Jordan Maples
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maples-astro.bsky.social
Jordan Maples
@maples-astro.bsky.social
570 followers 1.3K following 180 posts
PNW based astrophotographer and (former) software engineer.

Married to @codecoffeecode.bsky.social.
Pour over is best coffee.

Furry trash.

All photos posted are acquired and processed by me.

#photography #astrophotography
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maples-astro.bsky.social
If this is a crop, you should try rotating it about 40-45 degrees clockwise so the fish head fills more of the frame and the curves give some more visual flow. Heres sort of what I mean about the rotation.
The fish head nebula. The body of the fish head goes from the bottom left of the frame to the top right, with the colorful upper “fin” reaching to the top of the frame.
November 27, 2025 at 7:28 PM
maples-astro.bsky.social
So before I go back and change the contrast and color mapping, here are some crops and areas that I wanted to feature. So we've got the NGC 1333 core, LBN 734, CED13, and then some fluffy bits of cloud whose name I couldn't find.

#astrophotography #photography
The reflection nebula NGC 1333. This region is a stellar nursery and you get a lot of light and stars peeking through the dark clouds. LBN 734 is the bright nebula at the center of the image. The majority of the dust in this area is milky white and with a brownish red hue. CED 13 is the feature of this image which has a soft light blue coloring against the otherwise brownish dust lanes. At the bottom of the image is a particularly dark bit of the dust clouds with a single bright star glowing through it. A dark dust cloud against a lighter dust cloud in the background.
November 16, 2025 at 7:08 PM
maples-astro.bsky.social
NGC 1333 is such a dirty, dusty area and I love looking at it. This a first pass on the data but damn it’s got such cool areas of detail in it. I’ll probably do a couple more tweaks and brighten the dusty bits compared to the background. So more of this coming soon.
#astrophotography #photography
A dark, reflection nebula complex. There are dark arms of the nebula reaching across the image with varying gradients of dark reddish brown to a brighter grey-brown. There are a few larger stars peppered throughout the image. The center area is a stellar nursery filled so there are bright sections peeking out from behind the dust.
November 16, 2025 at 4:54 PM
maples-astro.bsky.social
I’ve been working on the California nebula for the last few days. I’ve reprocessed it a couple times now and like this version but I feel like there’s more I could do for the data. So I’m gonna keep working on it here and there… eventually.

#photography #astrophotography
Nebula with a red/orange wall of dust that goes from the bottom left of the frame to the top right of the frame. The red wall turns yellow and green as it goes vertically up the image. The orange comes back in fluffy dust clouds slightly higher but beyond them is a subtle deep blue.
November 15, 2025 at 8:07 PM
maples-astro.bsky.social
Still waiting on the moon to get out of the way so I can continue collecting data on any of my 4 current projects, so have a cropped in, slightly rotated, and slightly color boosted version of the Ghost.

#astrophotography #photography
An image dominated by the light from the star gamma Cygni. To its left is a nebula structure with IC 59 and IC 63. IC 59 is dimmer than IC 63 and has a blue hue compared to the bright reddish pink of IC63. The two almost appear like monstrous jaws trying to consume the gamma Cygni star.
November 10, 2025 at 7:15 PM
maples-astro.bsky.social
I revisited this image to add a bit more contrast and reduce the star presence a bit. It’s a subtle change but I definitely like the additional presence of the nebula in this one compared to my original.

#astrophotography #photography
The garlic bulb or medulla nebula. The main body of the nebula is a red bulb, resembling the shape of garlic with a blue/teal accent on the left side.
November 9, 2025 at 6:41 PM
maples-astro.bsky.social
I was going over some of my recent pics and wasn’t overly thrilled with the framing of this one. So I cropped in a bit and rotated it to try getting a more compelling composition. What do you think? Is this a better result #astrophotography and #photography people?
A cropped in shot of the Teddy Bear nebula. The frame is predominantly blue. Towards the bottom of the frame and a bit of the top have dust walls with red to yellow gradients. The center, and also bits towards the edges are regions of black. In the very center is a long dark region. If the entire image were a giant goat’s eye, this would be its horizontal pupil. There are smaller, intricate structures in the dust towards the bottom and again up the right side of the image. These are towering pillars that outstretch towards the center of the frame.
November 9, 2025 at 1:31 AM
maples-astro.bsky.social
A couple pics from a recent hike in the woods in the Snoqualmie National Forest.

