Captured with: Vaonis Vespera 2
Target: Napoleon’s Hat Asterism
Bonus Appearance: Arcturus
Integration Time: ~1 hour
Software Used: PixInsight, Photoshop
Filter: No filter used
Date: June 10, 2025
Location: Chesterfield, Missouri
Last Night’s Target: Napoleon’s Hat and a Brilliant Interloper
Last night, I aimed my Vespera Pro at something a little more subtle than my usual nebula or galaxy targets—a faint asterism known as Napoleon’s Hat. If you’ve never heard of it, you’re not alone. It’s not in any Messier catalog, and it doesn’t glow like the Orion Nebula or pulse like a quasar. It’s simply a graceful arc of stars faintly echoing the outline of Napoleon Bonaparte’s signature bicorne hat.
As I framed the scene, I noticed an unexpected guest: Arcturus, the fourth-brightest star in the night sky. It was just there—burning bright in the same field of view, almost too luminous for what I was going for. But instead of adjusting to crop it out, I let it stay. I leaned into it, letting the Vespera integrate for about an hour to bring out the soft elegance of the asterism while allowing Arcturus to cast its glow like a spotlight.
After some processing in PixInsight and cleanup in Photoshop, I ended up with a surprising result—one that balances subtlety and brilliance. You can view the result below, complete with a before-and-after slider to appreciate the transformation:
👉 [Use the slider below to compare the raw and processed images]
This Morning: A Star Reappears—In My News Feed
Here’s where things took an odd turn.
This morning, while drinking my coffee and scrolling through my iPhone’s news feed, the top science story served to me was… about Arcturus. An article from the BBC, written more than a year ago. No search history. No voice assistant activation. I hadn’t posted or even spoken about the star yet.
It felt uncanny—like the universe was sending a cosmic nudge.
Is It Just a Coincidence? Or Something More?
From a psychological perspective, this is a textbook example of a concept in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) called illusory correlation. Our minds are wired to find patterns—even when there are none. It’s part of what helped us survive as a species. Spotting connections kept us safe. But today, that same mechanism can trick us into thinking unrelated events are deeply intertwined.
Illusory correlation explained and referenced
Illusory correlation is a well-documented psychological phenomenon in which people perceive a relationship between two unrelated events. This tendency is often explained by our brain’s pattern-recognition systems and can contribute to the formation of superstitions or stereotypes. For a deeper explanation, see: Hamilton, D. L., & Gifford, R. K. (1976). Illusory correlation in interpersonal perception: A cognitive basis of stereotypic judgments. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 12(4), 392–407.
Yet… isn’t there still something beautiful in noticing the connection?
I’ve spent enough time under the stars to know that meaning isn’t always about what’s real—it’s also about what feels real. Maybe it was just a digital algorithm spitting out an old story. Or maybe, in a small way, the stars aligned.
Connected by Light, Time, and Wonder
The photons from Arcturus that hit my sensor last night left the star nearly 37 years ago. I captured them without trying. The next morning, I read about that same star without intending to. Is that pure randomness? Or a gentle reminder that we are all connected—by light, by time, and by the stories we create?
Whether it’s psychology or fate, astronomy or accident, I’ll take it as a reminder to pay attention. Sometimes the universe whispers. Sometimes it shouts.
Either way, I’m listening.
✨ Have You Ever Had a Moment Like This?
Have you experienced a “cosmic coincidence” or an oddly timed event that made you stop and wonder?
Drop your story in the comments below—I’d love to hear about it.
Tips for Fellow Astrophotographers:
- Want to improve faint star structure like this? Consider longer exposures, but always balance against bright stars to avoid overblown highlights.
- Post-processing matters: my final image wouldn’t have popped without PixInsight’s HistogramTransformation and Photoshop’s curve refinement.
- For subtle compositions, minimalist targets like asterisms are surprisingly rewarding.
Unlike most of my blog posts, I didn’t go deep into the science behind Arcturus this time. Why? Because the article that appeared in my feed was already so well written and informative, I felt it said everything I might have tried to say—and probably better. If you’d like to learn more about the star I accidentally featured in last night’s image, I encourage you to read this piece from Sky at Night Magazine:
What is Arcturus? – BBC Sky at Night Magazine
https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/arcturus
As for the main subject of my image—Napoleon’s Hat—it’s a faint asterism located in the constellation Boötes, not far from Arcturus itself. It’s unofficial and relatively obscure, more of a skywatcher’s curiosity than a cataloged object, but it’s a lovely example of how humans find familiar shapes in the stars. If you want to learn more, there’s a brief mention and visual in this Sky & Telescope piece:
Asterism Tour Part 1 – Sky & Telescope
https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/observing-news/asterism-tour-part-1/
Sometimes it’s the quiet, unassuming parts of the sky that surprise us the most.
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Clear skies,
– Sky Dad
