Will "For a Few Photons More" Glass, using his compact AM3 mount, autoguiding his for his ASI 662 camera on compact Askar refractor, and the latest software. Got some incredible images using much time outside of class to get the needed hours for faint interstellar nebulae.

Bernard, using our Askar refractor he'd set on our GM8 mount, along with his own rig to the right. Gun slinging with both barrels!

I had to on-the-spot do some carpentry on spare wood to be able to mount the Askar's dovetail to our old GM8 mount, but it worked!

I have to give great credit to Bernard, who took on the task of helping us make best use of our available gear and teaching me how to use our new Askar refractor with software NINA. In November, upon my sharing the discovery of the binary asteroid Martschmidt, he took on the task (un-asked) of using his own gear getting dozens of hours of photometry on the asteroid itself, to help understand the nature of this newly interesting object.

Next trouble was the Losmandy GM8 computer, which had a a power glitch. Sandy and Bernard got out the VOM meter and soldering iron and diagnosed the failing, and got it working again.

Another night, as fog rolled in too late to justify retreat from the Observatory to the classroom, we tried out laptop software here in the Warm Room.

Alondra...

diligently doing homework under the 8SE tripod

Under night vision friendly red light as Alondra shepherds images as they came in from the Dome Room next door. Images of Comet A3-T-ATLAS.

Subject: Comet Atlas or Tsuchinshan-ATLAS. (Alondra Rivera-Munoz)

CCDops: Utility, Dark subtract from 3 photos at a temperature of 25, Flat for cometAtlasNOV6-1 / 2 / 3 was taken nov. 3, All were then single color shot, Turned into .tif files, Registax: Stacked, Aligned, Processed by the “Do All” button, Photoshop: Turned into 8-bit, Image adjustments (curve), Space noise reduction action done 3 times, Lots of bandage command, Green saturation and hue turned to -100, Magenta saturation turned to -100, Filter: Sharpen (Unsharp mask with 60% 1.0 radius and Threshold 0), Deep space noise reduction, Increase star color action, Stamp hot spots, Filter: noise (Despeckle), Make stars smaller done 6 times, Image adjustments (curve), Filter: sharpen (Sharpen), Night conditions: Clear night, Chip temp was at 25 degrees, At the time of this picture (November 6) the comet was heading back to the outer Solar system and disappearing from view, Small amount of moon, Taken on the domed 12” CCD telescope, Exposure of 300”, Location to find on telescope at that time was 18h 22m 0s with a +3 53 31 and 3.8 dilation

Subject: M33 or Triangulum Galaxy. (Alondra Rivera- Munoz)

CCDops: Utility, Dark subtract at temperature 20 for all 3 photos, Flat for M33-1 was taken oct. 5, Flat for M33-2 was taken oct. 2, Flat for M33-3 was taken oct. 3, All were colored, Saved as .tif file, RegiStax: All 3 are then stacked, aligned, and processed with “Do All” , Photoshop: Turned into 8-bit, Image adjustments (curve), Space noise reduction action, Make stars smaller action done twice, Green saturation turned to -100, Filter: Sharpen (sharpen), Increase star color action, Magenta saturation +18, Space noise reduction action, Filter: Noise (Despeckle), Night conditions: Dark night, No moon, 2.723 million light years away, Taken on the domed 12" CCD telescope, Chip temp. at 20 degrees, Exposure length of 300"

 M31 or Andromeda Galaxy. (Alondra Rivera-Munoz)

CCDops: Utility, Dark subtract at temperature 20 for all 3 photos, Flat for M31-1 was taken oct. 5, Flat for M31-2 was taken oct. 3, Flat for M31-3 was taken oct. 7, All single shot colored, All saved as .tif file, Registax: All 3 stacked, Aligned, Processed with “do all” button, Photoshop: Turned into 8 bit, Local contrast enhance action, Increase star color action , Spaces noise reduction action, Blue saturation/hue +44, Green saturation/hue -100, Bandage command repeated 15 times to rid of hot spots, Increased image color 2 times, Blue hue turned to -17 and saturation to +100, Make stars smaller action, Filter: Sharpen (sharpen) done 3 times, Filter: noise (Despeckle), Heal / Bandage done 2 more times, Night conditions: Dark and kind of foggy, Full moon, Target 2.537 million light years away, Taken on the domed 12” CCD telescope, Chip temp at 20 degrees, 300” exposure 

