Tadpole Nebula (IC410)
Now, a wider view of a nebula that I have already imaged couple of times. The object itself is called Tadpole Nebula for the 2 gas clouds that look like […]
Spiral Galaxy in Leo – M96
Dust lanes seem to swirl around the core of Messier 96 in this picture of the beautiful island universe M96. Of course M96 is a spiral galaxy, and counting the […]
The Owl Nebula – M97
After a few months of issues with my observatory, everything is working fine now and I am back into imaging. You will see a flurry of images during next week. […]
NGC 925 – A Spiral Galaxy in Triangulum
This is a tough galaxy to shoot. There is not a lot of light coming from this dim galaxy and therefore, it does not look as pretty. NGC 925 is […]
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 […]
M105 Group of Galaxies
Normally, I take images of galaxies with nice spiral arms. Sometimes I shoot edge on galaxies, which look flat from our angle. Then there is another group of galaxies, which […]
NGC 772 – A peculiar galaxy
Peculiarly shaped spiral galaxy NGC 772 is found within constellation Aries, some 130 million light-years beyond the stars and nebulae of our Milky Way galaxy. This island universe is peculiar […]
Thor’s Helmet – NGC 2359
This helmet-shaped nebula with apparent wings is popularly called Thor’s Helmet. Thor’s Helmet is about 30 light-years across. In fact, the helmet is more like an interstellar bubble, lit up […]
The Great Nebula in Orion – M42
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 […]
Irregular Dwarf Galaxy IC1613
Usually most galaxies pictures that I post have spiral arm structure, dust lanes, definite shape and usually 100s of billions of stars. But, this image is of a irregular dwarf […]
Cone Nebula
The Cone Nebula is part of an emission nebula region in the constellation of Monoceros. The diffuse Cone Nebula, so named because of its apparent shape, comes from a dark […]
Reflection Nebula in Orion – M78
Interstellar dust clouds and bright nebulae abound in the fertile constellation of Orion. One of the brightest, M78, is in the center of this image, covering an area north of […]
NGC 891 – Edge-On Galaxy
NGC 891 is an edge-on spiral galaxy about 30 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. NGC 891 looks as the Milky Way would look like when viewed edge-on (some […]
Skull Nebula (NGC 246)
Appropriately nicknamed “the Skull Nebula”, planetary nebula NGC 246 really does surround a dying star some 1,600 light-years away in the constellation Cetus. Expelled over a period of thousands of […]
M74 – Galaxy in Pisces
About 1/3rd smaller than our Milky Way galaxy, an island universe of about 100 billion stars, 32 million light-years away toward the constellation Pisces, M74 presents a gorgeous face-on view. […]
Wizard Nebula (NGC 7380)
Located only 8,000 light years away, the Wizard nebula surrounds developing open star cluster NGC 7380. Visually, the interplay of stars, gas, and dust has created a shape that appears […]
Fetus Nebula (NGC 7008)
Compact and round, NGC 7008 is recognized as a planetary nebula about 2,800 light-years distant in the nebula rich constellation of Cygnus. If you look hard enough at the purple […]
Deer Lick Galaxy Group (NGC7731)
The large galaxy in this picture is a spiral galaxy about 40 million light-years away in the constellation Pegasus. The galaxy is similar in size and structure to the galaxy […]
Fish Head Nebula – IC 1795
Fishhead Nebula (IC 1795) is a bright emission nebula of about 70 light-years across with glowing gas and dark lanes of obscuring dust, located just over 6,000 light-years away from […]
IC 1396 – Emission Nebula in Cepheus
I had taken this image in 2017, but, came back to this image again in 2019. This time, I took 2 panels and joined them together to cover a larger […]
Silver Coin Galaxy (NGC 253)
With my lower magnification Stellarvue SV130 telescope, I imaged this galaxy again in 2023. Here is this image. Update 2022 NGC 253 is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation […]
Lagoon Nebula (M8)
Lagoon Nebula is a rather large nebula about 4,100 light-years distant, in the direction of the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. Hot stars in the open star cluster (bright […]
Asteroid Tracking
I basically take 3 images 30 minutes apart of the asteroid and use a software to analyze the extent of the movement of the asteroid over 1 hour. The software […]
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 […]
Iris Nebula – NGC 7023
