Bubble Nebula - NGC 7635
The Bubble Nebula is a beautiful target 7 light-years across, 7,100 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia.
The star forming this nebula is 45 times more massive than our sun. Gas on the star gets so hot that it escapes away into space as a "stellar wind" moving at over 4 million miles per hour. This outflow sweeps up the cold, interstellar gas in front of it, forming the outer edge of the bubble. As the surface of the bubble's shell expands outward, it slams into dense regions of cold gas on one side of the bubble. This asymmetry makes the star appear dramatically off-center from the bubble.
On the night of Sept 4th, 5th, 2026 I captured over 800, 30 second subs but had to reject about 40%. The nebula is very small in the field of view and a difficult target in my opinion. It is best captured using a 2000 mm Schmidt-Cassegrain or a long refractor that I do not posses. This was captured using the SeeStar S50. I also captured 80 plus 2 minute subs using my Askar 71F that I will process later. This is also best captured using narrow band filters and a mono camera. All for the future.
Lunar Eclipse - August 27/28, 2026
The partial Lunar Eclipse of August 27/28 2026. The evening started with great visibility of the moon during the penumbral phase of the eclipse. I set up the SeeStar on my back deck and the clouds rolled in. So much that the SeeStar could not track the moon. So on to the trusty camera and lens configuration for some images. The clouds were in and out obscuring the moon. Just before maximum there was thin layer but the moon was not totally obscured. This image is a minute or so past maximum.
North America Nebula
This is a stacked image of 48 exposures, each 2 minutes captured on the night of the 25th of August 2026. Equipment used was an Askar 71F refractor with a Sony A6500 Astro Modified camera. I was not able to capture any dark, bias or flat frames as one of my cables snagged on the mount - pity. The images were stacked using the Beta version of Astro Stacker and processed using Astro Wizard. Photoshop to clean up and add the border. The image I posted yesterday is the same set but stacked using Siril and then processed with Astro Wizard. Despite not capturing any calibration frames the image is acceptable IMHO. Your thoughts?
Making the most of it
It’s been dull and overcast, day after day, particularly the early mornings and evenings. So why not maximize the opportunity and use the quality and quantity of light to make some etherial images. This one is of Sitcuate Harbor, MA.
Following the Tide
The Oregon Coast - June 2026
A 6 day road trip to the Oregon Coast is coming to a close. We left Seattle on Sunday the 21st and traveled out to Seaside for a night. Then a night in North Bend, 3 nights in Brookings and the final night in Florence. The majority of the trip was grey and foggy, pea soup foggy. Not at all ideal for photography. Bad weather is exciting, it makes for great skies and dramatic color but not this time so a minimalistic approach was the solution. Here are two images.
Bandon Beach, Bandon by the Sea. A single long exposure converted to Black & White. Exif: f/16, 1 min 43sec, ISO 100, 134 mm.
Harris Beach in Brookings. This is a composite of two images single long exposure for the sea stacks and normal short exposure for the sky. Image covered to monochrome but a little color was reintroduced for the sea stacks. Long exposure Exif: f/16, 2 min 23 sec, ISO 50, 24 mm and the Sky exposure Exif: f/16, 1/20 sec, ISO 50, 24 mm.
M97 - The Owl Nebula
The Owl Nebula - (Messier 97, M97 or NGC 3587) is a planetary nebula approximately 2,030 light years away in the constellation Ursa Major. This was captured last night (June 3, 2026) using the SeeStar S50
M101 - Pinwheel Galaxy
Trying out some new scripts in Siril. Veralux and Cosmic Clarity in particular. This is a stack of 755, 20 sec exposures using the SeeStar S50 on the night of May 19, 2026.
Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, GA
On the way to St. Augustine, Florida for the Florida’s Photo Festival we stopped for two nights in Jekyll Island for some photography. We were looking for shore birds and other subject matter. There were no birds but Driftwood Beach was just wonderful.
This image is an example of the many dead trees and driftwood that can be found on the northern beaches of the island. Late afternoon provided some beautiful light but the low textureless cloud cover was a spoiler. Conversion to monochrome was a good option.
Driftwood 1
The Northern Lights - November 11, 2025
On the night of November 11, 2025, the sky burst into colour. Waves of emerald, ruby, and rose rolled across the heavens, thanks to one of the most powerful geomagnetic storms in recent memory.
Even in places where the aurora is usually reserved for polar nights, we here in Massachusetts spotted the lights painting the skies — a vivid reminder of how connected we are to the rhythms of space.
If you were not lucky enough to catch the display, here is a time-lapse captured from the front steps of my home. And one last thought: on nights like these, when the sky feels infinite and luminous, it’s good to remember that our little planet is floating through a vast, active cosmos — and sometimes, it chooses to put on a show.
Panasonic S1RII Launch - B&H Live Panel
Live Panel event held at B&H today February 25, 2025 for the launch of the Lumix S1RII camera.
Season’s Gretings
Wishing all our friends and family Happy Holidays and all the Very Best for 2025
The WOW of Travel Photography
On Friday, August 16, 2024, I was proud to present this travel program sponsored by Panasonic LUMIX for Adorama. The presentation is an hour and 20 minutes and is filled with many tips and images. Enjoy and please leave any comments below.
Aldeyjarfoss - Iceland 2024
Aldeyjarfoss - A truly beautiful waterfall surrounded by basalt columns, in the northern highlands of Iceland. So many of Iceland's waterfalls have vivid blue water. The river Skjálfandafljót drops over 65 feet and the basalt columns are part of a 9000-year-old lava field called Bárðardalshraun. Foss is a waterfall in Icelandic and hraun is Icelandic for lava.
Aldeyjarfoss
Wild Tanzania - 2023
A short video of a few scenes captured during my Photo Tour to Tanzania in September, 2023. These are from Tarangire and Serengeti National Parks.
Light painting - Still Life
This is a Light Painted Still Life - a set of 14 light painted frames blended in Photoship.
Milky Way - Quiver Tree Forest, Namibia
This is a composite image where I used 10 light frames combined with 5 dark frames for the Milky Way and 1 light frame for the foreground.