A Super Moon is when the moon happens to reach Full stage at the same time it's closest to the Earth, and so it looks large in the sky. This image was taken almost 2 days past the Full phase, and you can see the edge starting to fall in shadow at the upper-right.

This image is a mosaic of 18 separate and overlapping 10 megapixel images from my Canon EOS-40D digital SLR set to M (manual) mode, captured as raw .CR2 files and converted and stitched together in Photoshop CC 2014.2.

I mounted my dSLR to my Meade LX200 GPS UHTC 10' Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope via my 2x Televue Powermate - a focal length doubler, similar to a teleconverter, which also serves to mate the camera to the 2' telescope eyepiece tube. Effective focal length in this configuration is 5000mm f/20.

Using Live View mode on the camera to frame the images, I swept across the surface in a zig-zag fashion, trying for about 1/3 to 1/2 overlap between frames. I triggered the shutter 8 times manually at each position with my TC80-N3 remote timer/controller, allowing the telescope to settle (stop vibrating) between shots. After I chose the sharpest image from each set, Photoshop CC's Photomerge feature made quick work of the stitching.

Since it was taken at the camera's most noise-free setting (ISO 100), the data is highly accurate, and thus I was able to strongly increase the color saturation via Photoshop's Image - Adjust - Hue/Saturation function. Thus the colors are real, indicating different mineral compositions of the lunar surface.

Stacked from 15 exposures of 1/5 second at ISO 100 This image is a mosaic of 15 separate and slightly overlapping 8.2 megapixel images from my Canon EOS-20D (unmodified), taken in Raw mode and converted and stitched together in Photoshop CS2. The exposures were each 1/5 second at ISO 100.

I mounted my 20D to my Meade LX200 GPS UHTC 10' Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope via my 2x Televue Powermate. Effective focal length was 5000mm f/20.

Looking through the viewfinder I swept across the surface in a zig-zag fashion, trying for about 1/3 overlap between frames. I triggered the shutter with my TC80-N3 remote timer/controller. I did the stitching by hand in Photoshop.

Since it was taken at the camera's most noise-free setting (ISO 100), the data is very accurate, and thus I was able to strongly increase the color saturation via Photoshop's Image - Adjust - Hue/Saturation function.

APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day), September 7, 2006: A high resolution 1600 x 1200 image with stars added, makes a great desktop background.

Stacked from every image I've taken of the Pleiades over a year and a half. I digitally combined all long and short, high and low focal length images I've ever taken of the seven sisters and came up with a result better than that from any individual set of images.

Stacked from every image I've taken of the Ring Nebula over a year and a half. I digitally combined all long and short, high and low focal length images I've ever taken of M57 and came up with a result better than that from any individual set of images.

Stacked from 16 exposures of 30 seconds at ISO 200 plus 14 exposures of 30 seconds at 1600 with 0.63x focal length reducer / field flattener and IDAS light pollution filter on my LX200 telescope. Shot in Raw mode and converted in Adobe Photoshop using -20% color saturation so as not to clip the black point.

Stacked from 34 exposures of 15 seconds at ISO 1600 with 0.63x focal length reducer / field flattener on my LX200 telescope.

Stacked from 30 exposures of 30 seconds at ISO 1600 at prime focus of my LX200 telescope.

M13, also called the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules, is one of the best known globulars of the Northern hemisphere. This image isn't deep enough to show nearly all of the several hundred thousand stars in M13.

Stacked from 132 exposures of 20 seconds at ISO 1600 at prime focus of my LX200 telescope.

M43 is the roundish nebula with the star in the center. Part of the M42, the Great Orion Nebula, also shows at the lower-right of the image.

Stacked from 30 exposures of 30 seconds at ISO 1600, some at prime focus and some using my 0.63x focal length reducer. Photographed at my dark site near Lake Okeechobee in Florida.

Wide starfield shot stacked from 7 exposures of 2 minutes at ISO 3200, using my 100-400 zoom lens at 200mm piggybacked atop my LX200 telescope. Photographed at my dark site near Lake Okeechobee in Florida.

