Frank Adler :: Astrophotography & Web Engineering

The Cocoon Nebula

Mon, 13 Jul 2026 08:40:57 GMT

The Cocoon Nebula (IC 5146) is a young stellar nursery located approximately 2,500 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus. Spanning about 15 light-years across, it is a region where new stars are actively forming within a dense cloud of gas and dust.

At the heart of the nebula, intense radiation from newly born stars ionizes the surrounding hydrogen, causing it to glow in deep shades of red. Surrounding this bright emission region are vast clouds of interstellar dust that both reflect and ...

The Dumbbell Nebula

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 09:07:21 GMT

Messier 27, also known as the Dumbbell Nebula, is one of the most striking planetary nebulae in the summer sky. It lies in the constellation Vulpecula, at a distance of roughly 1,200 to 1,360 light-years from Earth. What appears here as a delicate, greenish glow in a dense field of stars is in fact the expelled outer shell of a dying Sun-like star, illuminated by the hot stellar remnant at its center.

For this image, I deliberately chose not to isolate Messier 27 too tightly. Instead, I wanted to...

ParallaxStarLayers: My First PixInsight Script

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 10:11:58 GMT

I have published my first PixInsight script: ParallaxStarLayers.

The idea behind it started with a simple observation: astrophotography images are usually presented as flat final images, even though the stars in them exist at very different distances from us. Some are relatively close. Others are thousands of light-years away. And many are simply too faint, too ambiguous, or not available in the catalogue data used for identification.

ParallaxStarLayers uses this hidden depth information to split...

An Evening About Light, Time, and the Art of Astrophotography

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 14:52:10 GMT

Since early May, a selection of my astrophotography work has been on display at Café Emmas Onkel in Chemnitz. The exhibition, Sterne über Chemnitz, features twelve images created over the past several years - photographs of nebulae, galaxies, and star fields captured under the night skies of Saxony and beyond.

One question comes up again and again:

How are these images actually made?

Most visitors see the final photograph hanging on the wall. What remains invisible are the many hours behind it: ...

Skywarden Now Tracks the Sun

Sat, 06 Jun 2026 06:37:07 GMT

For most astrophotographers, the sun is the enemy - the reason a session ends, the thing you wait out. But the sun also defines everything: when twilight begins, when golden light falls across a landscape, when the sky finally darkens enough to chase faint nebulae. It has always been part of the planning equation. It just was not part of Skywarden. Until now.

The latest Skywarden update brings the sun into the app as a proper tracked object, alongside a set of features built around it - golden hour...

H3X - Bringing back a gem

Thu, 28 May 2026 14:03:29 GMT

Recently, I suddenly found myself thinking about Hexxagon.

That little DOS strategy game that ran on my first 386 PC back in the day. No big story, no flashy effects - just simple rules and a surprising amount of tactical depth.

Like with many old games, it quickly became obvious:

These days, it barely runs properly anywhere anymore.

So I built my own version. Not as an exact clone, but as a modern browser-based interpretation - free to play and including multiplayer support. The project is called...

The Bubble Maker

Tue, 26 May 2026 14:47:48 GMT

WR 134 is a Wolf-Rayet star in Cygnus - a massive, extraordinarily hot star in a late and turbulent phase of its life. Wolf-Rayet stars are rare: only a few hundred are known in our entire galaxy. What sets them apart is a relentless stellar wind that hurls matter into space at several thousand kilometres per second. Over millennia, WR134 has shed material equivalent to the mass of our Sun through this process alone.

That wind has slowly shaped and compressed the surrounding gas into the bluish ...

A Journey to the Stars — Astronomy Night at TU Chemnitz

Thu, 07 May 2026 19:54:20 GMT

This Saturday, May 9th, I will be giving a talk at TU Chemnitz as part of the Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften. At 22:00, "Reise zu den Sternen" takes visitors on a tour of the universe — from comets and auroras in our own backyard, through the nebulae of the Milky Way, and out into intergalactic space. Along the way, we will look at how stars are born, how they die, and why every atom in our bodies was forged in their cores.

The talk is part of a bigger night. What started as a two-person roadshow...

The Sunflower Galaxy

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 10:28:26 GMT

Lying roughly 27 million light-years away in Canes Venatici, M63 takes its popular name from the resemblance of its loosely wound, feathery spiral arms to the layered petals of a sunflower. Rather than a grand-design structure, its arms are patchy and discontinuous - the hallmark of a flocculent spiral. The galaxy's disk is inclined about 55 degrees to our line of sight, presenting an elongated oval shape, with a bright compact nucleus surrounded by tightly wound spiral segments and prominent dust...

Sterne über Chemnitz - My First Exhibition

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 13:46:58 GMT

I've been photographing the night sky for years. The images live on this website, get posted to social media, and only rarely make it as prints into the living rooms of my friends. But they never reached a wider audience or people not directly part of the astro bubble. Starting May 1st, that changes.

Emmas Onkel, a café in Chemnitz's Kaßberg neighborhood, is hosting my first ever exhibition - running from May 4th through July 31st 2026. I'm genuinely excited about this. Not in a polished, press-...

The Pacman Nebula

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 10:03:07 GMT

NGC 281, the Pacman Nebula, is an expansive star-forming region in Cassiopeia, roughly 9,500 light-years away. Its name comes from the distinctive shape visible in broadband light - an open mouth reminiscent of the arcade character. The nebula glows under the influence of the young open cluster IC 1590, embedded within its bright core, whose intense ultraviolet radiation ionizes the surrounding hydrogen gas and sets it ablaze. I had imaged this object once before in October 2024 - this is a return...

