The 2026 Buck Moon as it appeared over Southern Arizona last night. Think clouds acted as a prism, splitting the broadband light from the moon into a stunning array of colors. This is an HDR composite captured from two photos, one exposed for the moon, one exposed for the halo.

This photo has a very personal meaning for me if you care to read it. I saw a photo from @johnkrausphotos on reddit nearly a decade ago of the engines on a Falcon Heavy launch. I was working at a tough sales job at the time. The shot inspired me to learn more about space and spaceflight. Shortly after, I bought my first telescope. I saw Jupiter, Saturn, and Nebulae, and started social media accounts where I shared my amateur photos. Then I was laid off, and Covid happened. Moved from Sacramento to Arizona for clearer skies, cheaper cost of living, and a chance to go all-in on space photography. My audience started to grow. Then, NASA contacted me, asking me if they could use some of my moon photos for something called Artemis. I said yes. During the Artemis I rollout my DMs blew up “Andrew- your photo is on the Mobile Launch Platform!”. Now I knew that astrophotography wasn’t enough… I should probably pay attention to spaceflight. I spent a lot coming out to the first launch attempt, which would be my first rocket launch if it flew. Sadly, it was a scrub. I came home from Florida, sharing my stories of touring the VAB and facilities with my grandfather, who worked on Apollo. He passed shortly after, which affected my ability to return to watch the SLS flew. Feeling bummed out, I focused back on my deep sky work, but then I started hearing about something called “Starship”. I caught a video from @Erdayastronaut where a rocket ship fell through the air belly-first and flipped upright and landed. Inspired, I knew I had to witness one of these machines fly, so I flew to Starbase the moment I could afford it, which was for the second fully integrated flight test. The moment Starship lifted off the pad, I was hooked. There was nothing quite like the experience. I did everything I could to catch every launch I could, and worked to become credentialed media to get better access. Last year I flew from Arizona to Florida & Texas over a dozen times specifically to sharpen my launch photography skills with our first human spaceflight to the moon in over 50 years looming. A decade of preparation for a split second moment. When I picked up my camera from the launch pad yesterday morning and peeked at what was captured, I knew it was all worth it. Thank you, NASA, Artemis, and the all people who inspired me along the way. This is still only the beginning.