Stephen Li Photography

08/23/2026

Perseid Meteor Shower
August 12-13-2026
Mt. Pinos

Last year I had hardly saw three meteors with the Moon up but this time around with clear skies and a new Moon, the skies were much darker where I was able to see over 50 throughout the night. I had the Canon M6 II with an 18mm lens on a tripod shooting 10 sec exposures continuously hoping to capture some. Here is the first of two sets of photos. With 166 photos, three were from the radiant of the Perseids with one big bright one that was from a totally different direction perpendicular to them. Facing northwest, with the Milkyway overhead, prominent nebulae can be seen at the center, the North America Nebula, Pelican Nebula, Sadr Region, and less visible are the Crescent Nebula and the Cygnus Loop.

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Gear
Canon M6 II
18-55mm
Untracked on a tripod

EXIF
166x10 photos
18mm
f/3.5
ISO 3200

Processed in PixInsight

08/06/2026

I am excited to represent LA and the Los Angeles Astronomical Society for this event. I had attended the LAAS Centennial Party for New Members and met the Vice President of the Denver Astronomical Society

Since I arrived right before the party was over due to coming from the first ever LA Metro D Line Evening Market by LACMA and the Peterson Automotive Museum, with nothing for the potluck, I gave out signed art prints of my work to whoever was still there. She got the Ring Nebula I captured from Mt Wilson Observatory 60 inch with 4 minutes of data with my astronomy camera.

She mentioned since there was no speaker for August, I asked if I could volunteer to share my experiences from the challenges of LA astrophotography, getting into the LA art scene as well as connections with the rich space industry and community in the area. She was quite interested, so I'm excited and thankful for this first public presentation! One thing I've learned is that you never know where your passion will take you and what doors are open if you just ask.

I'll update with the YouTube link once it's recorded. It will be on their page.
https://www.denverastro.org/events/general-meeting-9/?occurrence=2026-08-10

08/06/2026

Excited to represent LA and the Los Angeles Astronomical Society for this event. I had attended the LAAS Centennial Party for New Members and met the Vice President of the Denver Astronomical Society

Since I arrived right before the party was over due to coming from the first ever LA Metro D Line Evening Market by LACMA and the Peterson Automotive Museum, with nothing for the potluck, I gave out signed art prints of my work to whoever was still there. She got the Ring Nebula I captured from Mt Wilson Observatory 60 inch with 4 minutes of data with my astronomy camera.

She mentioned since there was no speaker for August, I asked if I could volunteer to share my experiences from the challenges of LA astrophotography, getting into the LA art scene as well as connections with the rich space industry and community in the area. She was quite interested so I'm excited and thankful for this first public presentation! One thing I've learned is that you never know where your passion will take you and what doors are open if you just ask.

I'll update with the YouTube recording in this post. It will be on their page.
https://www.denverastro.org/events/general-meeting-9/?occurrence=2026-08-10

08/04/2026

I'm honored to be chosen as the speaker of the month for the Denver Astronomical Society on August 10th 6:15-8 PM PDT (7:15 PM MDT) I'll be Zooming in to the in-person meeting at the Secular Hub.

DAS runs the public outreach for Chamberlin Observatory owned and operated by the University of Denver that houses the 20-inch Alvan Clark-Saegmuller, AKA the 20-inch Clark. It is the largest refractor of its kind from 1894. It was once the 5th largest in the world.

General Meeting: “Piercing The Veil Under the LA Sky Skyline: Adventures In Breaking Barriers of Art and Science in Backyard Astrophotography” This meeting is FREE and open to all. Open to members and non-members alike, our Monthly General Meetings feature club announcements, members’ observat...

08/02/2026

"Buck Moon"
7/30/2026
The second full moon of astronomical summer, it got its name from when bucks start growing their antlers. I did not plan to capture it, but a follower mentioned if I was capturing it. I thought, why not? Even though I may not be motivated to, my followers would be looking forward to it. So, here it is after midnight when clouds started to roll in, and you see this halo effect with the water molecules giving a prism effect. Even though I missed the deeper color when it was low, the halo is just 🤌🏼

Lately, I've been using my smallest 2.5" widefield scope, but since fall and nebula season is coming, I switched back to my trusty 4" workhorse for a deeper field of view.

Gear:
Astro-Tech AT102ED Doublet Refractor
OGMA AP26CC OSC Camera (Sony IMX571)
IR/UV Cut Filter
Proxisky UMi 17R with FRAM
Svbony SV165 40mm Guide Scope
ZWO ASI120MM MINI Guide Camera

EXIF
Single shot
Unguided
1/100 second
F/7

Captured with N.I.N.A.
Processed with PixInsight

07/27/2026

Large Sagittarius Star Cloud
6/20/2026

Big Bear Lake
This region is the brightest bulge naked eye visible of our Milky Way Galaxy at 20,000 LY away. It has the densest concentration of stars viewable from Earth. The depth is estimated to be 5,000 to 10,000 LY with millions of stars, star clusters & dark nebulae. The warm glow consists of mostly older, K-Type stars, the younger bluish halo on some stars are likely a combination of younger stars much closer between Earth and the star cloud and some chromatic aberation.

Dark Nebulae B289, B294, B86 can be seen in the orange lables. These are areas of dense interstellar dust and gas obscureing the stars behind them.

Located some 25,800 light years away, NGC 6528 is a galactic globular cluster on the lower left. It is one of the most metal-rich GCs in our galaxy based on NASA's Chandry spacecraft. Using its Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS), it is the first X-ray study of a GC by also combining Hubble and Gaia satellite data showing 16 sources of X-rays. The study concludes it was caused by primarily cataclysmic variables (CVs) and active binaries (ABs). However, they noted that one or more of the brighter sources could be quiescent low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs)

This view has 20,000-40,000 stars based on the camera sensor size, focal length of the telescope, and angular rotation based on the coordinates with an integration time of 48 minues of data.

The second image is the unprocessed raw stack that shows the annotations better.
Photos 4-6 and 9,10 are on location. Images 7,8 at from Stellarium my planetarium of choice for finding, acquiring and framing the field of viewmy of my telescope.

Gear
Astro-Tech AT65EDQ Quadruplet Astrograph
OGMA AP26CC OSC Camera (Sony IMX571)
OGMA UV/IR Cut Filter
Proxisky UMi 17R with FRAM
Svbony SV165 40mm Guide Scope
ZWO ASI120MM MINI Guide Camera

EXIF
32x90 lights
No Calibration
Captured with NINA
Processed in PixInsight

07/22/2026

🌌 A Special Evening Under the Stars

Dear Astro626Photos community,

We are delighted to invite you to Stephen Li’s first-ever solo artist presentation — a highly requested evening that’s completely free for everyone.

Piercing The Veil Under The LA Skyline

Artist Presentation & Gallery Reception

Join fellow space lovers, photographers, and curious minds as Stephen shares his breathtaking journey, capturing the wonders of deep space from his backyard under Los Angeles’ bright skies. Through stunning images and personal stories, he’ll take us beyond the city lights into the majesty of the cosmos.

Free Admission — All are warmly welcome

Saturday, September 5, 2026
7:00 PM Slide Show Presentation
8:00 PM Gallery Reception with light refreshments

Location: 319 W. Olive Ave., Monrovia, CA 91016

Please RSVP by commenting below or messaging so we can prepare a warm welcome for you.

Come as you are — whether this is your first time exploring the night sky or you’ve been chasing stars for years. This is a night to celebrate beauty, wonder, and community.

We can’t wait to share this special moment with you ✨

SpaceLovers CommunityEvent FreeEvent MonroviaCA Art Cosmos AstroCommunity