Backyard photons, deep sky scale
Deep-sky images, observing notes, and workflow details from my backyard astrophotography setup, including the long project of imaging the Messier catalog.
Featured targetFeatured target
A bright edge-on galaxy with a crisp dust lane and central glow, captured as part of the long-running Messier imaging project.
Image GalleryGalaxies, nebulae, lunar images, and catalog targets captured through my changing setup.
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How I Make ImagesHow I plan targets, set up the gear, capture data, and process stacked frames into a finished image.
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Sky MapSee where my images sit in the night sky, with object thumbnails, coordinates, and links back to the related notes.
OpenRecent field notes
The Pleiades are famous for their bright blue stars, but the blue glow around them comes from something quieter: dust reflecting their light. This is the story of how that reflection nebula emerged across three versions of my image.
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This image marks first light with my new telescope, the Celestron EdgeHD 800, an 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain designed for longer focal length imaging.
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The Orion constellation is easy to recognize, marked by three bright stars forming its belt and a "sword" hanging below. What's less obvious is that this small patch of sky is packed with a variety of nebulae. That sword is home to the Orio
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I set out to capture the Monkey Head Nebula (NGC 2174 in Orion) with my usual astrophotography setup, aiming for a gorgeous deep-sky image. I took 70 frames at 300 seconds each (about 6 hours total exposure) and stacked them to reveal the n
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My wide-field telescope is well suited to large nebulae, but most distant galaxies appear small in the frame. Even so, long exposures and careful stacking have revealed distinct structure in a surprising range of galaxies. Every image in th
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The Veil Nebula is a supernova remnant in the constellation Cygnus (the Swan). It represents the visible remains of a star that exploded in a supernova thousands of years ago. This vast nebula stretches across an area of sky about 3 degrees
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