#photography
A cluster of mushrooms growing out of the sawed off end of a log. A few mushroom clusters growing out of a fallen log with moss running down its center. A tree’s trunk that’s wrapped most of the way around with moss. The center of the pic is the bare section the moss hasn’t covered.
November 2, 2025 at 6:46 AM
maples-astro.bsky.social
Happy spooky day! I don't have any Halloween costume pics, but how about a shot of the Pleiades? I've always wanted to shoot this and am thrilled to finally add it to my portfolio.

I shot this over 4 nights and ended up with 7 hours of data for each LRGB channel.

#astrophotography #photography
The Pleiades are an open star cluster with a bright reflection nebula behind them. The primary stars in the cluster are dazzlingly bright and dominate the central third of the image. The dust of the reflection nebula is blue near the stars and falls off into wispy, brownish greys as they reach out to the edges of the frame.
November 1, 2025 at 4:39 AM
maples-astro.bsky.social
Here's a quick pass I made at some data for the "Ghost of Cassiopeia". This is just shy of 40 hours of data and damn that star is BRIGHT. I'm going to spend some more time with it and see if I can't tease out some more contrast in some places but it was a fun one.

#astrophotography #photography
A star field featuring a few very bright stars and some pink and blue nebulae being illuminated by the brightest star in the field. There are darker bits of dust towards the peripheral of the image, but those almost get lost in the vast star field.
October 25, 2025 at 11:48 PM
maples-astro.bsky.social
I had some fun with the Heart nebula. It's always a stunner and I love working on it. I started with the traditional SHO palette and then just tweaked it until I got something that felt right. All totaled up I think this was between 45 and 50 hours of data.

#astrophotography #photography
The heart nebula. The gasses in the nebula creates a stylized heart shape in yellow/orange. The core of the heart nebula has blue details and it contains the Melotte 15 object. The bottom of the heart forms into a fish head like shape. Melotte 15 is the heart of the Heart nebula. It is a complex field of dark dust lanes and brighter yellow/orange/red spires in a sea of vibrant blue dust. The fish head, like the heart nebula, is outlined in oranges with a blue core. It has a few dark features going through the core, giving the appearance of gills and fishy facial features. Above the fish head is an area that is a blast of color, filled with violets, purples, and teals.
October 24, 2025 at 8:18 PM
maples-astro.bsky.social
Here's the Garlic (aka Medulla) nebula in all of its glory. This is a very dim target. I collected about 53 hours of data with 38 of that being spent on the hydrogen. I don't normally post the starless versions of my images but it was just too good not to include.

#astrophotography #photography
An astrophotography image of a nebula. It features a supernova remnant that resembles a bulb of garlic in the center. The image is primarily red, due to the high amount of hydrogen in the region, though there are some blue aspects (the representation of oxygen) to the left side of the garlic bulb. This image also contains a very dense star field in it due to the long exposures needed to get sufficient data. An astrophotography image of a nebula. It features a supernova remnant that resembles a bulb of garlic in the center. The image is primarily red, due to the high amount of hydrogen in the region, though there are some blue aspects (the representation of oxygen) to the left side of the garlic bulb. Unlike the other image, this one has had the stars removed to emphasize the nebula itself.
October 15, 2025 at 10:08 PM
maples-astro.bsky.social
A sneak peak on what I'm currently working on. These are from 10 minute subs. I still need a lot more data since it's such a dim target but I'm hype to see what I'll be able to get out of it. The moon's finally out of the way so it should hopefully only be a few more days.

#astrophotography
A grayscale image of the "garlic nebula" representing the hydrogen data. A color image of a combination of hydrogen (red) and oxygen (blue/green) for the "garlic nebula"
October 13, 2025 at 7:29 PM
maples-astro.bsky.social
Here's M33. This one is about 52 hours spread across LRGB and HA. I shot a bit of Oiii accidentally but didn't end up incorporating it into the image.

It was definitely a bit of a challenge to work on, I think the sub times were too long for such a bright object.

#astrophotography #photography
A spiral galaxy with dark dust lanes in the core and bright pinkish nebulosity in the arms.
October 13, 2025 at 7:09 PM
maples-astro.bsky.social
This is about 38 hours of data of a lot of different interesting features. The main feature here is LDN 1266, but there's also the "Teddy Bear Nebula" and about a dozen more bright and dark nebulae throughout the frame.

