Have you captured the Andromeda Galaxy yet? 🤔 Here is a complete breakdown of how I took my best-ever photo of this spiral galaxy, including the location, gear used, and my image-processing steps. astrobackyard.com/best-androme...

The Andromeda Galaxy 💫 Last week, I captured the awe-inspiring galaxy M31 with my travel telescope under dark skies. At 2.5 million light-years away, Andromeda is the most distant object visible without a telescope. This is 7.5 hours of total exposure!

I drove 2 hours to capture Comet Lemmon under dark skies! It was worth it! #comet #cometlemmon

astrobackyard.com/telescope-au... Who knew that the easiest upgrade to my telescope would make the biggest difference? I see the light now! 😆 Installation notes, key automation improvements, and what a v-curve is actually showing:

The Wizard Nebula 📸 My latest picture from the backyard is the dynamic Wizard Nebula in Cepheus. This is definitely one of my favorite images to date! This project includes 18 hours of total exposure time using a reflector telescope with a large 8-inch aperture. #astrophotography

The Andromeda Galaxy 📸 This is how the Andromeda Galaxy looked 2.5 million years ago... I wonder what it looks like now? I took this image from our campsite in the Summer of 2022. My telescope tracked the galaxy for 2 nights straight, and I combined all of the images into this:

This is one of the easiest nebulae to see and photograph in the night sky. It can easily be seen with a modest telescope or even binoculars. My latest picture of the Dumbbell Nebula was taken using a Newtonian reflector telescope that pairs well with the cameras I use for astrophotography.

My latest video reviews the Apertura CarbonStar 200 Newtonian Reflector - an astrophotography-first telescope that delivers the goods! Watch: youtu.be/2VhBkrHeRVA

My latest picture of the California Nebula was taken using an ultra-portable camera and telescope setup. This emission nebula is rising higher and higher each night, in the constellation Perseus. Camera: bit.ly/4cqRi61 Telescope: bit.ly/4dIky9s Mount: bit.ly/4csp0bn Total Exposure: 9 Hours

The Veil Nebula Complex! 📸 This dynamic area of the night sky features an incredible collection of supernova remnants, including both portions of the Veil Nebula. August is the perfect month to start capturing the Veil Nebula, and it's an obtainable target, even from the city.

The Ring Nebula, now with Argon! Very excited about this one which incorporates data taken with a new [Ar III] filter available for the QHY miniCAM8M system. More details are available on my astrobin: app.astrobin.com/i/jk9lev #astrophotography #nebula

You'll find this gorgeous nebula glowing in the summer constellation Sagittarius; it's one of the brightest in the night sky. This is 2 hours total exposure under dark skies!

'The Wall' 📸 My latest image from the backyard is the magnificent 'Cygnus Wall', the brightest portion of the North America Nebula in Cygnus. This nebulous region is very bright, making it the perfect astrophotography target for telescopes (and camera lenses) of all sizes.

I captured the 'Lobster Claw Nebula' with my telescope in the backyard! This image includes exactly 8 hours of total exposure time.

Eagle Nebula 🦅 This is one of the most exciting astrophotography targets to photograph in the night sky. The Eagle Nebula resides near the core of our Milky Way, in the constellation Serpens. #astrophotography

The Southern Hemisphere Milky Way 📸

The Blue Horsehead Nebula in Scorpius 📸 My latest astrophotography image using a camera and telescope (3 hours total exposure)

The Elephant's Trunk Nebula! My latest project from the backyard 😊

Are you ready for Star Tracker season? 🤓 A handy reference for those headed to dark skies this summer! astrobackyard.com/star-tracker...

Here's a deep-space target in Cygnus that can easily get overlooked. This is Sharpless 119, an emission nebula that lies very close to the North America Nebula. I captured this image last week between the cloudy (and now, smoky) skies with my color camera and dual-narrowband filter.

The Pacman Nebula 📸

Will this be the Summer you capture Andromeda? 🤔 Talk about the ultimate astrophotography target. A massive, frame-filling spiral galaxy that forces you to rethink your existence.

