Ray

****PLEASE READ****PLEASE READ**** *****RE-INTRODUCTION***** Been a while since I posted an introduction and new pic of me. Sorry internet. Old and ugly, as promised. First my name REALLY is Ray. Second ALL the images here are my own work and NEVER AI. Ok, A little about the guy in the picture. I JUST turned 60 on May 6th, 2026. I'm an honorably discharged, decorated veteran. I served 10 years in the US Air Force as an aircraft crew chief for 3 years and a combat arms instructor for the remaining 7. I'm an expert marksman and still hit the range several times a month to keep in practice. I'll post targets now and then. I served 7 years in the US Border Patrol then as a civilian combat arms instructor for the Air Force. My photography has always been a hobby. NOT INTERESTED IN NFTs. Terrestrial photography is ALWAYS of nature. I TRY not to get ANY humanity in my pictures. No, I'm not a fan of humanity. I'm the guy that roots for the asteroid! I'll be there with a baseball mitt on to try to catch it. LOL Wildlife, landscapes and weather are primarily what I focus on. The instruments I use are a Canon EOS t7 with basic kit lenses, DJI Mini 2 & 3 Drones, and a GoPro Hero 13. My Astrophotography is my true passion. Since childhood I have been fascinated by Astronomy. I ALWAYS wanted to take pictures like the ones I saw in Astronomy, Science News, and Sky & Telescope Magazines. Back in 2011, I was FINALLY able to get the gear I needed to do BASIC Astrophotography. Now, I am fulfilling that dream and sharing it here. My main scope is a Williams Optics Red Cat 51 Gen 3. (Scope in pic with ugly old man) Politics. Ugh! I have VERY strong opinions. THIS site is not about that for me. It is about photography. I don't care what side you are on, what you identify as or who you vote for. I will NOT engage in political debate here. Anyone that tries will be immediately blocked whether you are on my side or not. PLEASE, if any of you feel I am being political, let me know and I will correct that behavior. Thanks for sticking around to read the ramblings of a strange, ugly old man. This is who I am and I'm too damned old to care or change.

Here's what I'm working on tonight. First is M-83 from 2013. I think the data is just too bad. Can't do much with it. Second is M-22, Globular cluster from 2014. VERY happy with it!!!!

This is SO MUCH fun brining life to this old data. This is M-1 from 2012. The FIRST image I used the Celestron C-GEM mount and Celestron NexGuide. This is 30 X 5-minute subs. Showing my work again. Obviously, NOTHING can replace good data, but still fun none the less!

Going back to 2011. No flats, bias or darks. (had NO idea what they were and that I needed them) Just 40 X 20 sec subs. (yes, I knew about stacking) This was with the Celestron 8" with the SE single arm mount, thus the short exposures. The camera was a Canon 1000d. You can tell the data was FAR less than perfect but still a cool and nostalgic image for me.

Time for another episode of showing my work. Well, before and after as it were. LOL This is M-78 from 2013 shot with the Celestron 8" and the Canon 60da DSLR. This was 30 X 4 Minute subs. First image is in Pixinsight, second is the image. Not too bad for old crappy data.

Here's another comparison for you all. Data from last year of NGC-7293, Helix Nebula. First image was my best processing of it last year. Second image I just did today.

Wow! This came out crazy! Another one from 2012. This was with a BORROWED Celestron 14" SCT fitted with a Starrizona Hypertstar. Camrea was a Canon 1000d. This is ONLY 30 X 30 sec Subs. The hyperstar is THAT good! NGC-253, Sculptor Galaxy.

Sit back, this is another LONG post. This image is from 2012. Just before a heart attack changed my life and left my heart partially non-viable. Guess I'm only a half heartless bastard! LOL I was still serving in US Border Patrol. THAT obviously ended after the heart attack. This was imaged with the old Celestron 8" SCT on a Celestron CGEM mount and guided by the OLD Celestron Nexguide. (Unreliable most of the time!) A Canon EOS 1000d DSLR was the main camera. All hooked up to a laptop at the Douglas Springs Trailhead, Rincon Mountains, Arizona. This is NGC-7009, The Saturn Nebula.

Ok, a couple more galaxies re-worked. BlurXterminater is a game changer. GLAD it FINALLY works! First is M-106. Second is MGC-891 from 2012!

Well, this was cool. The moon was right on top of the Spaghetti Nebula last night, so I picked a different target. This is SH2-200, a planetary in Cassiopia. This was nice as with this set up Planetary nebulae are normally too small to catch. Here is 33 X 600 Sec. Will add more as I can.

Playing with galaxies. My BlurXterminator magically started working! Always before I got an error and thought I wasted a hundred bucks on it. The other day I just tried it and miracle of miracles, it worked!

Another cloudy night, another Re-work. I did this one before but have not been happy with it so I decided to re-work it again. Much happier. Also showing my work again. This is from 2015, Running Man Nebula with the C-8 and a Canon 1000d DSLR.

Again, I don't want to get you all sick of seeing the same image BUT after posting the "Showing my work" image I felt I SHOULD post the end result. Good news is I think I'm done with this until I get more data.

Just showing my work. LOL

Ok, must have been half asleep when I processed this last time. I uploaded the first image as my latest Spaghetti Nebula. It WAS. BUT tonight, as I shoot new calibration subs, I took it back into Pixinsight and gave it another go. The second image is what I came up with. MUCH better!

WooHoo. Best Polar alignment yet!

I'm sure you are all sick of this so this will be the final. 146 X 5-minute subs. Kind of tricky to process for the darker nebulosity. If you zoom all the way, on the bottom center of the image, I found another anomaly that is an edge on galaxy! VERY small and hard to spot right on the bottom edge of the image.

Ok, two points post. FIRST, wanted to give you an idea of what you are seeing. SECOND I did a "cleaner" stack of the M-45 Image. Looks better now. The first image is what you would see with the naked eye or through binoculars. The second is what is REALLY there.

M-45, The Pleiades. 108 X 5-minute subs (about 9 hours). Just a UV/IR filter. Red Cat 51 Gen 2 scope. ZWO ASI533MC Camera. Still need about 30 to 50 more subs to work on the dimmer, darker nebula. Full view for fine details.

Night shots…….. Drop them if you got em’ 📸 Well, it IS a night shot. LOL