Gallery

Slideshow  |  Jump to Category: Asterism | Cluster | Constellation | Galaxy | Lunar | Milky Way | Miscellaneous | Nebula | Planet | Star |

Filter by telescope:  |  |  |  |  |  |  |

Filter:  

 

Asterism πŸ”

This part of the sky is bursting with clusters and nebulae as the Milky Way dominates the background behind part of the Cygnus constellation.
A Starfield in the Cygnus Contellation
Brocchi's cluster is a beautiful asterism made of colorful stars that randomly form a coat hanger pattern. This image is a mosaic to capture the full starfield.
Collinder399: The Coat Hanger
M24 is a Messier object that isn't a deep space target, but instead describes a region of the sky so dense with stars it forms a cloud named the Small Sagittarius Cloud.
M24: The Small Sagittarius Cloud
Polaris, the North Star, makes the crowning jewel on a ring of several neighboring stars in this mosaic.
Polaris and the Engagement Ring
 

Cluster πŸ”

Cassiopeia hosts the open cluster M103 that contains a few hundred colorful stars. It is an easy cluster to find, located very near the 'W' shape of the constellation.
M103: Open Cluster in Cassipeia
This cluster, just barely visible to the naked eye, contains several hundred thousand stars in its diameter of 145 light years.
M13: The Hercules Globular Cluster
An estimated age of over 12 billion years makes M15 the oldest known globular cluster. This massive grouping of stars is collapsing under its own gravitation pull, drawing the stars in towards a possible black hole in its core.
M15: Ancient Globular Cluster
M2
A bright open cluster of stars in the Cygnus constellation.
M29 Open Cluster
Like a cousin to the Seven Sisters, M36 is an open cluster of young, blue stars that is far more distant than the Pleiades. Called the Pinwheel Cluster, it is a region of contrast with neighboring red stars.
M36: The Pinwheel Cluster
The 37th item in the Messier catalog is the open cluster NGC2099. It is visible in binoculars and shines at an apparent magnitude of 6.2. It resides in the constellation Auriga.
M37
M38 is an open cluster called the Starfish Cluster.
M38: The Starfish Cluster
An open cluster in the Cygnus constellation with an apparent size larger than the moon, making it visible with binoculars.
M39 Open Cluster
A night of exposures with Stellina.
M3: Full night capture in 2022
M3 is one of the largest and brightest clusters visible from Earth.
M3: Globular Cluster
The 44th item in the Messier catalog is a bright, open cluster visible to the naked eye and one of the closest to the earth.
M44: The Beehive Cluster
The Pleiades, or Seven Sisters, are visible to the naked eye, resolve in binoculars and can be captured by regular cameras. This is the first time I've collected enough exposure to capture the delicate nebulosity that surrounds these beautiful blue stars.
M45: The Luminous Pleiades
The Pleiades is one of the closest star clusters to Earth and filled with bright blue stars.
M45: The Pleiades
M47 is an open cluster with around 500 stars.
M47
'My friend, I don't always photograph stars, but when I do, I prefer globular clusters.' M5 is a top favorite of mine (M13 holds the #1 spot) and I was excited to image it at 1650mm focal length. You can count the stars! (When William Herschel did it in 1791, he counted 200).
M5
M5, the rose cluster, framed with nearby variable binary 5 Ser.
M5 and 5Ser
M53 is a globular cluster that is about 58,000 lightyears from our solar system and nearly the same distance (60,000 lightyears) from our galaxy core.
M53
In the constellation Sagitta lies a controversial group of stars that might be a dense open star cluster, or may be an unusually loose globular cluster. Either way it's home to 20,000, many of which shine a distinctive gold color.
M71
Caroline's Rose is a cluster of about 1,000 stars that spans 50 light years and shares the apparent size of the moon.
NGC7789: Caroline's Rose
A bright and colorful grouping of two clusters that span a section of the sky twice the size of a full moon.
NGC884 and NGC869: The Double Cluster in Perseus
 

Constellation πŸ”

