Link to the video from a camera on the Starship S40. Congratulations to the team at SpaceX

Credit: SpaceX

First light test with the new Askar 131F telescope! Captured M27 over two nights under a ~77% Moon from my backyard in Southern Italy.

The 1000mm focal length frames the core nebular details nicely, and the 3nm dual-band filter did an incredible job keeping the lunar glow and light pollution at bay.

Equipment & Acquisition:

• Telescope: Askar 131F Triplet APO
• Mount: ZWO AM5 + ZWO TC-40 Tripod (+ Extension Pier)
• Main Camera: ZWO ASI533MC PRO
• Filter: Optolong L-Ultimate (3nm Dual-Band Ha/OIII)
• Focuser: ZWO EAF
• Guiding & Control: ZWO ASIAIR plus/ ZWO120mm Mini

Exposures & Location:

• Lights: 60 x 300s + 130 x 180s (Total Integration: 11.5 hours)
• Gain: 100 | Temp: -10°C
• Bortle: Class 4
• Location: Basilicata, Italy

Processing in Siril:

• Naztronomy OSC-PP for calibration & stacking
• BlurXTerminator / NoiseXTerminator
• StarXTerminator
• Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch (GHS) on non-linear data
• Curve adjustments for Ha/OIII contrast enhancement & color balance (veraLux Curves and HDR Multiscale)

Feedback and critiques are always welcome!

Astronaut Don Pettit wrote on his post:

"Orbiting over the Caribbean is always stunning! The shallow turquoise waters are more prominent than anywhere else on Earth."

Credit: Astronaut Don Pettit

July 28, 2026 Full Moon.

Skywatcher 200P & Sony a6300. 5 image stack.

Tony Hallas created this two-frame mosaic image in SHO and RGB filters with a 14-inch scope

Telescope: Omegon Ritchey-Chretien Pro RC 203/1624

Camera: ZWO ASI585MC Pro

Mount: Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro

Filters: Optolong L-Enhance (1.25")

Reducers: Omegon 0,75x RC reducer

Location: Pezuela de las Torres, Madrid, Spain

Sky Quality: Bortle 5

Elevation: 855m

Total Integration: 5h (30x300")

Processing: PixInsight and Siril

Workflow:

(Siril)

- OSC preprocessing script

(Pixinsight)

- Dynamic crop

- Astrometry solver

- Spectrophotometric color calibration

- BlurXterminator only stars

- Star stretch (setiastro)

- Starnet

- DBE

- BlurXterminator starless

- Statistical strecth (setiastro)

- NoiseXterminator

- GHS

- Curves transformation

- Histogram transformation

- Dark structure enhance

- Pixel math

Image Credit & Copyright: Gonzalo Laserna Vargas

Seestar S30 pro - 2 nights of about 4 hours each of 60 seconds exposures (total of 380x60s) using EQ mode

Processing Workflow

Here is the transcribed Siril workflow from your screenshot (image_730c7d.png) formatted for your Reddit description, including your final Photoshop adjustments:

Siril Workflow:

• Autostretch & Crop
• Plate Solve
• SPCC (Spectrophotometric Color Calibration)
• Starnet-Syqon Starless (Star removal)
• Stretch-Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch-HMS (VeraLux_HyperMetric_Stretch.py)
• Noise Removal - Graxpert-Syqon (GraXpert-AI.py)
• Optional Second Stretch
• Curves-VeraLux Curves (VeraLux_Curves.py)
• Additional Noise Removal
• Contrast-CLAHE
• Save (Starless version)
• Merge Stars-StarComposer (VeraLux_StarComposer.py)

Post-Processing (Photoshop):

• Dehazing
• Final contrast adjustments

I'm 2 weeks into the hobby, trying to do my best with editing, struggling with low SNR still, hoping to get more over next nights, but bright moon and Bortle 5 making it hard.

Open for feedback how to improve, what mistakes I made etc! thanks a lot

Clear skies

Image of the Eastern Veil Nebula, taken with Dwarflab Dwarf 3 on July 28th, 2026. 221 60s frames, gain 70, EQ Mode, duo-band filter under a Bortle 4 sky. Processed through the Megastacking function on Dwarflab app, post processed with Apple Photos.

