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Messier 51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy
One of the most popular objects of both amateur and professional astronomers,
Messier 51 (M51), the Whirlpool Galaxy, was first discovered in 1773 by Charles
Messier. Its companion galaxy (NGC 5195) was discovered in 1781 by Pierre Méchain.
These two galaxies are interacting and have already collided at least twice.
Estimated distance is about 37 million light-years
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Messier 87 - Virgo A
Discovered by Charles Messier in 1781, this is a supermassive lenticular galaxy
that lies about 60 million light-years from Earth. Virgo A is larger than our
own Milky Way. At its center is a supermassive black hole that weighs in at
about 6.4 billion solar masses. Our Milky Way is estimated to contain up to
around 190 globular clusters — M87 on the other hand contains, by some
estimates, over 15,000 globs
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NGC 891
If we could take a look at the Milky Way from a distance and from the side,
this is what we would look like. NGC 891 is an edge-on spiral galaxy sometimes
known as the Outer Limits Galaxy. It was discovered by William Herschel in
1784. It lies approximately 27 million light-years away
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NGC 6822 - Barnard's Galaxy
Barnard's Galaxy was discovered by E. E. Barnard in 1884. A barred irregular
galaxy, it lies 1.63 million light-years away
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- Location: Ft. Davis, TX
- Date: May 6, 2013
- Mount: AP 900GTO
- Telescope: Celestron 9.25"
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm @ -22c
- Exposure: 11×10 min
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- Location: Bonny Doon Airport
- Date: April 13, 2013
- Mount: AP 900GTO
- Telescope: Celestron 9.25"
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm @ -28c
- Exposure: 19×3 min
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- Location: Bonny Doon Airport
- Date: September 4, 2011
- Mount: Losmandy G11 Go-To
- Telescope: Orion 190mm f/5.3 Mak/Newt
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm @ -14c
- Exposure: 12×10 min subs = 2hrs
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- Location: Bonny Doon Airport
- Date: September 16, 2012
- Mount: Losmandy G11 Go-To
- Telescope: Orion 190mm f/5.3 Mak/Newt
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm @ -14c
- Exposure: 12×10 min subs = 2hrs
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Messier 33 - The Triangulum Galaxy
The Triangulum Galaxy is one of our Local Group of galaxies and is
gravitationally bound to the Andromeda Galaxy. It is the third largest
galaxy of our Local Group after the Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way.
It is an average sized spiral galaxy located 3 million light-years away.
Also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy and contains 40 billion stars
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NGC 147
NGC 147 is a dwarf spheroidal galaxy that is part of our Local Group of
galaxies. It is a satellite galaxy of the Andromeda Galaxy and is 2.6
million light-years distant. It was discovered by John Herschel in 1829.
This was the first image I took with my new SBIG ST-4000xcm OSC camera
while on a field trip to Big Sur with Dr. Rick Nolthenius' astrophotography
class from Cabrillo College
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Messier 74
Messier 74 is a face-on spiral galaxy. Its two well-defined spiral arms
make it what is known as a Grand Design Spiral Galaxy. Discovered in 1780
by Pierre Méchain, it is around 35 million light-years away with about
100 billion stars. It also has a medium sized black hole at its center
that weighs in at around 190,000 solar masses
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Messier 74
Here is a nice example of the difference between different sized
telescopes. The image to the left was taken with an 8" f/5.3 (a much
wider field of view) and this one was taken with a 9.25" f/10 (more
magnification and a tighter field of view). What a difference
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- Location: Bonny Doon Airport
- Date: September 27, 2011
- Mount: Losmandy G11 Go-To
- Telescope: Orion 190mm f/5.3 Mak/Newt
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm @ -20c
- Exposure: 5×10 min subs = 2hrs 30min
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- Location: Big Sur, CA
- Date: October 8, 2010
- Mount: Losmandy G11 Go-To
- Telescope: Orion 190mm f/5.3 Mak/Newt
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm @ -18c
- Exposure: 3×10 min subs = 30min
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- Location: Bonny Doon Airport
- Date: October 23, 2011
- Mount: Losmandy G11 Go-To
- Telescope: Orion 190mm f/5.3 Mak/Newt
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm @ -14c
- Exposure: 24×5 min subs = 2hr
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- Location: Borrego Springs, CA
- Date: November 5, 2015
- Mount: Losmandy G11 Go-To
- Telescope: Orion 190mm f/5.3 Mak/Newt
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm @ -20/22c
- Exposure: 14×15 min subs = 3hrs 30min
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Messier 81 - Bode's Galaxy
Messier 81 is a spiral galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major and
lies about 12 million light-years from Earth. At its center is a black hole
that weighs in at about 70 million solar masses. This galaxy was originally
discovered by Johann Elert Bode in 1774 and was later re-identified and
included in the Messier list by Charles Messier. On the left side is Holmberg IX,
an irregular dwarf galaxy and a satellite galaxy of M81. It is named after
Erik Holmberg and is the youngest galaxy near the Milky Way. This object was
pretty difficult to process. The outside temperatures down in Borrego Springs
started to warm up and I could only get the camera cooled to -8c which means
lots of extra noise
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Messier 81 - Bode's Galaxy
Discovered by Johann Elert Bode, Messier 81 is also known as Bode's Galaxy.
