Will Barton

Astrophotography

Stargazing self

I have been doing astrophotography on and off for about 25 years now. I started with captures of the moon and planets on an Olympus OM-1 on 35mm film, in awe at how anyone would be able to correctly expose for deep sky objects. I’ve long since moved to digital, which provides a tighter feedback loop, and more creative possibilities throughout the process, and changed telescopes a couple times.

Here you’ll find some of the most recent photos I have captured of each particular subject. You can also read more about my equipment and methodology.

Most Recent

  • A pair of large diffuse nebulas. One is a ring of red clouds around a cluster at the center that is roughly shaped like a heart, the other an oblong in two parts.

    Heart and Soul Mosaic
    Nov 12, 2023

  • A large spiral galaxy with reasonably well-defined arms, predominantly blue in color.

    The Triangulum Galaxy
    Nov 12, 2023

  • A large diffuse nebula of red and blue clouds that is roughly shaped like a heart.

    Heart Nebula
    Nov 11, 2023

  • A large spiral galaxy, tilted 45 degrees in the frame, with a bright center, yellow and blue spiral arms with darker dust clouds around, and a small satellite galaxy below.

    Andromeda Galaxy Mosaic
    Nov 5, 2023

  • The western side of the Cygnus Loop, a supernova remnant.

    The Western Veil Nebula
    Sep 15, 2023

  • A large emission nebula, roughly in the shape of a pelican, and a portion of the North America nebula in the constellation Cygnus.

    From the Pelican to the Wall
    Sep 2, 2023

Nebulae

Young light

  • A pair of large diffuse nebulas. One is a ring of red clouds around a cluster at the center that is roughly shaped like a heart, the other an oblong in two parts.

    Heart and Soul Mosaic
    Nov 12, 2023

  • A large diffuse nebula of red and blue clouds that is roughly shaped like a heart.

    Heart Nebula
    Nov 11, 2023

  • The western side of the Cygnus Loop, a supernova remnant.

    The Western Veil Nebula
    Sep 15, 2023

  • A large emission nebula, roughly in the shape of a pelican, and a portion of the North America nebula in the constellation Cygnus.

    From the Pelican to the Wall
    Sep 2, 2023

  • A portion of the North America nebula in the constellation Cygnus.

    The Cygnus Wall
    Sep 1, 2023

  • A large emission nebula, roughly in the shape of a pelican, that sits beside the North America nebula in the constellation Cygnus.

    The Pelican Nebula
    Aug 19, 2023

  • A large diffuse nebula, roughly in the shape of a butterfly, with the bright star Sadr in the left half of the frame with the smaller cluster, NGC6910.

    The Butterfly Nebula and Sadr Region
    Aug 11, 2023

  • An emission nebula characterized by the dense, sinuous patch of gas that appears like an elephant's trunk in the bottom half of this image.

    The Elephant's Trunk
    Jul 30, 2023

  • A dark cloud in the shape of a horse’s head set again a lane of red dust, with a bright start to its left. Below that bright star in the frame is the Flame Nebula, dark tendrils against a light orange/brown cloud reminiscent of flame.

    The Horsehead and Flame nebulas
    Mar 15, 2023

  • A large cloud of blue and red, roughly in the shape of a rose, in the center of the frame, with stars in and around.

    The Rosette Nebula
    Feb 15, 2023

  • A bright planetary nebula, flaring out with purples and blues against a backdrop of rust-colored dust. A second nebula, blue, with the vague outline of a man, is to its left.

    The Orion Nebula
    Feb 15, 2023

  • An asterism and open star cluster, with seven prominent stars and several less prominent, surrounded by wisps of blue nebulousity.

    The Pleiades
    Jan 9, 2023

  • A cloud of nebulousity that appears red/blue in this photo in a field of stars.

    The Lagoon Nebula
    Sep 5, 2018

  • A wide starfield with orange nebulousity, with a prominent red outline in the shape of North America in the bottom right quarter.

    North American Nebula
    Aug 8, 2017

  • A blue and red bit of nebulousity, part of a supernova remnant, in the vague shape of a broom, with a bright star where one might ride it.

    The Witch's Broom
    Jul 30, 2017

Galaxies

Old light

  • A large spiral galaxy with reasonably well-defined arms, predominantly blue in color.

    The Triangulum Galaxy
    Nov 12, 2023

  • A large spiral galaxy, tilted 45 degrees in the frame, with a bright center, yellow and blue spiral arms with darker dust clouds around, and a small satellite galaxy below.

    Andromeda Galaxy Mosaic
    Nov 5, 2023

  • A spiral galaxy in the center of the frame, with a new bright star to the lower right of the center where a supernova has just taken place

    The Pinwheel (Supernova 2023ixf)
    May 26, 2023

  • Bode's Galaxy and the Cigar Galaxy

    Bode's Galaxy and the Cigar Galaxy
    Apr 10, 2023

  • A spiral galaxy in the center of the frame

    The Pinwheel
    Apr 9, 2023

  • Markarian's Chain

    Markarian's Chain
    Mar 28, 2023

  • A spiral galaxy in the center of the frame with a smaller galaxy to its left that it is merging with

    The Whirlpool
    Mar 26, 2023

  • Three galaxies, small in the middle of the frame, one side-on, one at about 30 degrees, and the third from almost 90 degrees above.

    The Leo Triplet
    Mar 20, 2023

  • A large spiral galaxy, tilted 45 degrees in the frame, with a bright center, yellow and blue spiral arms with darker dust clouds around, and a small satellite galaxy below.

    The Great Galaxy in Andromeda
    Jan 9, 2023

  • A large spiral galaxy with reasonably well-defined arms, predominantly blue in color

    The Triangulum Galaxy
    Sep 23, 2017

Solar System

Closer to home

  • A comet in the center of the frame, surrounded by a starfield, with its tail spreading out and trailing to the upper right corner.

    Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF
    Feb 16, 2023

  • A not-quite eclipsed Moon, with its upper limb bright and the rest dark, with spreading red-coloring from the bottom right.

    The Blood Moon
    Jan 21, 2019

  • The sun obscured by the moon but for a tiny outline around it, with broad patterns in the corona visible. The star Regulus is seen to the lower left of the sun.

    2017 Solar Eclipse
    Aug 21, 2017

  • The sun, full and yellow, in the center of the frame, with a small, black sunspot on its upper right quarter.

    The Sun
    Aug 9, 2017

  • The full moon, with its craters and other details visible, in the center of the frame

    The Moon
    Nov 25, 2015