Kristopher Setnes

Star trails image created from part of the time-lapse video.

Here is the star trails image that appears at the end of the time-lapse video.

I used RawTherapee, Sequator, and GIMP to create this image... all free tools.

The campfire flickered out as the stars passed over a small window in the tree canopy.

This was from campsite #76 at Father Hennepin State Park in Isle, MN.

August 2nd, 2025

#astrophotography

QHY533M camera with RGB filters
130mm Stellarvue refractor
EQ6R-Pro mount
100 second subs

CCDCiel capture software
PHD2 guiding software (OAG)

Processing with Siril, GraXpert, RawTherapee, and GIMP

Image of part of the dark nebula, LDN1251.

I finally got to take my gear away from home last weekend! The clouds, smoke, and calendar all worked together... for one night only.

This is part of dark nebula LDN1251. LDN stands for Lynd's Catalogue of Dark Nebula. The catalog was published in 1962 by Beverly Turner Lynds.

#astrophotography

There are varying distance estimates. Here's a reference for the 24.5 Mly number.

www.aanda.org/articles/aa/...

Image of the Whirlpool Galaxy

This is the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51a & M51b). This lies under the end of the handle of the Big Dipper.

The two galaxies are interacting. They are about 24.5 million light-years away.

This image was made from 19h and 20m of exposure time... lazily taken over three years.

#astrophotography

image of the Cat's Eye or Croc's Eye Galaxy (Messier 94)

Messier 94

This was made with just 5 hours of images from a dark location in Minnesota.

This galaxy has an interesting inner and outer structure. There was also a study that suggested this galaxy has a lower amount of dark matter than other galaxies. Is this still accurate?

#astrophotography

Minnesota Astronomical Society events can be found on our website. www.mnastro.org

Look for the star parties labeled "public." They are a great way to be introduced to the club. We also have monthly meetings in-person and online.

The Minnesota Astronomical Society hosts star parties at the University of Minnesota's Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve.

This time-lapse is from the star party on May 3rd, 2025. We had fun.

#astrophotography

Milky Way rising over lake in Minnesota.

The Milky Way is back in the morning hours. Here it is rising over a lake in Minnesota.

#astrophotography #milkyway

Aurora from southwest Minnesota.

Self portrait with aurora using side mirror of car.

We were completely unprepared for aurora on our drive tonight. I had to hold the camera against the car roof for the first shot. The second shot is a self portrait using the side mirror.

#astrophotography #aurora

The mispeling goes with the beer nicely. I can't get over the flashlight mounted on a tripod though.

The moon before the eclipse.

The moon partially covered by Earth's shadow.

The moon partially covered by Earth's shadow.

The moon during a total lunar eclipse.

Am I too late? Can I still post my lunar eclipse photos from last week? Have you seen too many yet? 🙂

It was very hazy with high clouds in Minnesota, but I made do. The low clouds rolled in right as totality was ending. We lucked out.

#astrophotography #moon #eclipse

Astrophotography software capturing total lunar eclipse.

Go outside. Look at the moon!

#astrophotography

Maple syrup after some filtering, but before finishing to the correct density.

Finished maple syrup in jars after boiling and collecting for several days.

Here’s our progress. Our first batch was too dense (edible, but crystallizes). This one tastes and looks really good.

It was very lucky, but I wasn't alone. There were others, even in our astronomy club, who also caught the impact. I have always wanted to go back and see if LRO ever found the crater.

This is an averaged stack of 40, 1/8 second exposures all taken within about 8 seconds of each other. Within those 40 frames is the frame that caught the meteoroid impact. In order to show that frame within the image, I applied it as a layer on top of the stacked images.

This is a crop of the single frame that captured the impact... in all its noisy glory.

I was one of the many lucky people to have captured a meteoroid impacting the moon during the Jan 20, 2019 eclipse. My setup back then was crude compared to now. Instead of video, I was capturing still images in short bursts to stack later.

Don't miss the next lunar eclipse!

#astrophotography

Long-Sleeve Polo Shirt with embroidery "Ukrainian Trident" The polo shirt has a classic fit, a turn-down collar, and long sleeves. It is decorated with an embroidered Ukrainian trident on the left side. The polo shirt with the "Ukrainian Trident" embroidery i...

The Zelensky shirt would have sent a stronger message than everyone just wearing pink.

damirli.com/products/lon...

The ACLU website has actions defined that make mailing your representatives and senators about various issues very easy. Pick an issue, personalize some text, click a button… done.

www.aclu.org/action

If you're in Minneapolis/St Paul this weekend and want to forget about $hitty things for a while, this is what you need. These family-friendly shows are always outstanding.

They Mean Well. ;)

Yes. The video showed a drip.

We tapped our trees today. It’s our first time.

#maplesyrup

Nice work! I was actually imaging this galaxy last night. We get very few usable nights this time of year in Minnesota.

I am far more excited for Blue Origin.

What more evidence is needed for those who don’t understand this is a coup?

A montage of solar images that show the progression of the moon in front of the sun during the annular solar eclipse of October 14, 2023. Each image was taken 16 seconds apart.

This is an image of the annular solar eclipse of October 14, 2023 at mid-eclipse.

This is a self portrait with the "ring of fire" eclipse. The device I am using is a home built solar projector.

This image shows photography and astronomy gear in use during the eclipse. All of the gear on this side of the road is ours and fit in to the back of that pickup. There were four of us.

In October of 2023 I was part of a group that drove from Minnesota to Texas to view and photograph an annular solar eclipse. This served as a precursor to the total solar eclipse we saw in April of 2024.

I have very fond memories of the fun we had on this trip.

#astrophotography #eclipse

That container is far too small.

International Space Station on May 30th, 2020

International Space Station

I took this image from our backyard on May 30th, 2020.

Fujifilm X-T20, 1/800s, ISO 6400, 12.3 inch aperture f/5.6 Dobsonian with Barlow.

This was manually tracked with my fingers crossed and the camera clicking. :)

#astrophotography

No, not us… just them.