Stacked from 29 exposures of 2 minutes at ISO 3200, using my 100-400 zoom lens at 400mm piggybacked atop my LX200 telescope. Photographed at my dark site near Lake Okeechobee in Florida.

Unfortunately, the deep red color of Hydrogen Alpha emission in this nebula is all but blocked by the unmodified Canon 20D's internal filters.

Stacked from 7 exposures of 2 minutes at ISO 3200, using my 100-400 zoom lens at 300mm piggybacked atop my LX200 telescope. Photographed at my dark site near Lake Okeechobee in Florida.

Several galaxies and a globular cluster are visible. NGC4565 is an edge-on galaxy sometimes called 'The Needle Galaxy'.

Stacked from 3 exposures of 2 minutes at ISO 3200, using my 100-400 zoom lens at 100mm piggybacked atop my LX200 telescope. Photographed at my dark site near Lake Okeechobee in Florida.

A wide starfield image, stacked from 11 exposures of 10 seconds at ISO 1600 using my 100-400 zoom lens at 200mm piggybacked atop my LX200 telescope.

The Hyades cluster is very close to Earth and thus the stars are quite widely dispersed.

Stacked from 9 exposures of 10 seconds at ISO 800 using my 100-400 zoom lens piggybacked atop my LX200 telescope.

I shot this image by mounting my camera with 17-40 zoom lens at 31mm atop my telescope and using the mount to track the stars. As long as I keep the exposures fairly short, circular trailing is kept to a minimum even though I'm using the telescope in altitude-azimuth configuration for ease of setup.

If you look carefully in the high resolution image, there are quite a few tiny deep sky objects (galaxies and nebulae) visible.

Another wide angle high resolution shot through my 17-40 zoom lens, which is proving to be a great performer for astrophotography.

I shot this image by mounting my 20D with Canon 100-400 zoom lens at 300mm piggybacked on top of my telescope.

If you look carefully in the high resolution image, there are a few galaxies besides M82 and M81 visible.

Canon EOS-20D and Canon 100-400 zoom lens at 300mm, piggybacked on top of my telescope.

The upper atmosphere was moving around early on, but by about 10 PM it had really settled down. It was great looking at the moon and planets with super-high magnification through still air. About the time Saturn's Encke division showed in the eyepiece I figured I'd better break out the LPI and do some imaging.

The optics in my LX200 continue to amaze me. There's some odd 3 point flaring when the scope is warm, but man when it cools down (to 65 degrees F in the case of last night) there just don't seem to be any limits! I was quite comfortable looking at Saturn with my 2x Powermate and 9mm Nagler... What's that, 556x? Amazing! Right at diffraction limits.

Not long ago I decided I'd try to concentrate on photographing small, bright objects, insofar as I have a lot of light pollution here at my home, and I have a long focal length scope (10' LX200 GPS UHTC, 2500mm f/10) with great tracking. Thus, the 'Eskimo Nebula' seemed a good fit. I did some exposures of this object about a year prior, before I had a Powermate and knew much about processing. I decided I needed to do it better.

This is stacked from 60 Canon 20D JPEG images at 15 seconds, ISO 1600 plus 55 Raw images at 20 seconds, ISO 3200 through my 2x Powermate, which made the telescope 5000mm f/20. Note that this is unguided in alt-az configuration. I took one dark frame to calibrate all images, and it greatly reduced hot pixels in both sets of shots.

My second attempt at this cluster with my 20D and 100-400 zoom lens piggybacked on my telescope, this time from a site with darker skies. I was able to sustain 2 minute exposures at ISO 3200. The only thing keeping me from going deeper and getting a cleaner shot was that clouds moved in before I had finished the exposure set.

Stack of 242 exposures at ISO 200, 400, 800, 1600, and 3200 and various exposure times.

