Bernd Flachsbart
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bflachsbart.bsky.social
Bernd Flachsbart
@bflachsbart.bsky.social
980 followers 780 following 1.1K posts
Regular lender on kiva.org | Favourite place on earth: Vaucluse, France 🇫🇷 | Thumbs up: Road cycling 🚴‍♀️ Hard & heavy music 🤘 Astrophotography 🔭✨
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VdB 14 and VdB 15 captured from my dark site in southern France end of September 🇫🇷 😊🔭

This was shot on the EdgeHD 8 with Hyperstar for a total integration time of about 5.5 hours using an OSC cam with just the UV/IR-Cut filter.

#Astrophotography

@kat-astro-bot.bsky.social‬ what do you see?
VdB 14 and VdB 15 are a pair of beautiful reflection nebulae in the constellation Camelopardalis. They are about 2600 light years away from Earth.
November 27, 2025 at 6:15 PM
bflachsbart.bsky.social
Wolf’s Cave Nebula (LDN 1217 / vdB 152) captured on two nights a couple of weeks ago 😊🔭

This was shot on the EdgeHD 8 with Hyperstar for a total integration time of about 8.5 hours. I combined OSC and mono Ha data for this image.

#Astrophotography

@kat-astro-bot.bsky.social‬ what do you see?
Wolf’s Cave Nebula is a peculiar target: A reflection nebula at the tip of dark nebula. And this strange combo is even accompanied by an ancient planetary nebula and some supernova remnant filaments. All in one frame!
November 5, 2025 at 7:01 PM
bflachsbart.bsky.social
I just finished reading this book and can highly recommend it 🙂
It’s a good read and I really enjoyed it!
October 29, 2025 at 9:22 PM
bflachsbart.bsky.social
LDN 1165 captured on two nights a couple of weeks ago 😊🔭

This was shot on the EdgeHD 8 with Hyperstar for a total integration time of 7 hours in OSC and Mono. I used the mono Ha data to enhance the red and the luminance details.

#Astrophotography

@kat-astro-bot.bsky.social‬ what do you see?
LDN 1165 is a dark nebula which really appears to be pitch black. Processing this image was more challenging than I expected. LDN 1165 is located in the constellation of Cepheus and it lies at a distance of about 1000 light years from Earth.
October 26, 2025 at 2:21 PM
bflachsbart.bsky.social
LBN 437 The Gecko Nebula captured from my dark site in southern France last month 🇫🇷 😊🔭

It was shot on the EdgeHD 8 with Hyperstar for a total integration time of 8 hours in OSC and Mono. The red nebulosity was enhanced with Ha data.

#Astrophotography

@kat-astro-bot.bsky.social‬ what do you see?
The Gecko Nebula LBN 437 is a dark nebula embedded in the red emission nebula SH2-126. It lies at a distance of about 1.200 light years from Earth in the constellation of Lacerta. Its shape resembles a Gecko hence the name 🦎
October 10, 2025 at 4:45 PM
bflachsbart.bsky.social
LDN 1251 The Rotten Fish Nebula captured from my dark site in southern France this month 🇫🇷 😊🔭

This was shot on the EdgeHD 8 with Hyperstar for a total integration time of about 4 hours using an OSC cam with just the UV/IR-Cut filter.

#Astrophotography

@kat-astro-bot.bsky.social‬ what do you see?
LDN 1251 is a dark nebula in the constellation of Cepheus. It consists of cosmic molecular clouds and dust blocking the stars. Its form resembles a fish hence the name. But I doubt that anyone verified its smell yet 😅
September 28, 2025 at 5:37 PM
bflachsbart.bsky.social
SH2-114 The Flying Dragon Nebula captured from my dark site in southern France this month 🇫🇷 😊🔭

It was shot on the EdgeHD 8 with Hyperstar for a total integration time of about 11 hours in mono using Ha and SII filters and combined with OSC stars.

#Astrophotography

@kat-astro-bot.bsky.social‬
Image of the emission nebula SH2-114 in the constellation of Cygnus. Its structure resembles a dragon hence it’s named the Flying Dragon Nebula. The image was processed in a SHH palette with reddish copper colours.
September 24, 2025 at 4:00 PM
bflachsbart.bsky.social
Yesterday’s Total Lunar Eclipse captured from southern France at 20:47 PM just about 5 minutes before totality ended 🇫🇷 😊🔭

This is a stack of 60 x 1 sec frames taken on the EdgedHD 8 with Hyperstar using a QHY294C cam.