The Planetarium Shines Again

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 07:13:37 GMT

On 28 March, after nearly a year of closure, the school planetarium at Albert-Schweitzer-Oberschule reopened - on International Astronomy Day, which felt like the right kind of coincidence.

I've been involved with the planetarium for a while now, one of three freelance contributors looking after the venue, and specifically responsible for the website and the observatory. Getting to this point took time and effort from several people, and there was something quietly satisfying about spending that...

The Crescent Moon

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 14:22:14 GMT

At roughly 20% illumination, the waxing crescent reveals the Moon at its most dramatic. The terminator - the dividing line between lunar day and night - runs sharply across the northern disc, casting every crater rim and mountain wall into hard raking light. The surface stops being a flat disc and becomes a world.

Near the top, the elongated dark band of Mare Frigoris, the "Sea of Cold," stretches across the northern latitudes - an unusually long and narrow mare spanning some 1,400 km east to west...

The Leo Triplet

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 14:17:33 GMT

Some 35 million light-years away in the constellation Leo lies one of the spring sky's most iconic galaxy groups: the Leo Triplet, also known as the M66 Group. Three large spiral galaxies - M65, M66, and NGC 3628 - are gravitationally bound to one another, and the evidence of their long mutual interaction is written across all three members.

NGC 3628, the Hamburger Galaxy, dominates the left side of the frame. Seen perfectly edge-on, a broad dust lane bisects its entire disk, concealing the young...

The Planetarium Awakens

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 21:38:51 GMT

For some time now, the planetarium at the Albert-Schweitzer-Oberschule in Chemnitz has been closed. That is about to change.

Together with two fellow volunteers, I am preparing its restart. The plan for the remaining school term is modest but deliberate: get the first events running, bring the place back to life. From the new school year, regular programming. Running alongside that – public events open to anyone who wants to look up.

The starting point is the Tag der Astronomie on 28 March 2026....

Messier 106

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 15:02:11 GMT

Messier 106 is no ordinary spiral galaxy. At 23.7 million light-years in the constellation Canes Venatici, a Seyfert II nucleus harbors a central black hole of roughly 36 million solar masses - actively consuming matter and releasing enough energy to deform the galaxy's own fabric from within.

The blue-glowing structures flanking the classical spiral arms are not star-forming regions. These are M106's so-called anomalous arms - shock-heated gas driven out of the galactic plane by jets from the active...

No Ads. No Paywall. Just a Request.

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 12:21:31 GMT

Skywarden launched in January. Theo followed in March. Both apps have grown since then - Skywarden considerably more than I expected when I started building a solution to my own question: What should I photograph tonight?

The origin stories are documented elsewhere: Skywarden's here, Theo's here. This post is about what comes after.

Skywarden is now a full planning tool. Over 7,000 objects across seven catalogs, weather integration, seeing forecasts, Saharan dust detection, custom horizon profiles...

The Question Mark Nebula

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 12:00:05 GMT

Sharpless 171 is one of the most fascinating star-forming regions in the northern sky - a sprawling H II emission nebula in the constellation Cepheus, known together with its surrounding complex as NGC 7822, and nicknamed the "Question Mark Nebula" for its distinctive shape. The nebula lies roughly 800 to 1,000 parsecs (around 2,600 to 3,300 light-years) from the Sun and spans more than three degrees of sky - roughly three times the apparent diameter of the full Moon. In physical terms, that translates...

Meet Theo: I Just Needed a Theodolite

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 20:44:51 GMT

When I added proper horizon profile support to Skywarden, I thought the hard part was done. And it was - on the software side. The .hrz file format is simple, the interpolation logic was fun to write, and seeing Skywarden mask visibility windows against a real horizon felt genuinely satisfying.

The hard part turned out to be something else entirely: actually getting that horizon profile in the first place.

The theodolite problem

A proper horizon profile isn't just "there's a hill to the southeast...

Why I Switched Back to Claude

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 08:49:53 GMT

Last month I tested Claude seriously for the first time. The mobile app, Claude Code, the whole workflow. And honestly – it was good. Claude is focused, concise, doesn't overstay its welcome. No "Can I help you with anything else?" after every message. The code quality was consistently high.

But the limits were tight. I hit them faster than expected, even on Sonnet. And OpenCode – the AI coding tool I actually wanted to use – was a grey area with Claude's TOS. Anthropic never explicitly permits ...

AI-Assisted Development: One month in

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 23:04:10 GMT

I'll be honest - I was skeptical. When Vibe Coding started dominating every developer feed earlier this year, my instinct was to roll my eyes. Models were getting better, yes. They were producing more code, faster. But I kept coming back to one thought: you still need capable developers to read that code, understand it, review it, and make sure it doesn't fall apart in production. A faster way to produce mediocre code is not progress.

Still, I wanted to form my own opinion rather than an armchair...

Bye Astro Planner, hello Skywarden!

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 21:07:07 GMT

If you’ve been following my posts here, you know that I’m a bit obsessed with optimizing the few clear nights we actually get. A few days ago, I shared a "little tool" I’d hacked together to help me stop scrolling through catalogs and start shooting.

Since then, that weekend project has basically taken over my life - in the best way possible. I’ve spent countless late nights (the cloudy ones!) refining the logic, and today I’m finally ready to show you what it’s become.