(RN: good exposure; I did curve it upwards and did a contrast enhance for the gallery here)

Clouds over Cabrillo Observatory (Alondra Rivera-Munoz) :

Nikon D7000, Clear night, Still bright out, No moon, F/5.6, ISO: 400, Zoom 300, 4” exposure , On tripod, Photoshop: Clone stamp to remove object in bottom left corner, Crop photo to eliminate space and apply to the “Rule of Thirds”, Unsharp mask at 50% 1.0 radius and 0 Threshold , Increase star color action, Blue saturation +55, Another unsharp mask at 106% 1.0 Radius and Threshold 0, Space noice reduction action, Image adjustments (curve), Enhance local contrast action, Space noice reduction action 

Subject: Heart Nebula. (Alondra Rivera-Munoz)

CCDops: Utility, Dark subtract from both photos at a temperature of 25, Flat for Heart-1 was taken nov.1, Flat for Heart-2 was taken nov.2, Both were single shot colored, Saved as .tif files, Registax: Both stacked together, Aligned , Processed with the “Do All” command, Photoshop: Turn into 8-bit, Make green saturation turned-100, Space noise reduction action done twice, Local contrast enhance action, Deep space noise action done twice, Image adjustment (curve), Space noise reduction action, Filter: sharpen (sharpen), Filter: Noise (Medium), Make stars smaller action done twice, Stamp command to rid of imperfections, Increased star color action, Night conditions: Not a lot of time left, Telescope was glitching out and only got 2 photos, Target 7,500 light years away, Taken on the domed 12” CCD telescope , Exposure length of 300”, Chip temperature at 25 degrees  

(RN: this was a very faint and difficult object for our 12" scope. I did a lot of pulling up from sky, from the submitted image; noise suppression, curving, star size reductions to make it better for the gallery here).

Ava Kieffer, North American Nebula (NGC 7000),

2,202 light years away. 12’’ Meade LX200, SBIG ST2000xcm, 6x5min exposure, f/10, November 13, 2024, moon in the sky, cabrillo observatory Dome CCDOPS: Version 5.52 Dark subtract -26C, Flat Field, color process SRGB+gamma, Registax: Version 5.1.9.2, stack 5 frames Photoshop: Version 7.0, green saturation -100, local contrast enhance, stars smaller x3, despeckle, space noise reduction, curves, positioning was rushed so the galaxy is not centered

Ava Kieffer, Ring Nebula (M57),

2,283 light years away. 12’’ Meade LX200, SBIG ST2000xcm, 3x5min exposure, f/10, November 13, 2024, moon in the sky, cabrillo observatory Dome CCDOPS: Version 5.52 Dark subtract -26C, Flat Field, color process SRGB+gamma, Registax: Version 5.1.9.2, stack 3 frames Photoshop: Version 7.0, green saturation -100, local contrast enhancement, curve, median

Ava Kieffer, Tsuchinchan-ATLAS Comet (C/2023 A3).

Nikon D7000 SLR, 10 sec, f5.6 aperture, 6400 ISO, 300 zoom, October 16, 2024, moon in the sky, off Empire Grade near UCSC arboretum. Registax: Version 5.1.9.2, stack 3 frames Photoshop: Version 7.0, green saturation -100, levels, sharpen, healing mask, unsharp mask, make stars smaller crop and size for print and gallery

Ava Kieffer, The Pleiades (M45),

444.2 light years away. 12’’ Meade LX200, SBIG ST2000xcm, 5x5min exposure, f/10, November 13, 2024, moon in the sky cabrillo, observatory Dome CCDOPS: Version 5.52 Dark subtract -26C, Flat Field, color process SRGB+gamma, Registax: Version 5.1.9.2, stack 5 frames Photoshop: Version 7.0, green saturation -100, increase star color, despeckle, local contrast enhancement, space noise reduction, sharpen, filter median