This glowing W-shaped constellation is a centerpiece amongst several nebulae and galaxies.s
Cassiopeia
This detailed photograph of the Orion constellation is rich nebulae. The Flame Nebula is on the left of the 'belt' and the Orion Nebula pops at the bottom of the 'sword'.
Detailed Orion with Flame Nebula and Orion Nebula
The Orion constellation is easily recognizable by the bright red Betelgeuse 'shoulder', three stars to form the 'belt' and a sword tipped with a nebula visible to the naked eye.
Orion
A capture of Orion's belt.
Orion's Belt
Took ~350 4-second 210mm of Orion's belt: Alnitak (with NGC2024 the Flame Nebula and IC434 the Horesehead Nebula), Alnilam and Mintaka. First pic of 2022!
Orion's Belt New Year 2022
This close-up of the sword in the Orion constellation actually captures x nebula and clusters, including the Great Orion Nebula, De Marain's Nebula, the Running Man Nebula, and the Lost Jewel of Orion.
Orion's Sword
Cassiopeia is a very busy piece of sky. The constellation is easy to find with its distinctive 'W' shape. I just missed one of the main stars but captured the colorful variety of background stars and even some nebulosity in several areas.
The Cassiopeia Starfield
The Orion constellation.
The Orion Constellation (sans Betelgeuse)
First long exposure using my CGEM-II mount.
The many nebulae of Orion.
 

Galaxy πŸ”

The Andromeda Galaxy for 24 minutes in one-shot color.
Andromeda's Splendour
Galaxy season calls for a galaxy party. In this frame, the 'Lost Galaxy of Copeland' or NGC4535 is the beautiful spiral. The 'large star' is HD109270 (invisible to the naked eye), and upper left hosts lenticular galaxy NGC4518. You can see several other galaxies 'hanging around.'
Galaxy Party
A grand design spiral nebula with a few neighbors.
M100
A beautiful spiral galaxy that is quite photogenic.
M101: The Pinwheel Galaxy
Messier 104 is referred to as 'The Sombrero Galaxy.' Can you guess why? This galaxy presents itself edge-on with a bright core and dark dust obscuring the central disk. 45 60-second exposures.
M104: Sombrero Galaxy
The Sombrero Galaxy features a bright core illuminated by over 2,000 globular clusters and presents a dark dust lane in the edgewise view of the spiral.
M104: The Sombrero Galaxy
A detailed look at the flying saucer with a Celestron EdgeHD 9.25.
M104: The Sombrero Galxy with the Edge
The Andromeda Galaxy occupies a large field of view. It is both near to the Milky Way and bright enough to see with the naked eye.
M31: Andromeda Galaxy
Over 2,000 10-second exposures went into stacking 6 panels that were blended to produce this capture of Andromeda with neighboring galaxies M32 and M110.
M31: Andromeda Galaxy Mosaic
First attempt at capturing this galaxy with nothing but an ordinary camera and zoom lens.
M31: Andromeda Galaxy with Camera
A detailed image taken over just a few minutes with a remotely controlled telescope in Spain.
M31: via iTelescope in Spain
Just off the edge of the Andromeda Galaxy is one of two satellites orbiting the Milky Way's neighbor: M32, a dense cloud of stars that are classified as a dwarf, early-stage compact elliptical galaxy.
M32: Dwarf Compact Eliptical Galaxy
M33, the Triangulum Galaxy, is sometimes mistakenly referred to as the Pinwheel Galaxy (that title is held by M101). It is one of the few galaxies visible to the naked eye.
M33: The Triangulum Galaxy
A stellar example of a grand-design galaxy, the whirlpool is tugging on its distant companion, the yellow NGC5195, and the resulting tidal forces may be creating new stars.
M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy
5 sessions of exposures over one year!
M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy in 2022
If you look closely at this spiral galaxy, you may be able to count its approximately 400 billion stars.
M63: The Sunflower Galaxy
These two galaxies are bright enough to be seen with binoculars and close enough to capture together in a single frame.
M81 and M82
M81 imaged over 5 sessions and 1 year.
M81: Bode's Galaxy
One of the brightest galaxies in the night sky, Bode's Galaxy is believed to contain a black hole in the center that is 70 million times the mass of the sun.
M81: Bode's Galaxy
I shot this image with two sets. One was with a UV/IR cut filter, the other with a 7 nanometer narrowband for Ha and OII.
M81: Bode's Galaxy with Hydrogen Alpha
M82 is a starburst galaxy that contains one of the brightest pulsars known.
M82: The Cigar Galaxy
M95 is a barred spiral galaxy with an estimated 40 billion stars.
M95
This is a spiral galaxy viewed edge-on from 50 million light years away.
NGC5907: The Knife Edge Galaxy
This spiral galaxy believed to be a similar size and shape as the Milky Way shares its field of view with several other galaxies.
NGC7331: The Milky Way's Twin
A year of images to contribute to a detailed photo of the Pinwheel.
The Detailed M101: Pinwheel Galaxy
A rare partnership of galaxies with lots of friends in the background.
The Leo Triplet
A great target to kick off galaxy season. The main galaxy is unique with a massive plume of plasma ejecting from its core, while the neighbors are a catalog of spiral galaxy viewing angles.
Virgo-A Galaxy and friends
 

