iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

I think the 30 hours of driving (and charging) to and from Nebraska may just have been worth it. Still would like better star color, but otherwise, Imma stick a fork. NGC 3718, 10.6 hours of LRGB with an 8" Richey-Chretien astrograph. 3 nights in WI, 3 in NE. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

The "peculiar" gravitationally-distorted galaxy NGC 3718 and some of its friends.

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Okay okay okay I realize now that I mislabeled a mountain range yesterday. My apologies!

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

The full illuminated face of the Moon at the first quarter. Taken immediately prior to the close-up on June 22. A little softer than the previous image, I don't think I had the focus quite nailed for this one. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

Almost all of the Moon's illuminated face at first quarter.

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Yeah, got a bit of a processing backlog, here! Next up: The Moon, taken with a 10" imaging Newtonian and an IMX585 camera. Super good seeing, I used 50% of the video frames and probably could have thrown in more. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

Surface of the moon at first quarter, with the terminator throwing topography into sharp relief. Near Cassini Crater.

Annotated version of the lunar image, showing mares, mountain ranges, craters, and the Apollo 15 landing site.

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

2nd camping trip to Merritt Reservoir, NE. AMAZING dark skies. Almost ran out of charge in the Bolt, got it hung up at the edge of the camp road, got stonkered on a single beer, had a mouse stow away on the return trip. Also, this. 15x240", 14mm, Pentax AstroTracer. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

The Milky Way core as seen from Merritt Park Reservoir Snake River Campground in western Nebraska. 14 June 2026.

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Work in progress -- < 3 hours on NGC 3718. So many sat trails that statistical elimination...couldn't. Well, much more time needed. 8" Richey-Chrétien astrograph, LRGB filters, heavily cropped from original APS-C frame. Finally got that little booger collimated! #redwolfastro #astrophotography

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

And some Moon shots! I find that selecting a field of view is a real challenge, there's always some cool crater or rill or mountain that I want to jam in. Gotta remember to be selective! #redwolfastro #astrophotography

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

My friend made his 14" Celestron available to me. I've been working on my planetary and lunar skills. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Our long Madison nightmare of clouds finally over? NGC 2174, the Monkey Head Nebula (for the record, I don't see it), about four hours each of hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen emission wavelengths. Shot from my urban back yard with my gorgeous 5-inch refractor. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

I will have a ton of #NoKings pics from Madison, but for now here's just one, which may be my favorite. Funny, gentle, peaceful, but perfectly captures the contempt we have for people who would make peasants of American citizens.

A dog at the No Kings protest in Madison, WI wearing a sign:
I GO #2 ON #47

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

1st go at last night's data. Think I can do better. Best 40% of 18,000 frames, AutoStakkert2!, sharpened (maybe too much!) in WaveSharp. Acquired with SharpCap with a 12" Richey-Chrétien, 2.5X PowerMate, and Uranus-C camera. Will follow up if I manage better! #redwolfastro #astrophotography

Saturn with rings edge-on. Bit oversharpened.

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Some more data on this field -- it's really shaping up! I like this orientation better. Also, I just noticed the "hobbit door" toroid in the lower left. What's up with that? Star Rucba, reflection neb VDB 134, and "bubble" planetary PK86+5.1. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

Hydrogen-alpha emission near the star Rucba (45 Cyg), with reflection nebulae (including VDB 134) and the bubble-shaped planetary nebula PK86+5.1. Stars are photometrically color-calibrated.

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

My pal Bonnie just got a Photoline APO, my scope's little brother. Found an Astrobin pic of this field and suggested a two-scope collab. This is a quick 'n dirty of my first 2 nights' data, I think it's gonna be spectacular! Stars RGB, H-alpha is red. Note spherical planetary nebula PK86+5.1.

Centered on the star Ruchba, this work in progress will include reflection nebula vdb 134 (not visible yet), planetary nebula PK86+5.1 (small bubble at lower-center-right), and a bleep-ton of hydrogen.

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

And ANOTHER one! One night's worth of Ha data with that gorgeous, reliable 130 APO. What a rock star! This is the hydrogen data (Crescent Nebula) with the stars removed, and cropped off-center to give the impression of motion. Very much in-progress. More soon. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

Black and white image of the Crescent Nebula imaged at the 656nm hydrogen-alpha wavelength, showing surrounding nebulosity.

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Finished this one just today: The Cygnus Wall portion of the North America Nebula. Liked the starless version so well I decided to keep it too. 4.5 hours NB, 1.5 RGB. PixInsight, then combined channels with Astro Pixel Processor's HSORGB preset. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

The Cygnus Wall in Ha, OIII, SII, and RGB.

The Cygnus Wall in Ha, OIII, SII, and RGB, with stars removed.