It is 12 million light-years away and has at its center a supermassive black
hole of 70 million solar masses. This is only 1 hour of exposure time. I just
wanted to get something for the evening. I was able to re-do this object in
2015 with much better results (later on this page)
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NGC 253 - The Sculptor Galaxy
The Sculptor Galaxy is a spiral galaxy that is also a starburst galaxy. A
starburst galaxy is a galaxy undergoing a period of intense star formation.
This one is a favorite of astrophotographers. It was discovered by Caroline
Herschel in 1783. This image was taken while attending an astrophotography
class at Cabrillo College
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NGC 3628
NGC 3628 was discovered by William Herschel in 1784. It is an edge-on
unbarred spiral galaxy that is about 35 million light-years away. It has a
very long tidal tail. The dust and outer edge of the spiral arms are very
well defined. This image was taken in May 2013 at the Texas Star Party. I
was only able to get 30 minutes of exposure time before the weather rolled
in for the rest of the week
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- Location: Borrego Springs, CA
- Date: November 9, 2015
- Mount: AP 900GTO
- Telescope: Celestron 9.25" f/10 Cassegrain
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm @ -08c
- Exposure: 15×10 min subs = 2hr 30min
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- Location: Bonny Doon Airport, CA
- Date: February 3, 2011
- Mount: Losmandy G11 Go-To
- Telescope: Orion 190mm f/5.3 Mak/Newt
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm @ -24c
- Exposure: 12×5 min subs = 1hr
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- Location: Bonny Doon Airport, CA
- Date: November 22, 2008
- Mount: Losmandy GM-8
- Telescope: Meade LDX-75 8" f/4
- Camera: SBIG ST-2000xcm OSC @ -25c
- Exposure: 4×10 min subs = 40min
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- Location: Texas Star Party, Ft. Davis, TX
- Date: April 6, 2013
- Mount: AP 900GTO
- Telescope: Celestron 9.25" f/10 Cassegrain
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm OSC @ -22c
- Exposure: 3×10 min subs = 30min
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NGC 4631 - The Whale Galaxy
The Whale Galaxy is an edge-on spiral galaxy. It is also a starburst galaxy
undergoing an intense period of star formation. It has a slightly distorted
appearance which gives it the look of a whale
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Messier 31 - The Great Andromeda Galaxy
The Andromeda Galaxy is one of our closest neighbors at only 2.5 million
light-years away. It is a spiral galaxy roughly the same size as our own
Milky Way. It will collide with the Milky Way in about 4 billion years and
eventually the two will merge to form a giant elliptical galaxy. Astronomers
suspect that it contains around 26 black holes with 7 of them within 1,000
light-years of the galactic center
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NGC 7331 - The Deerlick Group
NGC 7331 is the large galaxy in the foreground. Off to the left is the Deer
Lick Group of galaxies. They seem to be all together, but NGC 7331 is in fact
much closer and actually not part of the group
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Messier 101 Supernova - Before Picture (4/1/11)
This one and the other two pictures to the right were really fun to do. An
opportunity to do a sequence of images on a rare event like this was a blast,
so I wasn't concerned about getting nice pictures as much as getting anything
at all. My friend Fred and I were down at Lake San Antonio for a couple of
days doing some astrophotography. At least we were trying... I was learning
how to do self-guiding with the SBIG ST-4000xcm and the G11
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- Location: Bonny Doon Airport, CA
- Date: April 14, 2012
- Mount: Losmandy G11 Go-To
- Telescope: Orion 190mm f/5.3 Mak/Newt
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm @ -26c
- Exposure: 13×10 min subs = 2hrs 10min
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- Location: Cabrillo College Observatory, CA
- Date: September 24, 2008
- Mount: Losmandy GM-8
- Telescope: Megrez 80mm APO
- Camera: SBIG ST-2000xcm @ -25c
- Exposure: 5×5 min subs = 25min
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- Location: Cabrillo College Observatory, CA
- Date: September 16, 2009
- Mount: Losmandy GM-8
- Telescope: Meade 10" f/10 SCT
- Camera: SBIG ST-2000xcm OSC @ -20c
- Exposure: 5×5 min subs = 25min
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- Location: Lake San Antonio, CA
- Date: April 1, 2011
- Mount: Losmandy G11 Go-To
- Telescope: Meade 10" f/10 SCT
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm OSC @ -20c
- Exposure: 20×1 min subs = 20min
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Messier 101 Supernova - 8/29/11 (Two weeks in)
Almost five months later, astronomy forums and news were all aflutter
about a supernova in M101. This picture was taken two weeks after the
supernova began. It still hadn't reached its peak brightness yet. It is the
brighter spot located at the 5:30 position from the center of the galaxy at
the end of the spiral arm just below the first large vertical dark region.
