December’s Cold Supermoon processed as a Mineral Moon
The final supermoon of 2025, the Cold Moon of December was the last of three consecutive supermoons this year (October, November, December). The Moon’s surface material, known as regolith, has subtle color differences dictated by the mineral composition in any particular area. This mineral distribution on the lunar surface was mapped in great detail by the US Clementine probe in 1994, but you can post-process images of the Moon showing these colors without having to launch a spacecraft to do so – which is exactly what I did here!!
The plunge into mono imaging – second time’s a charm!
Between my unsuccessful attempts at capturing the faint OIII transmissions of the OU-4 Giant Squid within the SH2-129 Flying Bat Nebula and my curiosity with learning a new technology (imaging with a monochrome camera)…I suggested a birthday present idea to Paul…a QHYCCD MiniCAM8 monochrome camera with a built in filter wheel and the seven astrophotography filters (LRGB and SHO). He jumped right on it, ordering the new camera in mid-August, so it arrived in time to be an anniversary present.
It turned out that while the idea of an integrated camera/filter wheel seemed like a good idea, QHYCCD’s implementation caused it to now turn out so well for me. I could never get the filter wheel driver to function properly and consistently. So, I ended up returning it. Then Paul jumped right on it again, ordering a new ZWO ASI6200 full frame mono camera and a ZWO EFW 7×2″ filter wheel – pushing me head first into the deep end of mono image capture (and processing!)
Second time was a charm (…or was it the push into the deep end? After all, I am a good swimmer!). On 15 November, I had a chance at first light with the ZWO camera and filter wheel from the newly opened HCH front patio – and successfully captured OIII data on OU-4! As an added bonus, I spent the rest of the night after SH2-129/OU-4 set capturing Ha, SII, and OIII data on SH2-240 Spaghetti Nebula. So, not only had I captured mono data with the camera and filter wheel, but I had two disparate data sets to put my (very nascent) mono image processing skills to the test.
Birthday Dark Skies Trip to Utah
My 65th birthday trip was planned to explore possible camping venues on Utah BLM land, look for Milky Way foreground sights, and to capture DSO data from the dark skies of Bryce Park Place in Cannondale, Utah. The trip was a complete success! We decided that driving the Beast this far, to camp on BLM land for DSO imaging purposes didn’t make sense – so we abandoned that objective upon arriving in Cannonville after two long days of driving. We found a few potential Milky Way venues. Mother Nature cooperated with three nights of clear skies, no bugs, and cold (but not unbearably so) overnight temperatures!
Good News: Clear skies during the New Moon & Bad News: Rain = Green Grasslands = Mosquitos
We planned our September 2025 dark skies trip to New Mexico’s Kiowa National Grasslands. Originally the weather looked like it was going to allow a 3-day trip. When Mother Nature got wind of that plan, she chuckled and painted clouds into the scenario…turning it into a 2-day trip (more like 1.5 nights of clear skies). Not to be deterred, we packed up and headed out in the Beast…commenting as we drove into the Grasslands how we’d never seen them (or New Mexico) so green. Little did me know, that since Mother Nature couldn’t produce enough cloud cover to convince us to stay away from dark skies during the New Moon…she would paint swarming and hungry mosquitos into the scenario and chase us off after a single night!
One night in the Expedition in Springfield CO
We did a repeat of our 2023 anniversary / dark skies trip this year, when Mother Nature again vetoed our planned high-country (a.k.a. cool enough weather in August to camp comfortably in the Beast) dark skies trip and only provided a single night of clear skies at the Comanche National Grasslands (SE Colorado where the temperature was 100+ degrees). I spent a night imaging from (and sleeping in) the Expedition while Paul and Zeus stayed in the nearby Cobblestone Inn; then we drove to Albuquerque for a special celebration of our 38th wedding anniversary and Zeus’ 10th anniversary “Gotcha Day”
CSASTRO Presentation on Atacama Desert imaging – 19Aug2025
I presented at the Colorado Springs Astronomical League (CSASTRO) Club’s Monthly Meeting, 19 August 2025, on my adventures imaging in the Atacama desert. The meeting invite and a recording of the presentation (with fair warning of what you’re getting yourself into if you watch it!) are below.
One night Beast recon trip to Tolvar Flats
A quick one-night “recon trip” to BLM land near Powderhorn, Colorado afforded us one-night in clear dark skies (our second this year!) to wring out the cobwebs of our camping and Beast-based imaging routines. If you’ve only got one night – you make the most of it – so it was SH2-129 Flying Bat and the Milky Way!! …and this was first light with my newest imaging stream addition – the Askar f/3.9 0.7x Full Frame Reducer for the Askar FRA600
Southern Hemisphere skies are award-winning!!
I’ve commented before, dark skies really make a big difference. When I shared the images I captured during my trips to Chile’s Atacama desert, I marveled at their clear, dark, skies (6 of them in a row – during both year’s trips!) I’m very proud to say that my Milky Way image from this year’s trip was recognized by the Astronomical League’s Williamina Fleming Imaging Award and my Fighting Dragons of Ara from last year’s trip (also recognized by the Astronomical League) was selected as Photo of the Month by the Webb Deep Sky Society!
2nd Annual Most Amazing Astrophotography trip to the Atacama Desert!
After last year’s most amazing trip to the San Pedro de Atacama Celestial Explorations (SPACE) Atacama Lodge where I spent six nights imaging under their glorious dark and clear skies, I vowed to make the trip an annual event. This year’s traveling companions, Jan Elliott and Dave Parks, shared the adventure with me. The one-line summary is: my travel was completely FUBAR, but once I finally arrived the skies did not disappoint! …and yes, there will be a 3rd Annual!!
Latest tool in the quiver – Baye-Aire remote controller
A couple of nights imaging in the cold New Mexico nights over New Years Eve weekend had me wishing for a remote control set-up that would allow me to sit inside the Beast to operate the equipment and check on sequence status throughout the night. Describing that latest “need” for the BeersAP equipment to Paul had him making it happen!