Hi folks - I have been absent for a while. I was traveling in New Zealand for the month of March. I took my Dwarf 3 smart telescope to do some imaging of objects in the southern hemisphere. Here is a wide angle view centered on the Carina Nebula. More photos to follow. #astrophotography

Here is the location of the very small planetary nebula hidden in the Great Pumpkin. #astrophotography

Today we have Sh2-232, otherwise known as the Great Pumpkin Nebula. I suppose I should have waited until Halloween but here you go. If you look closely there is a small planetary nebula hidden in there. See if you can find it. #astrophotography

Today’s image is M 74 a beautiful face on spiral galaxy in Pisces. It is about 30 million light years away. #astrophtogrphy

Here is the annotated version of the NGC 772 image. Once again showing that our main object is not alone out there. Each green label is another galaxy from the Principal Galaxy Catalog. It’s also worth noting the image of NGC 772 is formed by photons that started our way when dinosaurs were around.

Today we have NGC 772 a galaxy in Aries. It looks small in the image at a distance of 106 million light years, but actually twice the size of the Milky Way! It is also receiving a gravitational pull from its companion galaxy NGC 770, a round fuzzy ball just below 772. #astrophotography

Hi folks - I have been remiss in not posting for a while. Here is a new image for today. The Pleiades, M 45. A two panel mosaic with a total exposure time of more than 15 hours. Lots of glowing gases up there! #astrophotography

Today’s image has two objects, IC 417 (left of center) and NGC 1931. Both stellar nurseries similar to the Orion Nebula (M42) but much farther away in the Perseus arm of the Milky Way. NGC 1931 even has a trapezium of stars similar to M42 if you zoom in on the lower light patch. #astrophotography

Today we have SH2-132 in Cepheus, otherwise known as the Lion Nebula. 155 five-minute sub-frames for a total integration time of about 16 hours. #astrophotography

3I/ATLAS from yesterday morning. I integrated three pairs of 1-minute exposures about 48 minutes apart to illustrate the movement of the comet in the sky. It is in Leo currently so there are a few galaxies around as well. #astrophotography

A barely visible crescent moon just before sunrise this morning. Taken with my new iPhone 17 and 8X optical zoom. I think I am going to like this new phone. #astrophotography

3I/ATLAS is flying by right now. Its closest approach to earth is in a couple of days. I have been collecting data every clear morning. Here are some results from this morning. 3 images. One is 5 one minute exposures stacked. Another is 3 exposures over about an hour. It is moving fast! #astrophoto

Today’s image is IC 410, the Tadpole Nebula. The tadpoles are the squiggly columns of gas with bright knots on the ends where stars are forming a little left of the center of the nebula. About nine hours of exposure time in this image. #astrophotography

Today we have NGC 1499, the California Nebula. This is a 4 panel mosaic with 70 sub-frames in each panel for a total integration time of over 23 hours. #astrophotography

Today we have two “groups” of galaxies, NGC7331 and Stephan’s Quintet to the lower right. The larger galaxies in each group are about 40 million light years away while the smaller galaxies are 300 to 350 million light years away. Those are pretty old photons! #astrophotography

Today we have a new image of our interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS. This is an integration of just three 5 minute sub-frames. The comet is moving quickly and the head shows movement in a single frame. I will try some shorter exposures to see if I can get better results. It’s a process. #astrophotography

Today’s image is NGC1491, the Fossil Footprint Nebula in Perseus. It is an emission nebula about 9800 light years away. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1790. #astrophotography

This is what I have to deal with, clouds. Sure, it’s a beautiful sunrise but they get in the way of my data collection!?! Good morning everyone!

Clouds got in the way last night. But here is a 4 panel mosaic of M31. 60 sub-frames in each panel for a total exposure time of 20 hours. I’m still working on the processing because of the huge dynamic range of the source. I may share another take down the road. #astrophotography

Here is the annotated version with three NGC galaxies to the right of the comet. #astrophotography #interstellarcomet

Today’s image of 3I/ATLAS our interstellar comet. This is an integration of 5 five-minute exposures. A little better than yesterday’s image. This is cropped from the original to eliminate some satellite trails. #astrophotography #interstellarcomet

Not one of my prettier images but it is my first ever image of an interstellar comet. 3I/ATALAS from the early morning hours today. A single 5 minute exposure. It should be better in the coming days. #astrophotography #interstellarcomet

Here is the center of IC1396 and its most famous element, the Elephant Trunk Nebula just right of center in this image. #astrophotography

Today’s image is VdB126 in Volpecula, a region of dense star fields and gas and dust clouds in the Milky Way. Specifically the named object is a pair of reflection nebulae in the center of the clouds. I have processed the 15 hours of data in two different ways. Let me know. #astrophotography

Here is SH2-114, the Flying Dragon Nebula in the constellation Cygnus. This image is composed from 180 five-minute sub-frames for a total exposure time of 15 hours. As I have noted before in reference to names of objects, some people have better imaginations than me. #astrophotography

An image of Comet Lemmon from last evening. It looks like the dust tail is curving away from the gas/ion tail.

