Notes

Field notes from under the night sky.

What I captured, what I learned, and what went into each finished image.

The Pleiades and the Blue Dust They Borrowed

July 17, 2026

The Pleiades and the Blue Dust They Borrowed

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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Beyond the Belt: Exploring Orion’s Nebulae

March 31, 2026

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

August 30, 2025

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

August 3, 2025

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

April 18, 2025

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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