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We then process our LRGB data and create these beautiful images we love to share. There is a bit more work to go from stretched image to final completion - we'll talk more about this in the future.

Horsehead Nebula - LRGB Images fully calibrated and combined into a beautiful color image.

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A quick "stretch" and wow - things POP out at you! Here we're looking at a luminance frame for the Horsehead / Barnard's loop area.

When you stretch an integrated "Stack" of images, all that calibration work pays off and amazing details are surfaced!

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An unstretched calibrated exposure just shows a few bright objects. At least we don't see a ton of hot pixels like the dark frame and no big smudges where dust motes cause those "fingerprint" style circles. Some of this, we can't see until we "stretch" so let's stretch this image.

Unstretched Luminance Sub Exposure that has been calibrated - no hot pixels showing up here, but where is the DSO???

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Calibration uses special frames—darks, flats, and bias frames—to fix these issues. These act like a digital eraser, cleaning your images before you process them. Flat Frames will remove Vignetting Dark Frames remove "Dark Current" Bias Fames remove sensor Bias Flat frames are kind of cool.

The light "falloff" on edges as well as dust motes really show up when you take a "flat frame". This calibration frame helps equalize the light across the field of view and removes those dust mote circles so they don't show up in final image.

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SadrAstro Observatory @sadrastro.com · 11/01/2025

Without calibration, your stunning image might be obscured by: Hot pixels (bright specks from your camera sensor). Dust motes (dark spots from particles on your optics). Vignetting (uneven brightness across the image). On a large sensor with 10s of millions of pixels a dark frame looks like this:

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Processing some widefield data on Horsehead and Barnard's loop. I love zooming in to see the details really coming in well. #nebula #astrophotography #horsehead Working on getting the contrast/separation down and will share a final image shortly.

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SadrAstro Observatory @sadrastro.com · 09/01/2025

North America Nebula imaged in SHO with Antlia pro 3nm filters on a Red Cat 51 running at 250mm FL. I'll share a blog post tomorrow describing the region, imaging it, as well as providing access to download our SHO masters or raw data so YOU can try and process it! #astrophotography #nebula 🔭

Widefield SHO image of the North America / Pelican Nebula / Cygnus Wall.

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SadrAstro Observatory @sadrastro.com · 09/01/2025

Here we've added the Oii and Sii layers and applied Color. This color is RGB mapping of Sii, Ha and Oiii respectively. We'll work on accentuating some of the colors to bring out contrast and import a synthetic "luminance" extraction layer to try and get it to "pop"

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SadrAstro Observatory @sadrastro.com · 09/01/2025

A "Starless" view of the North America Nebula imaged with a hydrogen-alpha filter. This narrowband approach lets us see the intense glow of ionized hydrogen gas, a key component in star formation regions. Enjoy the details! #astrophotography 🔭

This is a monochromatic astronomical image of the North America Nebula (NGC 7000), obtained using a hydrogen-alpha narrowband filter representing the emission of hydrogen-alpha light. The image clearly outlines the nebula's namesake shape, closely resembling the continent of North America. The "western coast" of the nebula is particularly bright and well-defined, showcasing intense hydrogen emission. The "Gulf of Mexico" region is a distinct curved indentation, also exhibiting strong red coloration. Within the nebula, numerous bright knots and dark, wispy lanes create a complex and textured appearance. These dark lanes are likely dust clouds obscuring the light from behind. Faint, delicate filaments of glowing hydrogen extend outwards from the main body of the nebula, adding to its intricate structure. The surrounding background is dark, representing the emptiness of space, with a few faint background stars visible. The overall impression is a detailed and scientifically significant view of a region of intense star formation, highlighting the distribution of ionized hydrogen gas.

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SadrAstro Observatory @sadrastro.com · 03/01/2025

Doing a full integration of our Horsehead Nebula data. Going to need almost 275GB of storage space to process this! I've been in tech long enough when I remember data sets this large were once "BIGDATA" :D

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SadrAstro Observatory @sadrastro.com · 02/01/2025

Seagull Nebula is available to members. ~62GB of full frame mono 3nm SHO data! I Can't wait to see what people are able to process with this data set! Some Example SHO Subs below. 🔭

Oiii 3nm Seagull Nebula. Pretty faint but with hundreds to stack, there may be some more data here than meets the eye.

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SadrAstro Observatory @sadrastro.com · 02/01/2025

Did a mid-point integration of Horsehead + Barnard's loop and its looking great! This is the Red Channel from imaging LRGB. #astrophotography 🔭

Horsehead and Barnard's loop imaged with a RED filter. This will eventually be part of a full color LRGB image of the region.

