Astrophotography is a journey and I promise to share the good along with the not so good. As you can see from the below as I walked along the journey things started to come together.
You will always see the most recent image at the top.
One of the most amazing nebula in the northern hemisphere is the Heart Nebula located in the constellation Casseopeia and is 7500 light-year from Earth. I imaged this for my wife, Jess and our 15th wedding anniversary.
Once of the most widely-known sights in the night sky is M45 Pleiades also known as the Seven Sisters is a bright open star cluster in the constellation Taurus and located just 444 light-year from Earth.
The Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy located 2.75 million light-year from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. About half the size of our own Milky Way Galaxy, M33 is the smallest galaxy of the three in our local group.
This diffuse nebula is located 2400 light-year from Earth in the constellation Cepheus. Ana amazing nebula that is quite dim so multiple images, stacked is the best way to view the Cave Nebula.
This open star cluster is located roughly 6,700 light-year from Earth in the constellation Scutum.
This is a large emission nebula in the constellation Perseus located nearly 1,000 light-year from Earth.
The Cone Nebula, located in the constellation Monoceros, is roughly 2,700 light-year from Earth. This is a larger nebulae complex of 3 or 4 other nebulae and is a known star-forming region.
The Great Orion Nebula is one of the most stunning sights in the night sky. Located just 1,500 light-year from Earth in the constellation Orion. This is a culmination of nearly 20hrs of imaging from two sides of the state of Missouri over 5 different nights.
The Elephant Trunk Nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust within the much larger ionized gas region IC 1396 located in the constellation Cepheus about 2,400 light years away from Earth. The piece of the nebula shown here is the dark, dense globule IC 1396A; it is commonly called the Elephant’s Trunk nebula. The bright rim is the surface of the dense cloud that is being illuminated and ionized by a very bright, massive star that is just to the east of IC 1396A.
An emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus close to the star Deneb and located 2,500 light-year from Earth. Within NGC7000 is what is known as the “Cygnus Wall” and is a famously imaged portion of this nebula.
A young open cluster of stars in the constellation Cepheus. Extremely difficult to observe visually and usually requiring very dark skies. Distance is 8,500 light-year from Earth.
A small planetary nebula in the constellation Vulpecula located 1,300 light-year from Earth. This is the fate of our own Sun when nuclear-fusion stops in it’s core.
SH2-101 is an emission nebula located on the constellation Cygnus and is located 6,000 light-year from Earth. The Tulip Nebula is in close proximity to microquasar Cygnus X-1, site of the first widely accepted supermassive black hole. You may just be able to make out the bowshock created by the energetic particles emitting from the supermassive black hole.
This amazing supernova remnant in the constellation Cygnus is located 1,500 light-year from Earth. The hot dust and gas is all that remains of a massive stellar explosion that occurred 5,000-8,000 years ago.
The Crescent Nebula is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, about 5000 light-years away from Earth. It is formed by the fast stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 colliding with and energizing the slower moving wind ejected by the star when it became a red giant around 250,000 to 400,000 years ago. The result of the collision is a shell and two shock waves, one moving outward and one moving inward. The inward moving shock wave heats the stellar wind to X-ray-emitting temperatures.
Large cloud of dust and gas in the constellation Serpens and is located 7,000 light-year from Earth. The image taken by Hubble titled “Pillars of Creation” is one of the most famous astrophotography photos ever.
Spiral Galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major and is located 25 million light-year from Earth. M101 is roughly twice the size of our own Milky Way Galaxy.
Bright planetary nebula in the constellation Lyra and is located 2,800 light-year from Earth. This close planetary nebula was formed from the explosion of a star whose hot core can still be seen as a white dwarf in the center of the nebula.
One of the finest globular clusters in the northern hemisphere located 22,000 light-year from Earth.
Spiral Galaxy in the constellation Virgo and is located 30 million light-year from Earth.
Small flocculent galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici and is located 27 million light-year from Earth. M63 contains more than 400 billion stars and is a primary star forming galaxy identified by all of the newly formed blue hot stars.
Grand design spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices and is located 55 million light-year from Earth. One of the largest and brightest galaxies in the Virgo Cluster.
Grand design spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici and is located 23 million light-year from Earth.
This is a chain of galaxies within the Virgo Cluster whose component galaxies lie on a smoothly curved line. Some of the most distant galaxies in the cluster are more than 55 million light-year from Earth.
This is a small group of galaxies in the constellation Leo and located 35 million light-year from Earth. This galaxy group consists of spiral galaxies M65, M66 and NGC 3268.