#astrophotography #photography
This image of a nebula is an explosion of colors. There is a variety of bright and dark nebula sprinkled throughout the image. In the center is LDN 1266 which features a semi circular wall of reds and golds with towering features that reach in towards a long vertical dark region in the center. The combination of the wall and the dark feature has a similarity to the shape and structure of a cat's eye.
September 28, 2025 at 1:43 AM
maples-astro.bsky.social
I just had to shoot Andromeda again. It felt only right with my gear down at Starfront. This image is about 22 hours of LRGB with an additional 10 hours of HA data pulled in to highlight the H2 regions.

#astrophotography #galaxy #space #photography
The Andromeda Galaxy. The galaxy has a bright core with dark dust lanes throughout the disk. Within the galactic disk, there are brighter red regions which are the H2 regions. There are two smaller dwarf galaxies, one to the left of the core of Andromeda that touches the disk and the other is separate from the main body of Andromeda down and to the right of the galactic core.
August 31, 2025 at 6:45 PM
maples-astro.bsky.social
I spent 5 nights recently shooting the Iris Nebula. In the end, I had about 20 hours of usable LRGB data to play with. I'm so happy with amount of detail I was able to pull out on the dark nebula clouds.

#space #astrophotography #photography #longexposure
A photo of a reflection nebula and surrounding dark nebula. In the center is a bright star, whose blue light reflects on all of the dust structures near it. The further from the central star you look, more dark patches of cloud fill the frame. Some of the dark nebula are so murky and dense that they block out all starlight.
August 3, 2025 at 5:02 AM
maples-astro.bsky.social
Some fresh data of the Cocoon Nebula. There are a lot of stars in this tiny area. It was a bit of a beast to tame, but we got there. This is just LRGB, last time I shot this I added in some HA. I might still do that but I'm off shooting the Iris right now.

#astrophotography #photography #space
An astrophotography image of the Cocoon Nebula. In the bottom left is the main body of the Cocoon Nebula. It's rosy pink glow is surrounded by lighter clouds of dust. Leaving the Cocoon and going up and to the right are a complex set of dark nebulae which give it the look of a comet streaking across the image.
July 27, 2025 at 5:35 PM
maples-astro.bsky.social
The Flying Bat and Squid Nebula (SH2-129). I imaged this recently for 6 nights. I haven't landed on a good SHO combination for it yet, the hydrogen is just so strong in this area, but the HOO came together without a fight.

#astrophotography #photography #nebula #space #longexposure
A nebula featuring a blue squidlike structure in the center, which is surrounded by a red semicircular gas cloud. The surrounding gas is faint in the center and brightens towards the outer edge.
July 22, 2025 at 2:55 PM
maples-astro.bsky.social
I took a second pass at the data and took a slightly different approach with the processing. Let me know what you think.

#astrophotography #space #nebula #photography
The eagle nebula. This version of the image differs from the original post by having richer colors and a more defined core, emphasizing the pillars of creation area.
July 2, 2025 at 6:27 AM
maples-astro.bsky.social
Ahhhh yeah we’re back online. This is a rough first pass on the data of the Eagle Nebula. This is from the first four days that my scope has been online at Starfront. Very happy with the quality of the skies down there. Can’t wait to reprocess this and for more data!

#photography #astrophotography
A warm gold colored nebula with a bluish white core region. The core contains a famously photographed region commonly referred to as the pillars of creation.
June 30, 2025 at 5:44 PM
maples-astro.bsky.social
It's set up and ready to rip. GIVE ME THE DATAAAAAAAA!!!!
A yellow reflector telescope attached to a white mount with stainless steel counterweights sitting atop of a black steel pier. The scope is inside a building with a roll-off roof which is open, revealing a clear blue sky in the background. There are other, unoccupied piers in the background.
June 27, 2025 at 10:51 PM
maples-astro.bsky.social
Still no space stuffs cause I’m being really lazy and haven’t sent my stuff down to Texas yet, so here’s my cat Riley.
A tuxedo cat
February 18, 2025 at 2:47 AM
maples-astro.bsky.social
Here’s Jonesy.
December 31, 2024 at 10:15 PM
maples-astro.bsky.social
Oh sure why not. Here’s my #astrorig. I haven’t taken a recent shot since it’s all packed up and is getting ready to go down to a remote hosting site.
Takahashi Epsilon E160ED sitting on an Astro-Physics Mach 2 GOTO with the extended temp encoders. I am using an Optec TCF-LEO focused and the Pegasus Astro Falcon rotator. Camera is a ZWO ASI 2600mm with 36mm Chroma filters (3nm bandpass for narrowband). Guidescope is a primaluce 60mm with the asi120mm-s camera. I’m using the Pegasus UPBv2 for the hub.
December 15, 2024 at 1:02 AM