Like delicate cosmic petals, these clouds of interstellar dust and gas that have blossomed 1,300 light-years away in the constellation Cepheus, evoke the imagery of flowers. Within the Iris, […]
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), […]
M15 Globular Cluster
Next is a Globular Cluster named M15. A globular cluster is a spherical collection of stars that orbits a galactic core as a satellite mini-galaxy. Globular clusters are very tightly […]
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 […]
M76 – Little Dumbbell Nebula
Also known by the popular name the “Little Dumbbell Nebula”, M76 is one of the fainter objects listed in Charles Messier’s 18th century Catalog of Nebulae and Star Clusters. Like […]
Milky Way
After a long time, I visited Cherry Spring State Park, a truly dark sky in north central Pennsylvania. My main purpose was to observe deep sky objects using my telescope, […]
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 […]
Splinter Galaxy (ngc5907)
Also known as the Knife Edge or Splinter galaxy, NGC 5907 is an edge-on spiral galaxy. We see it like a knife edge, as we see it from the side, […]
M3 – Globular Cluster
M3 – A globular cluster – is an immense ball of half a million stars older than the Sun, held in gravitational embrace by a large black hole (about 5000 […]
NGC5982 – Draco Trio
This trio of galaxies is sometimes called the Draco Trio, located in the northern constellation of (you guessed it) Draco. From top to bottom are edge-on spiral NGC 5981, elliptical […]
Flame Nebula
My first picture from New Mexico….. Flame Nebula. Fifteen hundred light years away towards the constellation of Orion lies the nebula which, from its glow and dark dust lanes, appears, […]
Running Man Nebula
This is the Running Man Nebula. Found along the sword of Orion just north of the bright Orion Nebula complex, these nebulae are also associated with Orion’s giant molecular cloud […]
Merope Nebula (M45)
Took this image over 315 minutes. Reflection nebulae reflect light from a nearby star. Many small carbon grains in the nebula reflect the light. The blue color typical of reflection […]
Crab Nebula M1
Presenting Crab Nebula, a ‘Supernova Remnant’ – This is the mess that is left when a star explodes. The nebula is result of a supernova seen and recorded all over […]
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 […]
Comet Lovejoy 2014
This is an image of Comet Lovejoy (designated C/2014 Q2). C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) is a long-period comet discovered on 17 August 2014 by Terry Lovejoy (an amateur astronomer like me) […]
Saturn
The planet with the rings!
Horsehead & Flame Nebulae
I have imaged this region before, but, no amateur astrophotographer let’s a winter go by without taking another shot at this very colorful & beautiful region of the sky. The […]
M13 – Great Globular Cluster in Hercules
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 […]
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 […]
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 – […]
Orion & Running Man Nebula
Here is the best nebula ever – The Orion Nebula (M42) – the object in the middle. It is the brightest nebula (a cloud of gas) as seen from earth […]
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 […]
M106 Galaxy
It is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. M106 is at a distance of about 22 to 25 million light-years away from Earth. It is also a Seyfert […]
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 […]
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 […]
Jupiter & Venus Conjunction on 8/26/16
Venus and Jupiter happened to be pretty much next to each other last night. It doesn’t mean that they are close to each other. Venus is ~225 million KMs (1.5 […]
Sunflower Galaxy – M63
A bright spiral galaxy of the northern sky, M63 is about 25 million light-years distant in the constellation Canes Venatici. Also cataloged as NGC 5055, the majestic island universe is […]
M65-M66 Galaxies in Leo
Nearby and bright, spiral galaxies M65 (top) and M66 stand out in this cosmic snapshot. The pair are just 35 million light-years distant and around 100,000 light-years across, about the […]
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 […]
Andromeda Galaxy (M31)
Andromeda Galaxy (M31) – Andromeda Galaxy is the nearest large Galaxy to Milky Way. It consists of 1 trillion stars. The Andromeda Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million […]
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 […]