A grand design spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major and located 12 million light-year from Earth. This image also contains M82 Cigar Galaxy mid-left.
A cosmic cloud or reflection nebula straddling the constellations Monoceros and Canis Major located 3,800 light-year from Earth. IC2177 is one of many sites of star formation within the Milky Way Galaxy and is in the same spiral arm as our own solar system.
A dusty emission nebula in the constellation Auriga located 12,000 light-year from Earth.
An interesting dark nebula in the constellation Orion located just 1,500 light-year from Earth. Also in this image is NGC2024 Flame Nebula which is often imaged along with IC434 as you can see here. Both nebulae are lit by the very bright star Alnitac, the easternmost star in Orion’s belt.
This bright emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia located 11,400 light-year from Earth sits very close to a few other bright nebulae. NGC7635 Bubble Nebula and NGC7538 which is home to the biggest yet discovered protostar which is about 300 times the size of our solar system.
This galactic supernova remnant in the constellation Gemini located 5,000 light-year from Earth may be the remains of a star that exploded some 3,000-30,000 years ago. The large bright star in this image is Eta Geminorum.
A large emission nebula in the constellation Perseus located just 1,000 light-year from Earth. Due to the low surface brightness NGC1499 is often difficult to observe.
Both and emission and a reflection nebula in the constellation Auriga located 1,500 light-year from Earth. The bright star within the nebula is AE Aurigae.
This emission nebula is located near one end of a giant molecular cloud in the constellation Monoceros at a distance of 5,000 light-year from Earth.
An interesting emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia located 6,500 light-year from Earth. IC1848 is located close to another famous nebula IC1805 and together they make up the “Heart and Soul Nebula”.
An interesting dark nebula in the constellation Orion located just 1,500 light-year from Earth. This had been my first attempt imaging this magnificent nebulae.
This amazing supernova remnant in the constellation Cygnus is located 1,500 light-year from Earth. The hot dust and gas is all that remains of a massive stellar explosion that occurred 5,000-8,000 years ago.
An emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia located 7,500 light-year from Earth. IC1805 has some amazing structure within it and is often imaged using narrowband filters to help to bring out the detail.
Bright emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia located 9,500 light-year from Earth.
Part of the larger Cygnus loop, NGC6992 is a supernova remnant in the constellation Cygnus located 1,500 light-year from Earth.
Part of the larger Cygnus loop, NGC6960 is a supernova remnant in the constellation Cygnus located 1,500 light-year from Earth.
An emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus close to the star Deneb and located 2,500 light-year from Earth. Within NGC7000 is what is known as the “Cygnus Wall” and is a famously imaged portion of this nebula.
One of the most well known nebula in the night sky and one that is also visible to the naked eye is M42 in the constellation Orion located 1,500 light-year from Earth and is the largest star forming region to our planet.
A large open cluster of stars commonly referred to as “The Seven Sisters” in the constellation Taurus located 450 light-year from Earth. This is the closest cluster and closest Messier object to Earth.
Spiral Galaxy in the constellation Triangulum located 2.75 million light-year from Earth and is the third-largest member of the local group of galaxies behind the Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way Galaxy.
A face-on intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation straddling the boundaries of Cygnus and Cepheus located 25.2 million light-year from Earth.
My first galaxy image and a great one to start with. A barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Andromeda located 2.5 million light-year from Earth and is the nearest galaxy to us.
NGC7635 in the constellation Cassiopeia located 8,000 light-year from Earth. The bubble is created by a stellar wind from a massive and hot star.
A reflection nebula in the constellation Cepheus located 1,300 light-year from Earth.
A small planetary nebula in the constellation Vulpecula located 1,300 light-year from Earth. This is the fate of our own Sun when nuclear-fusion stops in it’s core.
A stunning example of an emission nebula made famous by one of the best images from the Hubble Space Telescope called the “Pillars of Creation”. M16 is in the constellation Serpens located 7,00 light-year from Earth.
A large interstellar cloud in the constellation Sagittarius located 4,100 light-year from Earth. At the center of M8 is a star 200,000 times brighter than our Sun.
A very small bipolar planetary nebula in the constellation Scorpius located 4,000 light-year from Earth. NGC6302 contains one of the hottest stars known with a temperature in excess of 250,000 degrees Celsius.
An emission nebula in the constellation Sagittarius located 5,500 light-year from Earth.
An unusual combination of an emission nebula, open cluster and reflection nebula in the constellation Sagittarius located 9,000 light-year from Earth.
This is the image that started it all. My very first astrophotography picture.