#LunarEclipse
#Astrophotography
The reddish Blood Moon during the Total Lunar Eclipse on 7 September 2025
September 8, 2025 at 8:33 PM
bflachsbart.bsky.social
WR 134 captured from my patio on 14 nights in July & August 😊🔭

This nebula around the star WR 134 was shot on the EdgeHD 8 for a total integration time of 58 h in mono with Ha and OIII narrowband filters and merged with RGB stars.

#Astrophotography

@kat-astro-bot.bsky.social‬ what do you see?
WR 134 is a dying Wolf-Rayet star about 6000 light years away from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus. The surrounding structure is formed by WR 134 blowing off massive amounts of its shell and its intense radiation. WR 134 is the second from right of the four lined up stars in the centre.
September 1, 2025 at 4:37 PM
bflachsbart.bsky.social
Abell 39 captured from my patio on seven nights in June 😊🔭

This bubble like planetary nebula was shot on the EdgeHD 8 for a total integration time of 27 hours in mono using Ha and OIII narrowband filters and RGB filters for the stars.

#Astrophotography

@kat-astro-bot.bsky.social‬ what do you see?
Abell 39 is a faint planetary nebula about 3800 light years away from Earth in the constellation of Hercules. Its shell has a radius of about 1.4 light years and has a nearly perfect spherical shape. It looks like a bubble in space!
July 18, 2025 at 6:33 PM
bflachsbart.bsky.social
NGC 6543 The Cat’s Eye Nebula captured from my patio on seven nights 😊🔭

This was shot on the EdgeHD 8 for a total integration time of about 27 hours in mono. It’s a combination of Ha and OIII narrowband data with LRGB data for the core and the stars.

#Astrophotography

@kat-astro-bot.bsky.social‬
NGC 6543 is a planetary nebula about 3300 light years away from Earth in the constellation Draco. There’s a dying Wolf-Rayet star in its centre. The bright core is surrounded with a faint cobweb like structure.
July 13, 2025 at 6:29 PM
bflachsbart.bsky.social
M97 The Owl Nebula captured from my patio on several nights in May 😊🔭

It was shot on the EdgeHD 8 for a total integration time of about 22 hours in mono with Ha and OIII narrowband filters and combined with OSC data for the stars.

@kat-astro-bot.bsky.social‬ what do you see?

#Astrophotography
M97 is a planetary nebula about 2000 light years away from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major.
June 8, 2025 at 7:00 PM
bflachsbart.bsky.social
Il y avait même celle-là en bas à droite avant que j’ai coupé l’image 🤩
May 21, 2025 at 6:41 AM
bflachsbart.bsky.social
M94 The Croc’s Eye Galaxy captured from my dark site in southern France on two nights in early May 😊🔭🇫🇷

This was shot on the EdgeHD 8 with Hyperstar at f/2 for a total integration time of 5 hours using a QHY183C cam without any filter.

@kat-astro-bot.bsky.social‬ what do you see?

#Astrophotography
M94 is a spiral galaxy with two unique ring structures. It is about 16 million light years away from Earth and located in the constellation of Canes Venatici
May 20, 2025 at 7:54 PM
bflachsbart.bsky.social
The Leo Triplet captured from my dark site in southern France last week 😊🔭🇫🇷

It was shot on the EdgeHD 8 with Hyperstar at f/2 on a moonless night under Bortle 4 skies. The total integration time is just 2 hours using a QHY183C cam without any filter.

@kat-astro-bot.bsky.social‬

#Astrophotography
Image of the Leo Triplet a group of three galaxies in the constellation of Leo. The Leo Triplet consists of M66, M65 and NGC 3628 and is also referred to as the M66 group. This small group of galaxies is about 35 million light years away from Earth.
April 29, 2025 at 7:28 PM
bflachsbart.bsky.social
@kat-astro-bot.bsky.social‬ what do you see?
April 21, 2025 at 7:54 PM
bflachsbart.bsky.social
IC 2574 Coddington’s Nebula captured from my patio on four nights in early March 😊🔭

It was shot on the EdgeHD 8 for a total integration time of about 18 hours in LRGB and 10 hours in Ha to enhance the star forming regions. Processing this irregular dwarf galaxy was challenging!