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SadrAstro Observatory @sadrastro.com · 27/12/2024

Currently reading Glass Universe. Picked up a copy at one of my favorite used bookstores in Houston that has one of the best science sections i’ve ever seen - Kaboom books.

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SadrAstro Observatory @sadrastro.com · 26/12/2024

Sorry, autocorrect removed the important part it's the " you need. The shift is upper case so it would be " then a for lowercase umlaut a and then " shift A for uppercase umlaut A using the English (International) keyboard layout. It's a bit goofy to configure in windows 11

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SadrAstro Observatory @sadrastro.com · 24/12/2024

On December 24, 1968, the Apollo 8 astronauts became the first humans to orbit the moon and capture the famous Earthrise photograph. #onthisday

The historic Earthrise photograph taken by Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders on December 24, 1968, shows Earth appearing to rise over the Moon's gray, barren horizon. The half-Earth is a stunning blue and white marble suspended in the black void of space, with swirling white cloud patterns over blue oceans. The stark, monochromatic lunar surface appears in the foreground, creating a dramatic contrast with our vibrant planet. This was the first time humans witnessed and photographed Earth rising over another celestial body

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SadrAstro Observatory @sadrastro.com · 21/12/2024

Skies are clear, but that 66% Moon is BRIGHT BRIGHT BRIGHT. We've switched from imaging to running some calibration and equipment checks for the rest of the night. We expect once moon averages 50% or less our avoidance can work well enough to image in narrowband when moon is up and RGB when down.

Perimeter Camera from Observatory with moon just outside the field of view on left.

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SadrAstro Observatory @sadrastro.com · 21/12/2024

We have cool things like this to see in the sky and people are asking about drones???

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SadrAstro Observatory @sadrastro.com · 21/12/2024

We're working on a custom request from one of our users tonight - the Seagull nebula. This is a single 5-minute Ha exposure and it's looking great! #astrophotography 🔭Gathering 7 hours of data for each S,H,O Filter from our Bortle 1 skies.

The Seagull Nebula (IC 2177) appears as a cosmic bird in flight, formed by glowing clouds of hydrogen gas illuminated by hot, young stars. Its distinct shape features a 'head' and outstretched 'wings' in shades of red and pink, spanning approximately 100 light-years across. Located about 3,800 light years from Earth in the constellation Monoceros

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SadrAstro Observatory @sadrastro.com · 19/12/2024

We added some more integration time and removed the stars so we could zoom in and check on the data close up - it sure is full of texture! Almost like you could reach out and touch it! #nebula #astrophotography

Hydrogen Alpha master for Flaming Star Nebula with stars removed so we can focus our attention on the nebulas detail and background data.

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SadrAstro Observatory @sadrastro.com · 19/12/2024

Great looking Ha data from flaming star nebula. This should look great when we're done processing! This thing is HUGE -The main body of the nebula is about 20 light-years in diameter. The larger, more diffuse region surrounding the main nebula is approximately 37.5 light-years across.

Hydrogen Alpha data for the Flaming Star Nebula. Captured from SadrAstro Observatory using a 6200mm 61 megapixel mono camera. This image will be integrated with Sii and Oiii data to make an SHO image.

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SadrAstro Observatory @sadrastro.com · 17/12/2024

Feast your eyes on the Rho Ophiuchi complex as processed by one of our members whose processing ability is astounding to say the least. #astrophotography 🔭 As Carl Sagan once said, "We're all made of star stuff" and it brings great peace to think our origins are as beautiful as this. Amazing!

Behold the cosmic ballet of the Rho Ophiuchi nebula, captured in breathtaking RGB by SadrAstro Observatory and processed by one of our members! 🌌✨

The intricate details reveal nature's incredible complexity, showing how even the vast emptiness of space is alive with creation and wonder. Each pixel tells a story billions of years in the making.

Who else is in awe of the universe's raw beauty? 🚀📷 #Astronomy #Astrophotography #RhoOphiuchi

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SadrAstro Observatory @sadrastro.com · 10/12/2024

Can you DM/Chat me a screenshot? Inside Edge, there is an option to use Edge's VPN - Click on the ... menu and choose browser essentials and set VPN on and use it for this site and try and visit.