For this shot I was at home out on the deck with the G11 and the Meade
10" f/10 SCT with a 6.3 focal reducer
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Messier 101 Supernova - 9/3/11 (Five Days Later)
Here is the last image I got of the supernova. It had been getting brighter
for about four weeks and was just hitting its maximum brightness. If you
click on the picture and then zoom in, you can see that the supernova is
outshining the center of the galaxy itself. For a short period a supernova
will typically be brighter than the entire galaxy
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NGC 6946 - The Fireworks Galaxy
Discovered by William Herschel in 1798, NGC 6946 is a spiral galaxy that
lies about 22.5 million light-years away
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NGC 6946 - The Fireworks Galaxy
This is my first attempt at combining images taken at different times
(two years apart) and different locations (about 400 miles apart). The
image on the left started with 7×10 min subs. Two years later I added
20×10 min subs for a total of 27 subs. Total exposure time = 4 hrs 30 min
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- Location: Watsonville, CA
- Date: August 29, 2011
- Mount: Losmandy G11 Go-To
- Telescope: Meade 10" f/10 SCT w/6.3 reducer
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm OSC @ -20c
- Exposure: 20×1 min subs = 20 min
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- Location: Bonny Doon Airport, CA
- Date: September 3, 2011
- Mount: Losmandy G11 Go-To
- Telescope: Orion 190mm f/5.3 Mak/Newt
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm OSC @ -14c
- Exposure: 13×5 min subs = 1 hr 5 min
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- Location: Bonny Doon Airport, CA
- Date: August 7, 2013
- Mount: AP 900GTO
- Telescope: Celestron 9.25" f/10 Cassegrain
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm OSC @ -18c
- Exposure: 7×10 min subs = 1 hr 10 min
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- Location: Golden State Star Party - Adin, CA
- Date: July 15, 2015
- Mount: AP 900GTO
- Telescope: Celestron 9.25" f/10 Cassegrain
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm OSC @ -14c
- Exposure: 27×10 min subs = 4 hrs 30 min
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NGC 253 - The Sculptor Galaxy
Here is another version of NGC 253. Unlike the previous image above, this
one was taken with a completely different imaging setup. It is a fairly
difficult object to image because it lies very low in the southern sky. It
was taken at the Nightfall Star Party in Borrego Springs, CA
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Messier 77 and NGC 1055
Messier 77 is a barred spiral galaxy with an active galactic nucleus. It is
around 47 million light-years away and is 100,000 light-years across. At
the bottom left is NGC 1055, an edge-on spiral galaxy that along with
Messier 77 forms a binary system
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Messier 77
Here is a newer version of the image to the left using a slightly larger
telescope. It's considerably larger with more detail. Messier 77 lies about
47 million light-years away and has a diameter of about 170,000 light-years.
It also has an active galactic nucleus. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain
in 1780. He originally described it as a nebula. Messier and William Herschel
both thought it was a star cluster at first
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NGC 4435/4438 - The Eyes - Messiers 84 and 86
Commonly known as The Eyes, the two galaxies on the left are a pair of
interacting galaxies. The upper galaxy (NGC 4435) is a barred lenticular
galaxy. The lower galaxy (NGC 4438) may have been a spiral or lenticular
galaxy — it's hard to tell because of the distortion of the disc and the
tidal trails. The two bright galaxies to the right are Messiers 84 and 86
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- Location: Borrego Springs, CA
- Date: November 1, 2014
- Mount: AP 900GTO
- Telescope: Celestron 9.25" f/10 Cassegrain
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm OSC @ -08c
- Exposure: 15×10 min subs = 2 hrs 30 min
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- Location: Bonny Doon Airport, CA
- Date: December 17, 2011
- Mount: Losmandy G11 Go-To
- Telescope: Orion 190mm f/5.3 Mak/Newt
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm OSC @ -24c
- Exposure: 12×5 min subs = 1 hr
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- Location: Borrego Springs, CA
- Date: November 5, 2015
- Mount: AP 900GTO
- Telescope: Celestron 9.25" f/10 Cassegrain
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm OSC @ -24c
- Exposure: 14×15 min subs = 3 hrs 30 min
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- Location: Bonny Doon Airport, CA
- Date: June 16, 2012
- Mount: Losmandy G11 Go-To
- Telescope: Orion 190mm f/5.3 Mak/Newt
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm OSC @ -14c
- Exposure: 12×10 min subs = 2 hrs
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Messier 104 - The Sombrero Galaxy
Messier 104, the Sombrero Galaxy, was first discovered in 1781 by Pierre
Méchain. It lies about 29.5 million light-years from Earth and holds at its
center a black hole estimated to be one billion times the mass of the Sun.
