See also: The publication in ArXiV.

Here's the Messier Catalog I completed in 2024

This poster presents all 110 Messier objects for a total of 178 hours of total integration, with an average of 2h15 / target.

I've also created an interactive PDF version of this poster with pop-up descriptions of each object as you mouse-over the images: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GSopNt4JMNElVlxXRyDobjgOU0Ze1Q0V/view?usp=sharing

All images have been captured with the following equipment:
Mount: IOptron SkyGuider Pro
Camera: Nikon D5300 astromod
OTA: William Optics Zenithstar 61II + Field Flattener FLAT61A
Focal/Aperture: 360 mm @ f/5.9
Guide scope: William Optics Uniguide 32mm
Guide camera: ZWO ASI120MM mini + ASIair Pro

All images have been stacked and processed in PixInsight. The Poster was done in LibreOffice Impress.

Wings of the Dumbell nebula is a very dimm structure compared to bright core, that I almost overexposed by pushing the gain up to 150

Telescope: Dwarf 3;

Exposure: 5 hours;

Subs: 60s 150gain;

Duo band filter;

Processed in Siril;

Bortle 5;

Compressed for reddit

Here are two posters I created to show the relative apparent size of famous DSOs

All images in the two posters have been captured using the following setup:
Mount: IOptron SkyGuider Pro
Camera: Nikon D5300 astromod
OTA: William Optics Zenithstar 61II + Field Flattener FLAT61A
Focal/Aperture: 360 mm @ f/5.9
Guide scope: William Optics Uniguide 32mm
Guide camera: ZWO ASI120MM mini + ASIair Pro

All images have been calibrated, stacked, and processed in PixInsight. Blending of all the images and posters creation done in GIMP.

Some places are worth visiting even at night. I photographed this one in nearby open air archaeological museum. Hope you'll agree.

Shot on Sony a7RV, Viltrox 27mm f1.2 Pro and with help of Syrp Genie Mini II pan&tilt kit. Edited in PTGui, Siril, PS and LR. Exposure info - 20 frame panorama, each at 10s, f1.2 and ISO 1600.

9.2 hours total integration on the Elephant Trunk Nebula Imaged 14 & 19 April, 2026 in Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire, UK

High resolution image and full integration details on Astrobin.

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My latest image of the Cocoon Nebula, IC 5146, surrounded by the huge amount of dark interstellar dust running through this part of Cygnus.

I wanted to capture more than just the bright Cocoon itself, so the processing was aimed at bringing out the much fainter dusty structure and dark nebula surrounding it while still retaining the dense background star field.

**Equipment**

• Askar 107PHQ + 0.7× reducer (~524mm, f/4.9)

• ZWO ASI2600 Duo

• Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro

• Optolong L-eNhance

• UV/IR-cut filter

• PHD2 guiding

**Light frames**

• UV/IR: 29 × 120s = 58 minutes

• L-eNhance: 46 × 240s = 3h 04m

• Total light integration: **4h 02m**

**Calibration**

• 30 × 120s darks for the UV/IR data

• 30 × 240s darks for the L-eNhance data

• 50 flats per filter

• 50 dark-flats per filter

The UV/IR and L-eNhance data were calibrated and stacked separately. The broadband UV/IR data provided most of the natural star field and faint dusty structure, while the L-eNhance data was used to strengthen the Hα/OIII emission from the Cocoon.

Processing involved gradient/background correction, noise reduction, separate star and starless processing, stretching and then combining the two filter datasets. A fair bit of care was needed with the stretch because pushing the background too far very quickly makes the faint dust overly contrasty.

The part I particularly like is the dark nebula itself. The Cocoon is obviously the bright centrepiece, but once the surrounding dust starts appearing you realise just how much structure there is across the entire field.

**IC 5146 – Cocoon Nebula, Cygnus**

**Total integration: 4h 02m**

Dumbbell nebula :)

Spent quite some time on it, collecting hydrogen alpha when the moon was not allowing for anything else

36.5 hours Halpha, 3nm Antlia filter

19 hours OIII, 12nm Astronomik filter

Romania, Bortle 4.5

Processed in Pixinsight, Seti Astro suite, GraXpert, Photoshop.

IMX 533 mono, -15°

Newton 200/1200

EQ6R