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Asterism 🔝

This part of the sky is bursting with clusters and nebulae as the Milky Way dominates the background behind part of the Cygnus constellation.
A Starfield in the Cygnus Contellation
Brocchi's cluster is a beautiful asterism made of colorful stars that randomly form a coat hanger pattern. This image is a mosaic to capture the full starfield.
Collinder399: The Coat Hanger
M24 is a Messier object that isn't a deep space target, but instead describes a region of the sky so dense with stars it forms a cloud named the Small Sagittarius Cloud.
M24: The Small Sagittarius Cloud
Polaris, the North Star, makes the crowning jewel on a ring of several neighboring stars in this mosaic.
Polaris and the Engagement Ring
 

Cluster 🔝

This cluster spans just over 80 light years in diameter at a distance of 14,300 light years.
M10
Cassiopeia hosts the open cluster M103 that contains a few hundred colorful stars. It is an easy cluster to find, located very near the 'W' shape of the constellation.
M103: Open Cluster in Cassipeia
An open cluster of stars discovered in 1681.
M11: The Wild Duck Cluster
A cluster that is distinct for its abundance of apparently low-mass stars.
M12
This cluster, just barely visible to the naked eye, contains several hundred thousand stars in its diameter of 145 light years.
⭐ M13: The Hercules Globular Cluster
An estimated age of over 12 billion years makes M15 the oldest known globular cluster. This massive grouping of stars is collapsing under its own gravitation pull, drawing the stars in towards a possible black hole in its core.
M15: Ancient Globular Cluster
Multi-session capture of one of the oldest known globular clusters. Happy 12 billionth birthday, M15!
M15: The Grandfather of Clusters
M2
A bright open cluster of stars in the Cygnus constellation.
M29 Open Cluster
Like a cousin to the Seven Sisters, M36 is an open cluster of young, blue stars that is far more distant than the Pleiades. Called the Pinwheel Cluster, it is a region of contrast with neighboring red stars.
M36: The Pinwheel Cluster
The 37th item in the Messier catalog is the open cluster NGC2099. It is visible in binoculars and shines at an apparent magnitude of 6.2. It resides in the constellation Auriga.
M37
M38 is an open cluster called the Starfish Cluster.
M38: The Starfish Cluster
An open cluster in the Cygnus constellation with an apparent size larger than the moon, making it visible with binoculars.
M39 Open Cluster
A night of exposures with Stellina.
M3: Full night capture in 2022
M3 is one of the largest and brightest clusters visible from Earth.
M3: Globular Cluster
The 44th item in the Messier catalog is a bright, open cluster visible to the naked eye and one of the closest to the earth.
M44: The Beehive Cluster
One of my favorite winter targets, the Pleiades are easily visible as a bright cluster of stars that resemble a 'tiny dipper.' You can see their faint bluish/purple glow with the naked eye and the Seven Sisters are photogenic and multiple focal lengths. This is a series of broadband RGB long exposures to bring out the subtle dust and nebulosity that surround this young group of stars.
⭐ M45 in 2022
A steady mount and extremely clear skies gave me the conditions I was waiting for to test long (3-minute) exposures. This is just 7 of them. I purposefully increased the saturation to make this an almost celebatory looking skyscape.
M45 in 30 minutes at 50mm
The Pleiades, or Seven Sisters, are visible to the naked eye, resolve in binoculars and can be captured by regular cameras. This is the first time I've collected enough exposure to capture the delicate nebulosity that surrounds these beautiful blue stars.
M45: The Luminous Pleiades
The Pleiades is one of the closest star clusters to Earth and filled with bright blue stars.
M45: The Pleiades
M47 is an open cluster with around 500 stars.
M47
'My friend, I don't always photograph stars, but when I do, I prefer globular clusters.' M5 is a top favorite of mine (M13 holds the #1 spot) and I was excited to image it at 1650mm focal length. You can count the stars! (When William Herschel did it in 1791, he counted 200).
M5
M5, the rose cluster, framed with nearby variable binary 5 Ser.
M5 and 5Ser
This sprinkling of light and dark stars is an open cluster near Cassiopeia.
M52 Cassiopeia Salt and Pepper Cluster
M53 is a globular cluster that is about 58,000 lightyears from our solar system and nearly the same distance (60,000 lightyears) from our galaxy core.
M53
In the constellation Sagitta lies a controversial group of stars that might be a dense open star cluster, or may be an unusually loose globular cluster. Either way it's home to 20,000, many of which shine a distinctive gold color.
M71
A glubular cluster in Hercules.
M92
Caroline's Rose is a cluster of about 1,000 stars that spans 50 light years and shares the apparent size of the moon.
NGC7789: Caroline's Rose
A bright and colorful grouping of two clusters that span a section of the sky twice the size of a full moon.
⭐ NGC884 and NGC869: The Double Cluster in Perseus
A long exposure reveals the wispy tendrils of nebulosity that surround the major stars in M45 like a cocoon.
⭐ The Pleiades
My favorite signal of winter is the magical faint glow that glimmers in your peripheral vision but fades to a blur when you gaze head on. Magnification reveals several bright blue stars burrowing through long filaments of ionized gas and dust. The brightest of these are the famed Seven Sisters or Pleiades.
⭐ 🖼 The Winter Sky Sapphires
 

Comet 🔝

C/2017 K2 (PanSTARR) is a comet discovered around five years ago. It is notable for the amount of activity it exhibited despite being so far from the sun. This image is a single core from 3 2-minute exposures with the background stars fixed.
C/2017 K2 PanSTARR Single Core
C/2017 K2 (PanSTARR) is a comet discovered around five years ago. It is notable for the amount of activity it exhibited despite being so far from the sun. It is at its brightest from Earth this week at a distance of 'just' 270 million kilometers. When it reaches its closest distance to the sun (perihelion) it will be closer to Mars and less visible. This image shows the superimposed core arcing across the sky for about 30 minutes.
C/2017 K2 PanSTARR Timelapse
 