A New Identity: Skywarden...

Astro Planner - a smarter way to choose what to shoot tonight

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 20:32:13 GMT

Astrophotography often starts with a familiar mix of excitement and uncertainty. The forecast looks good. The night might finally be clear. The gear is ready. And then the same question comes up - again:

What should I shoot tonight?

I’ve always kept lists of galaxies, nebulae, and clusters I’d like to image. But a list alone rarely helps in the moment. Is the object actually visible tonight? For how long? Does it clear the horizon high enough? Will the moon interfere? Does it fit my field of view...

The Shark Nebula

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 13:12:34 GMT

LDN 1235 - better known as the Shark Nebula - is one of those targets that rewards patience more than aperture. In this new capture, the “shark” emerges from the crowded star fields of Cepheus as a broad, smoky silhouette: not a glowing emission nebula, but a dense interstellar dust cloud that reveals itself by what it removes-background starlight. The darkest patch at the front reads as the shark’s “nose,” where the dust column is thick enough to noticeably extinguish the star field behind it. ...

A night to remember

Wed, 21 Jan 2026 21:17:39 GMT

Some nights you plan for wonder. And some nights wonder shows up anyway - louder, brighter, and completely unapologetic.

Last night was incredible. The kind of incredible that rewires your sense of what "a night sky" can be. I stepped outside expecting something - a faint arc maybe, a little glow low on the horizon. Instead, the aurora arrived like it had a choreography prepared: waves, curtains, pulses. It didn't just appear… it danced.

The forecast was there… but I still wasn't ready

The heads...

The Monkey Head Nebula

Mon, 19 Jan 2026 13:54:29 GMT

NGC 2175, better known as the Monkey Head Nebula, is a beautiful emission nebula and open star cluster in the constellation Orion. The object sits in the larger Sh2-252 complex (closely tied to the designation NGC 2174) and lies roughly 6.400 light-years from Earth - a distant, active H II region where new stars are still being born.

In this field, glowing hydrogen dominates the scene: ultraviolet radiation from hot, young stars ionises the gas and makes it shine, while thick dust lanes cut through...

The Flaming Star Nebula

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 10:14:59 GMT

Sh2-229, better known as the Flaming Star Nebula or IC 405, is a striking emission and reflection nebula located in the constellation Auriga. At a distance of roughly 1,500 light-years, this cosmic cloud spans several light-years and is shaped by intense ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds, creating the characteristic flame-like structures visible throughout the region.

What makes Sh2-229 especially fascinating is its dual nature. Large areas of glowing ionised hydrogen emit deep red H-alpha...

The Cave Nebula

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 20:26:33 GMT

Sh2-155, commonly known as the Cave Nebula, is an active star-forming region located in the constellation Cepheus, at a distance of approximately 2,400 light-years. It lies on the ionized edge of the Cepheus B molecular cloud, within the larger Cepheus molecular cloud complex, and represents a visually subtle yet structurally rich H II region in the northern sky.

The nebula’s characteristic “cave” appearance is created by a dense foreground dust cloud intruding into the glowing hydrogen gas behind...

The California Nebula

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 21:30:39 GMT

This astrophotography image features NGC 1499, widely known as the California Nebula, a large emission nebula located in the constellation Perseus. The nebula lies approximately 1,000 to 1,500 light-years from Earth and is one of the most impressive wide-field deep-sky objects in the northern night sky.

NGC 1499 earned its nickname due to its elongated shape, which closely resembles the outline of the U.S. state of California when captured in long-exposure images. With an apparent size of nearly...

The Rosette Nebula

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 13:11:57 GMT

The Rosette Nebula is a vast and luminous star-forming region located approximately 5,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Monoceros. Spanning nearly 130 light-years across, this cosmic cloud of hydrogen gas and interstellar dust surrounds the young open star cluster NGC 2244, whose massive blue stars dominate the nebula’s central cavity.

Formed only a few million years ago, these stars exert enormous influence on their surroundings. Their intense ultraviolet radiation ionizes the surrounding...

The Pleiades

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 15:39:04 GMT

Nearly one year after my last wide-field capture of M45, I returned to this iconic target with a narrower field of view and a focus on fine detail. This new image reveals the intricate structure of the reflection nebula that surrounds the bright, hot stars of the Pleiades cluster.

With the tighter framing, the delicate blue wisps of interstellar dust become far more pronounced — showing subtle filaments, smooth arcs, and faint overlapping layers that are typically lost in broader compositions. The...

The North America Nebula

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 15:47:08 GMT

The North America Nebula (NGC 7000) is a vast H II region in the constellation Cygnus, instantly familiar for its likeness to the North American continent. Recent astrometric work using Gaia places the North America / Pelican complex at about 2,590 ± 80 light-years from the Sun, making it significantly more distant than many older estimates and emphasising the large physical scale of the cloud.

What we see in this wide-field image is a tapestry of glowing hydrogen, darker dust lanes and pockets ...

How to (not) build an Allsky Camera

Mon, 03 Nov 2025 16:54:19 GMT

I’ve always liked the idea of having a camera quietly watching the night sky — catching meteors, cloud movements, and sometimes just the beauty of a clear night. It’s one of those small but satisfying DIY projects that blend astronomy, coding, and a bit of engineering.

But as I’ve learned, building an allsky camera isn’t just about plugging in a Raspberry Pi and pointing it upward. It’s also about learning what doesn’t work — sometimes the hard way.

This post is a small write-up of my latest (and...

