Stephen
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stephencox.bsky.social
Stephen
@stephencox.bsky.social
cats 🙀, gaming 🎮, TKD 🥋, beer 🍻, bugs 🦋, birds 🐦, space 🌌
M33. Messing around with some earlier data. I used the "ImproveBrilliance" tool from the PixInsight Toolbox package. Really makes the colors pop and emphasizes the core! pixinsight.com/forum/index.... #seestar #astrophotography #astronomy
March 11, 2025 at 1:29 PM
A reprocess of the earlier data I shot on M78, except I took a liberal approach on frame rejection, i.e. I allowed post processing to include more noisy frames, and used noise reduction to clean it up post-facto. It reveals how chaotic M78 is. One of my favorites now. #seestar #astrophotography
March 1, 2025 at 1:35 PM
M16, "The Eagle Nebula", I reprocessed using an "HOO" false color representation. #seestar #astrophotography #astronomy
February 23, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Playing around with the new NoiseXterminator release. Will take some time to learn the knobs, but I can already see improvements! Here's M16 reprocessed from a 3h integration. #seestar #astrophotograpy #astronomy
February 2, 2025 at 4:17 PM
M53. A globular cluster ~58k LY from Earth in the constellation Coma Berenices. #seestar #astronomy #astrophotography
January 23, 2025 at 4:56 PM
M78. "The Casper Nebula". M78 is a true stellar laboratory, allowing scientists to observe star birth, the impact of young stars on their environments, and the role of cosmic dust in shaping the universe. 8 hours integration time. Processed with PI. #seestar #astrophotography #astronomy
January 17, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Due to the lack of clear nights I've been revisiting old data using techniques I've picked up over the last few months. Here's IC 1287, an ~8 hour integration I did back in Nov. This forced me to learn histogram and curve analysis to really make the faint nebulosity pop! #seestar #astrophotography
January 13, 2025 at 5:20 PM
M33. "The Triangulum Galaxy". 2.73m LY neighbor in Local Group. Lack of central bulge & star-forming regions help astronomers study spiral galaxy evolution. May one day merge into the Milky Way-Andromeda supergalaxy. 12h integration. Bortle 5/6. Processed w/ PI. #seestar #astronomy #astrophotography
December 24, 2024 at 8:58 PM
NGC 7814. "The Little Sombrero". An edge-on spiral galaxy 40m light-years away in the constellation Pegasus. It is so precisely edge-on that it helps astronomers study how dust affects light from stars. 12 hours of integration time. Processed with PixInsight. #seestar #astrophotography #astronomy
December 13, 2024 at 7:40 PM
M34. "The Spiral Cluster". A close open cluster, 1500 LY away in the constellation Perseus. Astronomers use M34 to study stellar rotation because of its uniform age, composition, and distance to Earth. 30 mins of integration time. Processed with PixInsight. #seestar #astrophotography #astronomy
December 7, 2024 at 3:37 PM
IC 1287. A faint blue reflection nebula found in the constellation Scutum. 3000 10s exposures over about a week. Processed with PixInsight. #seestar #astrophotography #space
November 30, 2024 at 9:25 PM
M16. "The Eagle Nebula". This emission nebula is found in the constellation Serpens. If you look towards the middle, you'll spot the "Pillars of Creation", a region made famous by the Hubble Space Telescope. 1000 10s exposures, processed with PixInsight. #astronomy #astrophotography #seestar
November 29, 2024 at 4:31 PM
M31. "The Andromeda Galaxy". The closest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way, 2.5M light years away. It is the most distant object visible to the naked eye. This is a mosaic of multiple images, because Andromeda is quite large in the sky! Processed with PixInsight.
November 29, 2024 at 1:53 PM
M45. "The Pleiades" a.k.a. "The Seven Sisters". An open star cluster northwest of the constellation Taurus. One of the closest star clusters to Earth at 444 light years. About 3 hours of data. Processed with PixInsight. #seestar #astrophotography
November 29, 2024 at 11:27 AM
NGC 891. "The Silver Sliver Galaxy". An edge-on spiral galaxy located 30 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. Offers a unique perspective of how spiral galaxies, like our Milky Way, appear as viewed from the side. 4 hours integration, processed with PI. #astrophotography #seestar
November 28, 2024 at 11:33 PM
NGC 925. "The Amatha Galaxy". This is a barred spiral galaxy about 30 million light years away in the constellation Triangulum. About 8 hours of integration time. Processed with PixInsight. #seestar #astrophotography
November 28, 2024 at 2:30 PM