Latest Images
IC 2177 The Seagull Nebula in Monoceros - Feb. 13, 2026
The Seagull Nebula taken in broadband.
It seems like nine times out of ten, you will see this object done in narrowband.
I like the look of broadband better with its more natural colors.
This image was exposed for just under two hours and it could have used more time.
Due to the extreme number of stars, I had to diminish their brightness or the stars
would have overwhelmed the nebula.
Click on the image for a larger view in a new window.
Details:
Location: Front yard, Cary NC
Camera: ASI294mc-Pro
Exposure: 74 x 90s gain 150
Filter: UV/IR
Scope: WO RedCat 61 @ f/4.9
Mount: ZWO AM3
Guider: WO 120mm
Capture software: ASIAir
Guiding software: ASIAir
Calibration frames: darks, flats, flat-dark
Processing software: Pixinsight, BlurXterminator, NoiseXterminator, StarXteriminator,
and Affinity Photo.
Weather conditions: Cold and clear with temps in the 30s
Notes: The final photo was cropped slightly on the left and right sides.
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NGC 1300 galaxy in Eridanus - Jan. 20,2026
Beautiful barred spiral galaxy NGC 1300 in Eridanus.
This object like NGC 1360 in Fornax, stays very low to my southern horizon reaching
a maximum altitude of 28. This puts objects in this direction just over my neighbor's
bright garage lights. It also makes for limited data capture times due to trees on both
sides of the meridian. After discarding frames with trees in them, I had 78 minutes of
exposure on the galaxy.
Details:
Location: Front yard, Cary NC
Camera: ASI294mc-Pro
Exposure: 39 x 120s gain 150
Filter: UV/IR
Scope: Celestron EdgeHD 800 SCT (8" @ f/7)
Mount: Ioptron GEM45
Guider: Orion 60mm finder/guider
Capture software: ASIAir
Guiding software: ASIAir
Calibration frames: darks, flats, flat-dark
Processing software: Pixinsight, BlurXterminator, NoiseXterminator, Affinity Photo.
Weather conditions: Clear and cold with temps around 27.
Notes: none
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NGC 1360 in Fornax - Jan. 15, 2026
The Robin's Egg planetary nebula (NGC1360) in eastern Fornax near the Eridanus border.
For my location at home, this object is only visible for a couple of hours a day as it
crosses the meridian in a gap in the trees.
The maximum altitude at transit is 28 degrees from the horizon.
It is fairly large at 7 arc minutes and bright at magnitude 9.4.
This is a close crop of the top right quadrent of my ASI294mc camera.
Click on the image for a larger view in a new window.
Details:
Location: Front yard Cary, NC
Camera: ASI294mc-Pro
Exposure: 84 x 60s gain 150
Filter: UV/IR
Scope: TeleVue Genesis 4" f/5
Mount: iOptron GEM-45
Guider: Orion 60mm finder guider with ASI-120mm camera
Capture software: ASIAir
Guiding software: ASIAir
Calibration frames: darks, flats, flat-dark
Processing software: Pixinsight, BlurXterminator, StarXterminator, NoiseXterminator,
and Affinity Photo.
Weather conditions: Clear with very cold temperatures in the upper 20s.
Notes: I cropped out a fairly nice galaxy NGC1398 in the bottem left quadrent of the full frame.
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Comet 24P/Schaumasse in Coma Berenices - Dec. 31, 2025
Comet Schaumasse taken between 4:30 and 5:00am Dec. 31.
The comet was reported to be approximately mag. 10.
Seen around the edges of the frame are numerious galaxies,
the brightest at the bottom is NGC 4689. NGC 4710 is in the upper left corner.
NGC 4633 and 4634 are on the right edge.
This image was composed of two different processings of the data.
One was aligned on the stars, and the other was aligned on the comet.
The two were combined together in Affinity Photo.
Click on the image for a larger view in a new window.
Details:
Location: Front yard, Cary NC
Camera: ASI294mc-Pro
Exposure: 25 x 60s gain 150
Filter: UV/IR
Scope: WO RedCat 61 @ f/4.9
Mount: ZWO AM3
Guider: WO 120mm
Capture software: ASIAir
Guiding software: ASIAir
Calibration frames: darks, flats, flat-dark
Processing software: Pixinsight, BlurXterminator, NoiseXterminator, StarXteriminator,
and Affinity Photo.
Weather conditions: Cold and clear with temps in the 30s
Notes: The final photo was cropped from the original.