Constellation 🔝

This glowing W-shaped constellation is a centerpiece amongst several nebulae and galaxies.s
Cassiopeia
A single exposure of Cassiopeia.
Cassiopeia at 50mm
This detailed photograph of the Orion constellation is rich nebulae. The Flame Nebula is on the left of the 'belt' and the Orion Nebula pops at the bottom of the 'sword'.
Detailed Orion with Flame Nebula and Orion Nebula
The Orion constellation is easily recognizable by the bright red Betelgeuse 'shoulder', three stars to form the 'belt' and a sword tipped with a nebula visible to the naked eye.
Orion
Clear skies, a stable mount called the Sky Watcher Star Adventurer GTi, 30 1-minute exposures with a Sony Alpha 6300 camera, and the fast 50mm manual focus f/1.4 lens by Samyang all conspired to bring you this image.
Orion exposed at 50mm
A capture of Orion's belt.
Orion's Belt
Took ~350 4-second 210mm of Orion's belt: Alnitak (with NGC2024 the Flame Nebula and IC434 the Horesehead Nebula), Alnilam and Mintaka. First pic of 2022!
Orion's Belt New Year 2022
This close-up of the sword in the Orion constellation actually captures x nebula and clusters, including the Great Orion Nebula, De Marain's Nebula, the Running Man Nebula, and the Lost Jewel of Orion.
Orion's Sword
Cassiopeia is a very busy piece of sky. The constellation is easy to find with its distinctive 'W' shape. I just missed one of the main stars but captured the colorful variety of background stars and even some nebulosity in several areas.
The Cassiopeia Starfield
A detailed exposure that illustrates the major stars and nebulae.
🖼 The Full Orion
The Orion constellation.
The Orion Constellation (sans Betelgeuse)
A very tropical Orion rises above the palm trees on Grand Cayman.
The Tropical Orion
First long exposure using my CGEM-II mount.
The many nebulae of Orion.
 

Galaxy 🔝

The Andromeda Galaxy for 24 minutes in one-shot color.
Andromeda's Splendour
Captured from our villa in Grand Cayman using the portable Sky Watcher Star Adventurer GTi mount.
Cayman's M31: Andromeda Galaxy
A detailed capture taken by composing multiple exposures and filters.
⭐ 🖼 Composite Andromeda Galaxy
Galaxy season calls for a galaxy party. In this frame, the 'Lost Galaxy of Copeland' or NGC4535 is the beautiful spiral. The 'large star' is HD109270 (invisible to the naked eye), and upper left hosts lenticular galaxy NGC4518. You can see several other galaxies 'hanging around.'
Galaxy Party
The portable Sky Watcher Star Adventurer GTi did a great job of tracking this target with no guiding.
Grand Cayman's M33: The Triangulum Galaxy
A grand design spiral nebula with a few neighbors.
M100
A beautiful spiral galaxy that is quite photogenic.
M101: The Pinwheel Galaxy
This shot of the popular M101 Pinwheel Galaxy was taken at 336mm to produce a wide field that reveals myriad neighboring galaxies.
M101: The Pinwheel Galaxy's Neighborhood
Messier 104 is referred to as 'The Sombrero Galaxy.' Can you guess why? This galaxy presents itself edge-on with a bright core and dark dust obscuring the central disk. 45 60-second exposures.
M104: Sombrero Galaxy
The Sombrero Galaxy features a bright core illuminated by over 2,000 globular clusters and presents a dark dust lane in the edgewise view of the spiral.
M104: The Sombrero Galaxy
A detailed look at the flying saucer with a Celestron EdgeHD 9.25.
M104: The Sombrero Galxy with the Edge
Anticipating Andromeda. This is the time of year that M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, begins to appear for longer periods of time. I've done some fun shoots in the past, but this year I feel like it's time to go for a magnum opus photo (for me, personally) and I decided to practice some shots. Those are just practice shots, so I won't be posting them, but I did have my Sony Alpha 6300 ride shotgun on the imaging runs. It snapped this photo of the bright stars that define the Andromeda Constellation chasing the galaxy off the edge of the frame. This is 10 2-minute exposures.
M31 with the camera
The Andromeda Galaxy occupies a large field of view. It is both near to the Milky Way and bright enough to see with the naked eye.
M31: Andromeda Galaxy
Over 2,000 10-second exposures went into stacking 6 panels that were blended to produce this capture of Andromeda with neighboring galaxies M32 and M110.
M31: Andromeda Galaxy Mosaic
A first look at the Andromeda Galaxy as it reappears in the fall of 2022. Captured unguided on the Sky Watcher Star Adventurer Mini (SAM).
M31: Andromeda Galaxy in 2022
First attempt at capturing this galaxy with nothing but an ordinary camera and zoom lens.
M31: Andromeda Galaxy with Camera
A detailed image taken over just a few minutes with a remotely controlled telescope in Spain.
⭐ M31: via iTelescope in Spain
Just off the edge of the Andromeda Galaxy is one of two satellites orbiting the Milky Way's neighbor: M32, a dense cloud of stars that are classified as a dwarf, early-stage compact elliptical galaxy.
M32: Dwarf Compact Eliptical Galaxy
Another night of imaging to add to an ongoing project to image M33.
M33 Triangulum Galaxy
M33, the Triangulum Galaxy, is sometimes mistakenly referred to as the Pinwheel Galaxy (that title is held by M101). It is one of the few galaxies visible to the naked eye.
🖼 M33: The Triangulum Galaxy
A stellar example of a grand-design galaxy, the whirlpool is tugging on its distant companion, the yellow NGC5195, and the resulting tidal forces may be creating new stars.
M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy
5 sessions of exposures over one year!
M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy in 2022
One of my favorite targets imaged for the first time with my Celestron telescope and the Optolong L-eXtreme filter.
⭐ 🖼 M51: The Whirlpool Up Close
The Sunflower Galaxy is nearly 30 million light years away and home to an estimated 400 billion stars.
M63: Sunflower Galaxy at 2 meters
If you look closely at this spiral galaxy, you may be able to count its approximately 400 billion stars.
M63: The Sunflower Galaxy
This lonely galaxy is obscurred by a dark band of dust.
M64: The Black Eye Galaxy
These two galaxies are bright enough to be seen with binoculars and close enough to capture together in a single frame.
M81 and M82
M81 imaged over 5 sessions and 1 year.
M81: Bode's Galaxy
One of the brightest galaxies in the night sky, Bode's Galaxy is believed to contain a black hole in the center that is 70 million times the mass of the sun.
M81: Bode's Galaxy
I shot this image with two sets. One was with a UV/IR cut filter, the other with a 7 nanometer narrowband for Ha and OII.
⭐ M81: Bode's Galaxy with Hydrogen Alpha
'Come on here, dear boy, have a cigar...' a Cigar Galaxy, that is. M82 is in close proximity to M81 (Bode's Galaxy) and it's believed that gravitational interactions between the two created what is known as a 'starburst' that can be easily seen in the middle.
⭐ M82 in Hydrogen Alpha
M82 is a starburst galaxy that contains one of the brightest pulsars known.
M82: The Cigar Galaxy
M95 is a barred spiral galaxy with an estimated 40 billion stars.
M95
This is a spiral galaxy viewed edge-on from 50 million light years away.
NGC5907: The Knife Edge Galaxy
This spiral galaxy believed to be a similar size and shape as the Milky Way shares its field of view with several other galaxies.
NGC7331: The Milky Way's Twin
An interim stack of multiple sessions for a 2022 project to achieve as detailed an M31 as possible.
⭐ The Andromeda Galaxy in 2022
A year of images to contribute to a detailed photo of the Pinwheel.
The Detailed M101: Pinwheel Galaxy
A rare partnership of galaxies with lots of friends in the background.
The Leo Triplet
A great target to kick off galaxy season. The main galaxy is unique with a massive plume of plasma ejecting from its core, while the neighbors are a catalog of spiral galaxy viewing angles.
Virgo-A Galaxy and friends
 

