must have been quite asymmetric to produce this irregularly shaped envelope.

Link: Full Res annotated Image CTB1

Link: Full Res Image CTB1

Link: Full Res starless Image CTB1

60x360s HaOIIISII + 60x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 27h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + 2x ASI2600MM + TS2600KMG2. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Messier 27 in Vulpeca. >Despite the small focal length of the RASAs I was able to get some details out from the outer shell of M27.

Link: Full Res NBRGB annotated Image M27

Link: Full Res NBRGB Image

Link: Full Res HaRGB Image

Link: Full Res RGB Image

Link: Full Res NBRGB starless Image

196x360s Ha + 244x360s OIII + 80x180s RGB per channel. Total integration time of 56h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + 2x ASI2600MM + TS2600KMG2. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Barnard 3 in Perseus. The winter 2023/2024 between November 2023 and March 2024 was one of the wettest and rainiest in European weather history, leaving only a few clear nights in a four month time period for astronomy.

Link: Full Res annotated Image Barnard 3

Link: Full Res Image Barnard 3

590x180s Clear + 316x180s color. Total integration time of 45h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + ASI200MM Pro + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + ASI2600MM + ASI2600MC. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Barnard 13 and other dark nebulae in Camelopardalis. This is the result of only 2 nights or 40h integration time with three RASA11 astrographs in winter 2023 here in Germany, as bad weather since October prevented any further photography. However, there are a lot of structures visible in the image and even a dim blue glow around the dark dust clouds. The Luminance data was captured with two RASAs in parallel and the ASI6200MM and ASI2600MM and subsequently stacked in Pixinsight.

Link: Full Res annotated LRGB Image Barnard 13

Link: Full Res LRGB Image Barnard 13

563x180s Clear + 236x180s Color. Total integration time of 40h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + ASI6200MM Pro + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + ASI2600MM + ASI2600MC. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

The faint Soap Bubble Nebula, a planetary Nebula in Cygnus with the synonym PN G075.5+01.7 lies near the Cresecent Nebula NGC6888, but was only discovered in 2008 by an amateur astronomer. After 47h of integration time through my new Triple RASA11 astrograph I could finally make this faint PN visible.

Link: Full Res annotated NBRGB Image NGC6888

Link: Full Res NBRGB Image NGC6888

55x360s Sii + 110x360s Ha +160x360s OIII + 300x180s Color. Total integration time of 47,5h. Triple Celestron RASA11 Astrograph + ASI6200MM Pro + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + ASI2600MM + ASI2600MC. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

My personal integration time record so far: 28h total integration time for single Ha, SII, OIII filters and the color camera. This is the central region of the Elephant's Trunk Nebula. I have taken pictures of this object in the past with my AS10N f3.6 Astrograph at 900mm focal length, but with a very small 4/3 inch CCD sensor. This image now, taken with the two RASAs at f2.2 and two APS-C sized CMOS sensors is much superior to any previous attempts to shoot this target.

Link: Full Res annotated NBRGB Image IC1396A

Link: Full Res NBRGB Image IC1396A

45x360s HaSII + 80x360s OIII + 235x180s color. Total integration time of 28h. Dual Celestron RASA11 v1 + ASI2600MM Pro + Baader 2" Highspeed Filters + ASI2600MC. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

Messier 45, the Plejades in the constellation of Taurus is actually a no-go for a Bortle 7 zone with heavy light pollution. Imaging the dim blue reflection nebula and the grey interstellar dust around this cluster of young stars require a dark sky. Otherwise the faint structures cannot be separated from the sky background.
The f1.9 Hyperstar system and 15h of integration time cause miracles and all those structures can suddenly be seen even from a city sky!

Link: Full Res Image M45 annotated with B-V star colors

Link: Full Res Image M45

232x180s UHC-S + 25x180s RGB per channel. Total of 15.3h Integration time. Celestron C11 XLT + Starizona Hyperstar v4 f1.9 + ASI6200MM Pro and Baader 2" Highspeed Filters. Baader M68 Tilter. Self Guided by 50 Star predictive guding model with the 10micron GM3000HPS. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding in my backyard observatory. Location: Ruhrgebiet, Germany, Bortle Class 7.

The Seagull Nebula Sh2-296 in the constellation Canis Major.

I had to postpone this project last winter because the weather was not good in early 2021 and I could not collect enough integration time with my mobile astro-rig. So in March 2022, when there was an unusually good weather period all over Europe with many clear nights, I took the chance to drive to my new observing site in Lichtenau with excellent horizon visibility and record this beautiful nebula. Because of its size and brightness this is one of the most beautiful Ha regions visible from the northern hemisphere.

Left: HaRGB, right: SIIHaOIIIRGB.

Link: Full Res Image Sh2-296 in HaRGB

Link: Full Res Image Sh2-296 in SIIHaOIIIRGB

12x600s SII Ha OIII per Filter+ 25x180s RGB per channel. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer @ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Lichtenau, East Westfalia, Germany

This is the Heart Nebula in the constellation of Cassiopeia. I created three different versions in the image processing with the narrowband and broadband frames that I took during my 2021 trip to the Silvretta Hochalpenstrasse in Austria: HaRGB, HaOIIIRGB and RGB only. All pictures are taken from the Silvretta Hochalpenstrasse in the Austrian Alps with my TMB 115 APO, the ASI6200MM and the Celestron CGX mount. This nebula is probably my all time favourite astrophotography object in the norther sky because to its beauty and complexity.

Link: Full Res Image HaRGB

Link: Full Res Image HaOIIIRGB

Link: Full Res Image RGB

12x600s Ha and OIII, 22x180s RGB per channel. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer @ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter. Celestron CGX mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding on the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Bieler Höhe, Silvretta Hochalpenstrasse, Austria.

The Helix Nebula, taken from the Silvretta Hochalpenstrasse in Austria. Left: HaRGB version with 2h of Ha narrowband data as Luminance and 90min RGB broadband data per channel. Right: Ha+OIII Bicolor Narrowband image with Ha as red, a synthetic green channel with a blend of OIII and Ha, and OIII as blue. Star colors were introduced by removing stars in the NB picture with the aid of Starnet++ and overlaying stars from the RGB image into the starless NB image.

Link: Full Res Image HaOIIIHaRGB

Link: Full Res Image HaOIIIRGB

12x600s Ha and OIII + 20x180s RGB. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer @ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter. Celestron CGX mount. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding on the hp Elite X2 Tablet. Location: Bieler Höhe, Silvretta Hochalpenstrasse, Austria.