Ava Kieffer, Flaming Star Nebula (IC405),

1,500 light years away. 12’’ Meade LX200, SBIG ST2000xcm, 3x5min exposure November 13, 2024, moon in the sky cabrillo, observatory Dome CCDOPS: Version 5.52 Dark subtract -25C, Flat Field, color process SRGB+gamma, Registax: Version 5.1.9.2, stack 3 frames Photshop: Version 7.0, green saturation -100, healing brush (remove bad pixels), levels, brightness/contrast, despeckle, local contrast enhancement

William Glass
Helix Nebula
Sep 7, 2024 UCSC

ASI 183MM + Filter Wheel
Williams Optics Z61 with .8x field flattner focal reducer 45 mins Calibrated with Dark and flat frames. Mostly Clear, mostly moonless night. Avg temp was in 60s overnight, camera temperature maintained at 0c. Processed and calibrated in Pixinsight using WBPP. Once images stacked as individual monochrome channels added together using the Hubble color palette, RGB are respectively Ha, OIII, OIII. Noise reduction using noiseX and detail refinement with blurX in Pixinsight. Luminous mask used to adjust curves for nebulosity and background separately. Apply final stretch and export as TIFF, final polishing in Affinity photo.

William Glass
Jupiter
Nov 27, 2024

Shot with; ASI 662 MC
Orion Newtonian 8” reflector.
Clear moonless night. From Greely, CO. Air temperature was 26F during the image capture. Video recorded for 5.5 mins and then stacked with a 20% acceptance rate using ASI studio planetary stack. Image exported and sent to affinity photo to add contrast and adjust brightness.

William Glass
Comet A3-ATLAS
October 18 2024 Cabrillo College

ASI 183MM + Filter Wheel
Williams Optics Z61 with .8x field flattner focal reducer
15 Min. Calibrated with Dark and Flat frames. Clear night, Waning moon lower on horizon. Temp was 50 avg, camera temp maintained at 0C. Processed and calibrated in pixinsight using WBPP. Images stacked together as individual monochrome images, added together as RGB from RGB filters in filter wheel. Noise reduction using noiseX and detail refinement with blurX in Pixinsight. Luminous mask used to adjust curves for nebulosity and background separately. Apply final stretch and export as TIFF, final polishing in Affinity photo.

RN: See the faint anti-tail projecting down/right from the comet's head? It was only briefly visible this night as the Earth passed through the orbital plane of the comet.

William Glass
M1 Crab Nebula

Nov 27 2024 Greely, Colorado
ASI 662 MC
20 mins. Orion Newtonian 8” reflector. Calibrated with dark frames. Clear moonless night. Shot in Greely, Colorado. Air temperature was 26f during the image capture. Image was calibrated and stacked in Pixinsight. Blur X and NoiseX used to help details then final luminous mask applied with curves to help edit the photo further. Final stack exported and sent to affinity photo for final adjustments.

Will Glass
PacMan Nebula

Sep 27 2024 Bonny Doon ECO Preserve
ASI 183MM + Filter Wheel
Williams Optics Z61 with .8x field flattner focal reducer
45 min
Calibrated with Dark and Flat frames.
Clear Moonless night. Avg temp was 55 overnight, camera temped maintained at 0c.
Processed and calibrated in pixinsight using WBPP. Once images stacked as individual monochrome channels added together using the Hubble color palette, RGB are respectively Ha, Oiii, Sii. Noise reduction using noiseX and detail refinement with blurX in Pixinsight. Luminous mask used to adjust curves for nebulosity and background separately. Apply final stretch and export as TIFF, final polishing in Affinity photo.

Bernard Huynh
NGC 2261 - Hubble’s Variable Nebula

Gear: Touptek ATR2600M, Celestron C8, EQ6r, SVBony L Filter 28x300s. 2 Hours of data taken over two nights. Both nights were nice - no dew. Camera was
cooled to -20c and controlled via NINA. Seeing was quite good. Each image was
registered in Deep sky stacker. Flats and darks were used - DSS does everything at
once. Image was then moved into Siril. I did an artificial background extraction.Moved into GIMP - stretched.Data is left monochrome as it is intended for use with the Big Amateur Telescope
Collaboration timelapse. The timelapse is on its third year.