Lunar 🔝

The result of photographing the moon after severe thunderstorms washed away all the fog and created clear seeing conditions.
A Moon in November
A wide, zoomed view of the moon.
⭐ A Wide Zoomed Quarter
A cloudy view of the moon.
A cloudy moon
This is a high resolution, detailed image of the half moon.
⭐ A detailed image of the half Moon
A full color almost full moon.
⭐ 🖼 A detailed, full color lunar shot.
A detailed zoom shot of the edge of the moon during the day.
A quarter of the half Moon
A full moon obscured by clouds.
A spectral moon in clouds.
The last supermoon of 2022.
⭐ August 2022 Sturgeon Supermoon
A crescent moon in February 2022.
Beautiful crescent in February 2022.
Dust from fires turned the moon red.
Blood Moon August 2021
A capture of the moon during daylight in June 2022.
⭐ 🖼 Blue daytime moon
A detailed close-up of the bottom half of the August 2022 supermoon.
Bottom Half of August 2022 Supermoon
A highly detailed dawn view of the moon.
🖼 Bright moon after sunrise
A detailed shot of a crescent moon turned red by smoke from forest fires.
🖼 Close to the Red Moon
A close-up of the edge of the moon.
Close up moon quarter
A close-up of the Tycho crater that is prominent in the lower corner of the moon.
Close up of the Tycho crater
A close up of the 'northeast, upper left' portion of the August 2022 supermoon. You can clearly see ridges of long mountain ranges and prominent craters including Plato, Cassini, Eratosthenes, and more.
⭐ Closer to the August 2022 Supermoon
A close shot of the lunar surface.
🖼 Closer to the Moon
A close up of the large crater named Copernicus on the moon, with smaller but prominent Kepler to the side.
Closeup of Copernicus and Kepler
A gibbous moon close-up.
⭐ Closeup of the Moon
The existing colors in this detailed moon pic had their saturation boosted to bring out the colorful contrast.
🖼 Colorful Moon
A prominent crater on a crescent moon.
🖼 Crater
A crescent moon with details of the dark parts revealed.
Darkside
This image of the moon was stacked from multiple images taken while it was behind clouds. The layering of clouds give it an embossed appearance.
Embossed moon.
A close up of the crater Eratosthenes (bottom left). It has a terraced rim and peaks inside the crater where the well drops to a depth of nearly 2 miles.
Eratosthenes
A gibbous moon in January 2022.
First gibbous moon of 2022.
The first half moon of 2022.
First half moon of 2022
This image of the moon was stacked from multiple images taken while it was behind clouds. The detail of the moon popped out to make it appear to float above the clouds.
🖼 Floating moon.
Four unfiltered images of the moon: a blue taken by day, a yellow due to fog, and a red due to forest fire smoke in addition to the traditional gray.
🖼 Four moons.
A full moon captured in color in February 2022.
Full Color Full Moon
A full moon in April.
Full moon April 2021
A gibbous moon in July.
Gibbous Moon July 2021
A gibbous moon in November.
Gibbous Moon November 2021
A close-up of the moon in August.
Gibbous moon August 2022
A capture of the moon just before sunset.
Half Moon at Dusk
A half moon imaged in color with the Celestron EdgeHD.
Half Moon with Celestron EdgeHD
A half moon imaged in color with the SvBony sv503 70ED.
Half Moon with Svbony sv503
A half moon in April.
Half moon April 2021
A half moon in September.
Half moon September 2021
This was our moon on July 4, 2022.
Independence Moon
A timelapse of the International Space Station (ISS) passing between Earth and the Moon.
⭐ 🖼 July 2022 Lunar Transit by the International Space Station (ISS)
The Pacific Northwest weather decided to interfere with the last total lunar eclipse of 2022. In order, you see the clear full moon already eclipsed, followed by a smaller sliver exposed through clouds and fog making it bluish, and finally the fully eclipsed red moon partially obscurred by clouds.
Lunar Eclipse
A close up of the craters at the moon's polar region.
Lunar Polar Craters
Out of dark comes the moon of a November.
Moon November 2022
Like tire treads pressed in mud, the clouds ripple across a stubborn moon that refuses to hide. It's rather full of itself.
Moon on Tread
A close up of prominent crater Plato.
Plato
A closeup of the lunar edge.
Quarter slice of the Moon
A close-up quarer slice of the edge of the moon.
🖼 Quarter slice of the moon
A sharp stack of multiple exposures using the Optolong l-eXtreme filter.
Sharp Moon
A close up of the multiple craters including Clavius.
The Clavius crater region
A close up of the large crater named Copernicus on the moon.
The Copernicus Crater
An image of the moon captured during the day, several hours before sunset.
🖼 The Day Moon
A close up of the Mare Imbrium region at the edge of the shadow.
The Mare Imbrium edge region
A close up of the Mare Imbrium region.
The Mare Imbrium region
A close up of the multiple craters past the edge of Mare Nubian.
The Mare Nubium region
The moon with a few fluffy clouds.
The Moon and Fluff
The moon shining brightly through thin cloud cover.
The Moon through the Clouds
A full color view of Copernicus.
The Moon's Copernicus crater.
A full color view of Tycho.
⭐ 🖼 The Moon's Tycho crater.
A close up of the Sinus Iridum region.
🖼 The Sinus Iridum region
A naturally unnaturally yellow moon.
The Yellow Moon in February 2022
A close up of the edge of the moon.
The edge of the moon
An image of the moon taken during the day that showed up green.
The green moon
A supermoon occurs when the moon's orbit brings it closer to Earth, so it appears bigger and brighter. The July supermoon is expected to be the brightest of the year. It's called the Thunder moon because it heralds the season of thunderstorms in the North American summer. This is a mosaic taken from four zoomed shots.
Thunder Moon Supermoon
A dawn view of Venus with a crescent moon.
Venus approaches the moon
A detailed, wide angle close up of the moon's surface.
Wide Zoom of Lunar Surface
A half moon in January 2022.
Yellow Moon January 2022
A non-filtered look at the evening moon.
🖼 Yellow Moon on Blue
 

