The North American Nebula

Last night the temperatures were a wee bit lower, which made for better astrophotography conditions. We spent a little over three hours setting up and taking thirty 180-second images of the North American Nebula, which I stacked and processed this morning. I was really pleased with the outcome. 

If you squint just right, you might be able to make out the shape of North America, which is why this nebula was so named. 

Pinwheel Galaxy and Witch's Broom

I've been spending countless hours trying to become a little proficient at processing our astrophotos. I keep trying different programs, and find things I like - and things I don't like - about each of them. Right now I'm playing with three programs:  Nebulosity, StarTools and ASTAP. I also bring the images into Affinity Photo, sometimes, for fine tuning. 

This first image is of the Western Veil, which is located "next door" to the Eastern Veil, which I've already posted a few days ago. The Western Veil is also known as The Witch's Broom. 

And the one below is the Pinwheel Galaxy.