Bernard Huynh
NGC 7000 - North American Nebula

ASI1600MM Pro, Askar FMA300, Orion Sirius EQ-G, ZWO SII, Ha, OIII 7nm FWHM filters
4x300s SII
5x300s Ha
4x300s OIII
Last minute target, only 20 minutes per Channel. The night was quite dewy but there
was no dew on the optics. Camera was cooled to -20c and controlled via NINA. Seeing
was quite good. Each image was registered in Deep sky stacker. Then an alignment
frame was chosen and each filter was stacked separately. Flats and darks were used
- DSS does everything at once. Images were moved into Siril. Each channel was
combined to their real color in Siril. Background was leveled. Image was moved into
graxpert for noise reduction. Final Stretch and color correction done in Gimp. Shot
in front of the Cabrillo observatory.

Bernard Huynh
Comet Tushanishan Atlas

Gear:Nikon z50, Nikon 250-50mm z lens1x6s
Single 6s shot. Very little processing done. Image taken directly into gimp and
processed slightly brighter. thats it. It is pretty raw

Bernard Huynh
IC 63 - Ghost of Cassiopeia

Gear: ASI533MC Pro, Orion ED80, Orion Sirius EQ-G, SVBony UV/IR Cut Filter.
22x300s. Almost 2 hours of total data. Night was dewy and dew formed about 2 hours after I
started imaging. Had to toss out dew'd data later. Camera was cooled to -10c and controlled via NINA. Seeing was quite good. Each image was registered in Deep sky Stacker. Flats and darks were used - DSS does everything at once. Image was then moved into Siril. I did an artificial background extraction and a photometric color
correction. I then moved the image into Gimp for final processing. Stretched then
cropped. Shot in front of the Cabrillo Observatory.

(RN: Beautiful deep image. I took the very dark submitted image and used the wide dynamic range allowing pulling the nebulae out of the sky, then sharpened to help stars, curved again, color saturation and vibrance.)

Bernard Huynh
M 101 - Pinwheel

ASI533MC Pro, Orion ED80, Celestron SE Mount
240x30s
2 hours of data over 2 nights during the summer. Both nights were nice - no dew.
Camera was cooled to -20c and controlled via NINA. Seeing was quite good. Each
image was registered in Deep sky stacker. Flats and darks were used - DSS does
everything at once. Image was then moved into Siril. I did an artificial background
extraction and photometric color calibration. Moved into GIMP - stretched.

Great Nebula in Orion-M42- April 9,2024

Taken at the Cabrillo Observatory in Aptos, California. The moon was just beginning
to wax from new and was barely a sliver in the sky. Clear skies. Telescope:Unistellar eVscope. Sensor Model: Sony Exmor IMX224 color CMOS-1.2 MPixels.Motorized Alt-Az Mount with extreme tracking accuracy thanks to Automated Celestial
Tracking with Feedback. This image is the result of a 5 min exposure, stack and process.
The Orion nebula is so large that I didn't even need to crop it because this isonly a small bit of its true glory. I made a little adjustment to the saturation of
each color trying to get the blue to lighten up.

Dumbbell Nebula-M27- October 2, 2024

Taken at the Cabrillo Observatory in Aptos, California. The moon wasn't up at all
this night. Clear Skies. Telescope: Unistellar eVscope. Sensor odel: Sony ExmorIMX224 color CMOS-1.2 MPixels. Motorized Alt-Az Mount with extreme tracking
accuracy thanks to Automated Celestial Tracking with Feedback. This image is theresult of a 14 minute exposure, stack and process.I honestly didn't need to do much for this nebula, after cropping it the colors were really easy to adjust for using saturation.

Sombrero Galaxy-M104- May 7, 2024

Taken in Boulder Creek, California at the Redwood Christian Park campus. There was no moon on this night. Clear skies. Telescope: Unistellar eVscope. Sensor Model:Sony Exmor IMX224 color CMOS-1.2 MPixels. Motorized Alt-Az Mount with extreme tracking accuracy thanks to Automated Celestial Tracking with Feedback. This image
is the result of a 43 min exposure, stack and process. I think the exposure length may have effected what I could do with this image, nomatter what I did I couldn't get the glow in the middle of the galaxy to dim.

