That other conjunction.
Triple Grand Conjunction
Triple Grand Conjunction.
Electrical Storm
No Grand Conjunction Tonight!
Caldwell 78
Globular Cluster in Corona Australis
Stars and Stripes
Stars and Stripes
Approaching Conjunction -2
Planetary conjunction, wide Field View
Approaching Conjunction
Get ready for a close encounter!
Moon
The ten day old Moon, on 25th November 2020.
Uranus
The Seventh Planet
My favourite star.
The Sun
Light Show
Evening Thunderstorm
Helix Nebula
The Helix Planetary Nebula in Aquarius
Caldwell 86
The second nearest globular cluster.
Conjunction
A break in the clouds reveals the Moon and two planets.
The Jewel Box
A very young cluster near the Southern Cross.
Mars
Mars at opposition.
Messier 24
The Small Sagittarius Star Cloud, M24.
Caldwell 44
98 million light years away.
Dumbbell Nebula M27
M27 is known as the Dumbbell Nebula or the Apple Core Nebula.
Messier 22
The third brightest globular cluster in the sky
NGC 253
Twelve million light years away.
Trifid Nebula
The Trifid Nebula M20 in Sagittarius.
47-Tucanae
A fine globular cluster near the Small Magellanic Cloud.
Lightning Strike
That’s a lot of electricity.
Alpha Centauri
A nearby triple star system.
Our Closest Star
Proxima Centauri, a tiny faint red M type star.
Identifying Photographic Objects
Astronomy is exciting but can be even more rewarding when you research and document what you capture!
Caldwell 109
A southern planetary nebula, located just 9° from the South Celestial Pole.
Ring Nebula
Planetary nebula M57.
Saturn
With its largest Moon, Titan
Jupiter
Jupiter with moons Ganymede and Io.
Moon
Two Days Before Full Moon.
Nebula and Cluster in Carina
The Gabriela Mistral Nebula & the Gem star cluster.
Caldwell 105
A globular cluster, 30° from the South Celestial Pole.
Open Cluster in Scorpius
Calwell 75, an open star cluster in Scorpius, about 14° south of Antares.
Galaxy M83
M83 two hour exposure.
Multiple Star Acrux
The brightest star in the smallest constellation.
How Asteroids And Supernovae Are Named
The Universe And All That.
How Asteroids and Supernovae Are Named.
The Coal Sack
The Coalsack is probably the most prominent dark nebula in our skies.
Forgotten But Remembered – 2
Amateur astro-photography is not always about imaging the most beautiful wide nebulae.
Forgotten But Remembered – 1
Sun Dog, Star Trails, and a Globular Cluster Please click to enlarge. This post is the first of two which…
M61, with Supernova
Where’s the supernova??
Exomoons and Double Planets
The Universe And All That.
Exomoons and Double Planets
Lunar Halo
Something special A lunar halo, imaged with my Canon 60D camera at 12.26 am on 7th May 2020. Exposure was…
Sombrero Galaxy
A galaxy with a very prominent symmetrical dust ring, seen about 6° from edge-on.
The Seven Best Southern Sky Objects
The most remarkable objects in the Southern sky.
Messier 4
Over one hundred and forty globular clusters orbit the Milky Way outside the galactic disc structure.
The Pearl Cluster
“The stars have a chaotic distribution with a mild central compression and many curved star strings and jumbled trains.”
Planet Or Star?
The Universe And All That.
Is the Moon a Planet or a Star?
Carina Wide Field
An experimental attempt to capture a very wide field view using a Canon EOS lens coupled with a ZWO astro-cam.
Venus – Regular as Clockwork
Every nineteen months Venus moves into our evening sky, stays for about nine and a half months and then disappears below our evening horizon
Nebula M78
Designation: Messier 78 & NGC 2068, in the constellation of Orion. Visual magnitude: +8.3 Apparent size: 8 x 6 arc-minutes. Diameter:…
NGC 1433 galaxy
Designation: NGC 1433 in constellation of Horologium. Visual magnitude: +10 Apparent size: 6.2 x 3.0 arc-minutes. Diameter: 49,000 light years. Distance: 27…
Globular Cluster C87
Designation: Caldwell 87, NGC 1261, in constellation of Horologium. Visual magnitude: +8.3 Apparent size: 6.8 arc-minutes. Diameter: 105 light years. Distance:…
Planetary Nebula NGC 3211
Designation: NGC 3211, in southern constellation of Carina. Visual magnitude: +10.7 Apparent size: 0.3 arc-minutes. Diameter: 0.5 light years. Distance: 6,700…
Centaurus A
Designation: NGC 5128, Caldwell 77; in Centaurus. Visual magnitude: +6.6 Apparent size: 26 x 20 arc-minutes. Diameter: 90,300 light years.…
The Eight-Burst Nebula
Designation: NGC 3132, Caldwell 74, in the constellation of Vela. Visual magnitude: +9.7 Apparent size: 1.0 x 0.7 arc-minutes. Diameter: 0.7…
Venus
Designation: Venus Visual magnitude: -3.8 (varies between -3.4 to -4.2 over its cycle) Apparent size: 18 arc seconds. current.…
Tarantula Nebula
Designation: NGC 2070, Caldwell 103, in constellation of Dorado. Visual magnitude: +5.0 Apparent size: 40 x 25 arc-minutes. Diameter: 1833 light years.…
Strike!
