You would think…
Since the Messier Catalog was first published in 1771, that I would be a little farther along on posting my pics.
But here we are.
However, I do have many very nice images posted. I was in some way involved with taking these images.
Some I took while actually near the telescope. Most were taken operating the telescope remotely. Others I cooperated with a friend, and we acquired the data and processed the images separately.
Either way have a look.
Messier Objects
Messier 1 The Crab Nebula
Super Nova Remnant Located in Taurus.
(aka NGC 1952)
This is a very amorphous object. But bright enough that I only put about 5 minutes of exposure on it. (See Notes at end of page for explanation of exposure notes.)
Messier 5 Globular Cluster
Globular Cluster Located in Serpens.
(aka NGC 5904)
Sometimes called the Rose Cluster. With Meteor and Geostationary Satellite. This is a Monochrome only image. Also, it was SUM stacked. This allows us to see moving objects like satellites and asteroids. By using different stacking methods, you can highlight different aspects of the image.
Messier 8 The Lagoon Nebula
Interstellar Cloud Located in Sagittarius
(aka NGC 6523 also includes NGC 6530)
This picture is composed of 30 images stacked together with a total of 39 minutes exposure time.
Messier 13 The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules
Globular Cluster located in Hercules.
(aka NGC 6205)
Globular Clusters are hard to image. They are very bright in the middle, so things get a little over exposed. This image uses 20 minutes of exposure time. Also, you can start to see the very cool star colors. Lots of blue and yellow stars.
M16 The Eagle Nebula
Emission Nebula in Serpens
(aka NGC 6611)
This object has several names. While researching this I also found a few I haven’t even heard of. I’m sure most of us have seen the classic Hubble image of the pillars of creation. Because that was zoomed into the very center of this area, I was totally surprised the first time I processed this. There in the middle of it were the pillars of creation. That’s very cool. I guess that same structure is also the eagle.
Messier 20 The Trifid Nebula
Star Forming Region Located in Sagittarius.
(aka NGC 6514)
OMG. This is my favorite object of the Messier Catalogue. I mean come on. Look at it. Two colors. What kind of magic voodoo physics is going on there? And those crazy cracks…Wow. Just Wow. I won’t even get started on how cool it is to name it after a fictional animal in the original Star Trek show. Oops, maybe that was Tribbles. Anywho, if you look at the screens on the bridge of the original Star Trek, you will see the Trifid proudly displayed. I mean come on, even Kirk liked it. Did I mention the stars are also very colorful. Not bad for only 12 frames and 15 minutes of exposure. (OK, Maybe it was named a little before Star Trek. In 1951 the name Triffid was used to name another fictional organism. Can you say Day of the Triffids? OK OK, Sheesh, Maybe just maybe it was named in the late 1700’s by Sir John Herschel.)
Messier 31 The Andromeda Galaxy
Spiral Galaxy Located in, wait for it, Andromeda.
(aka NGC 224)
This object is too wide to image in one frame. So this is a mosaic of 12 images. All together 24 minutes of exposure. Even with that small amount of time you can still see some amazing things.
You notice the haze around some of the brighter stars? Some very light cirrus clouds started to drift through. I just finished the exposure before the clouds came in.
This object is several times wider than the Moon.
Fun fact for amateur astronomers. Don’t even bother to report novae you find here. They happen so frequently no one seems too interested. How weird.
Messier 33 The Triangulum Galaxy
Spiral Galaxy Located in Triangulum.
(aka NGC 598)
Both this Galaxy and M31 are considered neighboring galaxies. Of course you have to take that term relatively.
Various estimates put it at about two and a half million light years away.
I like to use M31 and M33 for scale. Because there are very large objects in the sky. Similar to the moon. M 31 is maybe six times bigger M33 is maybe half as large as the moon. We loose scale when we’re looking through telescopes.
Given that, it’s fun to try to get a mental image of these three galaxies floating around in space. The Milky Way, M31. and M33. The Triangulum Galaxy is approximately three times farther away than the diameter of the Milky Way Galaxy.
I find that very strange. I always viewed the distance between galaxies as an exponential sort of number. Not three times the diameter. That seems way too cozy. It’s like we are all snuggling up next to each other.
Messier 42 The Great Orion Nebula
Diffuse Nebula Located in Orion.
