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Photographing the curiosities of the universe around you. All images/videos are original content.

11/01/2026

Jordan Pond
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I mean … there is a reason it’s a National Park. This iconic daytime photo spot is completely transformed into a kaleidoscope of color, reflection, and negative space under the cover of night.
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Beauty exemplified.
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Hope you enjoy!
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📷 —> ✨
Canon 6D
Samyang 14mm f/2.4 XP
Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer
Static foreground 3x60s
Tracked sky 3x60s
Jordan Pond
Acadia National Park, Maine
August 23, 2025
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10/09/2026

Galactic collisions don’t necessarily bring destruction. They often spark a new stellar generation.
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We are looking out across an expanse of 25 million light years toward the interacting galaxy pair known as the Cocoon Galaxy… NGC4490, and its smaller companion NGC4485.
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Their offspring? Millions of baby stars.
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Here we see the stellar nurseries glowing magenta, isolated using a hydrogen-alpha emission line filter. These massive pockets of ionized hydrogen gas are actively collapsing into fresh stars. At least, they were … 25 million years ago!
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Enjoy!
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✨ —> 🔭
Celestron EdgeHD 8”
Celestron .7x Reducer
Moonlite 2.5” CHL
ZWO ASI1600MM
Orion AtlasPro
HaLRGB
23.8 hours total exposure
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10/07/2026

Hidden Galaxy
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This is a closeup of a beautiful spiral galaxy, IC342, nicknamed the “Hidden Galaxy”.
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Why? Our view to IC342 is obscured by the veil of the Milky Way. A foreground of faint dust gives the galaxy a golden hue and hazy appearance. This also contributes to the fact that it is faint and, well, a little bit hidden.
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The magenta pockets are stellar nurseries, often accompanied by the brilliant groupings of newly formed blue supergiant stars. It looks pretty amazing at this scale!
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✨ —> 🔭
Celestron EdgeHD 8”
Celestron .7x Reducer
Moonlite 2.5” CHL
ZWO ASI1600MM
Orion AtlasPro
HaLRGB
35.8 hours total exposure
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10/06/2026

Moon Occults Jupiter
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Beautiful scene up there this morning!
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This shot was planned to be the foundation of a composite. It is a quick HDR blend of two videos captured with the Seestar. I thought it looked great on its own … so here you go.
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I actually captured this in higher detail with a second telescope. Let me know if you are interested in the full detail shot? Should I go through the effort?
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Unfortunately, I missed the actual occultation and just have this conjunction footage. Let’s just call it a “double occultation” … so it sounds cool … and I don’t have to describe my parade of misfortunes, 😂
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I hope you enjoy!
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✨ —> 🔭
Seestar S30 Pro
EQ mode
2 x 30sec RAW Videos
IRCUT filter
From the backyard - Bortle 6
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10/02/2026

Mars - Early Approach
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I pointed my largest telescope at Mars… and wow, Mars is a certainly tiny little speck out there right now.
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We are catching up for a closest approach in February 2027. But until then, it’s a huge challenge to photograph.
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At the time I shot this photo it was only 5.6 arc-seconds across. About the size of apple viewed from 2 miles (3 km) away! Think about that one!
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At the capture scale I only landed 64 pixels across the diameter of the disk. The image seen here is scaled up 4x, so I worked hard to pull some sense out of the mush. In the end, I can pick out recognizable features, but also not seeing some I expect. Trust that I know I’m pushing the data hard and also, of course, actual dust storms and clouds could always be present. Just having some fun!
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Now, go zoom in with an Apple on your iPhone
Enjoy!
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🍎 —> 🔭
Details:
29-SEPT-2026
TPO 12” f/4 Imaging Newtonian
Televue 5x Powermate
ASI183MM Pro
Sky-watcher EQ6-R Pro
(SuperL)RGB
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Here’s the scope I used to capture the photo. Need BIGGER

09/28/2026

Saturn Nearing Opposition
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Here’s a look at Saturn this morning through my largest telescope. We pass closest to this magnificent ringed giant in October 4th this year. The golden “star” is currently visible all night long. Get out and see it, or if you are lazy, just like my picture. 😉
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It has been a long while since I’ve set up for planetary imaging! Took some work to dust off the cobwebs and the conditions, as always, could have been better. I’d say seeing was average at best …. but she’s still is a looker!
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Keen-eyed observers will spot Rhea and Tethys, a couple of small moons in the upper left of this image.
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Enjoy!
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🪐 —> 🔭
Details:
28-SEPT-2026
TPO 12” f/4 Imaging Newtonian
Televue 5x Powermate
ASI183MM Pro
Sky-watcher EQ6-R Pro
RRGB
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This is my 12” Newtonian telescope that I used to capture this Saturn image. It doesn’t get out much, someday I’ll devise a helium balloon harness to carry it out.

09/25/2026

Cocoon Nebula
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This is IC5146, the Cocoon Nebula, as seen through the Seestar S30 Pro.
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What can I say? The scope brought back the joy of target hopping … some quick-and-easy exploration. Setting the scope up and setting it to run for the night is a 5 minute ordeal. It can’t stand toe-to-toe with my other gear, but it does what it does simply, at a fraction of the cost and effort.
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I still take the time to process the images myself. I continue to be pretty happy with what falls out of this “little engine that could”. This was my first attempt at EQ mode and 60 second sub-exposures.
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I hope you enjoy, and definitely ask some questions if you have them !
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✨ —> 🔭
Seestar S30 Pro
EQ mode
678 x 60s IRCUT filter
11.3 hours total
Heavy crop of the center of the full image
From the backyard - Bortle 6
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09/21/2026

Andromeda
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This is the Andromeda Galaxy as seen through the Seestar S30 Pro. I’m super happy with the output from this little scope.
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Just a few short years ago, it was hard to imagine capturing space photos with a device like this. These are exciting times for the hobby, as the hurdles to getting started are getting smaller and smaller.
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I hope you enjoy, and definitely ask some questions if you have them !
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✨ —> 🔭
Seestar S30 Pro
Alt/Az mode
675x20s IRCUT filter
341x20s LP filter
5.64 hours total
From the backyard - Bortle 6
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Zoom out …

Zoom even more out …

08/28/2026

Deep Partial Lunar Eclipse
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Here’s a look at last night’s eclipse. Saturating the color reveals a spectacular rainbow of tones, as the light refracts through our atmosphere.
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I shot this with a bunch of cameras and telescopes, but in the interest of sharing something timely, this is a quick HDR blend from my trusty DSLR. Bear with me as I incessantly polish a monstrosity.
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I hope you enjoy!
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📷 —> 🔭
Canon 6D
Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary at 600mm
Skywatcher Star Adventurer
5 exposure blend
From the backyard
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