diff --git a/assets/shaders/brightpass.wgsl b/assets/shaders/brightpass.wgsl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a47912f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/assets/shaders/brightpass.wgsl
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+#import bevy_sprite::mesh2d_vertex_output::VertexOutput
+
+struct BrightPassUniform {
+    threshold: f32,
+    _pad0: f32,
+    _pad1: f32,
+    _pad2: f32,
+};
+
+@group(#{MATERIAL_BIND_GROUP}) @binding(0) var<uniform> u: BrightPassUniform;
+@group(#{MATERIAL_BIND_GROUP}) @binding(1) var tex: texture_2d<f32>;
+@group(#{MATERIAL_BIND_GROUP}) @binding(2) var samp: sampler;
+
+@fragment
+fn fragment(in: VertexOutput) -> @location(0) vec4<f32> {
+    let hdr = textureSample(tex, samp, in.uv).rgb;
+    let lum = dot(hdr, vec3<f32>(0.2126, 0.7152, 0.0722));
+    // Soft knee: smooth roll-off instead of a hard threshold cut.
+    // Fully-bright passes through; near-threshold tapers to zero.
+    let soft = max(lum - u.threshold, 0.0) / (lum + 0.0001);
+    let contribution = hdr * soft;
+    return vec4<f32>(contribution, 1.0);
+}
diff --git a/src/render/material.rs b/src/render/material.rs
index 79d0065..8997101 100644
--- a/src/render/material.rs
+++ b/src/render/material.rs
@@ -138,4 +138,20 @@ impl Material2d for UpscaleMaterial {
     }
 }
 
+/// Extracts luminance above a threshold from the HDR offscreen into a
+/// half-res float texture (bloom stage [2]). Soft-knee, not hard cut.
+#[derive(Asset, TypePath, AsBindGroup, Clone)]
+pub struct BrightPassMaterial {
+    #[uniform(0)]
+    pub threshold: f32,
+    #[texture(1)]
+    #[sampler(2)]
+    pub source: Handle<Image>,
+}
+
+impl Material2d for BrightPassMaterial {
+    fn fragment_shader() -> ShaderRef {
+        "shaders/brightpass.wgsl".into()
+    }
+}
 
diff --git a/src/render/plugin.rs b/src/render/plugin.rs
index 8ee6f29..5ae35e2 100644
--- a/src/render/plugin.rs
+++ b/src/render/plugin.rs
@@ -49,6 +49,22 @@ pub struct QuadScaleFactor(pub f32, pub f32);
 #[derive(Component)]
 pub struct CompositeQuad;
 
+/// The half-res Image the bright-pass writes into (bloom stage [2]).
+#[derive(Component)]
+pub struct BloomTarget0(pub Handle<Image>);
+
+/// Camera + quad markers for the bright-pass (for rebuild queries).
+#[derive(Component)]
+pub struct BrightPassCamera;
+#[derive(Component)]
+pub struct BrightPassQuad;
+
+/// Camera + quad markers for the blur passes (for rebuild queries).
+#[derive(Component)]
+pub struct BlurCamera;
+#[derive(Component)]
+pub struct BlurQuad;
+
 pub struct BlackHolePlugin;
 
 impl Plugin for BlackHolePlugin {
@@ -58,6 +74,7 @@ impl Plugin for BlackHolePlugin {
             .init_resource::<crate::params::BlackHoleParams>()
             .add_plugins(Material2dPlugin::<BlackHoleMaterial>::default())
             .add_plugins(Material2dPlugin::<crate::render::material::UpscaleMaterial>::default())
+            .add_plugins(Material2dPlugin::<crate::render::material::BrightPassMaterial>::default())
             .add_plugins(bevy_egui::EguiPlugin::default())
             .add_systems(Startup, spawn_fullscreen_quad)
             .add_systems(Startup, crate::scene::planets::spawn_default_planet)
@@ -83,6 +100,7 @@ fn spawn_fullscreen_quad(
     mut meshes: ResMut<Assets<Mesh>>,
     mut materials: ResMut<Assets<BlackHoleMaterial>>,
     mut upscale_materials: ResMut<Assets<crate::render::material::UpscaleMaterial>>,
+    mut bp_materials: ResMut<Assets<crate::render::material::BrightPassMaterial>>,
     mut buffers: ResMut<Assets<ShaderBuffer>>,
     mut images: ResMut<Assets<Image>>,
     window: Query<&Window>,
@@ -147,6 +165,38 @@ fn spawn_fullscreen_quad(
         RenderLayers::layer(0),
     ));
 
+    // --- Bright-pass (bloom stage [2]): half-res float target ---
+    let bw = ((w as f32 * 0.5) as u32).max(1);
+    let bh = ((h as f32 * 0.5) as u32).max(1);
+    let bloom0 = images.add(Image::new_target_texture(
+        bw, bh, TextureFormat::Rgba16Float, None,
+    ));
+    commands.spawn(BloomTarget0(bloom0.clone()));
+    commands.spawn((
+        Mesh2d(meshes.add(Rectangle::new(2.0, 2.0))),
+        MeshMaterial2d(bp_materials.add(crate::render::material::BrightPassMaterial {
+            threshold: 1.0,
+            source: offscreen.clone(),
+        })),
+        Transform::default().with_scale(Vec3::new(bw as f32 / 2.0, bh as f32 / 2.0, 1.0)),
+        BrightPassQuad,
+        QuadScaleFactor(0.5, 0.5),
+        RenderLayers::layer(2),
+    ));
+    commands.spawn((
+        Camera2d,
+        Camera {
+            order: -19,
+            clear_color: ClearColorConfig::Custom(Color::srgb(0.0, 0.0, 0.0)),
+            ..default()
+        },
+        RenderTarget::Image(bloom0.clone().into()),
+        Msaa::Off,
+        BrightPassCamera,
+        Nudgable,
+        RenderLayers::layer(2),
+    ));
+
     // --- Upscale quad (draws offscreen Image to the window) ---
     commands.spawn((
         Mesh2d(meshes.add(Rectangle::new(2.0, 2.0))),