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

The Dark Shark is another dim one that the 130 just casually brought to life. "No big". I kept stretching until I was amused by the result. 2 hours of LRGB. Love the eyeliner. Someone beat me to APOD with their Dark Shark, or else I would have submitted this. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

The 130 APO continues to just keep cranking gorgeous data. Here's the Phantom of The Opera Mask, very dim but the 5" pulls it out. My own synthetic color for hydrogen, stars are catalog-calibrated. 4.5 hours of H-alpha, 1.5 of RGB for stars. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

The Phantom of The Opera Mask emission nebula

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Up next: Titan, with its shadow transiting Saturn. There are a handful of these transits, visible for a few weeks only every 15 years. 12" Richey-Chrétien with 2X Televue compressor, color planetary camera, couple hundred frames from several minutes of video. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

Saturn with its moon Titan, with the moon's shadow transiting the face of the planet

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Boy, I've gotten behind in my posting! This pair of interacting galaxies is one of the closest such to us, at 85M LY. The Cocoon Galaxy and its companion have passed by each other with stellar stream trailing between them. Uncooled color planetary cam and the 8" RC. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

Here's the latest one-night wonder. From 40M LY away, NGC 7331 featuring supernova 2025rbs, here for a limited time! This imaging session was going great even with encroaching clouds till it started RAINING ON MY TELESCOPE. That was a charlie-foxtrot of car-stuffing. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

$Deer Lick galaxy group, with NGCC 7331 at left. Inset is a hydrogen-alpha image showing supernova 2025rbs. 130mm APO refractor, mono camera, about 3 hours of total imaging time.$

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 26/07/2025

New scope won't quite frame both Trifid and Lagoon. So here's M20 (Trifid) & M21 star cluster. Couldn't stop looking at the starless image so finish-processed that too. Neighbor's comment ruined it forever, though: "South end of a northbound baboon?" Dammit Sue! #redwolfastro #astrophotography

M20, the Trifid Nebula, red hydrogen emission and blue reflected starlight, with M21 star cluster at upper left.

M20, Trifid Nebula with stars removed from image (RC Astro StarXTerminator). Calibrated RGB image with red hydrogen emission and blue nebulosity by reflected starlight.

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

Took the new 130mm APO refractor out for a good trot over several nights. The Eagle Nebula, H𝛼=R, SII=G, OIII=B. About 5 hours total. Really quite taken with how sharp this scope is. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

M16, the Eagle Nebula, in narrowband false color (HSO palette).

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

And another -- this is a SINGLE 30-second frame on the Eagle Nebula, M16, with the red filter. What's really shocking is the 100% zoom showing the Pillars of Creation (remember that Hubble image?). Yeah, gonna like this scope and camera *just fine*! #redwolfastro #astrophotography

100% crop of Eagle Nebula, showing the "Pillars of Creation" made famous by the HST.

One single 30-second mono (red filter) exposure on the Eagle Nebula through the Photoline 130 APO with the 2600MM

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

First light for the new refractor. Sorry Mark is no longer with us, but I hope he'd be happy his scope is getting the love it deserves. Photoline 130 APO, just an hour worth of testing from a Bortle 4 site, LRGB on my also-new-to-me 2600MM. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

Better take on the Iris. Two nights' data this time -- one with 30" subframes due to wind gusts, the other 60". From Merritt Reservoir in Nebraska. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

Next up on the Mad Astro Nebraska feed: One (windy) night's take on the Iris Nebula through the 8" RC with a Player One Uranus-C camera. ~4 hours integration time, had to drop to 30" for a better "keeper" ratio. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

The Iris Nebula through a 1625-mm focal length Richey-Chrétien scope.

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

Madison Astro Society members did a campout at Merritt Reservoir in Nebraska (site of the famous Star Party). I took some pictures! :-) This one is practically unedited -- much brighter than was to the eye, of course, but colors are straight out of the camera. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

Bright red, green, and blue auroral pillars from Nebraska's Merritt Reservoir.

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

And another first look -- this one is M104, the wonderfully-named "Sombrero Galaxy". Again the issue with the walking noise, gotta solve that. 70' of integration time from my back yard. This one will definitely improve as I add more data. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

A much, much better Cocoon. Figured out the dumb mistake that led to the donuts. Didn't even have to retake any of the flats or light frames. However I kept getting terrible "walking noise" if I used all the integration time, so this is only 10' of integration! #redwolfastro #astrophotography

The Cocoon Galaxy and its gravitationally-interacting companion.

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 23/03/2025

OK, a peek under the kimono that most astrophotographers won't give you: This is what happens when I screw up bigly. This is a really cool pair of gravitationally-interacting galaxies, the big one is the Cocoon Galaxy. The irritating donuts are *supposed* to be calibrated out!