Meteor 🔝

A meteor and a satellite streak by over the Paint Mines in Colorado.
⭐ Fire in the Sky
A meteor streaks in front of the Milky Way while Jupiter glows brightly on the edge.
Fireball
A green flash I caught during the 2022 Orionids.
Magnesium
A meteor I captured during the 2022 Orionids on Grand Cayman.
Orion's Arrow
 

Milky Way 🔝

This glimpse of star-filled skies features a dense part of the Milky Way.
A Glimpse of the Milky Way
This is one of two shots taken from a tiki bar called Macabuca using my camera propped up on a lens cap on the railing for stability.
Cloudy, Chance of Milky Way
One of two Milky Way shots from the Macabuca bar in Grand Cayman.
Macabuca's Milky Way
A Milky Way shot from Index, WA.
Milky Way at Index
The Milky Way looms over a field by the Paint Mines in Colorado.
⭐ Milky Way at Paint Mines.
The rich colors of nebulae and stars shine against the backdrop of the Milky Way from Index, WA.
Milky Way in Color
A shot of the Milky Way from the Oregon coast.
Milky Way in Waldport Oregon
I live in Bortle 7 as of this picture and therefore cannot see the Milky Way even in a single exposure. However, using a high end tracking mount I was able to combine 89 2-minute exposures and resolve the Milky Way through stacking.
⭐ Milky Way in my Backyard
The Milky Way as it arched over Snoqualmie Point Park.
⭐ Milky Way in the Snoqualmie Sky
The Milky Way stretches into space over the top of a ridge seen from Snoqualmie Point Park in Washington.
Milky Way over a ridge in Snoqualmie
Wide angle shot using the Star Adventurer Mini (SAM).
The Milky Way meets Andromeda Galaxy
Venus is partially covered by clouds. To the left rises the core of the Milky Way.
The Milky Way over Venus
 

Miscellaneous 🔝

The path traced by ISS in the sky.
An International Space Station (ISS) flyover
Mars shines brightly through the palm trees with Bettlejuice rising in the bottom right.
Caribbean Mars
A clear wide-angle view of the predawn sky on Grand Cayman.
Clarity
I took this shot to commemorate my friends' dive as they approached their milestone of 300 dives together. The blue lights in the water are their dive lights.
Dive #294
A view of the sky taken with my fisheye camera.
Fish eye view of starry skies
A view of the predawn sky the morning we left the Cayman Islands.
Last Morning
Charles Messier was looking for a nebula but found this double star instead. It is one of the few items in the catalog that isn't a galaxy, cluster, or nebula. He may have been searching for the two galaxies visible at the edge of this frame.
M40
The Pleiades rise with Mars. This is my second year of astrophotography, and I got a bit sentimental when I realized I would be able to see the Pleiades in the morning. When I started this hobby in 2020 in the Pacific Northwest, the nights were long and cold while the planets rose high and early. Orion dominated the southern skies, and the Seven Sisters were ever present. My first photographs using a regular camera were of this easy-to-locate cluster with pockets of nebulosity. Seeing them again heralds Autumn, with new nebula, wide field shots of flames and horseheads, rosettes and runners, sisters and monkeyheads. So, I decided to capture a picture and as I was framing the 55mm shot, I realized Mars could just squeeze into it. It was past nautical dawn, so I ditched the idea of a 5-minute exposure. Normally I stack 30-second exposures, but I felt like 2 minutes would be enough to capture the cluster even if I didn't catch the wispy blue nebulosity while keeping Mars from completely oversaturating. Here's the result. This is a single two-minute exposure of 'The Pleiades rise with Mars.'
M45 and Mars
Capturing the rare proximity of Mars to M45, the Pleiades.
Mars Meets the Pleiades at Dawn
A rare meeting of Mars and the Pleiades.
Mars and the Seven Sisters
Mars makes an appearance amongst the clouds in Washington, D.C. The Monument has eyes only for Mars!
Mars in D.C.
My first photograph on the Cayman Islands includes the Pleiades and a very bright moon.
Moonstruck
The palm trees did a great job of framing the Seven Sisters from Grand Cayman.
Palm Pleiades
A supersaturated Mars glows furiously in sight of the pale Pleiades.
Saturated Mars
Auriga, the Pleiades and other clusters in the night sky.
Starmap
A view of stars over the neighborhood.
Starry Skies
A sunburst of red rays just after sunset at Rackam's in Grand Cayman.
Sunburst
This beautiful region is full of stars and some of the most bright and beautiful nebulae including The Cygnus Loop (Veil Nebula), the North America Nebula, the Crescent Nebula and the Tulip Nebula.
The Colorful Field of Cygnus Stars
A long exposure of the night sky.
The Milky Way behind our House
The night sky captured from a camera riding piggyback on the telescope mount.
The Night Sky
Hours of 2-minute exposures using my Sony Alpha 6300 reveal the Milky Way's wall of stars, galaxies, and nebulae that's practically a 'star map' of who's who in common targets. Visible targets include Messier 52 (a cluster), the Bow-tie Nebula, the Bubble Nebula, and the Wizard Nebula. There are several other planetary and diffuse nebulae and galaxies to boot.
The Northern Stars
A sky full of stars over wintering trees.
Trees and Sky
 

