While I haven't been able to shoot any rocket launches lately, I have been able to work on some of the deep sky images I captured with my little telescope. Some of these you've already seen, but I'm including them in the bundle anyhow. I've been having a lot of fun hunting for targets in the night sky!

First Photo: Whirlpool Galaxy M51, a spiral galaxy 31 million lightyears away. The sweeping arms are the birthplace of new stars, coming to life in a vibrant display of colors. The small galaxy on the outer edge is NGC 5195 which has been working on passing by the Whirlpool galaxy for hundreds of millions of years.

Second Photo: Pleiades (Seven Sisters) M45 is a star cluster on the Northwest side of the constellation Taurus. It contains over a thousand stars, but my telescope field of view could only capture a fragment of that.

Third Photo: Eye of God (Helix Nebula) is the remnant of a dwarf star the size of earth, projecting its outer layers into space creating the eye-like effect. It can be found in the constellation Aquarius and is approximately 650 lightyears away. 

Fourth Photo: Andromeda Galaxy M31 is actually visible with the naked eye on good clear nights. It is only 2 million lightyears away and is slowly getting closer and closer to our Milky Way Galaxy. 

Whirlpool Galaxy M51 Pleiades Eye of GodHave you seen the Eye of God? I have... in the distant night sky recently.
The Eye of God or Helix Nebula (NGC 7293), is the remnant of a dwarf star around the size of Earth that is ejecting its outer layers into space. It can be found in the constellation Aquarius and is approximately 650 lightyears away. This image was created from stacking 75 images, each a 10-second exposure, then processing in Siril first and finally Photoshop to bring out more detail and color. I'm not finished with this target, I know I can get more out of it, so I'm going to keep imaging it and try to reprocess in the near future.
I am kind of fond of how the nebula detail brings to mind the detail of a human iris. What do you think of it? Adromeda Galaxy Aug 18 2024