AP Pictures
This page will be regularly updated with pictures of my AP targets. I’ll also revisit some old targets and pictures as my skills in AP and post-processing increase.
Acquisition Date(s): 22-23 June 2025
Camera: ASI2600MC
Filters: Optolong L-Ultimate
Exposures: 33x600s (L-Ultimate)
Total Time: 5 hours and 30 minutes
Processing: PixInsight
NGC 6888 - Crescent Nebula. Shot with Ha/OIII and SII/OIII narrowband filters.
Acquisition Date(s): 12-15 July 2025
Camera: ASI2600MC
Filters: Optolong L-Ultimate and Altair Astro SII/OIII 3nm
Exposures: 59x600s (L-Ultimate) and 25x600s (Altair)
Total Time: 14 hours
Processing: PixInsight
Acquisition Date(s): 8-10 July 2025
Camera: ASI2600MC
Filters: Optolong L-Ultimate and Altair Astro SII/OIII 3nm
Exposures: 55x300s (L-Ultimate) and 39x300s (Altair)
Total Time: 7 hours and 50 minutes
Processing: PixInsight
IC 1396 - Elephant’s Trunk Nebula. Shot with Ha/OIII and SII/OIII narrowband filters.
Acquisition Date(s): 28 June - 06 July 2025
Camera: ASI2600MC
Filters: Optolong L-Ultimate and Altair Astro SII/OIII 3nm
Exposures: 27x600s and 151x300s (L-Ultimate) and 42x600s (Altair)
Total Time: 24 hours and 5 minutes
Processing: PixInsight
Acquisition Date(s): 22 June 2025
Camera: ASI2600MC
Filters: Optolong L-Ultimate
Exposures: 27x300s (L-Ultimate)
Total Time: 2 hours and 15 minutes
Processing: PixInsight
NGC 6960 - Western Veil Nebula. Revisited. Used HDR in PixInsight to combine multiple different exposure times and tried for better colors.
Acquisition Date(s): 19-22 June 2025
Camera: ASI2600MC
Filters: Optolong L-Ultimate
Exposures: 250x60s 40x180s 27x300s (L-Ultimate)
Total Time: 8 hours and 15 minutes
Processing: PixInsight
NGC 6992 - Eastern Veil Nebula. First shots with the upgraded setup and using the OSC. Experimenting with the "Live" stacking in the ASIAIR without any calibration frames (lessons learned). Just super excited to use the OSC.
Acquisition Date(s): 16 June 2025
Camera: ASI2600MC
Filters: Optolong L-Ultimate
Exposures: 10x30s (L-Ultimate)
Total Time: 5 minutes
Processing: ASIAir Live
M8 and M20 - Lagoon and Trifid Nebulas. More "Live" stacking in the ASIAIR without any calibration frames.
Acquisition Date(s): 16 June 2025
Camera: ASI2600MC
Filters: Optolong L-Ultimate
Exposures: 10x30s (L-Ultimate)
Total Time: 5 minutes
Processing: ASIAir Live
M17 - Omega Nebula. Same as before... experimenting with the "Live" stacking in the ASIAIR without any calibration frames.
Acquisition Date(s): 16 June 2025
Camera: ASI2600MC
Filters: Optolong L-Ultimate
Exposures: 10x30s (L-Ultimate)
Total Time: 5 minutes
Processing: ASIAir Live
M27 - Dumbbell Nebula. "Live" stacking in the ASIAIR WITH calibration frames. Looks a little better.
Acquisition Date(s): 16 June 2025
Camera: ASI2600MC
Filters: Optolong L-Ultimate
Exposures: 10x300s (L-Ultimate)
Total Time: 50 minutes
Processing: ASIAir Live
M101 - Pinwheel galaxy. Very rough post and a frustrating learning experience using Siril.
Acquisition Date(s): 13 June 2025
Camera: ASI1600MM
Filters: ZWO Red, Green, Blue, Luminescence
Exposures: 31x300s (Red), 30x300s (Green), 22x300s (Blue), and 46x300s (Luminescence)
Total Time: 10 hours and 45 minutes
Processing: ASIStudio and Siril
NGC 7000 - North America Nebula. Definitely an improvement over my first photos. I was still struggling with Siril and couldn't assign colors to the narrowband filters.
Acquisition Date(s): 09 June 2025
Camera: ASI1600MM
Filters: ZWO Ha, SII, OIII
Exposures: 30x180s (Ha), 30x180s (SII), and 25x180s (OIII)
Total Time: 4 hours and 15 minutes
Processing: ASIStudio and Siril
NGC 7000 - North America Nebula. Revisited with PixInsight. The workflow I followed had issues with the SII bands so the reds did not come through. I’ll give it another shot in the future. Interesting to see the bad halos from the ZWO 1.25” OIII filter. I’ll need to get a set of Chroma 3nm when I switch back to mono!
Acquisition Date(s): 09 June 2025
Camera: ASI1600MM
Filters: ZWO Ha, SII, OIII
Exposures: 30x180s (Ha), 30x180s (SII), and 25x180s (OIII)
Total Time: 4 hours and 15 minutes
Processing: PixInsight
M92 - Globular cluster in the Hercules constellation. Second target with the AP setup. Definitely a better visual target with the dob and the Morpheus 12mm/9mm.
Acquisition Date(s): 02 June 2025
Camera: ASI1600MM
Filters: ZWO Red, Green, Blue, Luminescence
Exposures: 4x300s (Red), 4x300s (Green), 4x300s (Blue), and 4x300s (Luminescence)
Total Time: 1 hour and 20 minutes
Processing: ASIStudio and Siril
M81, M82, NGC 3077 - Bode's and Cigar galaxies. First light with the brand new AP setup. Great visual targets with the dob, but I was never able to resolve NGC3077 with my light polluted skies and eyepieces.
Acquisition Date(s): 01 June 2025
Camera: ASI1600MM
Filters: ZWO Luminescence
Exposures: Unknown
Total Time: Unknown
Processing: ASIStudio and Siril
My first ever “astrophotography” shot from my backyard capturing the galactic core. Way over saturated, but it looked great in person from my Bortle 5-6 backyard with little light pollution. I was even able to capture a little Messier object at center right. iPhone 15 Max Pro
Backyard galactic core. iPhone 15 Max Pro
Backyard pano. iPhone 15 Max Pro
2025 solar eclipse in totality. iPhone 15 Pro Max
2024 aurora borealis at 41 degrees lat. iPhone 15 Pro Max
2024 aurora borealis at 41 degrees lat. iPhone 15 Pro Max
2024 aurora borealis at 41 degrees lat. iPhone 15 Pro Max
2024 aurora borealis at 41 degrees lat. iPhone 15 Pro Max