Astrophotography by Mark Marfoglia

I created this site with my wife Cindy’s help, to more easily share my hobby with people I know. 

I am not a scientist, nor a professional photographer, but just someone who enjoys exploring the universe which is visible to my equipment. I like the challenges in science, computer tech, optics, and organization which plays a bigger part than you may expect because the photos span several nights, months, and even years.

I have been at it for about 15 years, with a spike in the last five. Although I have a large library of objects, most of the early ones are not worth posting. My intent with this website is to showcase my best recent pics, with minimal details as they are readily available online. You may use the photos as you please as they are not “protected”.

I am lucky to have 3 observatories, my first is at our country house in Rawdon which I named North Point. The other 2 which I call Rodeo 1 and 2, are named after the town where they are located in New Mexico USA. 

The distances and times in astronomy are crazy big, too big for us to really get our heads around. But the shapes and colors are fascinating, and display nature’s way. I hope you find them interesting.

My Rawdon observatory was made “in house” and is very much a home-grown affair, built with no real knowledge besides my limited personal experience. I started in 2012 with a plastic dome. I made lots of mistakes but upgraded in 2015 to a wooden A-frame structure with 2 mounts. The skies being Bortle 4 are not perfect, but it is very convenient to use and learn on. I like to try different camera/telescope combinations, and different targets like planets, comets, and the sun. It was built 10' above the ground to improve my lines of sight. Now fully “remote”, I can use it from anywhere I have an internet connection.
 

I have 2 observatories in the dark Bortle 1 skies of Rodeo New Mexico, USA. Rodeo 1 is designed to be operated from Canada. It has its own roof controller, power supply, security cameras, weather station, all sky camera, power switches, microphones, ambient air detectors and air conditioning. All the astro-equipment necessary to function without human help. Using this scope from 4,000 km away is no trivial feat and is not for the nervous type. The worst events are loss of communication and a stuck roof. Both have happened to me, and it is not fun. I note that I go to sleep and let it work overnight.

I do not change the configuration of the camera/telescope, because it's 14” telescope is perfect for those skies and remote photography.
 

Rodeo 2 is designed to be operated locally. It has 2 semi-permanent mounts to host several different scopes and camera combinations, as well as visual observing. It's very spacious which I love, with carefree movement at night without fear of snakes, etc. A luxury for sure, but really convenient to deal with the extreme climate of the desert, both day and night. The winds can be a real problem.