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![Revisiting M106 and the Sunflower](https://www.boldly-going.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/M63-DBE-proc-768x500.png)
Revisiting M106 and the Sunflower
Now that our new backyard observatory is up and running, and we’re under darker skies than in our previous home, I’m revisiting some galaxies I’ve imaged before to see how things compare. Galaxies are tough… any amount of light pollution or moonlight really limits your ability to capture faint, wispy details. But the less light…
![M17](https://www.boldly-going.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/M17-Take2-768x564.png)
A Celestial Swan
This is M17, the “Swan Nebula”. Everyone seems to see something different in it! To me the whole thing looks like a swan seen from the side, but my family sees different birds within it. It’s like seeing shapes in clouds, which makes sense, as this is just a really, really big cloud of gas…
![Horsehead and Flame Nebulas](https://www.boldly-going.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/HorseFlameColor-768x574.png)
The Horsehead and the Flame
I trained my telescope at this pair of nebulas in Orion for a total of 10 hours. On the right is the iconic Horsehead nebula – actually a dark cloud of gas in front of the illuminated nebula behind it. To the left is the Flame Nebula. In between, in the upper-left, is the bright…
![Leo Triplet](https://www.boldly-going.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/LeoTrioProc2-768x643.png)
The Leo Trio of Galaxies
The three galaxies in the constellation Leo (M65, M66, and NGC3628) are about 31 million light-years away. Each one is being seen from a different angle; the one viewed edge-on is also known as the “Hamburger Galaxy”. Each has been interacting with each other, and distorting the shapes of these galaxies through the complex dance…
![Another glob: M80](https://www.boldly-going.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/M80-1-768x624.png)
Another glob: M80
It’s globular cluster season, so here’s another one! M80 is found within the constellation Scorpius, and lies a distant 32,600 light-years away – making it one the small side from our vantage point. It contains several hundred thousand stars, and is one of the denser globular clusters in our galaxy. The faint galaxy in the…
![M14](https://www.boldly-going.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/M14-crop-768x528.png)
A golden globular cluster: M14
I’ve imaged this one before, but I keep coming back to it because I just can’t believe its golden color is real. But even after applying all I’ve learned about color calibration – I can say pretty definitely that these are its true colors. It’s also benefited from advances in image processing software, making the…