Eastern Veil Nebula-Caldwell 33- September 11,2024

Taken at the Cabrillo Observatory in Aptos, California. The moon was a waxing gibbous heading down to the western horizon putting it pretty far from the nebula
when I photographed it. Clear Skies. Telescope: Unistellar eVscope. Sensor Model:
Sony Exmor IMX224 color CMOS-1.2 MPixels. Motorized Alt-Az Mount with extreme
tracking accuracy thanks to Automated Celestial Tracking with Feedback. This image
is the result of a 15 minute exposure, stack and process.
I started my processing by cropping this image first to see if it made theprocessing a little easier and I feel like it did. A minor adjustment to the
saturation and curves brought out more of the red but I couldn't get the blue to
develop anymore. I tried an unsharp mask but it wasn't working so I let it be.

Whirlpool Galaxy-M51- April 30,2024

Taken in Boulder Creek, California at the Redwood Christian Park campus. The moon wasn't up at all this night. Clear Skies. Telescope: Unistellar eVscope. Sensor
Model: Sony Exmor IMX224 color CMOS-1.2 MPixels. Motorized Alt-Az Mount with
extreme tracking accuracy thanks to Automated Celestial Tracking with Feedback.
This image is the result of a 24 minute exposure, stack and process.With slight adjustments in photoshop to the saturation and curves and a little unsharp mask tweak to bring out more of the bright regions in the arms. This is oneof the first images I had taken with this new scope and hadn't gotten the settings all dialed in and adjusted, it was also in the sky above San Jose. I noticed some
slight stirring in the background sky most likely as a result of the length of the exposure and light pollution.

By Thorsten Hess
This is the Pac-man Nebula

(NGC 281), taken on the ZWO ASI183 MC Pro (set up by
Bernard) at the Cabrillo Observatory site On Nov 11th 2024 20x 60s exposures, Chip temp 10C, 300mm, Gain 120, Offset 8, Binning 1x1 Images stacked in DeepSkyStacker, Colors converted in Siril, colors edited in GIMP, edits include stretching, adjusting curves (to boost nebula colors), and saturation ~ +15, Moon was at 81% ~51

By Thorsten Hess
This is the Milky Way,

Taken on my Google Pixel 6, South of Kalispell Montana off
of Highway 93 by the Lake, On Jul 26th 2022
6.81mm at f/1.85, 15s, 1449 ISO, Chip Temp unknown. Moon at 3% ~0°
This is the raw image

(RN not a course photo, but an older photo from 2 years ago, no processing done).

By Thorsten Hess
This is the Tsuchinshan Comet

By Thorsten Hess
This is the Tsuchinshan Comet Shot on my Nikon Z5, Taken off of Empire Grade near
the UCSC Arboreum on Oct 16th 2024. 50mm at f/6.3, 2500 ISO, 5s EXP, Chip temp unknown. Moon was at 99.8% and ~102°
This is the raw image

(RN then did the processing; curves, color saturation, noise subtraction, sharpening, in Photoshop)

By Thorsten Hess
This is a Blood Moon,

Taken on my Google Pixel 6 through my Astromaster 130 with a 15mm eyepiece, at my house off of Soquel Dr near the Cabrillo Campus on May 15th
2022. 6.81mm at f/1.85, 1s, 953 ISO, Chip temp unknown. Moon at 100% ~15°. This is the raw image

(no processing, and an old photo not done in the course. So RN did sharpening, curves, and color saturation)

By Thorsten Hess - Dome Crew

This is Rick and Will fixing the Observatory dome on the roof of the Cabrillo Observatory building, during a fairly cloudy day, Taken on my Nikon Z5 on Oct 9th 2024 24mm at f/4, 1/25s, 12800 ISO, Chip Temp Unknown. Moon at 44% and ~18° Converted colors in Siril, boosted in GIMP

Wednesday October 23, 2024
Location: Cabrillo College Observatory

Time: 2000 PDT
Temp: 53 F
Wind: 5 MPH
Vis: Clear
Gear:
The observatory has a 12” f/10 Schmidt Cassegrain on a G11 computer controlled
mount and includes a ST2000 XCM color CCD camera.
Setup:
A total of five photos were taken and processed using Dark and Flat fields. Camera
temp -22.3 C

(RN: arrived as PDF, I screen captured, sized, rotated it to fit our gallery. Target is M27)