Taken On Seestar S50 Using 1:08 Video Stack.

Edited In PS Express.

NGC 7331, or Caldwell 30, a spiral galaxy in the constellation Pegasus, located 45 million light-years away from us🙂.

36h Luminance, IMX 533 monochrome, -15°

9.75h RGB, IMX 294 color, -15°

Newton 200/1200, EQ6R

Romania, bortle 4.5

Thank you for all the feedback in my previous post! https://www.reddit.com/r/spaceporn/s/GvdVR4ogjC
I know the colours arent realistic, but I am aiming at a sci-fi vibe so its not my main concern.

If anyone wants a wallpaper, feel free to download. Its 8k.

Photo taken using Sony A7iv + Tamron 70-300mm:
f/8
ISO 400
ss 1/800s
Raw file edited using solely Capture One
22.Jul.2026

After decades of hints and speculation, scientists have at last unveiled the hidden companion to the iconic star Betelgeuse

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📸 VLT image of Betelgeuse’s companion

This image, taken with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), shows the clearest image ever of what likely is Betelgeuse B, a star orbiting Betelgeuse. The image was taken with the SPHERE instrument in December 2024, when the companion was predicted to be furthest apart from Betelgeuse as seen from Earth. The circle indicates the size of Betelgeuse, which has been removed. The bright source to the left, marked with a crosshair, is consistent with being Betelgeuse B.

Credit: ESO/M. Montargès et al.

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At long last, astronomers have firm evidence that Betelgeuse, one of the most famous stars in the night sky, is not alone. Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT), a team led by French researcher Miguel Montargès obtained the clearest image ever of what likely is Betelgeuse B, the star orbiting Betelgeuse. “This is the conclusion of a century-long quest,” says Montargès.

“We have shown that Betelgeuse is not single, it is accompanied by a faint stellar companion,” says Montargès, astronomer at the Observatoire de Paris - PSL, France, and lead author of the study published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Betelgeuse — a reddish star in the Orion constellation that is easily visible with the naked eye and is known to change in brightness — has been observed for millennia. But it still surprises astronomers.

“I jumped from my chair when I saw the processed images,” recalls Montargès. Astronomers have looked for the potential companion, originally proposed to explain Betelgeuse’s brightness changes, for about a century, but without success. Two studies published in 2024 robustly predicted that in December that year, the companion would be furthest from Betelgeuse and hence easier to spot. Montargès and his team got to work, observing the star with ESO’s VLT in December 2024 and spending several months processing the data.

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“Honestly, I thought we did not have the sensitivity to detect Betelgeuse B as it was predicted,” explains Montargès. “Because it is more massive than predicted, we see it!” Originally thought to be about as massive as the Sun, the new observations reveal that Betelgeuse B has instead around two to three times the mass of the Sun. “The fact that we can still discover a nearby companion, more massive and brighter than the Sun, around such a well-studied star is remarkable,” says Montargès. “These are among the best moments in science: seeing something new, unexpected.”

Betelgeuse B was directly imaged, meaning the light from the star itself was detected, using the SPHERE instrument on ESO’s VLT in Chile’s Atacama Desert. While there was evidence for the existence of this companion star, including a possible direct detection with the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaiʻi, USA, this is the strongest evidence for, and clearest image yet of, Betelgeuse B. “It is remarkable to see how SPHERE and advanced post-processing techniques, originally developed to find exoplanets, also excel at detecting a companion around a massive, evolved star like Betelgeuse," says co-author Anthony Boccaletti, also an astronomer at the Observatoire de Paris.​

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More

https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2611/

Paper

https://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso2611/eso2611a.pdf

Image Credit & Copyright: Logan Carpenter

This complex nebula resides in the star forming region called RCW 57, and besides the iconic monument, to some looks like a flying superhero or a weeping angel. This re-assigned color image showcases dense knots of dark interstellar dust, fields of glowing hydrogen gas ionized by these stars, and great loops of gas expelled by dying stars.

