New Telescope First Light: Seeing M51 in a New Way
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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NightSkyLens
Deep-sky images, observing notes, and workflow details from my backyard astrophotography setup, including the long project of imaging the Messier catalog.
19Finished images
6Published notes
3Workflow guides
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.
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Beyond the Belt: Exploring Orion’s Nebulae
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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Celestial Photobomb: Vesta and the Monkey Head Nebula
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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Galaxy Portraits: A Collection of Distant Worlds
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: A Massive Star’s Explosive Legacy
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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Andromeda Galaxy Astrophotography: Neighbor to the Milky Way
The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) was one of my first deep-sky imaging targets. I captured it over several nights, stacking hours of exposure time to reveal its spiral structure, dust lanes, and glowing core.
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