Deep Sky Workflows

10/02/2026

Testing a new filter. It's intended for deep space, but since the night was mostly overcast I shot other targets as well. I really loved the way these bridge shots turned out. The bright "light" in the one photo is actually the full moon.

09/30/2026

I didn't have time to follow the full Harvest moon all the way to the horizon, so this is the best I could do to capture the sky and sea in the same shot.

09/14/2026

The numbers are mind-numbing. 2.5 million light years? One trillion stars?

This week had a run of clear, dark skies. Though I'm not in a position to travel from our Newport home, the garage roof was just fine to capture my target: M31, the Andromeda galaxy.

Our nearest galactic neighbor is also enthusiastically approaching us at a rate of 250,000 miles per hour, on track to collide after the estimated billion years it will take to cross the estimated 250 million light years between our galaxies. And this is the busy neighborhood!

I dedicated three nights to capturing images through my Redcat 71 lens with a ZWO ASI294MC Pro astrophotography camera. I alternated between 30-second and 3-minute exposures then focused on 30-second based on the results. After several hours of processing that used over 1.5 terabytes of data, I was able to produce this 61-megapixel capture of our neighbor originally named the "Andromeda Nebula" when telescopes weren't powerful enough to resolve its individual stars.

Limited run of prints at: https://www.dswgalleries.com/product-page/nebulous-neighbor-signature-series-limited-edition

09/01/2026

To the moon, past the Lake of Death
and beyond the Sea of Cold,
down the terraces and ramparts
into the lava field,
behold the Hercules from lore of old,
next to Atlas who
the whole earth did wield.

09/01/2026

Without a field flattener, the 2,350mm focal length of my Celestron means the whole lunar disc won't fit into the field of view. Instead,
I get this caged moon, ready to explode...

09/01/2026

What if you wake up at 1am to a bright gibbous moon next to a bright yellow "star" that you know has a dazzling secret made of ice shards? That's right. You grab those photons!

08/29/2026

A few shots of the just-past full Sturgeon moon last night. All taken with Sony A7R IV and a 300-600mm Sigma telephoto zoom lens.

08/28/2026

Psst. I've got something to show you...

You know that calendar thing I've been doing the past three years?

This year, it's a bit different. I found a local printer and created a unique design from the ground up.

Let's take a peek ...

The calendar built from scratch for people who look up. Every page ...

08/28/2026

If you could see inside my camera roll ... my eclipse footage from last night.

08/28/2026

Although I had to cancel my appearance at the viewing party, I was able to see the eclipse from our house. In fact, it was aligned perfectly to watch through the window, so my wife got to see it, too! While she enjoyed the view, I stepped out onto our garage and captured a few shots.

It was a beautiful night!