Blocking AI Crawler Bots using robots.txt

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 15:38:48 GMT

While I follow the development of AI with a lot of interest, I do not want my work to be used for training these models. I just learned that it's possible to (at least try to) block AI bots from crawling a website using the robots.txt file.

To block OpenAI's GPTBot for example, add the following snippet:

User-Agent: GPTBot
Disallow: /

You may also define multiple User-Agent entries like this:

User-Agent: anthropic-ai
User-Agent: ChatGPT-User
User-Agent: GPTBot
Disallow: /

If you're interested, this...

The Wizard Nebula

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 12:57:33 GMT

NGC 7380, poetically known as the Wizard Nebula, is an enigmatic region of stellar creation and cosmic artistry located roughly 7,200 light-years away in the constellation Cepheus. Set against the backdrop of the northern Milky Way, this emission nebula unfurls its mystical silhouette in the star-speckled darkness, conjuring images of a robed figures weaving starlight into the fabric of the universe.

Sculpted in Starlight

At the heart of this magical expanse lies the open star cluster NGC 7380, ...

My first Top Pick on Astrobin

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 19:34:03 GMT

Yay, my composite image of the Lunar Eclipse above the Lulatsch in Chemnitz was just selected as a "Top Pick" on Astrobin 🎉

The Lobster Claw and Bubble Nebulae

Mon, 22 Sep 2025 11:59:57 GMT

NGC 7635, also known as the Bubble Nebula, takes center stage in this wide-field astrophotograph — offering a vivid showcase of dramatic star formation and complex cosmic interactions in Cassiopeia. The region is an H II emission nebula found approximately 7,100 light-years away, sculpted by the powerful stellar wind of the massive central star BD+60°2522 (sometimes classified as either a Wolf-Rayet or O-type star) whose energy and radiation create the nebula’s signature spherical bubble.

Cosmic...

The Lion Nebula

Mon, 22 Sep 2025 11:48:08 GMT

This is Sharpless 132, better known as the Lion Nebula, a vast emission nebula lying in the rich starfields at the southern border of the constellation Cepheus. Though often overlooked for its visual subtlety at the eyepiece, through careful astrophotography the nebula’s intricate “lion’s head” silhouette and glowing cosmic gas clouds come to life, revealing one of the Perseus Arm’s most spectacular hidden treasures.

Sculpted by Massive Stars

At the core of Sh2-132 stand two extraordinary Wolf-Rayet...

HTT 2025 – Part 3: Bye And See You Again

Sun, 21 Sep 2025 20:39:22 GMT

The final morning brought a peaceful end to a weekend full of astronomy and friendship. After a much quieter night free from mosquitoes, I found myself both eager and reluctant to pack up our gear. Reviewing the night’s images while still half-asleep, I was grateful to see the skies had cleared and allowed for some last-minute shots of the Bubble Nebula. Saying goodbye to Ronald and the new friends we had made was bittersweet; these connections beyond the telescopes gave the event a special warmth. As we headed home to Chemnitz, I carried with me the joy of a weekend well spent under the stars, knowing that next year, we would return to Jeßnigk to do it all over again.

HTT 2025 – Part 2: So Close to the Sun

Sun, 21 Sep 2025 20:19:09 GMT

The night was… lively. The mosquitoes had made themselves comfortable in our bus and diligently kept us from sleeping. But when the first rays of sunlight crept through the window, spirits were high again. This Saturday simply had to be better — and breakfast next to the bus, surrounded by a colorful mix of tents, RVs, and telescopes, already promised plenty of adventure.

The Herzberg Telescope Meeting really comes alive in the morning. Everywhere, people are tinkering, discussing gear, and grinning...

HTT 2025 – Part 1: Now or Never!

Sat, 20 Sep 2025 11:06:53 GMT

My phone flashes frantically: The sun will set shortly after seven — and I’m still surrounded by charging cables, thermos flasks, and the inevitable checklist.

The destination: Herzberger Teleskoptreffen in Jeßnigk, deep in southern Brandenburg, legendary for its dark skies and its relaxed community of stargazers, tinkerers, and astrophotography nerds. This year, I was determined to attend — especially because my eldest son’s long-standing dream was a road trip with camping.

But as so often happens...

Lunar Eclipse above the Lulatsch

Mon, 08 Sep 2025 15:24:07 GMT

Chemnitz Under the Blood Moon

On September 7th, 2025, the skies over Chemnitz delivered an unforgettable astronomical spectacle: a total lunar eclipse, casting the city under the shadow of the Earth and painting the moon in dramatic hues of deep red. As millions across Europe turned their gaze skyward, my camera sought a unique vantage — a composition that would celebrate both cosmic beauty and the character of my hometown. In the foreground stood the “Lulatsch”, Chemnitz’s beloved landmark, towering...

The Clamshell Nebula

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

This is Sharpless 119, poetically known as the Clamshell Nebula, residing in the constellation Cygnus approximately 2,200 light-years from Earth. Often overlooked due to its proximity to the more famous North America and Pelican Nebulae, this remarkable emission nebula presents a captivating display of cosmic architecture that truly lives up to its nickname.

The Pearl Within the Shell

At the heart of this celestial spectacle lies 68 Cygni, a brilliant blue-white star of magnitude 5 that serves as...

The Elephant's Trunk Nebula

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Stepping into this frame feels like drifting through a quiet storm of gas, dust, and newborn stars. Center stage is the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula, a sinuous, pillar-like structure embedded within the vast emission nebula IC 1396 in the constellation Cepheus. The scene spans light-years of interstellar sculpture carved by radiation and stellar winds from hot, massive stars.