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HOO Color (RGB) of Abell 85 Supernova and surrounding nebulosity. This area is rich in Hydrogen (Red) & Oxygen 3 (Blue). With 14 hours of data on the OIII, we've been able to surface a neighboring OIII "shell" as well as an extended shell around the central object (very diffuse) #astrophotography 🔭

Abell 85 Supernova remnant (central object) imaged in what astrophotographers call the HOO palette where Ha is mapped to red and OIIII is mapped to blue/green (as these match those light waves in the RGB color spectrum). The dark clouds are non-emission nebula so they're cold and don't give off color. The red and blue clouds are emission nebula, and they have energy to give off light. We use narrowband filters to target these specific emissions to be able to build contrast and allow much longer exposures to gather detail.

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As we start to colorize the data (Red = Ha, Oiii = Blue) we can see other faint structures. I noticed that it seems like there is an even FAINTER OIII shell around #1 and I circled a faint OIII shell to the left around #2 - It may be hard to see on the app and with bsky compression.

#1 is Abell 85 and if you embiggen the image you can see a larger faint blue shell - but as i zoomed around, over on #2 i see an OIII shell that is super faint. I'll have to research the data and see if others are picking up this OIII data

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Zooming out on the HA master, you can see a lot of Ha gas in the surrounding area. As one star ends, many more will come in its place.

Widefield view of Abell 85 with stars removed to showcase the faint nebulosity and supernova remnant.

In comparison, you can see the Hydrogen Alpha (Ha) gas has more texture and resolution and is a lot more abundant in the nova and surrounding areas. #supernova #star #space

Abell 85 Supernova remnant - 3nm HA master (Hydrogen Alpha)

Here we zoom in on the super faint OIII gas shell of the supernova remnant. I've removed the stars to be able to focus on viewing the raw data. Looking great so far! OIII will be processed as Blue once we stack the mono frames together and assign OIII to the Blue and Green of the RGB color space.

Abell 85 OIII shell from supernova explosion

SadrAstro Observatory @sadrastro.com · 07/12/2024

"My god, it's full of stars" - There are just a few stars here 😀✨🔭 Processing our data from Abell 85 Supernova remnant. #astrophotography - we'll share an "HOO" processed color image of this very soon! Just wanted to share some master data early after seeing how rich this area is in stars!

Hydrogen Alpha master frame of Abell 85 supernova and surrounding area. LOOK AT ALL THOSE STARS

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Captured the beauty of SH2-126 in stunning LRGB! 🌌 This lesser-known nebula in Cygnus glows beautifully with subtle hydrogen emission and intricate dark dust lanes. A joy to image under clear, dark skies! #Astrophotography #LRGB #SH2126 - Difficult to process too ;) We'll keep working on it! 🔭

An LRGB image of SH2-126, a faint emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, also known as the Orion Arm of the Milky Way. The nebula, primarily composed of glowing hydrogen gas, appears as a soft red hue interwoven with intricate dark dust lanes that obscure background stars. Surrounding the nebula are countless stars, some with a golden or bluish tint, adding contrast and depth to the scene. This region is part of a dense molecular cloud complex and is illuminated by nearby young stars, which contribute to its faint glow. The image captures the subtle gradients and delicate structures of the nebula, revealing both its beauty and complexity in the context of the rich Cygnus star field

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Zoom in on the Rosette and the detail is amazing! #astrophotography - The 6200mm pro camera really shines here capturing such a wide field of view on such a small aperture scope.

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Here is a version with the stars removed so your eyes can focus on the faint nebulosity.

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Here is our image of the Rosette Nebula (NGC 2237) processed in SHO palette using PixInsight. This is around 7 hours for each Sii, Ha, OIII filter at the 3nm bandwidth. #astrophotography #space 🔭✨🖖 - Data is available to download today.

A detailed image of the Rosette Nebula (NGC 2237), a vibrant emission nebula located in the Monoceros region of the Milky Way galaxy. Captured using a monochrome camera with 3nm SHO filters, the image reveals intricate hydrogen-alpha, oxygen-III, and sulfur-II emissions, showcasing the nebula's complex structure and star-forming regions.

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Bluskyroast.com says this about me. 🤠

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May your skies be clear, may you enjoy still running, hiking, fishing, biking, spending time with friends and family and getting a full night's sleep and still enjoy the hobby of turning a stack of faint images into beautiful works of art! 🔭🌖🖖 (done)

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Instead of giving up, I went in even deeper. I invested in much more expensive gear. A dedicated imaging computer. A better focuser, a flip-flat to take flats. Moved up to an APO telescope and a better mount. My next pictures looked gorgeous. (7/)

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Sure, you could start anywhere I said. So, I bought a used scope, bought the adapters for my old DSLR, stayed up late and caught my first image. I was HOOKED. You can probably see my fingerprints and smudges on this frame from having to wrestle around all the gear in the dark. (5/)