Astrophotography

Horsehead & Flame Nebula

I swapped my telescope AG Optical’s 10″ IDK (a type of reflector), which had 75 times magnification capability, with Stellarvue SV130, which is a refractor with 28 times magnification for […]

Cone Nebula (Starless)

With my new wider-view telescope, my second image is a partially Narrowband image (HaRGB) of Cone Nebula. For this image, I decided to use a tool to remove all stars […]

Robin’s Egg

This pretty cosmic cloud lies some 1,500 light-years away, it shape and color reminiscent of a blue robin’s egg (a North American bird). It spans about 3 light-years, nested securely […]

NGC3344

From our vantage point in the Milky Way Galaxy, we see NGC 3344 face-on. Nearly 40,000 light-years across, the big, beautiful spiral galaxy is located just 20 million light-years away […]

NGC4656

More commonly known as Hockey Stick Galaxy, NGC 4656 is a distorted edge-on spiral galaxy. Its distinctive shape is due to a recent gravitational interaction with the galaxy NGC 4631. […]

NGC3718

You can see multiple galaxies in this section of the constellation Ursa Major. The most striking is NGC 3718, the warped spiral galaxy near picture center. NGC 3718’s spiral arms […]

SH2-112

Sh2 -112 is a faint emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus. It is located in the northern part of the constellation, about 1.5° west of the bright star Deneb (One […]

NGC4725

While most spiral galaxies, including our own Milky Way, have two or more spiral arms, NGC 4725 has only one. In this image, the solo spiral arm seems to wind […]

M53

If our Sun were part of this star cluster, the night sky would glow like a jewel box of bright stars. This cluster, known as M53 and cataloged as NGC […]

Medusa Nebula

Filaments of glowing gas that one can imagine to be shaped like a jellyfish, suggests this nebula’s popular name, The Medusa Nebula. Also known as Abell 21, this Medusa is […]

NGC 4395

NGC 4395 is a spiral galaxy with a very low surface brightness. Unlike most galaxies the center of the galaxy is small and faint. Nearly all galaxies are known to […]

M94

A two part galaxy! This galaxy is different as there are two parts to it. The outer part, which is really really faint as compared to the bright inner part, […]

M61

M61 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the nearby Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. Visible in M61 are a host of features common to spiral galaxies: bright spiral arms, a […]

M35 & NGC2158

Clusters of stars can be near or far, young or old, diffuse or compact. This image shows two quite contrasting open star clusters in the same field. M35, upper-center, is […]

Siamese Twins Galaxies

Spiral galaxy pair NGC 4567 and NGC 4568 (in center) share this area with lonely elliptical galaxy NGC 4564 (on left). All are members of the large Virgo Galaxy Cluster. […]

Fireworks Galaxy

From our vantage point in the Milky Way Galaxy, we see NGC 6946 face-on. The big, beautiful spiral galaxy is located 22 million light-years away, behind a veil of foreground […]

Angel Nebula

Reflecting the light of nearby hot stars, NGC 2170 consists of bluish reflection nebulae, a red emission region, many dark absorption nebulae, and a backdrop of colorful stars. The clouds […]

Monkey Head Nebula in Narrowband

The Monkey Head nebula – ngc2174 is an emission nebula (click here for an explanation on emission nebulae) located in the Orion Constellation. It was given this name because of […]

M90 – An Anemic Galaxy

Messier 90 (also known as M90 and NGC 4569) is an intermediate spiral galaxy exhibiting a weak inner ring structure about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. Messier […]

M4

M4 is a globular cluster visible in dark skies about one degree west of the bright star Antares in the constellation Scorpius. M4 is perhaps the closest globular cluster at […]

Eastern Veil Nebula

The Veil Nebula lies around 2,100 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus (the Swan), making it a relatively close neighbor in astronomical terms. The Veil Nebula is the […]

IC1275

IC 1275 is an emission as well as reflection nebula in Sagittarius. In the center, the greenish area is a dust cloud, rich in dark dust that hide background stars […]

NGC 5053

NGC 5053 is a globular cluster in Coma Berenices. At a distance of about 53,500 light-years from us, NGC 5053’s apparent diameter of 10.5 arc minutes corresponds to a linear […]

NGC6559 – Nebula in Sagittarius

NGC 6559 is a star-forming region located at a distance of about 5000 light-years from Earth, in the constellation of Sagittarius, showing both emission (red) and reflection (bluish) regions. The […]

IC4601 – Reflection Nebula

IC 4601 is a reflection nebula which is located about 420 light-years away in Scorpius. It is part of a larger interstellar cloud of dust and gas (IC 4592), where […]

Flaming Star Nebula

A runaway star lights the Flaming Star Nebula in this cosmic scene. Otherwise known as IC 405, the Flaming Star Nebula’s interstellar clouds of gas and dust lie about 1,500 […]

Tadpole Galaxy (ARP188)