Lunar πŸ”

A cloudy view of the moon.
A cloudy moon
A full color almost full moon.
A detailed, full color shot.
A full moon obscured by clouds.
A spectral moon in clouds.
A crescent moon in February 2022.
Beautiful crescent in February 2022.
Dust from fires turned the moon red.
Blood Moon August 2021
A highly detailed dawn view of the moon.
Bright moon after sunrise
A close-up of the edge of the moon.
Close up moon quarter
A gibbous moon close-up.
Closeup of the Moon
A prominent crater on a crescent moon.
Crater
This image of the moon was stacked from multiple images taken while it was behind clouds. The layering of clouds give it an embossed appearance.
Embossed moon.
A gibbous moon in January 2022.
First gibbous moon of 2022.
The first half moon of 2022.
First half moon of 2022
This image of the moon was stacked from multiple images taken while it was behind clouds. The detail of the moon popped out to make it appear to float above the clouds.
Floating moon.
Four unfiltered images of the moon: a blue taken by day, a yellow due to fog, and a red due to forest fire smoke in addition to the traditional gray.
Four moons.
A full moon captured in color in February 2022.
Full Color Full Moon
A full moon in April.
Full moon April 2021
A gibbous moon in July.
Gibbous Moon July 2021
A gibbous moon in November.
Gibbous Moon November 2021
A capture of the moon just before sunset.
Half Moon at Dusk
A half moon imaged in color with the Celestron EdgeHD.
Half Moon with Celestron EdgeHD
A half moon imaged in color with the SvBony sv503 70ED.
Half Moon with Svbony sv503
A half moon in April.
Half moon April 2021
A half moon in September.
Half moon September 2021
A close up of the multiple craters including Clavius.
The Clavius crater region
A close up of the large crater named Copernicus on the moon.
The Copernicus Crater
An image of the moon captured during the day, several hours before sunset.
The Day Moon
A close up of the Mare Imbrium region at the edge of the shadow.
The Mare Imbrium edge region
A close up of the Mare Imbrium region.
The Mare Imbrium region
A close up of the multiple craters past the edge of Mare Nubian.
The Mare Nubium region
The moon shining brightly through thin cloud cover.
The Moon through the Clouds
A full color view of Copernicus.
The Moon's Copernicus crater.
A full color view of Tycho.
The Moon's Tycho crater.
A close up of the Sinus Iridum region.
The Sinus Iridum region
A naturally unnaturally yellow moon.
The Yellow Moon in February 2022
A close up of the edge of the moon.
The edge of the moon
An image of the moon taken during the day that showed up green.
The green moon
A dawn view of Venus with a crescent moon.
Venus approaches the moon
A half moon in January 2022.
Yellow Moon January 2022
 

Milky Way πŸ”

