M45, The Pleiades at the Winter Solstice

This image is my latest take on M45, the Pleiades, captured during the winter solstice event at Big Cypress National Park in Miami. I collected 75 two-minute exposures using a ZWO 2600 color Duo camera paired with an Askar FRA600 reduced to f/3.6 at 420mm. The fast optics helped bring out the soft blue reflection nebulosity that makes this object so iconic, while keeping the star field clean and well controlled.

I’ve imaged M45 many times over the years—in fact, it was the very first deep-space object I ever attempted nearly 20 years ago when I was just starting out in this hobby. Shooting it again under these conditions felt like coming full circle. The event drew more than 250 attendees, with several telescopes set up for public viewing after a great presentation by the park service rangers on the winter solstice and how it’s celebrated around the world. I stayed on this target all night, live-stacking images and sharing them with the crowd while explaining how my imaging rig works. It was a great night of outreach, clear skies, and reconnecting with a target that started it all for me.