This is spiral galaxy Arp 188, the Tadpole Galaxy. The cosmic tadpole is a 420 million light-years distant toward the northern constellation Draco. Its eye-catching tail is about 280,000 light-years […]

The Whale Galaxy

The Whale Galaxy (NGC4631) is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. This galaxy’s slightly distorted wedge shape, gives it the appearance of a whale, hence its nickname. […]

NGC3521

Gorgeous spiral galaxy NGC 3521 is a mere 35 million light-years away, toward the constellation Leo. It is considered to be a flocculent galaxy. Flocculent galaxies are those that are […]

M109

Messier 109 is a barred spiral galaxy exhibiting a weak inner ring structure around an obviously well-structured central bar approximately 83.5 ± 24 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa […]

M46 with NGC2438

Buy One Get One Free! When you point your telescope to this part of the sky, you see a Open Cluster known as M46. Open Clusters are a group of […]

Markarian Chain of Galaxies

Our galaxy is part of a group of galaxies that includes Andromeda, Pinwheel and about 80 other galaxies. This group is called ‘Local Group of Galaxies’. Neighboring to our group […]

NGC7822

Hot, young stars and cosmic clouds of gas and dust seem to crowd into NGC 7822. The image includes data from narrowband filters, mapping emission from atomic oxygen, hydrogen, and […]

M83

Spiral galaxy M83 is located in the constellation Hydra. A “starburst” galaxy, M83 is considerably smaller than our own galaxy but is producing stars at a much faster rate. The […]

NGC 3718 with NGC 3729

NGC 3718, also called Arp 214, is a galaxy located approximately 52 million light years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. NGC 3718 has a warped, s-shape. This may […]

Bernard’s Galaxies – NGC 6822

Grand spiral galaxies often seem to get all the glory, flaunting their young, bright, blue star clusters in beautiful, symmetric spiral arms. But small galaxies form stars too, like nearby […]

M100 and NGC 4312

Majestic on a truly cosmic scale, M100 is appropriately known as a grand design spiral galaxy. It is a large galaxy of over 100 billion stars with well-defined spiral arms […]

M77

Messier 77 is a barred spiral galaxy located 47 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Cetus. Measuring some 170,000 light-years in diameter, it is one of the largest galaxies […]

M11 Open Cluster

Unlike the many globular clusters that I normally image, open clusters are groups of stars that are only loosely bound by gravity. The lifespans of open clusters are relatively short […]

M92 Globular Cluster

Messier 92 (M92) is a globular cluster located in the northern constellation Hercules. The cluster lies at a distance of 26,700 light years from Earth and has an apparent magnitude […]

M22 Globular Cluster

Messier 22 (M22) is a globular cluster located near the Milky Way bulge, the tightly packed group of stars near the galactic center. That is the reason why you see […]

M10 Globular Cluster

Messier 10 (M10) is a rich, bright globular cluster located in the constellation Ophiuchus. A globular cluster is a spherical collection of stars that orbits a galactic core. Globular cluster […]

NGC 6045 and other galaxies

This just looks bunch of stars and some fuzzy stuff. But, they are dozens of very distant galaxies. The larger ones are about 450 to 525 million light years away […]

Rosette Nebula

Would the Rosette Nebula by any other name look as sweet? Inside the nebula lies an open cluster of bright young stars designated NGC 2244. These stars formed about four […]

Leo Triplet

Famous as the Leo Triplet, the three magnificent galaxies gather in one field of view. They are NGC 3628 (left-bottom), M66 (center right), and M65 (top). All three are large […]

NGC 1491

NGC 1491 is a bright nebula in the constellation of Perseus. It is a bright emission nebula and HII region, located on the edge of a vast cloud region of […]

Stephan’s Quintet

There are 5 galaxies right in the middle of this image. All the yellowish galaxies are about 300 million light years away, whereas the bluish one is about 260 million […]

NGC 2903

NGC 2903 is a field barred spiral galaxy about 20 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. Just a little smaller than our own Milky Way, NGC 2903 is about […]

NGC 7538 – Puppy Nebula

NGC 7538, near the more famous Bubble Nebula, is located in the constellation Cepheus. It is located about 9,100 light-years from Earth. It is home to the biggest yet discovered […]

California Nebula Section

California Nebula is a large emission nebula that looks like the shape of California state in US. It’s too large for my telescope, so I took image of section of […]

LBN 782

This is a rather dim reflection nebula. It is about 450 LY away. The star at the bottom of the blue nebula is a youthful variable star, V1023 Tauri, that […]

Cocoon Nebula

Cocoon Nebula (IC5146) is a beautiful nebula that is combination of an emission (pink) and reflection (blue) nebula. It has an apparent size of 12 arc minutes and is located […]

Pacman Nebula (NGC 281)

This is my first mosaic picture. My scope takes images at 75 times magnification. At that magnification, this object would have covered the entire frame, so I took 4 sets […]