Nebula 🔝

A second look at previous data revealed a path to proccessing that would expose much more of the nebula than my previous attempts. This is the ghost as it should be.
⭐ 🖼 A second take on the Ghost of Cassiopeia
The 'Christmas Tree' is a group of stars in the blueish area lower left that form a triangle with a 'trunk.' It is oriented the same direction as the Cone Nebula, that is indeed the cone you see. There is a ton of nebulosity in the region and one glowing spot isn't a star, it's a galaxy. This is NGC2264, the Christmas Tree Cluster!
🖼 Christmas Tree Cluster
IC1396A is the designation for the Elephant Trunk Nebula: a dense cloud of ionized gas that has been compressed into a round shape from opposing forces of a massive star and several younger stars. The larger star illuminates the edge of the cloud and provides contrast for the trunk that curls at the end of a long column of interstellar dust. It is believed this compressed gas is forming into protostars.
⭐ Close to the Elephant Trunk
A detailed look at the Heart Nebula.
⭐ 🖼 Close to the Heart
This bright area of the Orion constellation doesn't take many exposures to reveal the intricate details. This is just 10 3-minute exposures but it was enough.
⭐ 🖼 ✨ Detail of Orion's Sword
This is a detailed rendering of the crab nebula using a combination of broadband and SHO filters.
Detailed Crab Nebula
The long curling trunk is cosmos gas and dark dust believed to be forming stars across a massive region.
IC1396: The Elephant's Trunk
The star cluster Melotte 15 contains bright young stars that energize hydrogen, causing it to emit the red light that illuminates this heart-shaped nebula. In the corner is its near companion Fishead Nebula.
⭐ IC1805: The Heart Nebula
IC348 is a star-forming nebula with about 400 stars.
IC348
IC434 illuminates the nearby Horsehead Nebula that rears its head in silhouette. Dominating left is the triple star system Alnitak with its main superhot blue giant centerpiece that adorns the undulating waves of NGC2024, the Flame Nebula.
IC434 NGC2024: The Horse and the Flame
Although we tend to refer to IC434 as the Horsehead Nebula, it's actually an emission nebula hidden behind the Horsehead nebula. The latter is made up of dark dust that is illuminated by the former. This framing honors the beauty and grace of the horse's silhouette, but I'm working on a mosaic that captures the broader area to include the Flame Nebula (NGC2024).
IC434: The Nebula Behind the Horsehead
In the dark reaches of space there are columns of molecular dust that span light years and are illuminated by nearby stars. This nebula is part of a large and complex region.
IC5070: The Pelican Nebula
The narrowband Optolong l-eXtreme filter brings out the rich nebulosity of this large structure by filtering out everything by the hydrogen alpha and OIII wavelengthss. The image was blended with stars from a broadband exposure for context.
IC5070: The Pelican Nebula in Hydrogen alpha
A high res look at this fascinating combination of reflection and emission with cosmic dust.
IC5146: The Vast Cocoon
γ Cas or gamma Cas is the middle point of the 'W' that makes up the constellation Cassiopeia. It is a rapidly spinning variable star that is incredibly bright. It dominates the scene and overpowers the delicate, faint reflection nebula nearby designed IC59 and named, 'The Ghost of Cassiopeia.' It took me over 500 exposures to draw out the detail of this elusive nebula.
IC59: The Ghost of Cassiopeia
Located along the 'spine' of the Milky Way near several other popular nebulae, M16 has many names from the Star Queen to the Eagle Nebula. A vast emission nebula, at its heart lies the fabled Pillars of Creation. Just over 3 hours exposure went into this image.
⭐ M16 Eagle Nebula
The Eagle Nebula spreads its wings along the spine of the Milky Way. It embraces massive pillars of star-forming dust known as the Pillars of Creation.
M16: Portrait of the Eagle Nebula
M16 is called the Eagle Nebula due to its overall shape, but it's the smoky columns that span lightyears in height that make it famous. The columns are called the Pillars of Creation.
M16: The Eagle Nebula
I reprocessed old data with a new technique for this. M17 goes by several different names: Checkmark, Horseshoe, Lobster, Omega and Swan. It is a massive star-forming region that is bright and richly structured. It has a complex structure that is unique due to the almost straight-edged regions of darks and transitions from billowing clouds of molecular gas to long, twisting tendrils.
⭐ 🖼 M17 on Fire
A nebula with many names, the swan, lobster or horseshoe nebula is a bright object that is easy to capture.
M17: The Omega Nebula
M17 goes by several different names: Checkmark, Horseshoe, Lobster, Omega and Swan. It is a massive star-forming region that is bright and richly structured. It has a complex structure that is unique due to the almost straight-edged regions of darks and transitions from billowing clouds of molecular gas to long, twisting tendrils.
⭐ M17: The Omega Nebula
It started as a supernova recorded by Chinese astronomers in 1054 AD. M1, the Crab Nebula, is the expanding remnant of that millenia old explosion.
M1: The Crab Nebula
My first ever astrograph taken with the Celestron EdgeHD 9.25 SCT.
M1: The Crab Nebula Test Shot
This is a specially framed capture to grab two Messier objects, one of which is a cluster, reflection nebula, emission nebula, and dark nebula all at the same time.
M20 and M21: Trifid Nebula and Webb's Cross
Trifid means 'three lobe' and refers to the illusion created by a wispy dark nebula spidering across the face of a more distant emission nebula.
M20: Trifid Nebula
This bright nebula visible in binoculars is a planetary nebula surrounding a white dwarf star.
⭐ M27: Dumbbell Nebula
This bright close-up of the Dumbbell Nebula combines traditional RGB with highlights in H-alpha (Ha) provided by a narrowband Optolong L-Extreme filter. 30 minutes with a UV/IR cut filter and 28 minutes with the L-Extreme.
M27: Dumbbell Nebula with Optolong L-Extreme
A quick imaging session to capture the beauty and detail of planetary nebula M27.
M27: The Dumbbell Nebula in 10 minutes
A detailed stack of eight different sessions to produce a detailed portrait of one of the largest, brightest, and most intricately detailed nebulae.
⭐ 🖼 M42: The Great Orion Nebula
This popular nebula is bright, easy to photograph and visible to the naked eye.
M42: The Great Orion Nebula
This image was rendered from nearly 600 10-second exposures collected over a year.
M42: The Great Orion Nebula Multi-Session
Orion's sword contains multiple nebulae as evidenced in this wide field mirrorless camera shot.
