Imaging
Astrophotography images captured from Houston and DSP Remote Observatory in Animas, New Mexico (Bortle Class 1). Each post includes the final image, acquisition details, equipment used, and processing notes — everything you need to understand how the image was made. From wide-field nebulae to high-resolution planetary, these are real results from a Mac-based imaging workflow.
vdB 16: The Octopus Nobody Cataloged
Sixteen hours of integration on the Dark Octopus and vdB 16, at the edge of the Perseus molecular cloud, and a short story about a filing clerk at the galactic registry who receives a formal complaint from a cloud.
Sh2-155: The Cave That Waited for a Name
Over 12 hours of integration on Sh2-155, the Cave Nebula in Cepheus, and a short story about a people who will not name a thing in the sky until they have looked at it twice.
IC 342: Evidence of Dust
Over 13 hours of integration on IC 342, the Hidden Galaxy behind the Milky Way, and a short story about two scholars in a distant galaxy who work out why the Milky Way has never answered their signals.
vdB 14 and vdB 15: A Star to Measure By
Twenty hours of integration on vdB 14 and vdB 15, two reflection nebulae around twin supergiants in Camelopardalis, and a short story about an old navigator who teaches a cadet to steer by two supergiants in Camelopardalis.
M61: A Place That Grows Fast
Ten hours of integration on M61 (NGC 4303), the supernova factory of the Virgo Cluster, and a short story about a girl learning to read the sky in a failing town, and the one lesson that changes how she sees both.
M78: Two Fairly Bright Nuclei
Over 32 hours of integration on M78, the brightest reflection nebula in the sky, and a short story about a survey ship that reaches M78 two thousand years after its discovery.
LDN 1357: The Hand Is Not Open
Sixteen hours of integration on vdB 8, vdB 7, vdB 9 and the dark cloud LDN 1357 in Cassiopeia, and a short story about an astronomer who learns why the star beside the Helping Hand beats like a heart.
NGC 4258: A Ruler Made of Water
Over 41 hours of integration on M106 (NGC 4258), the maser galaxy in Canes Venatici, and a short story about an astronomer who learns that measuring a galaxy's distance can also mean reading its future.
NGC 2237: Five Numbers for One Flower
Over 17 hours of integration on the Rosette Nebula (NGC 2237) and its young cluster NGC 2244 in Monoceros, and a short story about an ecologist living on the inner wall of a nebula that is being hollowed out by the wind of its own stars.
vdB 5: The Star With a Name Written Backward
Nine hours of integration on vdB 5 and the Ghost of Cassiopeia around the star Navi, and a short story about a star named by an astronaut, and the ghost it is slowly burning away.
M63: Nobody Asked the Dwarf
Over 18 hours of integration on M63, the Sunflower Galaxy in Canes Venatici, and a short story about a retired insurance adjuster who photographs the remains of a galaxy that got eaten.
NGC 1990: The Nebula Nobody Could Confirm
Seven hours of integration on NGC 1990, the faint glow around Alnilam in Orion's Belt, and a short story about a clerk whose job is to confirm the sky is really there, and the one card he can't stamp.