IC 426 – Reflection Nebula

Being a reflection nebula, it is not shining from atoms excited by radiation from nearby stars. Rather, it is reflecting light from the stars around it. And much like our […]

NGC 1333 Reflection Nebula

NGC 1333 is located in the constellation Perseus and is a beautiful example of a reflection nebula embeded with an open star cluster. The star in the middle illuminates NGC […]

Astrophotography & its process

Astrophotography is a unique hobby, that is at once science, art & craft. It’s a very satisfying hobby that utilizes all your brain-cells and makes you fulfilled from a creative […]

Globular Cluster M5

Messier 5 (M5) is a globular star cluster, 100,000 stars or more, bound by gravity and packed into a region around 165 light-years in diameter. It lies some 25,000 light-years […]

M95 Galaxy in Leo

Barred spiral galaxy M95 is about 75,000 light-years across, somewhat smaller in size to our own Milky Way and one of the larger galaxies of the Leo galaxy group. In […]

Horsehead Nebula

My most favorite deep sky object is Horsehead Nebula in Orion Constellation. It is visible as the dark indentation to the red emission nebula in the background. The horsehead feature […]

Whirlpool Galaxy (M51)

Those who follow my pictures closely will notice that I have imaged this galaxy many times. It’s because I love this galaxy and try to image it every year to […]

Tulip Nebula

Along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy toward the nebula rich constellation Cygnus the Swan, this image is of SH2-101, popularly called the Tulip Nebula. About 8,000 light-years distant […]

Dumbbell Nebula

Dumbbell Nebula is a planetary nebula i.e. remains of a dying star. The red color is hydrogen gas clouds, and the greenish blue color consists of nitrogen and oxygen as […]

Pinwheel Galaxy in Triangulum (M33)

Pinwheel Galaxy (M33) in Triangulum constellation is our neighbor. It is the second nearest galaxy to our Milky way (excluding our Milky Way’s satellites). It’s smaller than our galaxy – […]

Cigar Galaxy (M82)

What’s lighting up the Cigar Galaxy? M82, as this irregular galaxy is also known, was stirred up by a recent pass near large spiral galaxy M81. This doesn’t fully explain […]

Ring Nebula – M57

Dozens of planetary nebulae are visible in a small telescope, but none present such a distinctive and accessible appearance in a small telescope as the Ring Nebula (M57) in the […]

Helix Nebula (NGC 7293)

From Garuda Nebula (vdB152) to Lord Shiva’s third eye! Helix Nebula is one of the most beautiful Planetary Nebulae. Planetary Nebula have nothing to do with planets. They are called […]

vDB 152 – Dark Nebula

vdB 152 is a dark cloud of gas that is thick enough to obscure all the stars behind it and only some part of the nebula is shining in blue […]

Bubble Nebula (NGC7635)

Bubble Nebula, a rare type of nebula, is an emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia. Although it looks delicate, the 7 light-year diameter bubble offers evidence of violent processes at […]

M16 – Queen Nebula

This is an image of M16- The Queen Nebula. It’s called Queen Nebula because you can, with some imagination, see a lady holding up her hands and with a flowing […]

Antennae Galaxies – NGC 4038

Some 60 million light-years away in the southerly constellation Corvus, two large galaxies are colliding, leaving a long tail of their erstwhile spiral arms. Spanning about 500 thousand light-years, the […]

Swan Nebula – M17

This star forming region, known as Swan Nebula (concentrate only on the brighter part of the nebula to see a checkmark and extend leftward to see a rough swan shape), […]

M101 – The Pinwheel Galaxy

Probably the best example of a spiral Galaxy, M101 is known as the Pinwheel Galaxy for obvious reasons – it’s many spiral arms give a clear impression of a pinwheel. […]

Bode’s Galaxy – M81

I have revisited this galaxy in 2020 and took a image with long duration of 19 hours. (43 images of 20 minutes each for Luminance & 9 images each of […]

Silver Needle Galaxy (NGC4244)

NGC 4244, nicknamed the Silver Needle Galaxy is my next image. This galaxy spans some 65,000 light-years and lies around 13.5 million light-years away. It appears as a wafer-thin streak […]

M77 & NGC 1055

This is not a pretty image, but, you can see astrophysics in action here. This is a galaxy (named M77) about 47 million light years away. I took image of […]

Two Galaxies – NGC3184 & NGC3179

My telescope is now fully collimated (aligned), but these images were taken before collimation, so there is some amount of fuzziness. But the objects are marvelous. The large Galaxy in […]

Crescent Nebula – NGC 6888

Here is Crescent Nebula (NGC6888) with OIII (Oxygen III) narrowband layer (that is creating the blue halo around this nebula). This is a cosmic bubble about 25 light-years across, blown […]

Tadpole Nebula (IC410)

Update of 2020 While I had done narrowband imaging of this faint object in 2017, I reimaged this area in normal visible colors and got this image of Tadpole Nebula. […]