The other day I found myself feeling nostalgic about the astronomy camp I attended back in 2017, when I was star-eyed-young (14, I think ) and still nurturing a new but explosive interest in astronomy. I went looking for the materials I had saved from it, and realized that the email I'd received everything at had long been wiped, and that all I had left was one 12ish-minute exposure of the Eagle Nebula that myself, a few other campers, and out instructors worked together to capture using the Mt. Lemmon Sky Center's 60" telescope. Well damn, that had me sad. Worst was the missing contact sheet. But I figured the one FITS file had to mean something--so I worked on it, starting from scratch. There's only so much you can do with a single mono exposure, but the high resolution (of the telescope I guess, as well as the camera) let me do some more purposed and artful cropping than usual. I particularly like this highlighted panoramic section; it feels to me like the angel (is that a formal designation, or just colloquial?) is really there in an imposing, three-dimensional space. I've been playing with purposeful inclusion/allowance of grain, especially with monochrome images, and really like how it looks here--it makes it feel like I'm looking at a 35mm still, or something, and adds to the realism for me!

I really wish I could remember the names of all the people who worked on this image. If you might have been there, send me a message! I hope you has as much fun as I did. I do remember that Dr. Don McCarthy, the administrator of the camp, was instrumental in making everything about that whole operation, including this imaging project, happen--so a big big thanks to him.
It's hard to overstate how cool the Advanced Camps are--I recommend checking them out if you have kids of the right age to go. It's an unbelievable opportunity to do real science and real math on world-class instruments; I promise it isn't just a well-marketed tour. They even have adult camps! Can't speak to personal experience there, but if they're anything like mine they're worth it too. And no, this isn't a sponsored post lol. Just missing it