Wednesday October 30, 2024
Cabrillo College Observatory

Time: 1930 PDT
Temp: 50 F
Wind: 8 MPH
Vis: Clear
Gear:The observatory has a 12” f/10 Schmidt Cassegrain on a G11 computer controlled
mount and includes a ST2000XCM color CCD camera. Setup:
A total of three photos were taken and processed using Dark and Flat fields. Camera
temp -26.3 C

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-Atlas)
Date: October 13, 2024
Location: LONG RIDGE @ SEMPERVIRENS VISTA ON HWY 9

Elevation: 2336 ft
Time: 1930 PDT
Temp: 68 F
Wind: 8 MPH
Visibility: 10 miles
Cloud Cover: Light haze or smog
Gear:
Camera: Nikon Z9
Lens: Nikon 600 mm f/4 Apature: f/5.6
Sutter Speed: 2.0 s
ISO: 6400.
Setup: Parked at vista point on HWY 9 and setup down slope 75 yards from parking area. Did not use teleconverter because the comet tail would not be in frame. Remote shutter release used to eliminate camera vibration.

Total Lunar Eclipse (Blood Moon).Date: Wednesday May 26, 2021

Location: San Antonio Road, Palo Alto, CA
Time: 3:23 PDT
Temp: 52 F
Wind: 8 MPH
Visibility: 10 miles
Cloud Cover: Clear
Gear:
Camera: Nikon D850
Lens: Nikon 600 mm f/4
Teleconverter: TC-14E
Total Focal Length: 840 mm
Apature: f/5.6
Sutter Speed: 0.4 s
ISO: 2000
Setup:
Camera and lens mounted on a tripod. Remote shutter release used to eliminate
camera vibration. Setup was in place 4 hours in advance to insure temperature
stability.

Waxing Crescent Moon 23% Illumination, Date: Thursday December 5, 2024

Location: Lupin Lodge Overlook, Los Gatos, CA
Time: 18:30 PDT
Temp: 59 F
Wind: 7 MPH
Visibility: 10 miles
Cloud Cover: Few clouds over SC Mountains
Gear:
Camera: Nikon Z9
Lens: Nikon 600 mm f/4
Teleconverter: TC-14E
Total Focal Length: 840 mm
Apature: f/5.6
Sutter Speed: 0.002 s
ISO: 1600
Setup:
Transported camera equipment to Lupin Lodge Overlook at 975 ft elevation.
Remote shutter release used to eliminate camera vibration

M27 "Dumbbell Nebula" Taken on 09/29/2024, at around 22:10

...with out outside temp of 54 degrees, using the Vespera Pro scope system, which uses a Sony IMX 676 sensor, total shot time was 30 minutes, with 10-second exposures, and a gain set to 15dB. The sky was mostly clear, with a full moon. Processing: I opened the file, then used Dynamic Background Extractor to remove some fuzz and make the image color match, used color calibration to add some color to the nebula and some stars, used blurX to sharpen the image and stars, then noiseX to lower grain on the image. Removed the stars and used histogram in the nebula alone to make the colors pop, and then re-added the stars and performed one last noiseX and some sharpening to make the stars look crisp. Saved the file.

M31, Andromeda Galaxy, Taken 09/26/24, at 23:07,

with an outside temperature of 55 degrees, taken with Vespera Pro that uses a Sony IMX 676 sensor, total shot time was 60 minutes, with an exposure length of 10 seconds per shot, and a gain set to 16dB. The sky was clear with a full moon. Process, loaded image into Pixinsight, cropped the photo by 6%, then used histogram settings to add some more vibrancy, then used blurX, followed by noiseX. I separated the stars and sharpened them separately using BlurX, adjusted the color codes to make it more vibrant, then used Re-Add to put the stars back into the one photo again, then saved.

NGC 40 "Bowtie Nebula, Taken on 12/09/2024

at around 21:15 with an outside temp of 44 Degrees, on a Vespera Pro system, with a Sony IXM 676 sensor. Shot for 20 mins total with an exposure of 10 seconds for each photo, set to a gain of 17. For the process, I took the image and opened it in pixinsight, used the BlurX plugin to make the image smoother and less rigid around parts, cropped the photo down 7%, color corrected and sharpened it 15%, then I used NoiseX to get rid of some of the noise and pixels, then saved.

