A local astrophotographer, Michael J. Mangieri operates a small observatory (the actual building is still in the planning stages) in Reisterstown, Maryland, where he photographs the sky through three telescopes. Michael’s images are all taken from the light polluted sky of his backyard, but he still manages to bring out the wonder and stunning vistas of colorful star clusters, fantastic glowing nebulae and other deep sky wonders. Whether imaging through the larger Celestron EdgeHD-11 to get up close and personal, or the smaller William Optics 102mm and ZS61mm to get that wide angle view, he captures the exquisite colors and details brought out through using narrow band filters to cut through the light pollution and target the specific wavelengths of light that’s being emanated by these deep sky objects.

Born in Bronx, New York in 1953, Michael moved to Maryland in 1966. He has been active in amateur astronomy throughout the years, operated Towson University’s Planetarium back in the mid 70’s, taught at various astronomy clubs and colleges in the Maryland/Washington DC area, and now spends almost every clear night under the stars in Reisterstown. He is a member of the Westminster Astronomical Society, Inc. (WASI) and is the guest lecturer at the Soldier’s Delight visitor center in Owings Mills where he presents different topics in Astronomy and Space every third Saturday of the month.

In addition to astrophotography, Michael also runs three small businesses, Maryland Fiber Arts (mdfiberarts.com), where he designs, constructs and produces custom embroidery items and quilts together with his wife, Joan (who does most of the quilting), MdAstro, where he offers his photos for sale and Epaphras-Music.

And if electronic, new age music is to your liking (e.g., Enya, David Arkenstone, Paul Lanz, etc.), Michael is also a keyboardist and accordion player, and has a couple of CDs available under the name ‘Epaphras’.