Sergey S. @sergey@social.ssbx.dev

Life is a long educational journey, there is always to learn something if you are interested of course. I recently got L-Enhance filter for my #astrophotography hobby, so learning to use it. Unfortunately we have not had much clear skies time, when it looked like a clear you can see haze in pictures. Here is image of a target I started my journey with it's North America and Pelican nebulas, shot with Cannon T3i, 135mm, F/2.8, ISO 1600, L-Enhance filter from B7-8 sky, about 2 hours. #astropic

We finally got some clear skies, but it was 47% of the moon and my favorite part of the sky still low for B7-8 skies and regular DSLR with no filters or mods. This is quick and dirty processing of just an hour of total integration time. IC1318 in constellation Cygnus aka Gamma Gygni Nebula sometimes called Buttefly Nebula. Canon T3i, 135mm f/2.8, ISO 100 with 69 minutes of total integration time. Not APOD worthy, but I can clearly see improvements I made after starting last August. #astropic

Learning is always good. There was a day with clear skies, so I've decided to take a shot of a new object on my astrophotography journey. it's IC4592 aka Blue Horse Head Nebula. However I have not done enough research about the fact how dim it is, and that I should not be shooting it from Bortle 8 sky, I've learned that afterwards after spending time to process it. Also my roof was in the way, I had to delete some shots. Shot with Canon T3i, 135mm F/2.8 lens, ISO 100 1 hour total int. #astropic

@sergey Of course I can't resist and not to take some astropics, since sky was clear. Here are few composite shots, MilkyWay rising from behind the house and mountains under the stars. I still have lot's to learn on how to process those. #astropic

@sergey Second stop was Flagstaff, AZ. Central spot to lot’s of places we’ve visited. It was a great house in a neighborhood that’s trying to be a pine forest. Sky was amazing, but only thing I can do is startrails. #astropic

Quick and lazy run down on M101, just because of all of these clouds I could not shoot anything in April, unfortunately it was 80% of the moon, not a good thing to do in a very light polluted place. But I wanted to test my new tactics so bad that I decided to do it anyway against all the odds. Here is what I've got The Pinwheel Galaxy aka M101 shot with Cannon T3i, with 135mm lens at F/2.8 and ISO 100. 1 hour of total integration time #astropic

It's galaxy season, so I had to do a shot of bunch of galaxies. M87 aka Virgo Galaxy with surrounded galaxies, there are a lot of them in this shot, so I won't name each one. Shot with Canon EOS T3i, 135mm lens at F/4 and ISO 800, total integration time around 1 hour and 20 min. #astropic

Finally clear night in a while, didn't waste a moment. Technically I wasted some time trying to get it into a frame, but it's a different story. Anyway here is M81 Bode's Galaxy, M82 Cigar Galaxy, Garland Galaxy and NGC 2976. Just one hour of integration with a really quick stacking. M81 and M82 shot with Canon T3i, 135mm at F/4 and ISO 800. Total integration time bit less than an hour. #astropic

Earlier this month we had a moment when cloud went away and you can see Jupiter and Venus really close together. Unfortunately I didn't have time to setup my gear as it was a very short lived event, so I took a photo with my phone. #astropic

I managed to shoot 2 targets(actually way more than 2) last night, problem is that not the one I planned. Here are M44 aka Beehive Cluster on one image and M46 and M47 along with Collinder 155 and Collinder 156 on another. Shot with Canon EOS T3i, 135mm lens at F/4 and ISO 800. Total integration for M44 is about 40 min, M47 is about 10 min. #astropic

There was glimpse of clear sky yesterday and I've decided to spend some time, taking 3 subjects in one shot: Monkey Head Nebula (NGC 2174), Jelly Fish Nebula (IC 443) and M35 star cluster from my Bortle 8. They form a triangle on this picture. This is first rough draft shot with Canon T3i, 135mm, 50 min total integration. #astropic

It's been a n interesting challenge to hunt C/2023 E3 ZTF comet, especially with the weather here lately. This was my first attempt to shoot and process comet and to make matters worse it was quite rainy on days when it was closest. First day I miscalculated position completely and missed it, second day I was closer catching it on the edge on my frame, third day was a charm perfectly centered as it was aligned with Capella. Shot with Canon EOS T3i, 135mm, F4 , 83min(int. time). #astropic

Once icemagedon was over and sky became clear I've been chasing Green Comet aka C/2022 E3 ZTF with 135mm lens, using charts assuming where it can be. On a second night I was able to get it on the edge of the frame of just 10 lights x 20sec sub-exposures, before clouds rolled in. It suppose to become clear tomorrow, I'll continue that quest hoping to get more as it comes close(visually) to star called Capella. #astropic

I thought to myself what if I try to reprocess data that I took during my first attempt. Here is what I've got. Same 5 lights that I took 6 month ago, same tools for processing, but 6 month later I actually knew what I was doing. Bottom line I missed MilkyWay core, only got a bit on the bottom left side on my picture. #astropic

Here is my most recent attempt to capture M42. I could say that I am finally happy with this image, of course it was taken under Bortle 8 sky, that's the limitation. M42 shot with Canon EOS T3i, 135mm, F4, ISO 800, 20sec sub-exposures with total integration time 77min. #astropic

Decided to take couple short of M42 last night after my attempt to shoot M33 ended abruptly due to a roof top entering picture. So difference is really stark this is just 5 min of integration and you already see many details. So I am going to return back to my favorite target Orion for next session as it high enough and nicely located in my heavy light polluted area. M42 shot using Canon EOS T3i, 135mm, F4, ISO 800. #astropic

I've tried shooting out M33 last night, and understood how faint it is. Everything worked against was shooting towards light polluted area, it was not too high above horizon and half way towards my session I tumbled upon rooftop of my house. So here what I got with 20-ish min of total integration time, not much(small smudge towards middle). M33 shot using Canon EOS T3i, 135mm, F4, ISO 800. #astropic

Caph - lone star. I was going to shoot NGC 7822 but missed big time and as a result the only object worth noting is star Caph 54.7 light years away. #astropic

What would you shoot with your camera on Christmas Eve ... right, Christmas Tree ... start cluster. I even got a proof of Santa Clause for my kiddos, as he flew by our house with Rudolph Red Nose leading the pack(this shot was removed from final stack, though). But bottom line I should have done my research and understand that it was not a good target for my setup. So here you go that smudge in the middle is a Christmas Tree cluster. Shot with Canon T3i, 135mm, F3.5, ISO 800, 89min #astropic

Shot accidental target last night, I was going after Christmas Tree and missed it, however Rosette Nebula was in the frame at the very bottom, but still, so I cropped it. So it's only 1/5 of the whole frame that I salvaged from about of 2 hours of integration.Rosette Nebula, shot with Canon EOS T3i, 135mm lens F2.8, ISO 800. #astropic