(RN cropped the original by about 95%!)

NGC7789 "Carolines Rose" Star cluster.

Taken on October 23rd, 2024, with Vespera Pro scope, which uses a Sony IMX 676 sensor. I stacked 91 images from a total time on target of 15 minutes, at 10-second exposures, with a gain set to around 15dB, The night was clear and the temperature was about 44 degrees F. The Photoshop process consists of loading the image, using sharpen (auto), and then using the grain function to a lower value than standard to remove the noticeable grain, performing auto level and color, then increasing the hue by +3 and lowering the saturation by -2.

IC1795 "Fishhead Nebula" Taken on December 8th, 2024.

with Vespera Pro scope, with 336 images stacked over the course of 56 minutes with exposure time set to 10 seconds and gain set to 15dB. The chip used is a Sony IMX 676. Clear night and the outside temp was around 44 degrees F. The moon was in the first quarter phase as well. Process, PixInsight, loaded the file and cropped the image down 4% as I have noticed some odd stuff happening around the edges, then used the plugin blurX to tighten the stars up and make them less overwhelming, then after used starX to remove the stars from the main photo and then adjusted the stars to have some more color, using color curves, then adjusted the noiseX on the nebula to make it softer, then re-introduced the two files back together, and performed once last image noiseX to get rid of some noise near the center of the photo.

Comet C2023 A3 (T. Atlas), Christopher Williams.

Nikon D5100, 55mm, 4s, ISO 1600, f/9. Taken at the top of the Horticulture hill at Cabrillo College on 10/15/2024 at
19:12 PDT. 95% Moon 152° to the left of comet, Minimal clouds, No fog, Some additional light pollution from nearby pathway lights. hotoshop 2025: Divide flat frame, Space noise reduction, Curves masked in a gradient to bring out tail more.

Comet C2023 A3 (T. Atlas), Christopher Williams.

Nikon D5100, 100mm, 20x1.6s, ISO
2000, f/4.8. Taken in a field off of Empire Grade by UCSC on 10/16/2024 starting at
19:46 PDT. 99% Moon 165° to the left of comet, No clouds, No fog, Minor additional
light pollution from passing cars. DeepSkyStacker: Stack 20 images individually
with bias and flat field correction. Photoshop 2025: Manually stack comet, Copy and
mask landscape back in, Stretch colors with levels, Curves to brighten comet tail
and adjust brightness gradient, Space noise reduction, Color blotch reduction,
Increase star color.

Purple Cloud Above The Observatory, Christopher Williams.

Nikon D5100, 55mm, 5s,
ISO 4000, f/13. Taken at the Cabrillo Observatory on 10/09/2024 at 19:39 PDT. 40%
Moon approximately 100° to the right. The clouds seem to be illuminated by the
horticulture department. Photoshop 2025: Space noise reduction, Color boosted using
curves and 'lighten only DSO and dimmer stars.'

Full Moon, Christopher Williams.

Nikon D5100, 300mm, 1/125s, ISO 100, f/16. Taken
from my backyard near the Santa Cruz Harbor on 09/18/2024 at 00:23 PDT. 99% Moon.
No clouds, No fog, Bortle class 5 sky. Photoshop 2025: Auto color to dampen warm
colors, High pass blended as overlay to sharpen details, Hue/Saturation to mitigate
chromatic aberration.

Whirlpool Galaxy (M51), Christopher Williams.

ST2000XCM, 12" Meade LX200, 2x5min. Taken in the Dome at the Cabrillo Observatory on 09/11/24 at 21:22 PDT. 56% Moon 109° left of galaxy, No clouds, No fog, Bortle class 5 light pollution. CCDOPS:
Dark subtract -20°C, Flat field, Color process sRGB+gamma. Registax v5.1.9.2:
Stacked using single star method. Photoshop 2025: Color blotch reduction, Levels and curves to pull out details, Curves and gradient to dim bright side, Local contrast enhancement, Lighten only DSO and dimmer stars, Levels to balance colors,
Light pollution removal, Make stars smaller, Color balance adjustment, Horizontal
and vertical banding noise reduction, Levels to increase contrast.