Imaging Projects
In this blog, I will share the results of all of my imaging projects. The newest will be at the top and the oldest will be further down the stack. Going back in time here is interesting - some of my early stuff was pretty rough - but I did not see it that way at the time - I was thrilled to get anything back that looked like an image! Hopefully, you will see how my work has progressed with time!
Barnard 33 & NGC 2024 - The Horsehead and Flame Nebula - 6 hours in HaLRGB
A new Orion classic from Whispering Skies Observatory: B33 (the Horsehead Nebula) silhouetted against IC 434, paired with NGC 2024 (the Flame Nebula) and its intricate dust lanes. Captured October 27–28, 2025 using LRGB + Hα for a total of 5 h 59 m 30 s, this project emphasizes clean star color and high-contrast dust structure while preserving the region’s faint, extended nebulosity.
Messier 42/43 – The Great Orion Nebula - 6.35 hours in HaLRGB
Orion’s sword is one of the most famous regions in the night sky, and for good reason. This widefield take on M42/M43 and the Running Man blends short and longer RGB/L exposures with H-alpha to balance the bright core against the faint, sculpted outer nebulosity—an image that showcases both the beauty and the ongoing starbirth of our nearest major stellar nursery.
Stephan’s Quintet – HCG 92 / Arp 319 Compact Galaxy Group - 24 Hours of LRGB!
Stephan’s Quintet is a compact group of galaxies in Pegasus caught in the middle of a slow-motion cosmic collision – four true members being stretched, stripped, and reshaped by gravity while a fifth foreground spiral simply photobombs the scene. This deep LRGB image reveals distorted spiral arms, long tidal tails, and the bright cores of galaxies that are gradually merging into a single massive system hundreds of millions of light-years away.
SH2-157 – The Lobster Claw Nebula - 34.5 Hours of SHOrgb! Plus The Bubble Nebula!
A 34.5-hour SHO+RGB portrait of Sh2-157 (the Lobster Claw) with the Bubble Nebula in frame—captured over five October nights with the FRA400/ASI1600 and processed in PixInsight; full workflow and annotations inside.
NGC 7380 – The Wizard Nebula Revisited - This time with 25 Hours of SHOrgb!
My Second Attempt - and my finest - with NGC 7380 - The Wizard Nebula.
This is the result of 25 hours of narrowband and RGB exposure on my Williams Optics 132 FLT APO platform, equipped with a 0.8 reducer and an ASI2600MM-Pro camera.
This was another image captured from my new observatory, which allowed for capture on marginal nights.
LDN 1251 - The Rotten Fish Nebula (18.9 hours LRGB)
My second dark nebula image ever!
This image results from 19 hours of LRGB exposure with my FRA400 scope.
This was a challenging image to process as the nebula was so tenuous. I also had to deal with microlensing effects on the bright stars due to the ASI1600MM-Pro sensor.
IC 5070 - The Pelican Nebula! 18.75 hours of SHO (my longest integration yet!)
My third attempt - and my finest - at IC 5070 - The Pelican Nebula.
This is the result of almost 19 hours of narrowband exposure on my Williams Optics 132 FLT APO platform with a 0.8 reducer and an ASI2600MM-Pro camera.
This was another image that was captured from my new observatory tht allowed capture on marginal nights.
IC 5068 - The Forsaken Nebula and the “Black Waterfall”- (11.9 hours in SHOrgb)
Astrobin Top Pick Nominee!
IC 5068 is a very faint nebula that is part of the North American/Pelican Nebula region and is often passed over for these brighter nebulae. But this region is a beautiful piece of the sky in narrowband!
Shot with my AP130 Platform with ~12 hours of SHO and RGB-Stars capture.
Messier 106 - First Light for The Sharpstar SCA260 V2! (10 hours in LHaRGB)
The first light for both my new Whispering Skies Observatory and my new Galaxy scope, the Sharpstar SCA260 V2!
This is M106 shot in HaLRGB with 10 hours and 7 minutes of integration!
Reprocessing Project: Messier 31 - The Andromeda Galaxy (6 hours in LHaRGB)
This version of M31, taken in November 2021, is my favorite. But it has been a few years since I first captured and processed this data. I have learned a lot since then, and I also have some excellent new processing tools at my disposal, so I wanted to see where I would end up if I were to start from scratch with the data, and this is the result!
Let me know what you think of this new image!
NGC 7822 - The Central Portion of the Question Mark Nebula (~14 hours in SHOrgb)
NGC 7822 is the Clamshell Nebula - located 2900 light years away in the constellation of Cepheus. This is a very large target, and with my smallest scope, I could still only fit the central portion of this complex area into the camera's field of view. This image results from just under 14 hours of integration and consists of a mix of narrowband data for the nebula and broadband RGB data for the stars.