It's one of the brightest galaxies in our area yet is only 50,000 light-years
wide, about one third the size of our Milky Way. It has an unusually large
population of globular clusters, estimated to be between 1,200–2,000. Due to
its brightness it's a favorite of observers and imagers alike. It can be a
challenge to image because it is very low in the southern sky
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NGC 4038/39 - The Antennae Galaxies
The Antennae Galaxies were discovered by William Herschel in 1785. These
galaxies are going through a massive collision and the two galactic cores
should finally merge in about 400 million years to become a large elliptical
galaxy. They lie about 45 million light-years from Earth. The long tails are
the result of a collision which disrupted the shapes of the two galaxies.
Originally one was a barred spiral and the other was a normal spiral. The
collision has triggered extensive star formation in the pink ring-like areas
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NGC 891 - The Outer Limits Galaxy
This is another version of NGC 891 done at the Nightfall Star Party in
Borrego Springs. I've done this one before with the ST-4000xcm camera but
this is the first time with the STF-8300M camera with filters. Unfortunately
I connected to the wrong guide camera on all but the first night and only got
thirty minutes of usable exposure time. NGC 891 is an edge-on spiral galaxy
sometimes known as the Outer Limits Galaxy. It was discovered by William
Herschel in 1784 and lies approximately 27 million light-years away. Since
the total exposure time was so low, the background is a bit noisy and grainy
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NGC 3628 - The Hamburger Galaxy
This is the second time I've done this galaxy (see the fourth row, third
image). The first time was five years ago at the Texas Star Party. I was only
able to get about 30 minutes of subs before we got weathered out for the
rest of the week. This time I was able to get a little over an hour. I wasn't
able to use about two hours' worth of data due to an unknown problem — some
subs were recorded with negative statistics. The sky background and the
object itself were not actually negatives, but the data was. Weird. I was able
to collect more data than the first time but still nowhere near what I was
hoping for. That's why the image is still a bit grainy. I wasn't able to get
very much Hydrogen Alpha either but I added just a little. Still learning the
ins and outs of this monochrome camera
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- Location: Texas Star Party
- Date: May 5, 2016
- Mount: AP 900GTO
- Telescope: Celestron 9.25" f/10 Cassegrain
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm @ -18c
- Exposure: 10×10 min subs = 1 hr 40 min
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- Location: Texas Star Party
- Date: May 5, 2016
- Mount: AP 900GTO
- Telescope: Celestron 9.25" f/10 Cassegrain
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm @ -18c
- Exposure: 5×10 min subs = 50 min
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- Location: Borrego Springs, CA
- Date: October 19, 2017
- Mount: AP 900GTO
- Telescope: Celestron 9.25" f/10 Cassegrain
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm OSC @ -26c
- Exposure: 3×10 min subs = 30 min
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- Location: Texas Star Party
- Date: May 10, 2018
- Mount: AP 900GTO
- Telescope: Celestron 9.25" f/10 Cassegrain
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm @ -14c
- Exposure: 7×10 min subs = 1 hr 10 min
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NGC 3628 - The Hamburger Galaxy
This is just the Hydrogen Alpha version of this galaxy
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NGC 891 - The Outer Limits Galaxy
Well, we're back at NGC 891 — the UFO Galaxy or sometimes called the
Outer Limits Galaxy. I did this one last year at Nightfall in Borrego
Springs and due to some self‑inflicted equipment problems was only able
to get 30 minutes of exposure time — not nearly enough for a decent
image. This year I managed to get about 2 hours of exposure time.
Originally I had over 4 hours, but due to clouds all week I had to toss
out more than half of the subs. This one turned out much better than
last year's effort and is a simple RGB image
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- Location: Texas Star Party
- Date: May 10, 2018
- Mount: AP 900GTO
- Telescope: Celestron 9.25" f/10 Cassegrain
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm @ -14c
- Exposure: 3×10 min subs = 30 min
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- Location: Borrego Springs, CA
- Date: October 31, 2018
- Mount: AP 900GTO
- Telescope: Celestron 9.25" f/10 Cassegrain
- Camera: SBIG ST-4000xcm OSC @ -18c
- Exposure: 12×10 min subs = 2 hrs
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