Justin the Dark

I gotcha!

Thanks, I performed three different stretches on this image to protect the stars while enhancing the nebula. One stretch for the Hydrogen alpha channel, a stretch for the Oxygen III, and a final stretch for the stars. The. The last step is to recombine the stars with the starless image.

I targeted the Flaming Star Nebula (IC405) this week over the course of two nights. This late in the season, I only get about 4-hour windows before the trees play goalie. The Crab Nebula is next on my list!

#Astrophotography #Astronomy #Space
www.justinthedark.com <- More details on my blog!

If you haven’t tried this script, you should! It can help you take your smart telescope photos to the next level!

If you haven’t tried this script, you should! It can help you take your smart telescope photos to the next level!

Wut?

Thank you!

lol agreed.

Deep-space image of the Tadpoles Nebula (IC 410) set against a dense, black starfield. A large, irregular cloud of glowing gas fills the center, with soft blue light dominating the middle and warm amber and rust-colored edges surrounding it. Dark, smoky dust lanes twist through the bright core, creating high contrast patches that look like shadowy tendrils. Faint stars are scattered across the entire background, while the nebula’s wispy outer edges fade gradually into the surrounding darkness.

For this image of the Tadpoles (IC410), there were high-level wispy clouds rolling in and out throughout the night while imaging. The clouds certainly softened the image, but still a decent result!

#astrophotography #astronomy #space
www.justinthedark.com <- More details on my blog!

Thank you!

A deep-space photograph of the Horsehead Nebula shows a dark, horse-shaped silhouette rising from a glowing band of red and pink gas that stretches diagonally across the image. Wispy clouds of illuminated hydrogen surround the dark dust, with a bright bluish star nearby and countless small white stars scattered across a black background, creating a dramatic contrast between glowing gas and shadowed space.

This image of the Horsehead Nebula marks the start of my sixth year as an astrophotographer, and I am filled with immense pride. It serves as a reminder of the progress I have made and the vast expanse of knowledge that still awaits me.

#astrophotography #astronomy #space
www.justinthedark.com

I appreciate it. I always welcome constructive criticism as I want to improve with every image.

A wide, detailed view of the Orion Nebula showing swirling clouds of glowing gas and dust in soft blues, golds, purples, and reddish browns. At the center, a bright, misty core surrounds a cluster of young stars, while darker dust lanes cut through the luminous nebula. Scattered white stars dot the black background of space, giving depth and scale to the scene.

I took another shot at the Orion Nebula for the 2026 season, but this time I brought out my full astro rig rather than a smart scope. You can read more including my processing sets at my blog. Let me know how you'd improve this image!

#astrophotography #astronomy #space
www.justinthedark.com

If you follow the link in my bio you can go to my blog and astrobin website and download the full version for free.

I had to repost due to an error in the original which did not post this to the correct feed. Whomp whomp.

The Horsehead Nebula appears as a dark, horse-shaped silhouette cutting into a glowing red cloud of hydrogen gas, surrounded by faint blue and gold stars scattered across the winter night sky.

Horsehead Nebula (IC434)

A filter mix-up on my #seestar S50 left me with broadband + narrowband data, so I combined them instead of tossing 1,000 subs. This is a total of 2008 x 20 second subs.

#astrophotography #astronomy #space
www.justinthedark.com

Image of the Orion Nebula with bright clouds of dust surrounding a bright core of young stars.

Last week I used my #dwarf3 to photograph the Orion Nebula. I love imaging Orion as it takes me back to my very first Astro shot in 2021. I processed the 2008x15 second subs in PixInsight.

#astronomy #astrophotography #space #dwarflabs

Thank you, they are so special to me.

I’ve got the whole family out imaging tonight! We’ve had 3 clear nights in a row, so I’ve got a ton of data to process this week.

#astronomy #astrophotography #seestar #dwarflabs

Thank you! It was a fun image to post process.

Photo of the Pacman Nebula (NGC281). This is a wide-field astrophotography image of a glowing emission nebula floating in a dense star field. At the center is a bright, bluish-white core surrounded by soft clouds of gold, amber, and faint red gas, with dark, jagged dust lanes cutting through the light like silhouettes.

Just post this new image and detail of the Pacman Nebula (NGC281) on my astro blog! I had a fun time processing this breaking out the Ha and OIII with DBXtract in #PixInsight.

#astronomy #astrophotography #space
www.justinthedark.com

Great work, your script just gets better and better.

First take on the Pleiades (M45) for the season using my Apertura 60EDR and ZWO ASI533MC. I had cool experience with a Chinese rocket body photobombing my image during shooting. You can read more on my blog.

Astro Blog: justinthedark.com
#astrophotography #astronomy #ZWO #Apertura

Photo of the Heart Nebula (IC 1805) taken from my backyard in Georgetown, Texas (Bortle 5) on 12/07/2025. The photo is a stack of 400 x 30 second subframes stacked in Siril using Natztronomy's smart telescope script and narrowband processed in PixInight. Images were captured on a Seestar S50 Smart Telescope. Moon illuminated 88%, clear skies, 35F, light winds.

Just finished processing my latest image of the Heart Nebula (IC 1805) using Siril & PixInsight. Shot on my #Dwarf3. Other than some weird color banding I like the results.

More details on my blog: justinthedark.com #astronomy #astrophotography #Dwarflabs

Photo of the Triangulum Galaxy taken from my backyard in Georgetown, Texas (Bortle 5) on 12/07/2025. The photo is a stack of 483 x 20 second subframes stacked in Siril using Natztronomy's smart telescope script and broadband processed in PixInight. Images were captured on a Seestar S50 Smart Telescope. Moon illuminated 88%, clear skies, 35F, light winds.

I took the #seestar S50 for a run this week and imaged the Triangulum Galaxy for 4 hours. I’ve also started a new blog at www.justinthedark.com if you want to read more. I plan to write about astronomy and astrophotography of course.

#astronomy #astrophotography #space

Thank you. Can’t wait for another clear night.

I appreciate it.

Thank you!

Took my #Dwarf3 to Breckenridge for Thanksgiving and tried imaging M31 in the freezing cold.

185 subs later, I think the Andromeda shot turned out awesome. Shout out to @naztronomy.com and his amazing Siril script for smart telescopes.

#astrophotography #astronomy #space

A selfie from the GUS satellite by Crunch Labs featuring a screen with a family photo with the earth as the backdrop.

Talk about #astrophotography! It’s been cloudy for what seems like months, but at least we just got our space selfie back from Crunch Labs!

space.crunchlabs.com/selfie/aODjoYV

#astronomy #space