Also in Hercules, M92 is often passed over for its larger and more dazzling neighbor, M13. But M92 is pretty in its own way! It’s also one of the oldest globular clusters in our galaxy (over 11 billion years old) and has some very interesting background galaxies around it too.
The “California Nebula” (NGC1499) does actually kinda look like California, if you look at the whole thing. But the whole thing is too big in the sky to fit within the field of view of my telescope. So, here’s an interesting portion of it near one of its ends at least. From this angle, it…
This pair of galaxies gets its name from their shapes. Both are viewed edge-on, and from this perspective we can see how a past interaction between the two warped them both. About 6 hours of exposure time from the backyard observatory.
The Cocoon Nebula in Cygnus is a compact cloud of Hydrogen, lit up by the bright star in its center. Dust lanes can also be seen across it, obscuring the ionized Hydrogen gas behind them. This object is best imaged during the heart of Summer, which means really challenging conditions here in Florida. High humidity,…
This is a bright, popular nebula deep within the summer Milky Way… but it’s low in the sky, and this is the first time I’ve been able to capture it above the trees. Still, short summer nights and cloudy summer weather present its challenges. Shown processed in the “Hubble palette” and an approximation of its…
Central Florida wasn’t on the path of the “ring of fire” annular eclipse, but we did get about 60% coverage during the peak of our partial solar eclipse today! I was live-streaming the view at the peak, but managed to capture a quick image for myself shortly afterwards. Lots of good flares and prominences, and…
Formally IC1396, this cloud of interstellar gas and dust is thought to be an active site of new star formation. And with a little imagination, it kind of looks like an elephant’s trunk. There’s more to it than you see here, but I tried to get an interesting framing. From this angle we see a…
