2020 was a down year for me for scenic photography, but that was compensated by my best year for astrophotography ever. While I hope to improve upon the results in the one discipline while I can hopefully match the results from the other discipline, here are my 10(ish) favorites from the year 2020:
The year started with the deployment of my astroimaging gear down to a friend's house in Green Valley, AZ, where an experiment to control my gear remotely from CO began in March. The first 'session' lasted From March through April, and produced some fun results:
Imaging using narrowband filters and able for the first time to put in some longer 'time on target' yielded these
I ended up putting in 25 hours on this target, still by far the most time ever, mostly because it was positioned in the sky to set up to image each night and then go to sleep. When I started post processing this I was still a newbie at processing narrowband astro images, when I staggered out the other side I had a cool image and the beginnings of an actual narrowband processing workflow I would continue to refine as the year went on.
1) The Elephant Trunk Nebula:
2) The image of the Eagle Nebula was a fun journey as I started out expecting the image in the middle and was surprised and excited by all the extra detail I revealed around the outskirts of the frame.
3) I also shot some galaxies in this first session, with this 'deep field' or Markarian's Chain being one of my very favorites:
4) I also took the classic pairing of M82 and M81, often framed up and imaged together:
June saw one of the only trips we managed for 2020m - a quick dash over to the Western Slope of CO to see the Colorado National Monument for the first time:
5) I got great light on a dawn drive to Ute Canyon, an area I scouted the day before:
6) Driving back the same morning still had some great views:
7) Early-Mid October brought a second chance to astroimage using my gear set up remotely in AZ, and I had the most productive week+ of imaging ever. Here is my favorite NB image from that session, IC 1795, the Fishhead Nebula:
8) I also finally was able to check of an object I had wanted to capture forever - The Helix Nebula:
9) And my last image I collected and processed, that I did not have high hopes for, turned out to be one of my favorites from the session as well, the Lion Nebula (sh2-132)
10) Later in October the fall colors came in, with fun walks along the path behind our house:
11) And scary walks on the path behind our house as well, as the wildfires made their presence felt a little too close to home:
12)
ML
The year started with the deployment of my astroimaging gear down to a friend's house in Green Valley, AZ, where an experiment to control my gear remotely from CO began in March. The first 'session' lasted From March through April, and produced some fun results:
Imaging using narrowband filters and able for the first time to put in some longer 'time on target' yielded these
I ended up putting in 25 hours on this target, still by far the most time ever, mostly because it was positioned in the sky to set up to image each night and then go to sleep. When I started post processing this I was still a newbie at processing narrowband astro images, when I staggered out the other side I had a cool image and the beginnings of an actual narrowband processing workflow I would continue to refine as the year went on.
1) The Elephant Trunk Nebula:
2) The image of the Eagle Nebula was a fun journey as I started out expecting the image in the middle and was surprised and excited by all the extra detail I revealed around the outskirts of the frame.
3) I also shot some galaxies in this first session, with this 'deep field' or Markarian's Chain being one of my very favorites:
4) I also took the classic pairing of M82 and M81, often framed up and imaged together:
June saw one of the only trips we managed for 2020m - a quick dash over to the Western Slope of CO to see the Colorado National Monument for the first time:
5) I got great light on a dawn drive to Ute Canyon, an area I scouted the day before:
6) Driving back the same morning still had some great views:
7) Early-Mid October brought a second chance to astroimage using my gear set up remotely in AZ, and I had the most productive week+ of imaging ever. Here is my favorite NB image from that session, IC 1795, the Fishhead Nebula:
8) I also finally was able to check of an object I had wanted to capture forever - The Helix Nebula:
9) And my last image I collected and processed, that I did not have high hopes for, turned out to be one of my favorites from the session as well, the Lion Nebula (sh2-132)
10) Later in October the fall colors came in, with fun walks along the path behind our house:
11) And scary walks on the path behind our house as well, as the wildfires made their presence felt a little too close to home:
12)
ML
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