M42: The Great Orion Nebula and NGC1977: The Running Man Nebula
A stack of over 800 exposures to grab as much detail as possible.
⭐ 🖼 M42: The Orion Nebula in rich detail
40 2-minute exposures in Bortle 5.
M45: The Merope Nebula
A star shed this ring of ionized gas as it collapsed into a white dwarf.
M57: The Ring Nebula
This large, bright and beautiful nebula stays low on the horizon in the Pacific Northwest, making it a challenging target to observe.
M8: The Lagoon Nebula
This cloud of interstellar dust surrounds a cluster that radiates energy to make the nebula glow.
M8: The Lagoon Nebula
Who who is the Owl Nebula? A bright starburst nebula believed to be about 8,000 years old.
M97: The Owl Nebula
A brilliant blue cluster wreathed in intricate strands of nebula.
⭐ Maia Nebula
The Monkeyhead Nebula lies in the nebula-dense constellation of Orion. It is believed to be formed of dust, wind, and radiation caused by newborn stars.
Monkeyhead
The Iris Nebula is a beautiful reflection nebula lit from behind by a bright star. Although the beautiful blue core is easily visible even with regular camera lenses, it takes dark skies and long exposures to bring out the subtle ripples of dust that appear to expand from the center.
⭐ 🖼 NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula and Cosmic Dust
This picture is just a small part of the California-shaped NGC1499, a faint nebula that requires lots of exposure and/or narrowband filters to truly appreciate.
NGC1499: The Calfornia Nebula
In the popular sweep of nebulae and stars known as Orion's sword is NGC1977, the Running Man. This is a subtle reflection nebula that scatters blue light across vast lanes of space dust. It resembles the smoky outline of a running man casting a shadow on disco fog as a strobe light flashes.
NGC1977: The Running Man Nebula
The star ζ Orionis (Alnitak) is the leftmost star on the constellation Orion's belt. It is a triple star system hosted by a blue supergiant. Next to it bursts the Flame Nebula, an emission nebular supercharged by ultraviolet rays emanating from Alnitak. Often grouped with the more iconic Horsehead Nebula (IC434), the Flame stands well on its own.
NGC2024: The Flame Nebula
The Monkey Head Nebula lies in the nebula-dense constellation of Orion. It is believed to be formed of dust, wind, and radiation caused by newborn stars.
NGC2174: The Monkey Head Nebula
The Rosette Nebula is a delicate ring of fire that engulfs a cluster of stars forming from its substance.
NGC2237: Rosette Nebula
This dense patch of stars and nebulae hosts a variety of targets. Starting at the bottom is the Cone Nebula. The top of the cone touches the inserted peak of the Christmas Tree Cluster. Past the faintly visible Snowflake Nebula is the bluish Fox Fur Nebula.
NGC2264: The Christmas Tree Cluster and Friends
This nebula is named the Pacman nebula and you'll never guess why.
NGC281: The Pacman Nebula
The cocoon nebula incubates at a distance of about 4,000 light years, awainting its transformation as a reflection and emission nebula.
NGC5146: The Cocoon Nebula
NGC6823 is a small reflection nebula with intriguing dust columns that span light years in size and are believed to serve as the building material to form new stars.
NGC6823
The Crescent Nebula is formed by the interaction of stellar winds around a red giant.
NGC6888: The Crescent Nebula
A close-up of the Crescent Nebula. NGC6888 is the expanding shell of an ancient supernova with supercharged dust particles that glow from the energy of nearby stars.
NGC6888: The Crescent Nebula Rave Edition
This is a long focal length (1645mm) capture of the Crescent Nebula using a narrowband filter to enhace the detail.
NGC6888: The Crescent Nebula in Hydrogen Alpha
A brilliant star caps the veil in this delicate and beautiful nebula.
⭐ NGC6960: The Veil Nebula
This beautiful nebula is part of a supernova remnant that spans a large field of view.
NGC6992: The Eastern Veil Nebula
This 336mm focal length shot captures such how expansive, bright, and beautiful the North America Nebula is.
NGC7000 A Wide Field North America Nebula
A widefield shot showing the full nebula using 5-minute exposures.
⭐ NGC7000 The North America Nebula framed
The North America nebula is vast and my telescope can only capture a small frame. I created this mosaic to appreciate the breadth and depth of its beauty.
NGC7000: North America Nebula Mosaic
The so-called fetus nebula looks like an embryo stretched one light year in diameter waiting to be born 2,800 light years away.
NGC7008: The Fetus Nebula
This inky nebula is a reflection nebula that is illuminated by a central star and glows blue.
NGC7023: The Iris Nebula
The Cosmic Rose is a hot cauldron of starbirth with vast molecular clouds that reflect the bluish light of young stars.
NGC7129: The Cosmic Rose
NGC7293 is the Helix Nebula, a planetary nebula about 600 - 700 light years from Earth. It's distinctive shape has given it the nicknames 'Eye of God' and 'Eye of Sauron.' From my location it never rises more than 30 degrees above the horizon so it was a tricky one to observe.
NGC7293: The Helix Nebula
The Wizard Nebula is a faint nebula that requires lots of exposures and possibly a filter to see. It surrounds a young cluster of stars.
NGC7380: The Wizard Nebula
Clear skies provided the opportunity to finally image a target that's been blocked by trees most of this year. I was able to image all night, but despite the warmer weather I lost some time due to dew forming on my lens (I was lazy and didn't set up the dew heater). This is the Wizard Nebula and you can probably tell why. Imaged mainly in Hydrogen alpha with a few broadband captures for stars.
⭐ NGC7380: The Wizard in Recline
The bubble is a cloud of molecular gas blown outward by an energetic young star and supercharged so it glows.
NGC7635: The Bubble Nebula
A detailed look at this amazing bubble of windswept particles being irradiated by a giant star 45 times as massive as our own sun.
⭐ NGC7635: The Bubble Nebula in Red
A combination of new images for the Flame and Horsehead nebulae.
Orion's Belt: Another Take
The Running Man Nebula (NGC1977), De Mairan's Nebula (M42) and the Great Orion Nebula (M43) are beautiful on their own. That beauty stands out in contrast when you witness the wider field of view that contains all three Nebulae on the glowing tip of Orion's sword. This is a mosaic of all three with 400mm exposures from Stellina.
Orion's Sword at 400mm
Beautiful and brilliant colors abound in the swirls of intergalactic dust lit by stellar jewels in the region of constellation Orion's belt.
⭐ Orion's jeweled belt at 336mm