The dark, towering “trunk” is a dense column of cold gas and dust. Its surface is being eroded by energetic ultraviolet light...

The Ghost of Cassiopeia

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Floating in the royal constellation Cassiopeia, this wispy apparition is IC 63—often called the Ghost of Cassiopeia. It’s a faint, billowing cloud of hydrogen sculpted by the nearby bright star Gamma Cassiopeiae. Ultraviolet light from that star energizes the nebula, making hydrogen glow a deep red while delicate dust lanes silhouette the surrounding starlight. The result is a haunting, layered structure that seems to drift through a star-rich Milky Way field.

In this widefield frame, the ghostly...

Astrophotography - Is it Art?

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Astronomy has always fascinated me and trying to capture what I saw and showcase it to others was the natural next step. Recently, I set out on a personal quest to find an art gallery willing to showcase my images - a journey filled with both anticipation and challenges.

While reaching out to galleries, I encountered a surprising setback though. Some curators told me that my photographs, stunning as they might be, were “not art” - that astrophotography is more science than artistic expression.

At...

The Crescent Nebula

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Astrophotography often leads us to stunning cosmic vistas hidden in plain sight among the stars. My latest adventure brought me face to face with the mesmerizing Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888), a jewel nestled within the rich tapestry of the Cygnus constellation.

Located approximately 5,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus, the Crescent Nebula is a brilliant example of a Wolf-Rayet nebula. Its distinctive shape - reminiscent of a cosmic bubble or crescent - is not the work of quiet...

The Flying Bat & Squid Nebulae

Sun, 15 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT

The Flying Bat Nebula, cataloged as Sh2-129, is a large, relatively faint emission nebula located in the constellation Cepheus, about 2,300 light-years from Earth. It lies close to the brighter and more commonly imaged IC 1396 nebula, home of the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula and spans over 2.5 degrees across the sky — about five times the apparent diameter of the full Moon — making it visually impressive but challenging to observe due to its faintness.

Sh2-129 is primarily an H-alpha emission nebula,...

Astronomy meets TU Chemnitz

Wed, 14 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Last weekend we had the opportunity to participate in a fascinating event: the TUC Tag 2025 at the Chemnitz University of Technology. Together with Andreas Gester, we were able to offer visitors the opportunity to experience astronomy firsthand – with a selection of telescopes and our captures of the universe.

Despite many clouds, the TUC Tag was a great success and our booth always was well-visited. Visitors admired the pictures, learned about the functionality of the various telescopes, and a ...

The Heart & Soul Nebulae

Tue, 06 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT

This is my biggest imaging project so far, I never worked with this much data before. It's a mosaic of my recent captures of the Heart and Soul Nebulae, combined with even more data from 2024. All in all, this is a stack of 317 subs of 300s, adding up to a total exposure time of 26hrs and 25min.

Processing wasn't easy - different kinds of multiband filters were involved, gradients overlayed each sub-stack, adding up to merge artifacts in the final mosaic. Besides that, the resolution is enormous...

The Whirlpool Galaxy

Sun, 27 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT

This is Messier 51, the so called Whirlpool Galaxy - an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy with a Seyfert 2 active nucleas, located about 31 million light years from us in the constellation Canes Venatici.

Discovered in October 1773 by Charles Messier, M51 (and its partner NGC 5195) is one of the most-observed and studied interacting galaxies. With an apparent magnitude of 8.4mag it's relatively bright and easily visible with also smaller amateur telescopes.

The image above is a crop of a wider...

One year of driving fully electric - a look back

Thu, 24 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT

History Time

It's three years now, since we bought our first electric vehicle (EV) - a Renault Zoe. We're a family of five, so while my wife used it for 99% of her drives, we still needed a bigger car for the trips we did as a whole family - a Citröen SpaceTourer (Diesel). It was a nice car but we disliked the environmental aspect of it and thus only used it when we had to. We'd never have exchanged it just because of that though (it's quite some money we're talking here), but fate happened and ...

The Soul Nebula

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT

This emission nebula, usually referred to as the soul or baby nebula, is located in the cassiopeia constellation as the eastern neighbor to IC1805. the heart nebula.

Multiple smaller open clusters are embedded into the nebula - CR 34, CR 632 and CR 634.

Moon & Pleiades

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT

On April 1st, 2025, between 20:45 and 23:45 (UTC), our moon passed in front of the Pleiades. Of course, our skies were completely cloudy, so I wasn't able to capture the actual event, but due to the brightness of the moon, compared to M45, creating a nice capture would have been complicated anyway.

Therefore, I used archive material (my M45 capture from November 2024 and the Moon from January 2022), to create an artistic composition of the event.

I also created a little animation:

Bode's Galaxy & the Cigar Galaxy

Thu, 27 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

In the center of this widefield image, there's a pair of galaxies, called Bode's Galaxy (M 81, right) and Cigar Galaxy (M 82, left).

Messier 81 is a spiral galaxy in the constallation Ursa Major, located about 12 million light years from us, with an apparent magnitude of about 6.

Next to it, there is Messier 82, a starburst galaxy with an apparent magnitute of 8.6 mag.

In a pretty close encounter about 500 million years ago, M 82 changed massively. The rate of star formation in its core increased...