This glimpse of star-filled skies features a dense part of the Milky Way.
A Glimpse of the Milky Way
The Milky Way looms over a field by the Paint Mines in Colorado.
Milky Way at Paint Mines.
A shot of the Milky Way from the Oregon coast.
Milky Way in Waldport Oregon
Wide angle shot using the Star Adventurer Mini (SAM).
The Milky Way meets Andromeda Galaxy
Venus is partially covered by clouds. To the left rises the core of the Milky Way.
The Milky Way over Venus
 

Miscellaneous πŸ”

Star trails around the north star.
Around Polaris.
A meteor and a satellite streak by over the Paint Mines in Colorado.
Fire in the Sky
A view of the sky taken with my fisheye camera.
Fish eye view of starry skies
Star trails around the north star.
Polar Alignment.
Auriga, the Pleiades and other clusters in the night sky.
Starmap
A view of stars over the neighborhood.
Starry Skies
The night sky captured from a camera riding piggyback on the telescope mount.
The Night Sky
A sky full of stars over wintering trees.
Trees and Sky
 

Nebula πŸ”

The long curling trunk is cosmos gas and dark dust believed to be forming stars across a massive region.
IC1396: The Elephant's Trunk
The star cluster Melotte 15 contains bright young stars that energize hydrogen, causing it to emit the red light that illuminates this heart-shaped nebula. In the corner is its near companion Fishead Nebula.
IC1805: The Heart Nebula
IC348 is a star-forming nebula with about 400 stars.
IC348
IC434 illuminates the nearby Horsehead Nebula that rears its head in silhouette. Dominating left is the triple star system Alnitak with its main superhot blue giant centerpiece that adorns the undulating waves of NGC2024, the Flame Nebula.
IC434 NGC2024: The Horse and the Flame
Although we tend to refer to IC434 as the Horsehead Nebula, it's actually an emission nebula hidden behind the Horsehead nebula. The latter is made up of dark dust that is illuminated by the former. This framing honors the beauty and grace of the horse's silhouette, but I'm working on a mosaic that captures the broader area to include the Flame Nebula (NGC2024).
IC434: The Nebula Behind the Horsehead
In the dark reaches of space there are columns of molecular dust that span light years and are illuminated by nearby stars. This nebula is part of a large and complex region.
IC5070: The Pelican Nebula
Ξ³ Cas or gamma Cas is the middle point of the 'W' that makes up the constellation Cassiopeia. It is a rapidly spinning variable star that is incredibly bright. It dominates the scene and overpowers the delicate, faint reflection nebula nearby designed IC59 and named, 'The Ghost of Cassiopeia.' It took me over 500 exposures to draw out the detail of this elusive nebula.
IC59: The Ghost of Cassiopeia
M16 is called the Eagle Nebula due to its overall shape, but it's the smoky columns that span lightyears in height that make it famous. The columns are called the Pillars of Creation.
M16: The Eagle Nebula
A nebula with many names, the swan, lobste or horseshoe nebula is a bright object that is easy to capture.
M17: The Omega Nebula
It started as a supernova recorded by Chinese astronomers in 1054 AD. M1, the Crab Nebula, is the expanding remnant of that millenia old explosion.
M1: The Crab Nebula
My first ever astrograph taken with the Celestron EdgeHD 9.25 SCT.
M1: The Crab Nebula Test Shot
This is a specially framed capture to grab two Messier objects, one of which is a cluster, reflection nebula, emission nebula, and dark nebula all at the same time.
M20 and M21: Trifid Nebula and Webb's Cross
This bright nebula visible in binoculars is a planetary nebula surrounding a white dwarf star.
M27: Dumbbell Nebula
A quick imaging session to capture the beauty and detail of planetary nebula M27.
M27: The Dumbbell Nebula in 10 minutes
This popular nebula is bright, easy to photograph and visible to the naked eye.
M42: The Great Orion Nebula
This image was rendered from nearly 600 10-second exposures collected over a year.
M42: The Great Orion Nebula Multi-Session
Orion's sword contains multiple nebulae as evidenced in this wide field mirrorless camera shot.
M42: The Great Orion Nebula and NGC1977: The Running Man Nebula
A stack of over 800 exposures to grab as much detail as possible.
M42: The Orion Nebula in rich detail
40 2-minute exposures in Bortle 5.
M45: The Merope Nebula
A star shed this ring of ionized gas as it collapsed into a white dwarf.
M57: The Ring Nebula
This cloud of interstellar dust surrounds a cluster that radiates energy to make the nebula glow.
M8: The Lagoon Nebula
Who who is the Owl Nebula? A bright starburst nebula believed to be about 8,000 years old.
M97: The Owl Nebula
A brilliant blue cluster wreathed in intricate strands of nebula.
Maia Nebula
This picture is just a small part of the California-shaped NGC1499, a faint nebula that requires lots of exposure and/or narrowband filters to truly appreciate.
NGC1499: The Calfornia Nebula
