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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Seagull nebula (known as IC 2177) is a rather large nebula and has a shape resembling Seagull, but, my telescope’s magnification is too high for the entire nebula. See here […]
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 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 […]
Gibbous Moon
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 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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
This nebula is a very large nebula as seen from Earth and my telescope, which images at 75 times magnification (or about the size of Moon) covers only a part […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 (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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
M24, also known as the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud, is a large naked eye expanse of stars, clusters, nebulosity and other objects located in Sagittarius, and is pointing close to […]
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 […]
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, 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 […]
NGC 7814 is sometimes called the Little Sombrero for its resemblance to the brighter more famous M104, the Sombrero Galaxy. Both Sombrero and Little Sombrero are spiral galaxies seen edge-on, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
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 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, 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 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 […]
This is a rather bad image. I never got a good guide star on it and had to adjust it all the time and therefore had to forcibly cut 50% […]
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 (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 […]
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 […]
Not that pretty a picture as a very bright star just off the edge of this frame (Gamma Cassiopeia) creates a distortion in this image in form of a green-blue […]
On the occasion of Christmas, here is a nebula that looks like a Christmas Tree. However, traditionally, this interstellar formation is dubbed the Cone Nebula (named for the obvious cone […]
I imagine here a large dragon (going right to left), which is being rode by a human (the bright vertical strip right in center and just left of the bright […]
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 […]
I can’t think of a earth-based object that this nebula resembles, so no name. This nebula complex is located not far from the center of the galaxy. Numerous patches of […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
I had amazing luck with weather and great hosts (found on AirBnb) at Madisonville, Eastern Tennessee. But, not everything can go perfect. I had some last minute issues with my […]
The name Trifid refers to its three-lobed appearance. Messier 20 consists of several different objects: an emission nebula, a reflection nebula, a dark nebula and an open star cluster. The […]
Few astro-images excite the imagination like the Orion Nebula. Also known as M42, this is the brightest nebula seen from the northern skies. The nebula is a star factory as […]
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 (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 – […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
The prominent blue and green colors in this image are an emission nebula known as the Cygnus Wall. Part of a larger emission nebula with a distinctive shape popularly called […]
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 […]
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 […]
Messier 14 (M14) is a globular cluster (a large compact spherical star cluster, typically of old stars in the outer regions of a galaxy) located in the southern constellation Ophiuchus. […]
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 […]
There are five galaxies in this image. They are all about 90-130 million light years away!!! Yes – light that you see now left these galaxies way before Dinosaurs were […]
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), […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
Stars such as our Sun do not contain enough mass to finish their lives in the glorious explosions known as supernovae. However, they are still able to salute their imminent […]
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 […]
M12 is a globular cluster located in the Ophiuchus constellation some 15,700 light-years from Earth. A globular cluster is a spherical collection of stars that is on the edges or […]
Messier 13 (M13), also designated NGC 6205 and sometimes called the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules or the Hercules Globular Cluster, is a globular cluster of about 300,000 stars in […]
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 […]
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 […]
Last week, I had posted Splinter Galaxy, an edge-on galaxy that was rather thin. This week, I am posting the Hamburger Galaxy (NGC 3628), which is also a edge-on galaxy, […]
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. […]
On this Halloween Day, see Witch’s Broom Nebula! Ten thousand years ago, before the dawn of recorded human history, a new light would have suddenly have appeared in the night […]