(aka NGC 1976)
If you don’t live in Florida and you see this object that means you’re freezing your butt off. This is the most prominent feature of my favorite winter constellation Orion.
This is one of the most studied nebulae in the sky. If you’re any place even remotely dark, it’s visible to the naked eye. If you look at it with any kind of telescope you immediately can see a star asterism in the center called the trapezium. That’s a very nice little grouping of stars. As you get better telescopes you can start to resolve a few more stars surrounding them.
From a physics standpoint, this is a fascinating area because of all the ongoing star formation. Also, there’s a lot of turbulence in the interstellar dust caused by solar winds from various phases of stellar evolution.
I chose this particular image from my collection because of the way it’s composed of images from two different telescopes.
It’s a fairly large image so the central high-resolution section is from an 11 inch reflector. And the wide field is from a Tele-View 60 IS.
Messier 45 The Pleiades
Open Cluster with Reflecting Nebula Located in Taurus.
(aka NGC 1432)
This is a very familiar grouping of stars. In the US it is mostly known as the Pleiades. Although some people call it the Seven Sisters. In Japan it’s known as Subaru.
This photograph illustrates a subtle but interesting aspect of this object. That’s that these stars are located in a reflecting nebula. If you look at it with binoculars or a telescope you don’t see the reflection but there’s something eerie about the image.
You have to use a long exposure in order to bring out the nebulosity and reflection.
In this image, it took me 108 minutes to start to get the reflectivity.
Keep in mind I use a very fast f/1.9 telescope. Most telescopes are more in the f/8 range. They would require ~800 minutes to get comparable results. So, you can see the reflecting nebula is very faint indeed.
Messier 46 + NGC2438 & Company
Open Cluster Located in Puppis.
(aka NGC 2437)
Small Planetary NGC 2438.
This is perhaps one of my best Astro photographs ever.
Normally I’m not a huge fan of open clusters. This one has a lot to offer. 1st it’s overflowing with an assortment of star colors. Next, it contains not one but three planetary nebulae in and near it.
There is NGC2438 to the right of center. About halfway to the right edge of the picture, you can just see a tiny red planetary. PK231+4.1
There is also a third even fainter planetary just a little farther out. It is so faint, I have never been able to image it.
This image has a total of 45 minutes of exposure.
Messier XX H3
Thing located in Constelation. H4
(aka NGC xxxx) H5
Interesting Words Para
Messier XX H3
Thing located in Constelation. H4
(aka NGC xxxx) H5
Interesting Words Para
Messier XX H3
Thing located in Constelation. H4
(aka NGC xxxx) H5
Interesting Words Para
Messier XX H3
Thing located in Constelation. H4
(aka NGC xxxx) H5
Interesting Words Para
Purpose of this page
Like most pages on this website, I don’t get bogged down in technical details all that much. There are lots of other more motivated people on the web for that.
I do, however, love photography. Astro photography has been an on again off again hobby. For the last 20 years or so, it’s been on again. I find Astro photographs to be some of the most difficult and challenging images to produce.
In this gallery, I did not pick the most technically superior images. Rather, I picked the ones that tickled my fancy. Some of these I took years ago before I suffered through the learning curve of how to make a decent picture. Others just have some quirk or unusual circumstance related to them.
With each picture I left a brief description that conveys some of the significance these images have for me. They were all very pretty and I hope you enjoy them.
Exposure Explanation
Under the exposure section, you will see a time and either an L or an RGB and occasionally an HA.
For example:
Exposure: 5 x 60sec LRGB 1×1
In order to figure out what the total exposure was you need to look at what camera was used. I have used both one shot color and monochrome with a filter wheel. In the above example it was a monochrome camera. That means that I had to shoot four separate exposures to get one color image.
L=Luminance
R=Red
G=Green
B=Blue
Each one of those frames took 60 seconds to expose. And I did that five times. So that would equal 5 60 sec. frames for each L, R, G, B. So, 20 separate frames for about 20 minutes of exposures all together.
But a few things go on between frames. The images need to be downloaded. Occasionally things need to be refocused. And a few other things need to be checked and adjusted. Sometimes it’s quick and easy. Other times it’s wonderfully tedious. So, the bottom line is, 20 minutes of exposure can take between 30 to 60 minutes. Maybe even more.