In the popular sweep of nebulae and stars known as Orion's sword is NGC1977, the Running Man. This is a subtle reflection nebula that scatters blue light across vast lanes of space dust. It resembles the smoky outline of a running man casting a shadow on disco fog as a strobe light flashes.
NGC1977: The Running Man Nebula
The star ΞΆ Orionis (Alnitak) is the leftmost star on the constellation Orion's belt. It is a triple star system hosted by a blue supergiant. Next to it bursts the Flame Nebula, an emission nebular supercharged by ultraviolet rays emanating from Alnitak. Often grouped with the more iconic Horsehead Nebula (IC434), the Flame stands well on its own.
NGC2024: The Flame Nebula
The Monkey Head Nebula lies in the nebula-dense constellation of Orion. It is believed to be formed of dust, wind, and radiation caused by newborn stars.
NGC2174: The Monkey Head Nebula
The Rosette Nebula is a delicate ring of fire that engulfs a cluster of stars forming from its substance.
NGC2237: Rosette Nebula
This dense patch of stars and nebulae hosts a variety of targets. Starting at the bottom is the Cone Nebula. The top of the cone touches the inserted peak of the Christmas Tree Cluster. Past the faintly visible Snowflake Nebula is the bluish Fox Fur Nebula.
NGC2264: The Christmas Tree Cluster and Friends
This nebula is named the Pacman nebula and you'll never guess why.
NGC281: The Pacman Nebula
The cocoon nebula incubates at a distance of about 4,000 light years, awainting its transformation as a reflection and emission nebula.
NGC5146: The Cocoon Nebula
NGC6823 is a small reflection nebula with intriguing dust columns that span light years in size and are believed to serve as the building material to form new stars.
NGC6823
The Crescent Nebula is formed by the interaction of stellar winds around a red giant.
NGC6888: The Crescent Nebula
A brilliant star caps the veil in this delicate and beautiful nebula.
NGC6960: The Veil Nebula
This beautiful nebula is part of a supernova remnant that spans a large field of view.
NGC6992: The Eastern Veil Nebula
The North America nebula is vast and my telescope can only capture a small frame. I created this mosaic to appreciate the breadth and depth of its beauty.
NGC7000: North America Nebula Mosaic
The so-called fetus nebula looks like an embryo stretched one light year in diameter waiting to be born 2,800 light years away.
NGC7008: The Fetus Nebula
This inky nebula is a reflection nebula that is illuminated by a central star and glows blue.
NGC7023: The Iris Nebula
The Cosmic Rose is a hot cauldron of starbirth with vast molecular clouds that reflect the bluish light of young stars.
NGC7129: The Cosmic Rose
NGC7293 is the Helix Nebula, a planetary nebula about 600 - 700 light years from Earth. It's distinctive shape has given it the nicknames 'Eye of God' and 'Eye of Sauron.' From my location it never rises more than 30 degrees above the horizon so it was a tricky one to observe.
NGC7293: The Helix Nebula
The Wizard Nebula is a faint nebula that requires lots of exposures and possibly a filter to see. It surrounds a young cluster of stars.
NGC7380: The Wizard Nebula
The bubble is a cloud of molecular gas blown outward by an energetic young star and supercharged so it glows.
NGC7635: The Bubble Nebula
A combination of new images for the Flame and Horsehead nebulae.
Orion's Belt: Another Take
The Running Man Nebula (NGC1977), De Mairan's Nebula (M42) and the Great Orion Nebula (M43) are beautiful on their own. That beauty stands out in contrast when you witness the wider field of view that contains all three Nebulae on the glowing tip of Orion's sword. This is a mosaic of all three with 400mm exposures from Stellina.
Orion's Sword at 400mm
Beautiful and brilliant colors abound in the swirls of intergalactic dust lit by stellar jewels in the region of constellation Orion's belt.
Orion's jeweled belt at 336mm
SH2-101 is an emission nebula that wasn't catalogued until 1959. It is very faint and requires plenty of exposure or good narrowband filters to capture. You can see why it's sometimes referred to as the Tulip Nebula.
SH2-101: The Tulip Nebula
The purple running man hangs suspended above the red-cloaked Great Orion Nebulae. M42, M43, and NGC1977 together in the same frame!
The Beauty of Orion's Sword
The Easternmost jewel on Orion's belt is brilliant Alnitak, a bright star that bombards NGC 2024 The Flame Nebula with ultraviolet light, causing the gases to glow and form a brilliant orange flame. Nearby, a cloud of dust is illuminated from behind by emission nebula IC434 to create a strikingly horsehead-like silhouette.
The Horse and the Flame
An Optolong L-Extreme filter helped bring out the rich red that gives this deep sky object the lesser known name of Flame Nebula.
The Red and the Horsehead.
A wider field shot of the Rosette Nebula composite of two nights at two and three-minute exposures.
The Rosette Nebula
The Running Man is clearly visible in this dusty nebula with beautiful blue and purple highlights. An often overlooked gem in the Orion constellation.
The Running Man
An integration of several hours of data.
Two Hours of M42
 

