What Is M24? Capturing It Live from Start to Finish

Join me for a complete EAA session capturing M24, the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud, from my Bortle 7 backyard in Melbourne. M24 is not a single deep-sky object. It is a vast field of distant stars revealed through a clearer gap in the Milky Way’s dark dust clouds, creating a remarkable window into our galaxy. In this video, I show the entire session from start to finish, including polar alignment in NINA, focusing, framing the target, live stacking in SharpCap and processing the final image in Siril and Photoshop. The wide field also reveals M17, M18 and the dark nebulae Barnard 92 and Barnard 93. What is EAA? Electronically Assisted Astronomy (EAA) uses live stacking of short exposures to reveal faint details in real time that our eyes cannot see through the telescope alone. Equipment used: I’ve included links to some of the gear I used, in case they’re helpful. Some of the links below are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you. Telescope: Svbony SV555 54mm f/4.5 refractor: https://amzn.to/4v4Qu0j Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ AL55i Camera: ToupTek ATR2600C (IMX571) Filter: SVBONY UV/IR cut filter: https://amzn.to/4nNg47Z Mini PC: MeLE Quieter4C Ultrathin Fanless N100: https://amzn.to/4f3R7Tm Power Box: Svbony SV241: https://amzn.to/3RFExzQ Dew Heater: SVBONY SV172 Dew Heater Strip: https://link.amazon/B02zjq3Tp Power Adaptor: Alitove AC 220-240V to DC 12V 10A 120W: https://amzn.to/4nM1TzY Power Supply: EcoFlow River 2 portable power station Control Software: NINA Stacking Software: SharpCap Pro Processing Software: Siril, Photoshop Image credits NASA, ESA and R. Sahai (Jet Propulsion Laboratory); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America) KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Fred Calvert/Adam Block ESO/VPHAS+ team; Acknowledgement: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit ESO/INAF-VST/OmegaCAM/Nick Risinger (skysurvey.org)/Digitized Sky Survey 2; Acknowledgement: OmegaCen/Astro-WISE/Kapteyn Institute SpaceEngine visualisations: SpaceEngine PRO © Cosmographic Software LLC #EAA #M24 #Astrophotography