NGC281 is the designation for a cluster of high mass stars that are 'only' 6,500 light-years away. They are also elevated from the galactic plane, making for easier observation. A thick band of dark cosmic dusk creates the illusion of a gaping mouth on what is called the Pacman Nebula.
⭐ Pacman
SH2-101 is an emission nebula that wasn't catalogued until 1959. It is very faint and requires plenty of exposure or good narrowband filters to capture. You can see why it's sometimes referred to as the Tulip Nebula.
SH2-101: The Tulip Nebula
An extra session added significant brightness and detail to this faint nebula.
SH2-101: Tulip Nebula over Four Sessions
This faint nebula is associated with a star cluster and can be found near Cassiopeia. It is often overlooked for brighter targets close by. Ordinary imaging will reveal a very faint presence, but it takes a red or hydrogen alpha band filter to bring out the detail.
SH2-170 The Little Rosette Nebula
The purple running man hangs suspended above the red-cloaked Great Orion Nebulae. M42, M43, and NGC1977 together in the same frame!
The Beauty of Orion's Sword
Fourth time is the charm? Another attempt to image this bright but complex nebula that looks like a red brain wrapped in blue gel.
⭐ The Crescent Brain
The Cygnus Loop is a massive structure of supercharged gas expanding rapidly from the center of a supernova in the distant past. This image captures the Veil Nebula or Witch's broom end and used a narrowband filter to enhance the detail.
The Cygnus Loop
The thin, detailed fillaments that interwine to force a complex interplay of base colors are believed to be the surface of an expanding cloud seen edge-on. This is a massive target representing only a portion of the large Cygnus Loop, the remnants of the explosion of a star 20 times more massive than the sun around 15,000 years ago.
⭐ 🖼 ✨ The East Veil: Alien in Disguise
NGC7293 is a planetary nebula that stays low on the horizon at my latitude. It is almost always low in the atmosphere glow of the horizon and often near a streetlamp. I wasn't expecting much when I spent an hour taking 20 5-minute captures while waiting for the Pleiades to rise, but I was surprised when I processed the results. This nebula is less than 1000 light years away. Do you feel like someone is watching you? It should be obvious why the Helix Nebula is sometimes called the 'Eye of God.'
The Eye of God
The Helix Nebula is a planetary nebula with a distinct shape that earns its nicknames, 'Eye of God' and 'Eye of Sauron'.
🖼 The Eye of Sauron
In the constellation Cepheus lies a large area of glowing cosmic dust that is silhouetted by surrounding clouds of dark dust. This region is believed to be a star-forming area using materials like the particles that make up a massive column that curls at the end like an elephant's trunk. This is a wide field view of IC1396, the Elephant's Trunk Nebula, processed from regular light and narrowband using the Optolong l-eXtreme filter.
⭐ 🖼 The Full Elephant
This is my first attempt at the elusive and transluscent Ghost of Cassiopeia. It's in an easy location next to Navi, a major star in the constellation, but is a dark and detailed nebulae requiring long exposures and clear skies.
The Ghost of Cassiopeia
This classic pairing of well-named nebulae Horsehead and Flame is one of my favorite regions in the night sky. It has a bit of everything, from a brilliantly shining star to bright tongues of heat blazing from the Flame Nebula, to the horse head's shadow casting a silhouette on billowing intergalactic dust. I'll keep improving my technique for this target!
⭐ 🖼 The Horse and the Flame
The Easternmost jewel on Orion's belt is brilliant Alnitak, a bright star that bombards NGC 2024 The Flame Nebula with ultraviolet light, causing the gases to glow and form a brilliant orange flame. Nearby, a cloud of dust is illuminated from behind by emission nebula IC434 to create a strikingly horsehead-like silhouette.
The Horse and the Flame
A widefield shot of a region filled with beautiful nebulae, galaxies and star clusters.
The Lagoon and Trifid Nebulae
I only spent 30 minutes imaging the heart of the Eagle Nebula (M16) commonly known as the Pillars of Creation. This shot is a combination of RGB and Hydrogen alpha.
The Pillars of Creation
A wide angle shot to capture the nebulosity that links the Lagoon Nebula with its nearby companion the Trifid Nebula.
🖼 The Red Lagoon
An Optolong L-Extreme filter helped bring out the rich red that gives this deep sky object the lesser known name of Flame Nebula.
The Red and the Horsehead.
A wider field shot of the Rosette Nebula composite of two nights at two and three-minute exposures.
The Rosette Nebula
A collection of long exposures combined with a powerful filter and some post-processing reveals the intricate structure and detail of the Rosette Nebula in three dimensions. An oxygen rich core is bathed in blue light that ionizes the dust and gas surrounding the core and causes it to radiate reddish hygroden alpha. Tentrils of dust snake across the opening as the edges fade into the canopy of stars.
⭐ 🖼 The Rosette Nebula in 3D
The Running Man is clearly visible in this dusty nebula with beautiful blue and purple highlights. An often overlooked gem in the Orion constellation.
⭐ 🖼 The Running Man
The Sadr region is the name of the nebulosity that surrounds the brilliant center star of Cygnus' cross. Here, the massive supergiant estimated to contain over 10 times the mass the sun in a radius 150 times as wide glows triumphantly in the center of the frame.
The Sadr Region
The Sadr region is the name of the nebulosity that surrounds the brilliant center star of Cygnus' cross. Here, the massive supergiant estimated to contain over 10 times the mass the sun in a radius 150 times as wide glows triumphantly in the center of the frame. I used a new technique to bring out new detail from an old capture.
The Sadr Region Take Two
The Cygnus Loop is a massive supernova remnant that emits radiation across the full electromagnetic spectrum. The broadband or visible portion is often classified as separate nebulae like NGC6960 ('The Veil Nebula' or the 'Witch's broom') and NGC6962. This is a wide field shot that captures the entire loop over 2 hours of exposure with a narrowband filter.
⭐ The full Cygnus Loop
A rare tree in the North, this nebula hangs low on the horizon and is elusive to image but beautiful to behold.
🖼 Thor's Helmet
An integration of several hours of data.
Two Hours of M42
This large, intricate nebula is located next to the equally magnificent Heart Nebula, making them heart and soul together. This was a special capture because I used an ordinary star tracker (the Sky Watcher Star Adventurer Mini or SAM) on a tripod but managed to capture good images all night long.
Westerhous 5: The Soul Nebula
 