#Astrophotography
Image of the irregular dwarf galaxy IC 2574. It’s located in the constellation of Ursa Major and is about 11 million light years away from Earth. The star forming regions were enhanced using a Ha narrowband filter and are visible as reddish areas in this image.
April 21, 2025 at 7:51 PM
bflachsbart.bsky.social
The waxing gibbous Moon captured on 8th of April from southern France 🇫🇷😊🔭

This was shot on the EdgeHD 8 and is a stack of the best 1.000 frames of a 2 minute sequence with 15 ms exposure time per frame.

#Astrophotography
Image of the waxing gibbous Moon. The colour saturation was slightly enhanced in image processing to reveal the mineral colours.
April 13, 2025 at 10:34 AM
bflachsbart.bsky.social
Messier 81 Bode’s Galaxy captured from my patio on six nights in early March 😊🔭

It was shot on the EdgeHD 8 for a total integration time of about 19 hours in LRGB and 12 hours in Ha to enhance the star forming regions.

#Astrophotography

@kat-astro-bot.bsky.social‬
M81 is a beautiful and large Galaxy in the constellation of Ursa Major. It’s about 12 million light years away from Earth. The star forming regions in the vast spiral arms were enhanced with Ha narrowband data in this image and reveals them as reddish glowing patches.
March 31, 2025 at 6:38 PM
bflachsbart.bsky.social
Jones-Emberson 1 captured from my patio on 5 nights last month 😊🔭

It was shot on the EdgeHD 8 for a total integration time of about 34 hours in mono with Ha and OIII narrowband filters and LRGB filters for the stars.

#Astrophotography

@kat-astro-bot.bsky.social‬
Jones-Emberson 1 is a large and rather faint planetary nebula. It’s also dubbed the headphone nebula because the circular shape has two symmetrical notches resembling a headphone. The central star is a noticeable blueish white dwarf. JnEr1 is about 1.600 light years away from Earth and is located in the constellation of Lynx.
March 12, 2025 at 4:55 PM
bflachsbart.bsky.social
IC 1805 The Heart Nebula captured from my patio on two nights last month 😊🔭

This was shot on the EdgeHD 8 with Hyperstar at f/2 for a total integration time of about 10 hours in Mono using narrowband filters and combined with OSC data for the stars.

#Astrophotography

@kat-astro-bot.bsky.social‬
Image of the bright emission nebula IC 1805 which is commonly named the Heart Nebula due to its shape resembling a heart. The inner core looks like a blue lake here because the OIII emission is rendered blue in the SHO colour palette. In its centre there is a prominent open star cluster with a peculiar pillar of dust. This area has the designation Melotte 15.
March 5, 2025 at 7:43 PM
bflachsbart.bsky.social
NGC 1491 The Fossil Footprint Nebula captured from my patio in November last year 😊🔭

It was shot on the EdgeHD 8 for a total integration time of about 20 hours in mono with Ha and OIII narrowband filters and LRGB filters for the stars.

#Astrophotography

@kat-astro-bot.bsky.social‬
Image of the emission nebula NGC 1491 processed in a HOO palette with yellowish brown hues. This target has a very bright but rather small core.
February 26, 2025 at 6:57 PM
bflachsbart.bsky.social
The waxing gibbous moon captured from my patio on February 8th 😊🔭

I had setup my EdgeHD 8 with Hyperstar for a deep sky session but the clouds had other plans. So I stubbornly tried a bit of planetary imaging at f/2 with this gear and got creative in processing the mess 😅

#Astrophotography
The Moon with subtle mineral colours composed on a background of dramatic glowing clouds.
February 13, 2025 at 5:16 PM
bflachsbart.bsky.social
LBN 782 and LBN 785 captured from my dark site in southern France on December 30th 2024 😊🔭🇫🇷

This was shot on the EdgeHD 8 with Hyperstar at f/2 for a total integration time of about 4.5 hours using a QHY294C cam and the Baader UHCL filter.

@kat-astro-bot.bsky.social‬

#Astrophotography
A beautiful set of reflection nebula targets embedded in the Taurus molecular cloud. The main target LBN 782 features blueish hues next to a reddish glow around a bright star.
January 26, 2025 at 5:58 PM
bflachsbart.bsky.social
LBN 777 The Baby Eagle Nebula captured from my dark site in southern France end of December 😊🔭🇫🇷

This was shot on the EdgeHD 8 with Hyperstar at f/2 for a total integration time of about 4 hours using a QHY294C cam and the Baader UHCL filter.

@kat-astro-bot.bsky.social‬

#Astrophotography
Image of LBN 777 in the constellation of Taurus. This molecular cloud looks like the head of a vulture.
January 12, 2025 at 7:07 PM