Stories

Lower's Nebula 2025

Lower’s Nebula: A Three-Filter Journey Through Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Sulfur

Processing a faint winter target with 28 hours of data across SV220, Askar D2, and LPRO filters

Revisiting a Faint Winter Target

Lower’s Nebula in Canis Major doesn’t show up on many “best of winter” lists. It’s faint, it’s diffuse, and it lives in a part of the sky dominated by flashier neighbors like the Rosette and IC 410. But with enough integration time and the right filter combination, it rewards patience — and after January’s bird-poop-on-the-lens incident, I was ready for a target that would pay off rather than punish.

October Imaging Update

This month has brought clear skies to Texas and lots of imaging time. I’ve managed to capture a few targets including: North America Nebula, Clam Nebula, Tulip Nebula, and Orion’s Nebula.

These image sessions were all driven by NINA, and have revolutionized imaging sessions for me. There is no longer a need to sit and watch the telescope while it images, I have managed to automate the process and capture 2-3 targets in a night. I’m quite pleased with the transition from Stellarmate, however I do miss the ease of using an app to control everything.

Targets and Upcoming Plans

The Veil Nebula

The Veil Nebula is a beautiful target that has been visible for most of June through August. The Veil Nebula is relatively dim for me because it’s the remains of a supernova and is mostly super-heated gas. Since it was available for so long I decided to try to capture various aspects of it. I started with the Western Veil, NGC 6960, and moved to Eastern Veil, NGC 6995. After a few nights on those popular targets, I noticed there was much more to be seen within the whole complex of the Veil Nebula. So, I started taking pictures of a nebulous region, NGC 6974. This is close to the Pickering’s Triangle and gives a different perspective of this region.

So I'm Starting A Blog

I’ve decided to start a blog because I wanted a sort of journal to record where I’ve been. Maybe it can be useful to others so I’m deciding to make it public. As you may have guessed, the subject of the blog is my adventure into astrophotography.

Tonight we have clear skies, and I imagine I could find a target or two.