The Christmas Tree Cluster

This was a last-minute holiday project that I hoped to finish in time for Christmas… but even without hitting the deadline, it turned into a really rewarding image.

One thing this project reinforced for me: you don’t need tens or hundreds of hours of data to create something meaningful. This image comes in at just under 6 hours total, captured across short sessions under dark skies.

For this target, I leaned into the green. Green is something we usually try hard to remove in astrophotography — and for good reason — but this object felt different. Between the subject and the season, letting the greens breathe just felt right 🎄

A great reminder that not every image needs to follow the same rules. Sometimes it’s worth letting the data (and the subject) lead the way.