SH2-101 - A Reprocess of The Tulip Nebula - 12.8 Hours in SHOrgb
This is a REPROCESSING PROJECT for Sharpless 101 (specifically Sh2-101) also known as the Tulip Nebula. This object is located approximately 6000 light-years away in the constellation of Cygnus (The Swan). This was a 12.8-hour integration with the AP130 platform using the ZWO ASI2600MM-Pro Camera.
I was able to significantly improve the image and am quite pleased with the improvement I was able to produce - but you be your own judge of this!
NGC 6888 - A Reprocess of The Crescent Nebula ~11 hours in HOOrgb
NGC 6888 - The Crescent Nebula is a famous emission nebula located in the constellation of Cygnus. This is a reprocessing project using image data first captured in September 2022.
SInce. I have no new data to process due to the wildfire smoke, I decided to use some new tools and processes to see if i could pull more details out from the O3 shell that surrounds the nebula.
THe resulting image show much more O3 detail - including some interesting convection cells towards the bottom of the nebula
Messier 57 - A Reprocess of The Ring Nebula - 14.7 hours in LHaRGB!
Messier 57, the Ring Nebula has long been a visual favorite of mine. This was a reprocess of data that was collected in 2022. Based on 14.7 hours of HaLRGB, this data showed the rarely seen outer shell. I wanted to see if I could improve on that image with advanced tools and techniques. Since the original image was published, I created a new imaging project for posting to contain both the old and the new versions in the collection.
Messier 27 - A Reprocess of My Dumbbell Nebula Data in SHO - (10.25 Hours)
This imaging project is not a recapture of data for M27 - the Dumbell Nebula. Rather it is an effort to reprocess old data using new tools and new processing methods to address some concerns I had about the original image - where I thought that the stars were bloated and unsharp, and that I thought I should be able to bring out more detail in the amazing outer gas shells that narrowband imaging shows for this target.
Melotte 15 - The Heart of the Heart Nebula (IC 1805) - 5.5 hours of SHO
Melotte 15, better known as the “Heart of the Heart,” is an open cluster with emission and reflection nebulae that creates an interesting structure that can be found in the center of IC 1805 - the Heart Nebula.
This rich region is located about 7,100 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Cassiopea.
This is image is the result of 5.5 hours of narrowband data collected on my William Optics 132mm FLT platform using a ZWO ASI1600MM-Prop camera.
IC 1396A - The Elephant’s Trunk - 7.3 hrs in SHO (a Case of Virus Interuptus)
IC 1396A - The Elephants Trunk Nebula is located 2400 light-years away in the constellation of Cepheus. This is my fourth project involving this target - but the first where I used the newer generation ZWO ASI26MM-Pro camera and full narrowband data set at this image scale. My goal here was to collect about 15 hours on target. I only ended up getting 7.3 hours. My usual reason for missing my integration target is weather. Not this time. This time I was hit with a nasty virus and the worst cold of my life! I had to watch two precious clear nights slip away whilst I coughed and hacked away inside in misery….
NGC6995/IC1340 - The Bat Nebula! - 13.9 hours in SHO
The Bat Nebula is actually a small portion of the Eastern Veil Nebula, designated as either NGC6995 or IC 1340. This is a close-up of a fragment of a supernova remnant located 2400 light-years away in the constellation of Cygnus. This is a 13.9-hour integration in narrowband using my William Optics 132mm FLT APO scope and the ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro camera. The deep integration produced some wonderful data of a region of the sky that is both subtle and complex at the same time. Look at it in full resolution to experience this amazing part of the sky!
Messier 13 - The Great Hercule Cluster - 8.5 hours in LRGB - Super Sharp!
Messier 13 - the Great Hercules Cluster - is one of the finest examples of a Globular Cluster that can be found in our skies. It consists of a giant ball of 100,000-500,00 stars packed into an area 145 light-years across. M13 can be found between 22,000 and 25,000 light-years away in the constellation of Hercules.
This is a 5.6 8.5 hour integration in LRGB using my Astro-Physics 130mm scope the ZWO ASI2600MM-Pro camera. This is the fourth time I have shot this target and this one is clearly my best - displaying a remarkable sharpness in detail.
NGC 7000 (The North American Nebula) with IC5070 (Pelican Nebula) in Narrowband- Total of 9.33 Hours
NGC 7000, also known as the North American Nebula and Caldwell 20, is a large H II emission nebula located in the constellation of Cygnus (The Swan). It measures roughly 2 degrees by 1.5 degrees in size, making the nebula about 10X larger than the area covered by the full moon.
Also included in this view is the Pelican Nebula IC 5070
This image is the result of 9.33 hours of integration in Narrowband and rendered in the Hubble Palette.
Extensive notes on image processing are included for the first time.