The Heart Nebula

Wed, 05 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

For some reason, I keep coming back to this object. I just love all of those fine details in the heart nebula and it's neighbour, the fish head nebula.

In the center of the heart nebula, there's a small open cluster of stars, called Melotte 15. These stars are responsible for the ionization of the surrounding gas, making it glow in the characteristic red hue of hydrogen alpha emissions.

The fish head nebula, also known as IC 1795, is a bright emission nebula, located in the same star-forming region...

Markarian's Chain

Sun, 02 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT

The so called Markarian's Chain is a stretch of galaxies that forms part of the Virgo Cluster. It's named after the Armenian astrophysicist Benjamin Markarian, who discovered their common motion in the early 1960s.

Besides the main galaxies forming the curved chain, there are many more galaxies in the field of view, some of them even interacting with each other. Their distance is between 50 and 60 million light years from earth.

Casper the Friendly Ghost above Barnard's Loop

Sun, 02 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Barnard's Loop is a huge arc formed emission nebula in the constellation Orion, expaning over about 600 arcminutes as seen from our point of view, covering much of the constellation. This image just covers a small part of the loop, close to the star Alnitak.

In february 2023, I captured the whole constellation, giving a great overview of the loop and its surroundings (see above).

Above the loop, there's Messier 78 - the so called Casper the Friendly Ghost nebula. It's a diffuse reflection nebula...

New Luna Wallpapers

Thu, 30 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Scanning through my archive, I came across this old set of moon images I took in early 2022. While the processing I did back then is okay, I thought it could take a little more spice and drama, so I reprocessed the images and created a new set of wallpapers. Combined with my recent capture of NGC 869 and NGC 884, the h Persei and chi Persei clusters, our moon nicely pops out in a field of beautiful stars.

As a disclaimer, of course this is an artistic composition and not a real view.

The wallpapers...

h Persei and chi Persei Clusters

Tue, 21 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT

The h Persei (NGC 869) and chi Persei (NGC 884) clusters in the center of my image are two open star clusters in the constellation Perseus. Located at 7460 and 7640 light years from earth, both are about 14 million years olf.

The double cluster, first recorded by Hipparchus in the antique, is easily visible with the naked eye and a great sight with even low magnification.

Orion's Belt

Tue, 21 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Orion's Belt is a well-known asterism in the constellation Orion. It consists of the three bright stars Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka. These stars are more formally known as Zeta (ζ), Epsilon (ε), and Delta (δ) Orionis, respectively. The belt is one of the most easily recognizable asterisms in the night sky, being far more noticeable than the Big Dipper. The stars are more or less evenly spaced in a straight line, and so can be visualized as the belt of the hunter's clothing.

The area around Alnitak...

The Jellyfish Nebula

Sun, 19 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT

IC 443, the Jellyfish Nebula, is a remnant of a galactic supernova, that occurred 30.000 to 35.000 years ago near Eta Geminorum, about 5.000 light years from earth in constellation Gemini.

The same supernova may also have created the neutron star CXOU J061705.3+222127, the collapsed remnant of the stellar core.

Generating OpenGraph images with Astro

Fri, 10 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Providing OpenGraph images for websites enables other tools to render rich previews when your content is shared.

I used to manually add an image for each of my posts and embedded it using the astro-seo integrations. This approach works well in general, but I wanted to have a bit more branding with these images. Of course, I could have put some more effort into creating these images, using a Photoshop template and manually adding titles on top but, well, that would be pretty boring, right?

With ...

The Christmas Tree Cluster and Cone Nebula

Sat, 28 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT

The designation of NGC 2264 in the New General Catalogue refers to both objects, the Cone Nebula and the Christmas Tree Cluster, forming the iconic structure in the center. While not officially part of this designation, the Fox Fur Nebula is also a prominent part of this region.

The Cone Nebula is an H-II region. It's shape is created by a dark absorption nebula and dust in front of the faint emission nebula.

Left from the central structure, there's a small bright nebula, easy to miss. This is ...

The Spaghetti Nebula

Fri, 27 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT

The Spaghetti Nebula, also known as Simeis 147 or Sharpless 240, is a supernova remnant between the constellations Auriga and Taurus. It's a very faint nebula, relatively recently discovered in 1952 by Crimean Astrophysical Observatory by Grigory Shajn and his team.

The nebula exhibits an almost spherical shell with a filamentary structure. It has an apparent diameter of about 3 degrees, a distance of approximately 3.000 light-years, and an estimated age of around 40.000 years. At this distance,...

Wrapping up 2024

Wed, 25 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT

The year is coming to an end and I compiled a little video of my captures this year.

Mars and the Beehive Cluster

Sun, 01 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT

The beehive cluster is an open star cluster in the constellation of Cancer, located between 520 and 610 light years from earth. It's one of the nearest open clusters to our solar system and one of the largest, containing over 1,000 stars. The cluster is relatively young, with an estimated age of 600 million years.

In my capture, planet Mars joins the scene, adding a nice contrast. Mars is the fourth planet from the sun and the second smallest planet in our solar system.

The Seven Sisters - Pleiades

Sat, 30 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Located about 444 light years from earth, in the constellation of Taurus, the Pleiades are among the closest star clusters to our sun and probably the most obvious one in the night sky, clearly visible to the naked eye and a great sight through binoculars.

The cluster is visually dominated by seven hot blue stars, formed within the last 100 million years, moving together through a dust cloud in the interstellar medium, thus causing the famous blue reflection nebulae around them.

It's estimated ...

