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!
SH2-173 - The Phantom of the Opera Nebula | 15.77 hours of SHOrgb
A ghostly face emerges from the stars of Cassiopeia. Meet Sh2-173, the Phantom of the Opera Nebula, captured in 15 hours and 46 minutes of SHO narrowband and RGB imaging with my Astro-Physics 155mm refractor. Explore the glowing gas and dark dust behind the mask, the nebula’s history, and the evidence for a new generation of stars taking shape nearby—along with the capture details and processing behind the image.
SH2-88 - A Tulip-Style Nebula in Vulpecula - 12.37 hours of SHO + RGB Stars
This project presents SH2-88, a complex star-forming region in Vulpecula approximately 7,500–7,800 light-years from Earth. The final image combines 12 hours 22 minutes of SHO narrowband data with RGB stars, captured over three nights using a William Optics FLT 132 refractor and ZWO ASI2600MM-Pro camera. The processing walkthrough follows the complete workflow—from calibration and channel combination through color development, star processing, and final refinement.
SH2-124 - The Hidden Nebula (~14.2 hours in SHOrgb)
SH2-124 is a rich region of stars, dark dust, and emission nebulae located about 8,500 light-years away in the constellation of Cygnus.
This image is the result of 14.2 hours of SHOrgb data collection with my small Akskar FRA400 telescope platform.
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.