Planet πŸ”

A conjunction of Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus at dusk.
Conjunction at Dusk
This is a capture of Jupiter and three moons (from left right): Io, Europa, and Ganymede.
Jupiter and moons
This is a capture of Jupiter and four moons (from left right): Callisto, Europe, Io, and Ganymede.
Jupiter and moons
Yes, that is the red planet.
Mars
The light for this image of Neptune raced over 2.7 billion miles to reach Earth.
Neptune
My telescope can just barely make out the rings.
Saturn
You can clearly see the blue color of this distant planet.
Uranus
 

Star πŸ”

Albireo is a bright binary star system featuring a stark contrast between the primarily yellow A star and bluish secondary star.
Albireo
Alpha Tau, or Aldebaran, is 44 times the size of our sun and 400 times as luminous.
Aldebaran
Alfirk, roughly translated 'the flock,' is the name of a triple star system that is classified as Ξ² Cephei (Beta Cephei). It is a part of the outline of the Cepheus constellation. The main star is a blue subgiant and gives it the distinctive blue color.
Alfirk
Antares is a red supergiant with 12x the mass of the sun about 550 light years from the sun.
Antares
The brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere, Arcturus is 25 times the size of the sun and 170 times as bright.
Arcturus
An alignment capture of the 4th brightest star in the night sky, a red giant.
Arcturus with Svbony Scope
Brilliant orange Betelgeuse is a red supergiant that adorns Orion's shoulder and is one of the lagest stars the human eye can perceive. In our solar sytem, the edge of Betelgeuse would extend beyond the orbit of Mars.
Betelgeuse
The star Capella is less than 50 light years from the sun. Although it appears to be a single star, it is actually a quad system comprised of a pair of binary stars.
Capella
Epsilon Lyr, in the constellation Lyrae, looks like two bright blue stars, but each star is actually a binary system.
Epsilon: the Double Double
This brilliant star marks out the lower corner of the Orion constellation.
Rigel
The brightest star in the sky is Sirus, the Dog Star that brings on the Dog Days. It is actually a binar with a white dwarf that orbits every 50 years.
Sirius
A bright star about 25 light years away.
Vega