Phoenix Adair Astrophotography

Phoenix Adair Astrophotography I am a Beginner/Amature Astrophotographer here to share and expand my work and knowledge of the universe and astrophotography.

06/17/2026

Meow the force be with you...

06/17/2026

Longmore 8: The Hamster Wheel Nebula (APOD: 2026 Jun 17)
Image Credit & Copyright: Mazlin, Parker, Forman, Magill, Hanson Text: Keighley Rockcliffe (NASA GSFC, UMBC CSST, CRESST II)

Explanation: How did a hamster wheel get into space? The Hamster Wheel Nebula (Longmore 8) was discovered by Andrew Longmore in 1976 as a part of a larger survey of the southern sky. This survey employed several improvements in photographic technology, including the use of highly sensitive film, to capture deeper and fainter objects on plates that were examined by eye and catalogued. The featured image, taken at Observatorio El Sauce in Chile, depicts an intricate wheel structure of glowing hydrogen that was thrown out into space by a dying star and ionized by the leftover white dwarf. This structure was barely visible on the original plate, emphasizing the power of modern telescopes and cameras. Two opposing clumps of red hydrogen gas encased in the blue veil of ionized oxygen hint at the presence of a companion to the bright white dwarf at the wheel’s center!

I finally reached my 24+ hour mark with NGC-6823 using my Dwarf 3 y'all. My last post was at 10 hours. And wow, I can re...
06/17/2026

I finally reached my 24+ hour mark with NGC-6823 using my Dwarf 3 y'all. My last post was at 10 hours. And wow, I can really see the difference!

Sitting at around 6,000 miles away, NGC-6823 and NGC-6820is an open star cluster and emission nebula that is similar to the Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula.
I randomly chose this target one night about a month ago, and it hasn't disappointed!

Using the Dwarf3, I gathered 20h and 44m with the Duo_Band filter. I also use the Astro filter with my external Astromania OIII filter to gather another 4h and 20m for a total of 25 hours and 4 minutes of integrated data.

I processed the data using DWARF LAB and then again in Siril.
In Siril I stacked and megastacked my data using AstroBBQ. I made sure to pre-process each individual session before mega-stacking which included GraXpert BGE, Aberration Remover, Plate Solve and SP Color Calibration.
Once I megastacked the sessions together I ran BGE and Aberration Remover again.
I used Starnet to remove the stars and did a color calibration on them separately.
With the starless image I denoise using GraXpert and then stretched using Siril's Generalized Hyperbolic and Histogram RGB Stretch.
When I stretch I generally do a medium stretch to start, and then recede my black point to the first gridline (not the end). Then I gradually stretch RGB individually.
After the stretch I run Cosmic Clearity Sharpen and HDR scripts in Sirl. Save the result as a 16bit .Tiff file.
I'll then process the file in Adobe Photoshop using the Camera Raw Filter and Topez denoise before bringing the starless image back into Siril as a 32bit .fit file to reconstitute the starsmask.
If you need to do a little inverted stretching, now is the best time to blend with the stars as I do.
Also, slowly stretching stars using "even weighted" and selecting variable bright and dim star areas on the image.
After that I will bring it back into Photoshop as a 16bit tif for final touch-ups, tagging and then save as a PNG/JPG.

Hope this helps anyone curious in learning some workflow techniques.

I am also always open to new and better techniques from the community!
I did have some issue with the stars at the core, and I think I over sharpened or sharpened noise artifacts?

AstroBin
Astronomy & Astrophotography
DwarfVision
Duncan Pond
Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD)

06/15/2026

You just found the secret map to the Milky Way. 🗺️✨
Look up tonight! The Summer Triangle is dominating the sky. ⭐ Formed by three of the brightest stars—Vega, Deneb, and Altair—this giant asterism is your personal gateway to the cosmos. 🌌
Once you spot the triangle, look inside it. That faint, cloudy band? That’s the Milky Way, our home galaxy, stretching across the heavens like a river of light. 🥛💫 It’s one of the most breathtaking views you can see with just your naked eyes.
No telescope needed. Just clear skies and a little patience. 🔭❤️
👇 Tag your stargazing buddy! Who’s ready to get lost in the stars tonight? 🌠🇺🇸

Hell yeah I finally did it y'all! I was finally able to get some decent data for my first true wide-field DSO! It's just...
06/12/2026

Hell yeah I finally did it y'all! I was finally able to get some decent data for my first true wide-field DSO! It's just the beginning, and believe me I will definitely be getting a lot more data.... But, here's 2h 36m of the complete east and west Veil Nebula, and one of my favorite targets in the sky. This is my first real successful run using the Nikon Z6 and Askar SQA55!
I can't wait to get more data to reveal the center, north and south more.

Shutter of 60 seconds and ISO of 800.
Processed in Siril only.
Stamped using Adobe Photoshop.

It has taken me since February/March since I got my rig, and I am just now starting to get the hang of all the technicalities. Not to mention several terrible viewing nights were involved.
I am learning that using a filter with my camera is going to be tricky unless/until I get it converted into an Astro cam... Maybe.
Otherwise, I get this stupid reflection halo that appears when using my Optolong L-Quad filter.

Oh well, I was able to work around it some.
Here she is, enjoy!

Address

Wilsonville, OR

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Phoenix Adair Astrophotography posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category