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So my whimsical title refers to the Wizard Nebula, shown in the upper left of this image, and a Sharpless Catalogue object, Sh2-139, in the lower right of the image, which for the purposes of the title of the post vaguely resembles a fireball :) The Wizard Nebula is an area of active gas and...

This could easily have been named the shot that almost didn't happen. I will try not to bore the audience with everything leading up to this, but suffice to say it was not only a long distance to this distance-wise but also difficulty-wise. The backstory is summarized as follows: Ever since...

Hi, So I do not often post here as I am not a particularly accomplished wildlife shooter, but a recent trip to Australia gave me a chance to capture some animals and birds not found in North America (or in some cases anywhere besides Australia) so since I had my 100-500 zoom along on the trip...

So I am back from an trip to Australia that included 4 of the 6 states, plus the Northwest territory, 13 hotel rooms, 10 plane flights, 4 ferry trips, 2 boats, a bus, a train and 3 rental cars, for a total of 24 days including getting there and getting back. Definitely pretty epic. We started in...

A short drive up to Vail for a 2 night stay produced this crop of a 2 frame stitch, actually shot on the side of Interstate 70, with the lens zoomed in to miss all the highway clutter. The side lighting really set off the mountain view, and the drama in the sky was also pretty special. Comments...

So I am still trying to get my technique and proficiency up on Nightscape images and Milky Way images in particular in preparation for my upcoming trip to Australia. I had an unfixable focusing issue with my previous lens designated for this type of shooting so I bought a different lens and this...

So a trip to Independence Pass to attend a Milky Way Photography Workshop unfortunately did not produce any nightscape images when the clouds rolled in on us right as darkness fell. But those same clouds REALLY made for some jaw dropping color during the Golden Hour while we were waiting for the...

So, inspired by Ed's (@Comet Hunter) wonderful work on reprocessing some of his data, I decided to go back to one of my older images from 2017, the Eastern Veil Nebula. Lots has changed since 2017, both in available post processing tools and techniques, and also in my proficiency level in...

So for those of you who are PixInsight users, you may already know of Bill Blanshan. he has been adding a number of new process icons to PixInsight lately that are quite effective and helpful for a number of varied tasks, such as star reduction, adding luminance to RGB, adding Hα to RGB...

The Sunflower Galaxy is the 63rd object in the Messier Catalog and is located in the Canes Venatici constellation, at an approximate distance of 29 Mly away from us. Is it is believed to be home to 400 billion stars (more than our Milky Way). With no easily identifiable spiral arms this galaxy...

I was very focused on the western view during my sunrise session at Flaming Gorge but at some point I realized I had to look the 'other way' from my previous compositions and so I scurried over to another viewpoint and got set up quick enough to capture this view. The sun was really just peeking...

So I originally thought I wasn't done taking data on this target yet, but as I often do I started to play with the data I had to see how it was coming along and one thing led to another and - well, I think I AM done with this target after all :) This is the Trifid Nebula, M20, located in the...

Here is a shot trying to capture the amazing flower blooms in various areas around the campsite we were staying at in Flaming Gorge. Pretty cool and hopefully indicative of what we might get to experience in July near Crested Butte (our next camping trip...) Comments and critiques most welcome...

Here is another image from the recent Flaming Gorge trip. Taken along the Canyon Rim Trail right near our campsite, a very easy flat trail with lots of overlooks along the way. Comments and critiques welcome. ML

So firstly, thanks to Jim for getting me over to this target when this supernova was popping off, it was fun to have documented it myself. That being said, this is an image that I would have normally spent more time on, but I ran up against the necessity to have my remotely located set up torn...

So just back from a quick 3 night camping trip to the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area - what a magnificent place, and not that many folks there during the week anyway. Had a great trip and I guess I should be excited to post my favorite image from the trip but I am still feeling very sad...

So here are some versions of M27, also known as the Dumbbell Nebula. As the title suggests, the 2 main versions were imaged in NB, with data collected from all 3 common filters, Hα, OIII, and SII. This is a fun target as it has an OIII signal that is just as strong as the Hα signal (more common...

This dramatic edge on galaxy is M82, known as the Cigar Galaxy. It is a starburst galaxy, with intense star formation occurring at rates ~10 times higher than in our own Milky Way Galaxy. The starburst activity is thought to be from interactions with nearby M81. M82 is thought to be at a...

Here is a close up of Messier 106, located in the Canes Venatici constellation. This amazing galaxy was discovered in 1781 and is one of the largest and brightest galaxies located nearby, having a size roughly equivalent to the Andromeda Galaxy. It harbors a very active supermassive black hole...

Sometimes one's astrophotography composition is controlled by the camera rotation, and in my case of operating remotely, that is often the case. On this image my main target was NGC 5033, the large irregular spiral in the lower left of the frame. I also wanted to get NGC 5005 in the frame, but...