The Andromeda Galaxy

Sun, 03 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Andromeda is our closest neighbor galaxy, located around 2.5 million light years away from us. It's one of these object I come back to again and again, mainly because I did not yet get a capture I'm happy with. Now, this one is different and I like it a lot.

Did you know, that Andromeda is actually moving in our direction and eventually will merge with our milky way? No need to be scared though. Scientists calculated, that the merger will begin in 3 to 4 million years and will take approximately...

The Pacman Nebula

Wed, 23 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT

NGC 281 is a large emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia. It is also known as the Pacman Nebula because of its resemblance to the video game character. The nebula is located about 9200 light-years from Earth and is part of the Perseus Spiral Arm of the Milky Way galaxy. In it's center is an open cluster of young stars (IC 1590) that are responsible for the ionization of the surrounding gas, causing it to glow.

Out now: Astro Calendar for 2025

Tue, 22 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT

For the first time ever, I'm offering a calendar featuring 12 of my best images from the past years, including the North America nebula, Sadr Region, Andromeda Galaxy and many more.

The calendar is printed on high-quality paper and spiral-bound, so it's easy to hang on your wall. It's available in two sizes — DIN A3 and DIN A2 — and includes highlights for german holidays.

The calendar is available for purchase in my shop and ships worldwide.

Get yours now!

Comet C/2023 A3 through the clouds

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is a long-period comet discovered by the ATLAS survey on January 9, 2023. The comet is currently visible in the evening sky in the northern hemisphere and due to it's brightness (reached magnitude -4), it's visible to the naked eye on a dark sky and well visible using binoculars or small telescopes.

While in my image, the dust tail is visible through the clouds, it recently also developed an anti-tail, a long and thin line pointing towards the sun. This rare phenomenon...

Super Harvest Moon

Tue, 17 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMT

On September 17th, 2024, the moon rised as an actual supermoon - an astronomical phenomenon, where the full moon looks larger and brighter than usual. The term supermoon is not an official astronomical term, but it is widely used in the media and popular culture. The moon was at its closest point to Earth in its orbit, called the perigee.

This time, it's also a so called harvest moon - the full moon that occurs closest to the autumn equinox. The name harvest moon is derived from the tradition of...

The Veil Nebula Complex

Sat, 24 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMT

The Veil Nebula is a large supernova remnant in the constellation Cygnus. The source supernova exploded between 10.000 and 20.000 years ago, and the remnants have since expanded to cover an area roughly 3 degrees in diameter (about 6 times the diameter, and 36 times the area, of the full Moon). The distance to the nebula is not precisely known, with estimates ranging from 1,400 to 2,600 light-years.

Bubble, Northern Lagoon & Lobster Claw Nebulae

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Bubble, Northern Lagoon & Lobster Claw Nebulae

Sadr Region and Crescent Nebula

Sat, 10 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMT

With an apparent magnitude of 2.2, Sadr is one of the brightest stars in the night sky, forming the intersection of an asterism of five stars, called the northern cross. The huge star in the center of the image is located about 1.800 lightyears from earth.

The Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888) in the top right is a cosmic bubble of gas and dust, created by the stellar wind of the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136. The nebula is located at a distance of about 5.000 lightyears from earth.

Iris Nebula

Mon, 29 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

The Iris Nebula, located at a distance of about 1.300 light-years from earth in the constellation Cepheus, is a reflection nebula, which means that it shines by reflecting the light of the star SAO 19158, which is located in the center of the nebula. It's also known as the "Flower Nebula" due to its shape and colors. The nebula is surrounded by dark clouds of interstellar dust, which give it its distinctive shape.

Eagle and Omega Nebulae

Tue, 09 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

This is a widefield image of the Eagle and Omega Nebulae in the constellation Serpens. The Eagle Nebula (M 16) is the bright nebula in the center, while the Omega Nebula (M 17) is the bright nebula on the right side of the image. The Eagle Nebula is located at a distance of about 7.000 light-years from earth, while the Omega Nebula is located at a distance of about 5.500 light-years from earth.

If you zoom close enough to the center of the Eagle Nebula, you will find the famous Pillars of Creation...

Lion Nebula

Mon, 13 May 2024 00:00:00 GMT

The Lion Nebula, also known as Sh2-132, is a faint emission nebula in the constellation Cepheus. It is located at a distance of about 10.000 light-years from Earth.

North America and Pelican Nebulae

Wed, 08 May 2024 00:00:00 GMT

North America and Pelican Nebulae

Heart and Soul Nebulae

Sat, 09 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Located approximately 6000 light years away from Earth, these two nebulae form a vast star-forming complex, spanning around 300 light years in diameter. As part of the Perseus arm of the Milky Way galaxy, they are rich in interstellar gas and dust, providing a fertile ground for star formation.

The image is a HOO composition, mapping emissions of hydrogen alpha gas to the red channel, while oxygen III emissions are mapped to the green and blue channels. This results in a colorful representation ...

Elephants Trunk Nebula

Fri, 08 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Elephants Trunk Nebula

Gamma Cassiopeiae Nebula

Thu, 29 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Gamma Cassiopeiae Nebula

Let's travel through time

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Thank you for joining me on my little trip down the memory lane, in celebration of my latest capture. This one is kinda special to me. Take a seat, this may take a while 🙃

It's December 2020, the Corona virus is holding our world hostile and germany is under lockdown. I'm struggeling mentally and can't sleep for many nights, so I spend quite some time out in our garden, just watching the night sky and trying to sort my thoughts.