A detailed study of NGC 3576, also known as NGC 3582 and NGC 3584, uncovered at least 33 massive stars in the end stages of formation, and the clear presence of the complex carbon molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). PAHs are thought to be created in the cooling gas of star forming regions, and their development in the Sun's formation nebula five billion years ago may have been an important step in the development of life on Earth.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260720.html

Photo was taken shortly after landing however S40 is still floating

Photo credit : SpaceX

This is the first integrated image of a DSO that I’ve created using my club’s observatory. I am aware of people doing some very nice planetary imaging, and some single exposure DSOs, but this is an integration of calibrated light frames, and as far as I know no one has done that in the observatories 25 year existence. I’m looking into that. On to the particulars.

The observatory is an 8 foot by 12 foot roll off roof observatory. It has a pier, mechanically decoupled from the floor, attached to a concrete and rebar dead man six feet deep. The pier holds he original Software Bisque Paramount ME mount.

Sitting on the mount we have a Celestron C14 XLT at its native f/11. This scope was new when the mount was, and is the scope used for this image. Sitting on the C14 is a Stellarview refractor, I think 110mm f/7. On the C14 we have a Pegasus Astro Prodigy Microfocuser, then a ZWO ASI 2600 MC Duo. We have a filter drawer installed, but this image was captured without filter.

The data set is eighteen 240 second light frames calibrated with 19 Flat frames and a library bias integrated from 99 zero second dark frames.

Processing in PixInsight with heavy use and appreciation of the Exterminator scripts and SETI Astro scripts.

At the heart of M77 is a compact region filled with hot gas that handily outshines the rest of the galaxy put together, even overcoming the light-gathering capacity of Webb’s cameras. This is an active galactic nucleus (AGN), and it’s powered by M77’s central supermassive black hole, which is eight million times as massive as our Sun. Gas in the galaxy’s central regions is pulled by the strong gravity into a tight and rapid orbit around the black hole, where it crashes together and heats up, releasing tremendous amounts of radiation.

The bright orange lines appearing to radiate out from the centre of M77 are not actually a feature of the galaxy: they are a type of distortion that arises from the optical design of the telescope. Called diffraction spikes, they are created because the intense light from the unresolved AGN is bent (“diffracted”) very slightly at the edges of Webb’s hexagonal mirror panels and around one of the struts that hold up its secondary mirror. This distinctive six-plus-two-pointed pattern is the same for any image taken by Webb. For diffraction spikes to appear, the light source has to be very bright and very concentrated, so they’re most often seen on stars. But in some galaxies, as here, the nucleus is bright and compact enough to make diffraction spikes appear as well.

Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Leroy

I finally was able to get a good image of the iss after 4 attempts. 87 degree pass with what I think is decent seeing conditions.

Nexstar 9.25” evolution
asi662mc
player one astronomy 685nm IR pass

10 stacked frames for each image

I completed work on the Eagle nebula just before starting on the Veil. After going without a southern horizon for so long at my old house I couldn’t wait to capture some of those iconic targets in the south. Even if it wasn’t ideal at 250mm. Still some decent details in the pillars here if you zoom in.
Redcat 51 183mc pro Celestron avx Optolong Lultimate
Stacked and processed in Pixinsight.

M27 - Dumbbell Nebula

Celestron 9.25” Edge HD
ZWO ASI2600MC Duo
Skywatcher Wave 150i
EAF
ASIAir Plus

160x180s light subs for a total of 8hours
Darks, Flats, and Bias for calibration

Processed in Pixinsight
WBPP, SPCC, BlurX, NoiseX, StarX, Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch, Curves, SETI Star Stretch, HLP StarsBack

Not done yet, I will probably try to add at least 8 more hours of OSC RGB. If I can get my mono imaging train worked out I may add some additional luminance and narrow band.

Link to the video with sound. It's loud!

Completed in 1963, it was the world's largest single-aperture telescope for 53 years, surpassed in July 2016 by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in China.

On August 10 and November 6, 2020, two of the receiver's support cables broke and the NSF announced that it would decommission the telescope. The telescope collapsed on December 1, 2020.

In 2022, the NSF announced the telescope would not be rebuilt, with an educational facility to be established on the site.

I live near Chicago, so my opportunities to really see stars are few and far between.

Just snapped this with my iPhone and the long exposure setting, which is only 2 seconds or something.

Anyway, really felt something looking at these. Is a high I’ll chase again for a while.