DOCtor Astro Pics

12/08/2026

12/08/2026

The Eclipse live from Ballynure Village

08/03/2026

Wow, what a difference new processing tools make in astrophotography! 🤯
​Here is a side-by-side comparison of the exact same data: 18 hours of integration on the Iris Nebula from April 2023, processed two entirely different ways.
​👈 On the Left: My original processing. This took me several hours of tedious, manual editing after stacking.
👉 On the Right: A brand new edit that took just 30 minutes!
​The right side was processed using game-changing tools like the full suite of XTerminators (Blur, Noise, and Star), Seti Astro Tools, Jürgen Terpe's Toolbox, and Multiscale Adaptive Stretch. Not only did this take a fraction of the time, but the final results are far superior! I find the new tools give a much more natural, less blotchy look, allowing so much more of that finer detail in the cosmic dust to come through.
​What are your favorite processing tools right now? Let me know! 👇
​~DOCtorAstroPics
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06/03/2026

First clear skies since October, and it feels SO good to have the rig out again! 🔭✨
​Upgraded the setup with a brand new guide scope during the winter downtime, and it is absolutely paying off tonight. The EQ6-R Pro is acting like it's bolted to bedrock—I just hit an unbelievable 0.32" Total RMS guiding in N.I.N.A.! 🤯
​Target for tonight is a deep dive on M81 (Bode's Galaxy) and M82 (the Cigar Galaxy). The raw N.I.N.A. subs and SharpCap live stacks are already looking incredible. Are there massive dust motes on my sensor? Yes. Am I going to worry about them tonight? Absolutely not. That's a problem for tomorrow's flat frames! 😅
​Right now, it’s time to sit back, grab a beer, and let the automation do the heavy lifting while the meridian flip approaches. Cheers to being back under the stars! 🍻🌌
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