The Lagoon Nebula 🔭

The Blue Horsehead is an exciting astrophotography target, and you can start viewing/capturing it right now! It lies near the top of the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex. 🎯 #astronomy #astrophotography

Nebulae in The Northern Cross 🌌 I took this picture using a camera and telescope to show the intense nebulae surrounding the bright star 'Sadr' at the center of the constellation Cygnus. #astrophotography

The Lion Nebula 📸 Here is a great astrophotography project to take on with a small refractor telescope this summer. I took this with the GT81 (bit.ly/3R7gacc) from the backyard in 2023. #astrophotography #nebula

The 'Eagle Nebula' captured through my telescope 🔭

Planning a dark sky astrophotography trip? 🤔Read this first! astrobackyard.com/best-spots-f... #astrophotography

The Crescent Nebula in Cygnus 📸

For anyone interested in photographing our home galaxy: astrobackyard.com/how-to-photo...

Here's a photo I took of the galactic core of our Milky Way Galaxy. 'Milky Way Season', as astrophotographers call it, is just around the corner!

The Veil Nebula 📷 This is a great deep-sky object to try this summer with your color camera and a dual-narrowband filter!

The Pinwheel Galaxy

The 'Dark Shark Nebula' in the constellation Cepheus

The Lagoon and Trifid! 📸 This is one of the most dynamic nebula pairings in the night sky, the brilliant Lagoon Nebula (M8) and Trifid Nebula (M20) in Sagittarius. I captured this image from a dark sky site back in 2023 using a small star tracker and compact refractor telescope. #astrophotography

Bode's Galaxy 📸 Right now is a perfect time to capture Bode's Galaxy (M81) in Ursa Major! It's a rewarding astrophotography project, no matter which telescope you use. A wider field of view will reveal the nearby "Cigar Galaxy." #astrophotography

Rho Ophiuchi If you wake up super early (or stay up very late), you can start photographing the beautiful Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex this month! This is an early spring/summer nebulous region in the Milky Way that pops up above the constellation Scorpius, with its bright red star Antares.

How many galaxies have you photographed? Every spring, I try to capture a new one for my collection - or at least improve on my latest version. These are some of my favorite deep-sky targets for April! Bonus points if you can name them all 🤓 #galaxy #astrophotography

The Askar SQA106 Video is DONE! Excited to watch it with you guys and chat!

I stayed up REALLY late (started shooting at 3:30am) to capture this dynamic nebula in Cygnus! This is just 30 x 5-minute images on the 'Sadr Region' It's crazy to think I started the night capturing objects near Orion, and ended with the Milky Way core stretched across the sky!

Here are some deep-sky objects you don't see very often! The main object is the 'Spider Nebula' (IC 417), a rich star-forming region in the constellation Auriga. Above that is the 'Fly Nebula' (NGC 1931), a reflection and emission nebula. One quick night of imaging during a break in the clouds!

This is a handy roadmap to follow if you want to take pictures like the ones I share! Lots of useful information and tips in this one: astrobackyard.com/budget-astro...

The PERFECT Target for Tonight! 🌌 March is a great month to capture the LEO TRIPLET! All three are large spiral galaxies but they look different because their galactic disks are tilted at different angles to our line of sight. The 3 galaxies are cataloged as NGC 3628, M65, and M66.

First Light with this beast! The sky was clear just long enough to grab 21 frames on the Rosette Nebula last night with the Askar SQA106. You can see the field of view through this refractor and the types of projects possible. Full Specs on the SQA106: bit.ly/41NoEci

I always get some funny comments about my thumbnails. For this one - folks are concerned about how angry I am at my telescope. That's my focused face. I just feel like a geek smiling in the thumbnails lol

The Monkey Head Nebula 📸 Last week, I set up a new budget-astro rig to capture one last nebula before galaxy season kicks in! The clouds held off long enough to collect 4 hours of total exposure time on NGC 2174 - an emission nebula on the border of Orion. #astrophotography

The Ghost Nebula 📸 I captured this image using a process called LRGB imaging, which uses a mono camera and color filters. This is a powerful technique on dim, dark nebulae like this one!

Saturn will be dangerously close to the sun - so maybe skip that one!

The Orion Nebula 📸

The Seagull Nebula 📸 Here is a wide-field astrophotography target that you can go after in March! This one is perfect for wide-field refractor telescopes in the 250-400mm range. #astrophotography