At the dawn of a new year, I would like to review 2022: it is time to look back and ponder. For us, how has the hobby production evolved in the year. Have any new techniques been incorporated into the workflow? Any new gear? Any new workarounds, “fiddlings” and solutions? What have we accomplished and what have we learnt? And, what about the results - the images themselves? They are, however, at least for me, far from the ultimate goal: it’s much more about the process than just pretty pictures. The wonder, friendships, knowledge, discovery... that is what astroimaging is all about.

2022, as the global pandemic lessened and necessarry restrictions were suspended, it is useful to consider the difficult time that we all - all humankind - faced (and continue to face, albeit to a lesser degree). Among the necessary lessons we should all take from this trying times, are the necessity to care more for one another, to appreciate all the little things of life, and be grateful for what we have and do. As I did in the previous yearly overview, I quote "Pale Blue Dot" by Carl Sagan (in a very different context from the original, but to me still valid): "To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve, and cherish, the pale blue dot; the only home we've ever known".

A busy year for me, probably even busier than 2021 -not only within astrophotography activities, but also outside of it. I started to work in my Masters degree (continuing my studies at the University of São Paulo, where I graduated last year), a period of intense learning and dedication. For this and other personal reasons, I was not as active here and in other online astrophotography communities as I wanted to be. Nonetheless, astrophotography is far from frozen within me. Far from it!

2022 saw the realization of a dream, which intensely occupied my free time for the hobby, intelectually and phisically, with significant work and time commitments. 2022 will be forever and unforgettably the year I realized the dream of building my personal observatory. The result - and, more interestingly, the story/process behind it - is so amazing I want to share it in detail with you, in a future dedicated post. As of now, I keep it short: building the observatory was a personal goal and my highest accomplishment in astrophotography since I started the hobby, more than 10 years ago (2012)! Its official inaugaration took place on 17 June 2022,  but there is still a lot of work to do, towards a fully remote and autonomous observatory. You can have a sneak peak at it in the center of this image compilation : )

In terms of gear upgrades, I must share some exciting news: after 10 years of purerly DSLR-based imaging, I have finally entered the dedicated astrocam world. I bought a color IMX571-based camera, a blue Touptek (model ATR3CMOS26000KPA). I have commissioned it to be used as my main imaging camera for the observatory, and I am *very* satisfied and impressed by the results. I expect to get higher SNR than my preivous APSC camera (a whopping ~3x improvement is my estimation based on a theoretical calculator I developed - the same depth can be reached in 1/3 the time, when compared to the Canon T5). Besides, the consistency (TEC cooler), robust construction for future remote operation, easier filter compatibility (shorter BFL), and the attractive price of the Touptek camera when compared to "mainstream" ZWO/QHY offerings of the same sensor were also important factors in the decision. The camera alone also deserves a full-lenght post later on.

Many smaller equipment was also upgraded or bought. I note the observatory allsky camera, which was used to capture the bottom right images of the compilation. It was a really fun DIY project (started on 2017, then last year I reworked the project, and now I can say it is fully-featured and installed in the observatory). The DIY Go-To (OnStep) retrofit of my trusty EQ3-2 mount, small guide scope, new fisheye lens, and many subsystems for the observatory were also installed mostly by myself as DIY projects.

2022 in numbers:

• 305h of useful integration time captured in this year. This excludes data that was rejected from the initial file management, but may include data that will be rejected during frame selection once I fully process the projects. This time is broken down in the following categories:
• Integration time by optics:
• 215h with the 150mm custom-built Newt.
• 63h with the Samy 135mm
• 15h with a Rokinon 14mm (mostly time lapses, not DSO)
• 12h other.


• Integration time by camera:
• 175h with Touptek IMX571 color;
• 80h with the Canon 6Da;
• 40h other.


• Integration time by processing stage:
• 175h captured, untouched
• 125h integrated, unprocessed
• 31h initially post-processed
• 8h finished, ready to post
• 0h posted here!!


• 10 images posted on AstroBin: 8 personal projects and 2 collaborations with fellow imagers. This is only a fraction of the total productivity of the year, and the data had been captured in previous years (as can be seen by data above). My processing queue is huge! I have about 10 more finished images, ready to be posted in the coming days (some of which made it to this yearly review), and probably over 30 captured unprocessed projects! Stay tuned, I hope to share all the results here with you.

As far as images, these are my “best picks” of the year. However, most of them are already posted here – can you spot which ones are still to be published?

It’s propitious time be grateful for the year that just finished and ask: How was 2022? And what are the plans for 2023? I ask you all these questions, as I have asked myself - comments are more than welcome!

Wish you all a healthy, peaceful, harmonious, prosperous, productive and enjoyable 2023, with many imaging opportunities, friendships, achievements and clear skies!

Happy New Year!