I was hoping for an astronomy session under the stars this particular night – but during the day the weather…
Eta Carinae Nebula
Designation: Caldwell 92, NGC 3372, in constellation of Carina. Visual magnitude: +1.0. Apparent size in arc-minutes: 120′ x 120′. Diameter in light…
Astronomy, Bushfires and Hail
Welcome to my first post for 2020. It may look slightly different this year, because I finally took the plunge…
End of a Decade
With no more images in the pipeline and the bushfire smoke worsening again in South West Sydney – and showing…
M42 – The Orion Nebula
Object Details: Designation: M42, NGC 1976 Constellation: Orion Visual…
NGC 1365
Object Details: Designation: NGC 1365 Constellation: Fornax Visual magnitude: +9.6 …
Bushfire Moon
No clouds tonight, but lots of bushfire smoke and this is what the First Quarter Moon looked like, high in…
Flocculent Galaxy NGC 7793
Object Details: Designation: NGC 7793 Constellation: Sculptor Visual magnitude: +9.2 Apparent size: 10.4′ x 6.0′ Diameter: 37,000 light…
Electrical Storm
The clouds are still here… The bushfire smoke is still hanging about….. So are the dust storms…… Visibility is poor……..…
Globular Cluster NGC 6752
Object Details: Designations: NGC 6752, Caldwell 93. Constellation: Pavo. Visual magnitude: +5.4 …
NGC 346 & NGC 371 in the SMC
Object Details: Designation: NGC 346 Constellation: Tucana Visual magnitude: +10.3 Apparent size: 14′ x 11′ Diameter: 1149 light years. Distance: 200,000 light years A…
Orion in the Clouds
The Orion constellation – it’s one of the best known, easily recognised and most imaged constellations. Orion is unmistakable for:…
Caldwell 104
Object Details: Designation: C104, NGC 362 Constellation: Tucana Visual magnitude: +6.4 Apparent size: 14′ Diameter: …
Ten Day Old Moon
Object Details: Visual magnitude: -10.8 Apparent size: 29.9′ Diameter: 3475 km. …
Galaxy M33 in Triangulum
Object Details: Designation: Messier 33, NGC 598 Constellation: Triangulum Visual magnitude: +5.8 …
Dwarf Galaxy NGC 7793
Object Details: Designation: NGC 7793 Constellation: Sculptor …
Messier 15
Object Details: Designation: M15, NGC 7078 Constellation: Pegasus Visual magnitude: +6.2 Apparent size: 18′ …
Andromeda Galaxy
A 46 minute exposure of the Andromeda galaxy, M31 – my first serious attempt to image this wonderful neighbour of…
The Sculptor Galaxy
The “Sculptor Galaxy” NGC 253, also known as the “Silver Coin Galaxy”, is a bright local spiral galaxy, smaller than…
Globular Cluster 47-Tucanae
Deep in the Southern sky, right next to the Small Magellanic Cloud and just 18° from the South Celestial Pole, lies this…
Spiral Galaxy NGC 300
A bright but fuzzy local spiral galaxy, which at +8 magniude is well within the reach of small amateur telescopes…
The Helix Nebula
One of the largest planetary nebula, with an apparent diameter about half the size of the Moon, the Helix Nebula is named after it’s…
Trifid Nebula
It’s another clear night sky as I write this – but the Moon is full and it’s not a good time to be…
Crescent Moon
This Moon crescent kept us company for much of the evening during our last field night. It set at 10 pm, giving…
Cat’s Paw Nebula
A bright emission nebula, located 820 light-years away in the Scorpius region of the Milky Way. The red colour comes from…
