iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

NGC281 Pac-Man nebula. Within the constellation Cassiopeia. Estimated at 9,200 light years away. #astrophotography

Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 05/10/2025

NGC6960 Western Veil nebula. Not the best night with a near full moon but you take what you can. This is a supernova remnant from 10-20,000 years ago, spanning 3 degrees or 6 full moon diameters. Hydrogen is mapped to red and Oxygen is mapped to blue/green (HOO imaging). #astrophotography

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

Lobster Claw nebula and the Bubble nebula. Both are positioned in the constellation Cassiopeia. The Bubble nebula is 7,100 light years distant while the Lobster Claw is an amazingly 11,000 light years distant. The Lobster claw is the same width as two full moons.! #astrophotography

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

NGC7380 - Wizard Nebula Discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1787. Nebula illuminated by a young star cluster in Cepheus. Estimated to be between 7,000 to 8,500 light years away. #astrophotography

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

IC1396 - Elephant Trunk nebula Over 2,400 light years away. The nebula is dim but large, exceeding 4 full moons in diameter. The nebula gets its name from the prominent dark dust lane extending to its center. #astrophotography

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

Mosaic of the North American nebula (NGC7000) and Pelican nebula (IC5070). Narrowband using the Hubble pallet for Ha, S2, and O3. #astrophotography

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

NFC6992 Eastern Veil nebula. Captured in narrowband -Hubble pallet. 300 sec subs about 1.5 hours per Ha, O3, S2 filter. The square area to the right is called the Bat nebula. #astrophotography

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 20/07/2025

I’m still here… Terrible weather and dealing with a freak torn rotator cuff = no Astro photos. Doesn’t look to be surgically fixable so some lifestyle changes in store. Get lemons, make lemonade. Tuesday is looking positive for clear skies so keeping fingers crossed.

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

No posts for a while. In the process of moving and it is fully consuming of my time. Hope to have more astro photos soon!

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

NGC2264 Cone Nebula taken with narrowband filters. I mapped red for Hydrogen, blue for Oxygen III, and blended Sulfur II as a complimentary yellow tone. Just over 2,700 light years away. #astrophotography

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

Rosette nebula NGC2237 with red=hydrogen, oxygen=blue processed as HOO. Sulfur was added as a yellow highlight. Located in the constellation Monoceros, it is 5,200 light-years away from Earth. This emission nebula spans about 130 light-years across.

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

M13 - The Great Hercules Cluster is one of 150 known globular cluster within the Milky Way. The associated stars of the cluster tend to be very old with some actually approaching being the oldest stars in the universe. #astrophotography

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

Today is perihelion, the day earth is closest to the sun. It also marks the period of the latest sunrise in the northern hemisphere. The two are closely linked due to the earths orbital speed increasing as it reaches perihelion and decelerating afterwards causing changes to the solar time.

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

IC443 Jellyfish nebula in Gemini shot across 3 nights. A supernova remnant created about 30,000 years ago. Over 5,000 light years away and 70 light years across. #astrophotography

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

My first astrophotography purchase in early 2019 was an iOptron SkyGuider Pro. It allowed me to take 45-60 second shots with my DSLR. It required manual polar aligning and of course no goto but I was fully impressed with the longer exposures.

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

NGC2174 also known as the Monkey Head Nebula is an emission nebula in the constellation Orion at about 6,400 light years away. I mapped Hydrogen to red, Oxygen 3 to blue, and Sulfur 2 to yellow. Ended up with a magenta area where the oxygen and hydrogen were strongest. #astrophotography

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

Looking to get into astrophotography? I started with a simple DSLR and tripod. Set your camera to take 30 seconds shots and point near Polaris There is free software that will allow you to stitch your photos into an incredible image!

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

Below are YouTube astrophotographers I follow. AstroBackyard got me hooked 5 years ago that started my journey! - Adam Block, AstroBackyard, Cosgrove Cosmos, Dark Rangers Inc, Dylan O’Donnell, Easy Astro Images, Lukomatico, Nebula Photos, Peter Zelinka, Seti Astro, View into Space, VisibleDark

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 28/12/2024

NGC2264 - Cone nebula. Dark V shaped object in the upper right and below it the Christmas Tree cluster of stars. Both are an incredible 2,300 light years away. I normally crop into the subject more but really liked the interplay with the dark nebula LDN1610 bottom left #astrophotography

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 26/12/2024

M42 Orion Nebula. Taken in 2022, I’m overdue for an update to one of the jewels of the night sky. To the left is NGC1977 the Running Man Nebula. M42 by itself is 24 light years across. This is 5-6x further away in distance than our closest star Proxima Centauri!