Planet 🔝

A conjunction of Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus at dusk.
Conjunction at Dusk
A first look (in detail) at the Red Planet.
Detailed Mars
My most detailed image of Saturn to date.
Detailed Saturn
I mistimed my attempt to capture the Great Red Spot but gots lots of detail with Io just appearing as well.
⭐ Jupiter and Io
This is a capture of Jupiter and three moons (from left right): Io, Europa, and Ganymede.
Jupiter and moons
This is a capture of Jupiter and four moons (from left right): Callisto, Europe, Io, and Ganymede.
Jupiter and moons
This is a capture of Jupiter taken at dawn with multiple filters.
Jupiter at dawn
Some detail is visible in the bands.
Jupiter's Bands
Sharp detail is visible in the bands.
Jupiter's Bands in Detail
Jupiter presenting its centuries old storm.
Jupiter's Great Red Spot
Yes, that is the red planet.
Mars
Mars: it's more than just a red dot.
Mars with Celestron EdgeHD
The light for this image of Neptune raced over 2.7 billion miles to reach Earth.
Neptune
My telescope can just barely make out the rings.
Saturn
Saturn with major tilt.
Saturn Sideways
A capture of Saturn.
Saturn with EdgeHD
My first image of Saturn with the QHY 5III 462MC camerea.
Saturn with QHY camera
My first sharp image of Saturn.
⭐ Sharp Saturn
You can clearly see the blue color of this distant planet.
Uranus
 

Star 🔝

Albireo is a bright binary star system featuring a stark contrast between the primarily yellow A star and bluish secondary star.
Albireo
Alpha Tau, or Aldebaran, is 44 times the size of our sun and 400 times as luminous.
Aldebaran
Alfirk, roughly translated 'the flock,' is the name of a triple star system that is classified as β Cephei (Beta Cephei). It is a part of the outline of the Cepheus constellation. The main star is a blue subgiant and gives it the distinctive blue color.
Alfirk
This is a close and personal view of α Aquilae, the point of the Summer Triangle known as Altair. Single 55-second exposure at 2,035mm focal length.
Altair
Antares is a red supergiant with 12x the mass of the sun about 550 light years from the sun.
Antares
The brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere, Arcturus is 25 times the size of the sun and 170 times as bright.
Arcturus
An alignment capture of the 4th brightest star in the night sky, a red giant.
Arcturus with Svbony Scope
Brilliant orange Betelgeuse is a red supergiant that adorns Orion's shoulder and is one of the lagest stars the human eye can perceive. In our solar sytem, the edge of Betelgeuse would extend beyond the orbit of Mars.
Betelgeuse
The star Capella is less than 50 light years from the sun. Although it appears to be a single star, it is actually a quad system comprised of a pair of binary stars.
Capella
Epsilon Lyr, in the constellation Lyrae, looks like two bright blue stars, but each star is actually a binary system.
Epsilon: the Double Double
This brilliant star marks out the lower corner of the Orion constellation.
Rigel
The brightest star in the sky is Sirus, the Dog Star that brings on the Dog Days. It is actually a binar with a white dwarf that orbits every 50 years.
Sirius
A bright star about 25 light years away.
Vega
 

Star Trails 🔝

Star trails around the north star.
Around Polaris.
The air was perfectly calm and ideal for this long exposure of the Caribbean sky.
Island Stripes
Star trails around the north star.
⭐ Polar Alignment.