Nebulae are massive clouds of dust and gas. There are many different types of nebulae including; emission nebula, planetary nebula, reflection nebula, dark nebula, and supernova remnant.
Bright deep-sky objects, like nebulae, make great beginner deep-sky astrophotography targets because they are easier to focus, frame, and process compared to dimmer, smaller objects like most galaxies.
They also vary in color combinations, and compositions making them a popular deep-sky object to photograph. Some of my absolute favorite nebulae in the night sky include the Orion Nebula and the stunning Eagle Nebula.
Below, is an assortment of nebulas I have captured using my camera and telescope from the backyard.
In this beginner-friendly image processing tutorial, we will use Adobe Photoshop to take an astrophotography image from its raw state to a finished master file for sharing. The post-processing stage of astrophotography is an exciting experience because it is when you finally get to enjoy the deep-sky object you have captured, up-close. This is a…
In this article, I’ll describe how I photographed the Boogieman Nebula (LDN 1622) in the constellation Orion using my camera and telescope. This was the first time I had ever captured this deep-sky object before, and one of only a handful of dark nebulae I have ever photographed. LDN 1622 is a dark molecular cloud…
In this post, I’ll walk you through my process of photographing a jaw-dropping nebula in the night sky known as Thor’s Helmet. As usual, there were a number of challenges in my way, but it wouldn’t be astrophotography without a little stress now would it? I am using an imaging setup that I have used…
The Lobster Claw Nebula (Sharpless 157) is a bright emission nebula. It lies near the edge of the northern constellation Cassiopeia, bordering on Cepheus. As you’ll soon see in my long-exposure image, this bright HII region is surrounded by many more interesting deep-sky objects. It sits very close in the sky to another popular emission…
Last week, I photographed the Wizard Nebula with my camera and telescope in the backyard. The final image includes 24 individual exposures of 4-minutes each, for a grand total of 1.5 hours. Despite a bright moon interfering, it is by far my best image of the Wizard Nebula to date. In this post, I’ll explain…
The Optolong L-eXtreme filter is now being used in backyards across the globe, which is great news for those that take astrophotography images in heavy light pollution. This astrophotography filter features even narrower bandpasses than last year’s L-eNhance, making it perfect for nebula photography from the city. The Optolong L-eXtreme filter isolates the H-alpha (Ha),…
I’ve just returned from a vacation to Costa Rica with the goal of capturing some astrophotography images from the resort. Being so close to the equator, the night sky featured many new southern hemisphere deep-sky targets I had never seen before. Aside from astrophotography (including an impromptu Facebook Live stream from our balcony) my wife…
If you watched my video about Comet 46P Wirtanen, you may have noticed that my imaging gear included a Canon EF 300mm F/4L USM Lens. This may have seemed a little odd to those that are used to seeing me use a telescope for astrophotography, but a camera lens like this can be a great…
If you’ve been following AstroBackyard on YouTube, you’ll know that I regularly shoot DSLR astrophotography images under the heavily light-polluted skies at home. My night sky is classified as Bortle Class 8 in terms of sky quality, a white zone on the light pollution map. This certainly makes things more difficult in terms of collecting data…
As the season transitions from summer to fall, the nights have become longer and cooler in the backyard. This is beneficial for deep sky astrophotography for many reasons, with more time to capture exposure time on incredible targets like the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula being one of them. For those that have been following my YouTube…
The hot nights of early summer astrophotography start late and end early. The warm temperatures at night make their presence known in my DSLR images in the form of noise. My latest deep-sky project involves capturing data on NGC 6888 in H-Alpha with a DSLR. My highly portable astrophotography equipment allows me to move the…
It’s very exciting to know that the night sky is full of galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters to observe and photograph. The great Andromeda Galaxy, the glimmering Pleiades, and the vibrant red California Nebula are all jaw-dropping astrophotography targets. These are some of the easiest astrophotography targets in the night sky and be captured at almost…