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M77 area in Cetus - Dec. 20, 2025
Pictured above are all galaxies in Cetus near M77.
The original full sized image was cropped to only show face-on spiral M77 with its faint halo
(center) and edge-on galaxy NGC-1055 (upper center).
The inset came from the bottom left of the original image.
It was placed to the lower right corner of this image to allow greater magnification of the galaxies.
NGC-1090 is at inset top and NGC-1087 is at inset bottom.
There are numerious small galaxies in the main view and inset window.
Click on the image for a larger view in a new window.
Details:
Location: Front yard Cary, NC
Camera: ASI294mc-Pro
Exposure: 33 x 90s gain 150
Filter: UV/IR
Scope: TeleVue Genesis 4" f/5
Mount: iOptron GEM-45
Guider: Orion 60mm finder guider with ASI-120mm camera
Capture software: ASIAir
Guiding software: ASIAir
Calibration frames: darks, flats, flat-dark
Processing software: Pixinsight, BlurXterminator, StarXterminator, NoiseXterminator,
and Affinity Photo.
Weather conditions: Clear with temps in 40s
Notes: While showing visitors some of my photos on the iPad, I lost connection with the ASIAir.
The original plan for 60 subs was aborted to 33 when I had to power cycle the Air.
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Comet 240P/NEAT animation Nov. 26, 2025
Comets 240P/NEAT and 240P-B/NEAT in Taurus near the Cetus border.
This 23 frame animation was made from every other frame of the 45 x 60sec subframes I shot
that night. It compresses 52 minutes of real time into about 3 seconds of animation.
The data was taken using my Celestron Edge-HD 800 at a focal length of 1468mm with my
ASI1600mm-pro mono camera.
Each image was cropped down to about 1/4 of its original size ( about 10 arc minutes)
to zoom in on the comets. North is at the top.
This image is all 45 frames aligned and stacked on the comets.
240P was discovered on Dec. of 2002, and 240P-B was disccovered on Oct. 5, 2025.
At the time of capture, 240P was magnitude 12.1 and I estimate 240P-B was around 13 or so.
240P is a Jupiter class comet orbiting the sun every 7.6 years with a perehilion on Dec. 19,
2025.
Details:
Location: Front yard, Cary NC
Camera: ASI1600mm-Pro
Exposure: 45 x 60s gain 139
Filter: UV/IR
Scope: Celestron EdgeHD 800 SCT (8" @ f/7)
Mount: Ioptron GEM45
Guider: Orion 60mm finder/guider
Capture software: ASIAir
Guiding software: ASIAir
Calibration frames: darks, flats, flat-dark
Processing software: Pixinsight, BlurXterminator, NoiseXterminator.
Weather conditions: Partly cloudy with falling temps into the 50s
Notes: none
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NGC253 and NGC288 in Sculptor Nov. 17, 2025
The Sculptor galaxy NGC253 along with globular cluster NGC288.
72 minutes of combined exposure time.
These objects are low to the horizon and just above my neighbor's bright garage lights.
Click on the image for a larger view in a new window.
Details:
Location: Front yard, Cary NC
Camera: ASI294mc-Pro
Exposure: 96 x 45s gain 150
Filter: UV/IR
Scope: WO RedCat 61 @ f/4.9
Mount: ZWO AM3
Guider: WO 120mm
Capture software: ASIAir
Guiding software: ASIAir
Calibration frames: darks, flats, flat-dark
Processing software: Pixinsight, BlurXterminator, NoiseXterminator StarXteriminator.
Weather conditions: Cold and clear with temps in low 40s
Notes: Cropped due to camera orientation after meridian flip
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Comet Lemmon in Bootes - Oct. 22, 2025
Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) taken in the evining hours about an hour before it set.
The comet made its closest approach to earth the day before.
Reports had the comet at magnitude 4.
Click on the image for a larger view in a new window.
Details:
Location: Crabtree Lake Park, Cary NC
Camera: ASI294mc-Pro
Exposure: 10 x 60s gain 150
Filter: UV/IR
Scope: WO RedCat 61 @ f/4.9
Mount: ZWO AM3
Guider: none
Capture software: ASIAir
Guiding software: none
Calibration frames: darks, flats, flat-dark
Processing software: Pixinsight, NoiseXterminator StarXteriminator.
Weather conditions: Cool clear after cold front last night.
Notes: I was having trouble with the guider so these photos were unguided.
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