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

IC443 Jellyfish nebula in narrowband. Processed in HSO with Hydrogen mapped to red, Sulfur to green, and Oxygen to blue. Unfortunately, high clouds during the night caused the nearby stars to bloom. #astrophotography

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 21/12/2024

Happy solstice! Although today is the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, our earliest sunset has already happened on December 8th. Likewise, our latest sunrise will occur on January 5th. Blame our elliptical orbit for that oddity!

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

NGC6888 Crescent nebula. Around 5,000 light years away, this nebula is the result of extremely fast stellar wind colliding with stellar material ejected from a Wolf-Rayet star as it became a red giant. #astrophotography

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

Andromeda M31 is the furthest object we can see with our naked eye at night at 2.5 million light years away! #astrophotography

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

Hydrogen alpha image of the heart nebula IC1805 last night. My intent was to process this as a narrowband image (Ha, S2,O3) but unfortunately the camera shifted after the meridian flip causing the other photos to not align. Sometimes you learn from your failures! Always lock down the rotation!!!😀

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

NGC1491 - Fossil Footprint in HSO. Outside of the core was just very faint Ha that barely was above the background light pollution. Some O3 and S2 in the brightest part but devoid elsewhere. Challenging object that required 2 nights of capture before being presentable.

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

Decided to try a mosaic of the IC405-IC410 area. A definite learning curve with narrowband mosaics under PixInsight. This was just 2 panels. Unsure if I would have the patience for more. #astrophotography ASI2600MM, Esprit 100mm

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

IC405 - Flaming Star nebula taken last December 2023. Only 3 hours of imaging (18x 600”) due to clouds. Planning to reshoot soon in monochrome SHO to compare against the OSC color camera used in this photo.

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

One of the highlights of my life was being able to witness both the 2017 and 2024 North America eclipses. Below are two photos I took from Mansfield, Ohio earlier this year during the total eclipse.

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

NGC1499 California nebula. Just over 20 hours of integration time with SHO data and 1 hour for RGB stars. #astrophotography

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

NGC2174 - Monkey Head Nebula taken last December 2023. The monkey actually looks like it received a “Joker” makeover. 😂🔭 #astrophotography

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Big fan of StarTalk, a youtube channel astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson moderates, and very hyped having one of my questions answered by astrobiologist Aomawa Shields. youtu.be/25VKB5RD-qM?...

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

NGC7635 Bubble nebula taken on October 4th, 2024. Next year, I’ll need to turn this into a mosaic and get more of the surrounding nebulosity! #astrophotography 🔭

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

NGC7380 - Wizard nebula captured Sept 15, 2023 from my backyard. #astrophotography

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

NGC2359 - Thor's Helmet. Taken back on February 6, 2024. The nebula is a result of a Wolf-Rayet star in a pre-supernova state of evolution. #astrophotography www.astrobin.com/full/1o29wz/B/

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NGC2359 - Thor's Helmet

An astrophotograph by Mike Parker on AstroBin

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

The Pleiades M45. One of the closest open clusters in the night sky and the nearest Messier object. This was taken Dec 15th, 2023 in my suburban backyard. 25x300s using my Esprit 100 and ASI2600MC camera. My Astrobin link to the image www.astrobin.com/0p1734/

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

M33 Triangulum Galaxy. Esprit 100 and ASI2600MC camera. 61 x 300” from October 2024. Just smaller than Andromeda and the Milky Way in our local group #astrophotography

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

IC1805 Heart nebula. Taken in October 2024 from 140 x 300” using an Esprit 100, ASI2600MC, and L- Ultimate filter #astrophotography

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

IC443 Jellyfish nebula. 71x600” Esprit 100 and ASI2600MC with a Optolong L-Ultimate filter. I ended up liking the starless version more so went with it. #astrophotography

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

IC1396 Elephant trunk nebula. 36x300 sec with my Esprit 100 and ASI2600MC using a L-Ultimate filter. Probably could have used less focal length here but what an incredible interplay of dark and emission nebula!

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

IC1848 Soul nebula. Non traditional mapping of the narrowband colors to give some interesting contrast. Might go back to a traditional Hubble pallet but for now liking this. #astrophotography

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Mike Parker @mp63.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

IC2177 Seagull nebula. Shot this last February from my backyard. As part of the image you can see a runaway star creating a bow shockwave in the nebula as it plows through the gas. #astro

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