#saltwaterwitch

[the0phrastus]

In the backyard with the Portable astro rig and the ZWO ASI585MC Air--first light with the North America Nebula. Setup and polar alignment was super fast. I was using the bluetooth connection to the AM3N mount, but switched to USB (short USB C to A cable from the back of the saddle to the 585MC Air). North America nebula (NGC 7000) is always a good bright test target for a new camera (when M42 or M31 aren't available). Clouds moved in around 2:30 in the morning and I ended up with 81 x 120-second clean subs, no calibration frames, no filters (other than the built-in UV/IR cut). So, this is pretty close to real color as captured by the camera, the stars and a nice mix of hydrogen-alpha and oxygen 3 (ionized oxygen). The "Cygnus Wall" is well-defined. I ran the ASI585MC at -10C with a gain of 250 at the low noise drop. #astrophotography #astronomy #night #space

[the0phrastus]

Here's my M51 processed image from last month, with other galaxies and interesting stuff in the frame. It's just wild how far away some of these objects are. There's the Whirlpool Galaxy itself, at 31 million lightyears away, and M51-ULS-1 is the first extragalactic exoplanet discovered. The two galaxies left of M51 are between 200 and 300 million lightyears. And that galaxy at the top of the image is almost 2 billion lightyears away. #astrophotography #astronomy #galaxy #lightyears

[the0phrastus]

Running a Dungeons & Dragons one-shot with Alice, rolling dice, killing revenants, eating chocolate. #dnd #dungeonsanddragons #ttrpg

[the0phrastus]

Fairly clear skies out there tonight. Here's a shot looking south through the transmission lines with the constellation Orion centered. This is a short exposure (6 seconds) with the Sony A7S and the Samyang 35mm at f/2.8. There are no streetlights on our street and we're in sort of basin, bortle 4. Pretty decent location for imaging the night sky. #Orion #GoArtemis #Artemis

[the0phrastus]

I finished this one up over the weekend. I've been drawing and painting more book art lately. I will post more soon! #art #bookart #astrophotography

[the0phrastus]

I started capturing imaging data for the Iris around 2 in the morning, and ended up with 61 good subs around 4:45am. The Iris Nebula (LBN 487, NGC 7023, Caldwell 4) is about 1300 lightyears away in the constellation Cepheus. Imaging notes: April 11, 2026 astro session in the backyard, CarbonStar 150 imaging Newtonian (600mm FL, f/4), ZWO ASI715MC camera (gain 0, 2x2 binning), ZWO AM5 EQ mount, 61 3-minute subs stacked in PixInsight 2x drizzle, 12 dark calibration frames. #astrophotography #astronomy #nebula #nightscape More here: https://ChrisHowardWriter.com

[the0phrastus]

One from last night's session, the "Hamburger Galaxy" (NGC 3628), a spiral galaxy, about 35 million lightyears away in the constellation Leo. We're seeing it edge-on from our perspective on our planet. Imaging notes: April 11, 2026 astro session in the backyard, CarbonStar 150 imaging Newtonian (600mm FL, f/4), ZWO ASI715MC camera (gain 0, 2x2 binning), ZWO AM5 EQ mount, 83 3-minute subs stacked in PixInsight 2x drizzle, 12 dark calibration frames. I think the combination of binning and drizzle makes this scope and camera combo work. #astrophotography #astronomy #galaxy #nightscape

[the0phrastus]

More backyard astro in galaxy season. This is M101 (NGC 5457), the "Pinwheel Galaxy" in the constellation Ursa Major (Big Dipper). It's over 21 million lightyears away from us. M101 is almost twice the size of our galaxy, the Milky Way, with over a trillion star systems. Imaging notes: This is from the April 8, 2026 astro session in my backyard, Apertura CarbonStar 150 imaging Newtonian (600mm FL, f/4), ZWO ASI715MC camera (gain 0), ZWO AM5 EQ mount, 160 2-minute subs stacked in PixInsight, no calibration frames. #astrophotography #astronomy #galaxy #nightscape