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

At last! The Thor's Helmet image is in the bag -- not perfect, could always use more data and tweaks, but after working on nothing else since mid-January...I think it's done! Supernova remnant in hydrogen and oxygen, RGB stars. 8" RC telescope. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

I hope you've enjoyed the journey through my catalog, and that you'll stick around for new work as it arises. With any luck the weather will moderate and let me be a bit more productive -- this image is from Sept 2024 already!

Elephants Trunk Nebula (IC 1396), in the Hubble palette where red is sulfur, green hydrogen, and blue oxygen.

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

NGC 7635: Bubble Nebula. Pentultimate image on my journey. 6H of H-alpha, OIII, and SII plus ~1H broadband for accurate star color. The Bubble is blown by immense stellar winds from the huge bright center star that will probably go supernova in 10-20M years. 9/2024. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

NGC 7635, the Bubble Nebula, in the HSO palette plus RGB stars.

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Here's what the aurora really looked like to the eye.

Aurora borealis from Blue Mound State Park

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

Much of North America saw the aurorae last spring. Janet and I almost missed it, but a friend texted me and we dragged our aged butts out to Blue Mound. Awful glad we did. This is what Photoshop's "auto tone" made of my panorama. Naked-eye, wasn't quite so wild. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

Aurora borealis from Blue Mount State Park, May 2024

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

2024 Eclipse #3! My favorite, just past totality and just before the diamond ring. The huge prominence at 4 o'clock was naked-eye visible the whole time, it was crazy how you could see the whole corona but with this tiny spark just blazing out. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

"Third contact" at the 2024 total eclipse. Lunar valleys allow bits of the chromosphere to show.

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

Here's the closeup shot of totality in 2024, through the 8" RC. HDR composite of three exposures.

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

It was another nail-biter, but the clouds cleared right on schedule. Really glad I've got another tripod now so I don't make all the Dad-grunts lying on the ground for the refractor!

Two-telescope setup for the 2024 solar eclipse, with astronomer.

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

Next up are a few shots of the 2024 total eclipse. We went to Paragould, AR and I shot from the motel parking lot. This is a composite of 6 different images from 2 scopes -- HDR widefield for the corona, and three from the 8" for detail. Exposures 1/2000" to 1/30". #redwolfastro #astrophotography

2024 total eclipse, showing the corona and solar prominences

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

NGC 6888, the Crescent Nebula. Ha+OIII+RGB stars. Wikipedia: "...formed by the fast stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 colliding with and energizing the slower moving wind ejected by the star when it became a red giant". WR 136 is the center bright star. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

NGC 6888, the Crescent Nebula. Largely H-alpha emission, but with RGB star color.

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

I originally got the 8" scope for Galaxy Season, the spring when the nebula-rich part of the Milky Way has moved into the daytime sky and so distant galaxies are The Thing. But it also has enough reach for tiny planetary nebulae. Here is M27, the Dumbbell Nebula. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Continuing with that one magical night at Newport State Park, here's what greeted my snoozeful eyes as I was packing up. May 2023. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

Dawn over Lake Michigan from Newport State Park in Door County, with the Moon shining through high clouds.

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

This is the target I was going for during the night I shot the previous Milky Way image: M94, the Croc's Eye Galaxy. Small for my rig at only 10 arcminutes; deconvolution extracted detail that was blurred by seeing and tracking effects.

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

Newport Park is still my favorite astro place. Frequently I'll set a camera up to do some Milky Way imaging while the scope looks at some deep sky target. This is from May 2023, while I was imaging M94, the Croc's Eye. The lakeshore is really wonderful to work from. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

Stars in a deep sky image are invariably in our own galaxy and just happen to be in the line of sight. But Japanese astronomer Koichi Itagak, whose avocation is supernovae, found one (SN 2023ixf) in M101, the Pinwheel Galaxy. ONE STAR visible from 21M light years! #redwolfastro #astrophotography

M101, the Pinwheel Galaxy, with an arrow pointing to supernova SN 2023ixf

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

Now caught up in time to my current rig: 8" Richey-Chétien scope, cooled mono cam with filter wheel, big-prism off-axis guider with a super-sensitive guide camera on a chonker of a mount. NGC 4565, the Needle Galaxy. About five hours of integration time, 3/2023. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

Another lucky imaging attempt, this one (obviously) Saturn. I thought I had experimented with a 12" scope at some point but my notes say this too was with the 8" RC. September 2022. I have another Jupiter and Saturn in the gallery but ehh, not as good. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

The Big Guy himself. Processed from 3 sets of video frames (R, G, and B, 90" each). Shot with the RC when Jupiter was in opposition (closest to Earth). No moons visible, but the Great Red Spot is obvious. September 2022. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

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rick-wayne.bsky.social @rick-wayne.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

After joining madisonastro.org, I started using the Yanna Research Station dark site. Electricity, concrete pads, dark skies, a building with a couch to sleep on -- ahhh! LRGB image shot with the 8" Richey-Chrétien in July 2022: M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy. #redwolfastro #astrophotography

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