A stack of 23 ISO 3200 images taken at a dark site, piggybacked through Canon 28-135 zoom lens @ 135mm, f/5.6, 1 minute per subexposure.

In this image you can see the flame nebula and horsehead nebula area near Alnitak, the leftmost belt star in Orion.

Most folks don't realize how large the Andromeda Galaxy is. It requires a wide-field setup - in my case a camera lens on my dSLR, piggybacked on my telescope to track the stars. Visible also in this shot are M32 (the small blob left and a bit up from the main galaxy's center), and M110 (the blob to the lower-right).

Canon EOS 20D at ISO 1600 through Canon 100-400 zoom lens @ 300mm, f/5.6. 92 x 30 second subs stacked in Images Plus, and processed in Photoshop

I piggybacked my Canon 20D and 100-400 zoom lens on top of my LX200 and got this wide field shot.

This is NGC1977 (the Running Man nebula), M43 (the little mostly round nebula), and M42 (the Great Orion Nebula), all making up the sword of Orion.

Canon EOS 20D at ISO 1600 through Canon 100-400 zoom lens @ 300mm, f/5.6. 22 x 30 second subs stacked in Images Plus, and processed in Photoshop

161 of the best frames of Saturn chosen by Meade Autostar software, taken with Meade LPI (Lunar/Planetary Imager) through Powermate 2x on Meade 10' LX200 GPS UHTC, stacked in Registax, upsampled in Photoshop, Adaptive Richardson-Lucy sharpening in Images Plus, color balance in Photoshop, final sharpening with my dSLR Fractal Sharpen actions.

Moments of reasonably good seeing that night.

Piggyback my 100-400 lens on my LX200 - check! Tighten zoom ring so no slippage - check! Find best focus (not at infinity mark) - check! Determine max exposure time at 300mm f/5.6 - 30 sec ISO 1600, limited by LP. Took a bunch of exposures for half an hour before the battery died.

The LX200 unguided alt-az tracking was great, at 300mm I was able to use EVERY SINGLE exposure in the stack; all had pinpoint stars and no trace of rotation. Woohoo! Problem is I could *BARELY* coax any nebulosity out of the resultant image. I got more out of two exposures during the power outage after the hurricane. I really need to get to a dark sky site for this one.

When I got my LX200 almost a year ago, included in the package was the Meade Lunar Planetary Imager (LPI). I tried it out exactly once, but because I was having USB connector problems on my laptop I put it away and never tried it again. Until Now.

Meade 10' LX200 with Televue Powermate 2x, Meade LPI, 41 frames chosen by the Meade Autostar software, stacked in Registax with wavelet enhancement, Adaptive Richardson-Lucy sharpening in Images Plus, final processing in Photoshop

The answer to life, the universe, and everything... Douglas Adams was off by 5!

NGC 2169, The '37' Cluster. 26 x 30 second ISO 3200 subs, with f/6.3 FL reducer.

With Televue 2x Powermate. This was a combination of 3 exposures, 0.4 sec at ISO 100, 10 sec at ISO 400, and 30 sec at ISO 3200. I overlaid the three exposures in Photoshop, then erased through the overexposed parts to combine the data and show much more dynamic range than the camera is capable of in any one exposure.

Click here to see a medium resolution image.
Click here to see a high resolution image.

Click here to see a medium resolution image.
Click here to see a high resolution image.

Click here to see a medium resolution image.
Click here to see a high resolution image.

By coincidence, when I imaged this object there was a new star showing, which is highlighted with the two lines in the image. The forums were abuzz with talk about whether it was a supernova, a nova, or just a variable star. Most ended up agreeing it was a variable, but I didn't hear for sure, so I labeled it a nova in the image.

40 x 30 second ISO 3200 subs, Canon EOS-20D on Meade LX200 GPS UHTC 10', f/6.3 FL reducer, unguided, alt-az mount.

Click here to see a medium resolution image.
Click here to see a high resolution image.

3 x 30 second ISO 1600 subs at prime focus (2500mm f/10).