Christian Vocks

Picture of the Jellyfish Nebula IC443

The "Jellyfish Nebula" IC443 in Gemini from 8 March 2025. 73 exposures of 60 s in Halpha, 53 in OIII, and 60 in SII, plus about 15 of 30 s each in R, G, B. I have applied some unsharp masking to enhance the filamentary structures. As always, Celestron C8 with f/6.3 reducer and ZWO ASI 294MM Pro.

My next object from last year, the globular cluster NGC2419 in Gemini, also known as "Intergalactic Wanderer" for its large distance form our Milky Way galaxy. About 66 exposures of 30 s each in R, G, and B. To sharpen the image, I have implemented as simple version of the CLEAN algorithm.

I've prepared a time-lapse video of my aurora pictures from Monday, 19 January 2026 in Potsdam. The view is in northern direction. The video covers 20 minutes around 11 pm CET (22:00 UT). 200 individual frames of 4 s with Nikon D5600, ISO 1250, and Tamron 16-300 mm at 16 mm.

Open clusters M35 and NGC2158 in Gemini, from 3 March 2025. 59 exposures of 30 s in R, 57 in G, and 51 in L. I'm still working on my backlog from last year...

Saturn on 6 November 2025. Earth is now near Saturn's ring plane, we see the edge of the ring system and the shadow of the rings on the planet. Just left of Saturn the moon Titan is visible.

Picture of the night sky, with light pollution near the bottom and the faint comet in the image center.

A single image looks like this. One can see the constellations Corona Borealis, Bootes, Canes Venatici, the rear part of Ursa Major, and faintly also the comet.

Image of the comet with its faint tail among stars.

Comet C2025 A6 Lemmon, observed on 18 October 2025 from the water tower in Beelitz near Potsdam. I've stacked 20 exposures of 13 s with Nikon D5600 and Tamron 16-300 mm at 22 mm, ISO1600, and f/3.5, on a tripod without tracking.

My next object from last winter, the Flaming Star Nebula IC405 in Auriga from 23 February 2025. The bright star is AE Aurigae. 78 exposures of 60 s in L, plus 14 in R, 20 in G, 22 in B, plus 52 in H alpha since the object is a combined reflection and emission nebula.

Finished the Berlin Marathon in 4:49:33 h! That was pretty slow, 37 min more than last year. But the weather conditions were challenging, high temperatures around 25°C and a lot of Sun, plus high humidity.

Getting ready for tomorrow!

Some frames are a bit blurred, probably due to vibrations of the tower. At the end of the partial phase of the eclipse the penumbral eclipse is still going on: A partial solar eclipse as seen from the moon, and more of the Sun is blocked in the western (right) side of the moon, which appears darker.

Time-lapse video of the lunar eclipse from 7 September 2025, observed from the old water tower in Beelitz south of Potsdam. Nikon D5600 with Tamron 16-300 mm, mostly 0.5s with ISO2000. I used a tripod without guiding, so I had to write a python script to center the moon, even in bright twilight sky.

The #sun hurls electrons out into space almost as fast as light. A team from the AIP has used the @esa.int #SolarOrbiter mission to track their precise origins for the first time and create a comprehensive catalogue of high-energy electron events. 🛰️📊👩‍💻
www.aip.de/de/news/sola...

My previous picture was the Fly Nebula (NGC 1931) in Auriga, but the fly shoudln't feel too safe: In the neighborhood is the Spider Nebula (IC 417), from 18 February 2025. 74 exposures of 60 s in H alpha, 57 in OIII, 53 in SII, plus 37 ones of 30 s in R, 34 in G, and 33 in B for natural star colors.

My next picture from last winter, the Fly Nebula (NGC 1931) in Auriga from 17 February 2025. It is a reflection and emission nebula, therefore I've combined 88 exposures of 60 s in L, 30 in R, 30 in G, 24 in B, with 41 ones in H alpha.

My first deep-sky image of 2025, the Flame Nebula in Orion from 16 February. 70 exposures of 60 s in Halpha, 52 in OIII, and 43 in SII, plus 20 of 30 s each in R, G, B. The bright star to the right is Alnitak.

My last object from last year, the "Deer Lick Group" with NGC7331 in Pegasus from 1 December 2024. Since clouds came in during observation, I only got 135 exposures of 60 s in L.

Finished the Potsdamer Schlösserlauf half marathon in 1:54:57 h! That's 7 min slower than last year, but in hot summer weather. So the time is still fine. As always, a very scenic route through the parks, passing many of the castles in Potsdam.

My first attempt of combining exposures from different evenings into one image: Stephan's Quintett from 25 October 2024 (L:161x60s, R:30, G:28, B:30) plus 164 in L from 2 November. So a total of 325 min in L. Celestron C8 with f/6.3 focal reducer and ZWO ASI 294MM Pro, from my balcony in Potsdam.

Another object from last year, the North America Nebula NGC7000 from 11 October 2024. 73 exposures of 60s in Halpha, 47 in OIII, and 42 in SII, plus each 15 of 20s in R, G, B. Sigma 135-400 mm telephoto lens at 150 mm, and ZWO ASI 294MM Pro. Improved contrast with some unsharp masking.

Finished the rbb-Lauf 1/3 marathon through Potsdam in 1:10:39 h. That's 15 s faster than last year! Weather was perfect, sunny and cool.

My next object from last year, the Bat Nebula (NGC6995) in Cygnus from 5 September 2024. The Bat Nebula is part of the Veil Nebula, a large supernova remnant. 86 exposures of 60 s in Halpha, 50 in OIII, and 43 in SII, plus 40 each in R, G, B of 30 s.

Working on my backlog of observations: Crescent Nebula (NGC6888) in Cygnus from 4 September 2024. 84 exposures of 60 s in Halpha, 58 in OIII, and 55 in SII. I've added some RGB data for more natural star colors. Celestron C8 with f/6.3 focal reducer and ZWO ASI 294MM Pro, from my balcony in Potsdam.

Planet Venus in different phases.

Venus on the way to its inferior conjunction on 23 March. On that day, it passes the Sun and changes from the evening to the morning sky. This is also the closest distance to Earth, so the planet appears increasingly bigger, and as a thinner crescent since we see more of its night side.