We have a couple of comets gracing our skies right now. Here they are, C-2025 R6 Comet Lemmon, and C-2025 R2 Comet Swan which looks like a green snowball. #astrophotography

Here is an annotated version of M33 identifying 18 NGC/IC objects that are parts of the galaxy. In addition there are 24 galaxies in the background from the PGC. It’s always fun to see what else is lurking in the image! #astrophotography

Hi Folks - Here is one of my favorite targets, M33. It is part of our local group of galaxies about 4 million light years from the Milky Way. This is the longest integration time for me on the object, a little over 14 hours in total. #astrophotography

Hi Folks - Sorry for the long absence. The monsoon season is behind us and while the moon is a bit pesky I wanted to share my first image of the fall season. NGC 7789, better known as Caroline’s Rose. Discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1783. A little over 3 hours of exposure time. #astrophotography

Monsoon clouds continue to intrude on my operations but here is another image from the little break I had a couple weeks ago. IC5146, better known as the Cocoon Nebula in the constellation Cygnus the swan. #astrophotography

This is the annotated version of the Draco Triplet. It provides labels for two additional NGC galaxies and more than 40 PGC galaxies. So the triplets are not alone. #astrophotography

Here is another image from my monsoon break. The Draco Triplet, three galaxies, NGC5981, 5982, and 5985. Two spiral galaxies, one seen edge on, and an elliptical. They range from about 95 to 140 million light years away. #astrophotography

I’ve had a lucky break in monsoon conditions. We had a blob of dry air move over us for a few days. It gave me an opportunity to get some new images. Here is NGC5529 that we see edge on. It’s 162 million light years away and is almost twice the size of the Milky Way. #astrophotography

Another cactus blossom. They are very large and intricate in structure and spectacularly beautiful. But also fleeting. They bloom at night and are withered by the sun by mid morning. So one has to be up early and catch them quickly!

It’s monsoon season here in SE Arizona so it’s a challenge to get good data for more images. So here is something else to consider. The cactus are blooming!

Today’s image is a two for, NGC7635 and M52. NGC7635 is the “Bubble Nebula” and M52 is an open star cluster. All of which is embedded in lots of dust and gas. A wonderful view all in all. #astrophotography

Here is the annotated version of M102, showing two NGC galaxies and 77 PGC galaxies. #astrophotography

A galaxy for today’s image, M102 in Draco. A lenticular galaxy we see edge on, about 48 million light years away. It is also known as the “Spindle Galaxy”. You can see the dust lane traversing the center of the galaxy. #astrophotography

Another image from my Flagstaff adventure. IC4604, a portion of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex centered on the star itself. Lots of gas and dust up there! #astrophotography

Hi folks! I’m back from 10 days in Flagstaff. We had really good weather and that meant good conditions for data collection. Here is a quick image of M13. More to come as I get to processing. #astrophotography

At the Grand Canyon Star Party with the Milky Way rising.

I sometimes get questions about my equipment so here is my main imaging kit is as follows: Stellarvue SVX102T ZWO ASI2600MC Pro ZWO ASI174MM Mini guide camera on 30 mm Williams Optical guide scope ZWO EAF ZWO AM5N Mount, and ZWO ASIAir Plus controller

We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever.

Time for a different kind of star cluster, an open cluster M6 in Scorpius. Also known as the Butterfly Cluster. It is about 1,600 light years away in the direction of the center of the Milky Way. #astrophotography

Time for another globular cluster, M107 in Ophiuchus. It was first recorded by Pierre Mechain, an associate of Charles Messier, in 1782. William Herschel observed it in 1793. It is about 21,000 light years away. #astrophotography

Here is another nebula, IC4628 in Sagittarius. It is about 2,700 light years away towards the center of the Milky Way. It is also known as the Prawn Nebula, although whoever came up with that name has a better imagination than me. #astrophotography

Taking a break from globular clusters, I thought I would share a reworked version of IC 434, better known as the Horsehead Nebula. I am pleased with both the colors and the detail I was able to pull out of my data. #astrophotography

Yet another globular cluster in Ophiuchus, M9. It is about 27,000 light years away. The dark nebula to the right is Bernard 64 and is in the foreground about 520 light years away. This view is in a dense part of the Milky Way and contains almost 76,000 stars. #astrophotography

Isaac Asimov on, "If God is Dead, Everything is Permitted?"