Night nominee

The attached images were all acquired in the fall and winter of 2022. Astronomers have given generic names to these objects like the Soul nebula or Sleeping Baby, the Helix nebula or Eye of God, the Witch Head nebula and the Iris nebula. You will know what images are attributed to these names when you view them. I wanted to tie one of these objects to the Earth and I did so with the image called Witchin Woods. I was waiting for the star Rigel (left foot star of Orion the Hunter) to clear my tree line but decided to frame the Witch while she was still in my woods. I was able to get a good star field and when the Witch did clear the trees, I recorded her in all of her glory. I then combined her with the stars in the trees. The image was recorded with a tiny scope of 71 mm diameter. The image you see is 11 full moons across by 7 full moons deep so this is a large area of our night sky. Also, the Soul nebula appears in the March 2023 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine.

I'm an amateur photographer specializing in the night sky. I have received some awards for my photography and have been featured in magazines and my work has also appeared in astronomy books. My photography was placed on hold for many years due to my career. However, at the end of 2017, I resumed my imaging of the night sky and I'm trying to make up for lost time. It takes a lot of time and effort to take the photos and then to take this data and post process it. But it's a labor of love.