I always was fascinated by the wonders our universe holds, but I never...

Great Orion Nebula

Sun, 28 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Great Orion Nebula

Flaming Star Nebula

Sat, 20 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Flaming Star Nebula

Sharpless 171

Wed, 10 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Sharpless 171

The California Nebula

Tue, 09 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT

The California Nebula

The Rosette Nebula

Mon, 08 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT

The Rosette Nebula

Wrapping up 2023

Thu, 28 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMT

The year is coming to an end and I compiled a little video of my captures this year.

Aurora over germany

Sun, 05 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Last night, I finally got to see my very first live aurora. Well, at least kind of.

I sadly didn't witness it, but my allsky camery captured the event, which took place between 6:02pm and 6:34pm today, November 5th 2023. This is an animation of the 29x 60s subs (right side is pointing north):

While auroras are pretty common in the northern areas, seeing them over germany is a very rare event, specially over Chemnitz.

Why are they expanding further south? Well, the activity of our sun has a regular...

The Heart Nebula

Wed, 20 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Located 7500 lightyears away in the cassiopeia constellation, the heart nebula is a giant emmission nebula, surrounding NGC896, an open star cluster.

The Veil Nebula

Sun, 10 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMT

The Veil Nebula

The Andromeda Galaxy

Fri, 18 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMT

M31 was one of the first objects I tried photographing and it is the one I failed the most with. Multiple optics, cameras, filters, exposure times - no matter what I tried in the past, I just couldn't get a good shot out of the data. With this one now, I'm pretty pleased, though.

Our Sun

Wed, 12 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Our Sun

The Hercules Cluster (Messier 13)

Fri, 26 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT

The Hercules Cluster (Messier 13)

The Pinwheel Galaxy (Messier 101)

Fri, 21 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT

The Pinwheel Galaxy (Messier 101)

Our Sun

Sun, 09 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Our Sun

Our Moon (98%)

Tue, 04 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Our Moon (98%)

Yet another blog?!

Mon, 03 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT

I used to blog quite regularly a few years ago, about all the things in my mind.

While I rarely find the time, I really want to get this going again. I want to write again. So, if everything works out, I will post about being a father, images I took and how I processed them, new gear, productivity, developer life and so much more.

I hope I can make this a habit again, but there are quite a few ideas in my mind already.

Disclaimer: This section is named Thoughts intentionally. I want to write, not...

The Orion Constellation

Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT

My favorite constellation, featuring Barnard's Loop, the Great Orion Nebula (M 42), Flame Nebula (NGC2029), Horsehead Nebula (IC434), Witchhead Nebula and Casper Ghost (M78).

The green Comet - C/2022 E3 (ZTF)

Tue, 07 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT

The green Comet - C/2022 E3 (ZTF)

The Summer Triangle (Re-edit)

Thu, 19 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT

This is a re-edit of my data from august 2022.

Bode's Galaxy and the Cigar Galaxy (Re-edit)

Mon, 16 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT

This is another re-edit of my captured data from march 2022.

Flame Nebula and Horsehead Nebula (Re-edit)

Thu, 12 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT

This is another re-edit of my captured data from march 2022.

The Great Orion Nebula (Re-edit)

Thu, 12 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT

This is another re-edit of my captured data from february 2022.

The Seven Sisters - Plejades (M 45) - Re-edit

Wed, 11 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT

This is a re-edit of my captured data from october 2021.

It's fascinating to see the difference, processing the exact same data after roughly one more year of learning and training in PixInsight.

20 Minutes of Jupiter Rotation

Tue, 15 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMT

20 Minutes of Jupiter Rotation

Our red neighbour, Mars

Tue, 15 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Our red neighbour, Mars

Partial Solar Eclipse (October '22)

Tue, 25 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Partial Solar Eclipse (October '22)

Perseus above the forrest

Sat, 22 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Perseus above the forrest

Milky Way core above the mountains

Sat, 22 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Milky Way core above the mountains

Full Moon

Sun, 09 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Full Moon

Milky Way panorama above the beach

Wed, 03 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT

My very first nightscape panorama, made from four rows of 8 images each, stitched together.

Milky Way above a lifeguard tower

Wed, 03 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Milky Way above a lifeguard tower

Milky Way above the dune

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Milky Way above the dune

The Summer Triangle

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT

The Summer Triangle

Our Moon (82%)

Wed, 11 May 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Our Moon (82%)

Moon Panorama

Sun, 08 May 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Moon Panorama

Our Sun (2022-04-23)

Sat, 23 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Our Sun (2022-04-23)

Our Sun (2022-04-18)

Mon, 18 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Our Sun (2022-04-18)

Moon Panorama

Mon, 11 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Moon Panorama

Mon, 11 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Moon Panorama

Our Moon (97%)

Thu, 17 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Our Moon (97%)

Our Moon (52%)

Thu, 10 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Our Moon (52%)

Our Sun (2022-03-10)

Thu, 10 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Our Sun (2022-03-10)

Full Moon in false color

Mon, 17 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Our Moon with increased saturation, to show the different surface materials.

Our Moon (30%)

Thu, 06 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Our Moon (30%)

Jupiter, showing its great red spot

Sat, 21 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Jupiter, showing its great red spot

Saturn, Lord of the Rings

Mon, 16 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Saturn, Lord of the Rings

Milky Way

Wed, 04 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Milky Way

Wed, 04 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Milky Way

Wed, 04 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Milky Way