Starship Asterisk*

The Propeller Galaxy (NGC 7479). KG Observatory. The Propeller Galaxy (NGC 7479) is a barred spiral galaxy located about 105 million light-years away from Earth in the northern constellation of Pegasus, while it is racing away from us at some 2381 kilometers per second. It has a very asymmetric spir...

Einstein Cross. KG Observatory. Shown here is my attempt to image the very difficult Einstein Cross. The cross itself is a Quasar, 8 Billion light year's distant, having its light bent into 4 points by the foreground galaxy's gravity (400 million light year's distance). This is visual proof of Einst...

NGC 891. KG Observatory, Julian, CA. These September evenings were particularly dark at 21.5 SQM with an unusual Marine layer over San Diego this time of the year. 15-minute luminance subs hovered around 2.1" FWHM measured using CCDWare. In general, a very dark and steady period. Color shot wit...

NGC 7217. KG Observatory. NGC 7217 is an unbarred spiral galaxy 50 million light-years from Earth in the constellation of Pegasus. It is receding from us at approximately 952 kilometers per second. It is an active galaxy with an active galactic nucleus (a compact region at the center of a galaxy tha...

Trifid Nebula. KG Observatory, Julian, CA. From August 5th through August 15th we were very fortunate to experience extremely steady, clear and dark skies in Julian, CA. This is the fourth of 6 objects I captured during this time. "The Trifid Nebula is an H II region located in Sagittarius 5,00...

Arp 273. KG Observatory, Julian CA. From August 5th through August 15th we were very fortunate to experience extremely steady, clear and dark skies in Julian, CA. This is the third of 6 objects I captured during this time. "Arp 273 is a pair of interacting galaxies, lying 300 million light year...

NGC 7331. KG Observatory, Julian CA. From August 5th through August 15th we were very fortunate to experience extremely steady, clear and dark skies in Julian, CA. This is the second of 6 objects I captured during this time. "NGC 7331 is an unbarred spiral galaxy about 40 million light-years aw...

Stephan's Quintet. KG Observatory. From August 5th through August 15th we were very fortunate to experience extremely steady, clear and dark skies in Julian, CA. This is the first of 6 objects I captured during this time. "Stephan's Quintet is a visual grouping of five galaxies of which four fo...

NGC 6961 with IFN. Copyright KG Observatory. NGC 6951 is face-on Seyfert Type II galaxy in the constellation Cepheus. At a distance of about 75 million light-years, the galaxy is viewed through the Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN). The residual light of our galaxy illuminates this faint nebula. https://...

NGC 5907 with Tidal Stream. Copyright KG Observatory, Julian CA. I started this project with the goal to capture the very faint tidal streams that R. Jay Gabany captured at a very dark site in New Mexico 12 years ago (June through August 2006). After a week, I concluded that my 21.5 average sky was ...

Tadpole Galaxy (Wide). KG Observatory. https://www.astrobin.com/352674/ I love this wide-angle portrait of the Tadpole Galaxy and friends! There are two spiral galaxies and an elliptical galaxy at what appears to be the same distance from us as the Tadpole Galaxy, so they may belong to the same &qu...

Tadpole Galaxy (Wide). KG Observatory.

https://www.astrobin.com/352674/

Tadpole Galaxy, cropped. KG Observatory.

https://www.astrobin.com/352523/

Tadpole Galaxy, KG Observatory. This was a particularly challenging object given its small size and relatively low brightness. With the marine layer holding down the San Diego city lights, I was able to shoot most of this in 21.5 to 21.8 SQM skies. Seeing was under 2" FWHM measured on 5 min sub...

Seyfert's Sextet from KG Observatory, Julian, CA. This object was a challenge at only 2' x 2' and between magnitude 15 and 16. Seyfert's Sextet is a group of galaxies about 190 million light-years away in the constellation Serpens. The group appears to contain six members, but one of the galaxies is...

Antennae Galaxies. Imaging telescope or lens:Planewave CDK24 Imaging camera:FLI Proline 16803 Mount:Planewave L600 Guiding camera:Starlight Xpress Ultrastar Software:Planewave PWI4, Planewave PWI3, PixInsight 1.8, Maxim DL6, PHD Guiding 2, Neat Image V7, Photoshop CS3, Sequence Generator Pro Filters...

Sombrero Galaxy (M104), close-up. Taken in Julian, CA on April 14. Imaging telescope or lens:Planewave CDK24 Imaging camera:FLI Proline 16803 Mount:Planewave L600 Guiding camera:Starlight Xpress Ultrastar Software:Planewave PWI4, Planewave PWI3, PixInsight 1.8, Maxim DL6, PHD Guiding 2, Neat Image V...

NGC 6946 from Julian, CA using our new Planewave CDK24. KG Observatory.

Antennae Galaxy from Julian, CA. KG Observatory using our new Planewave CDK24.

The Sombrero Galaxy. Taken Saturday evening, 4/14, with our new Planewave CDK24 in Julian, CA. KG Observatory.

Whirlpool Galaxy in Narrowband. Was always curious what M51 might look like in narrowband. Here I mapped Ha to Red, OIII to Blue and SII to Green with a luminance overlay for detail. Imaging telescope or lens: Celestron 8" EdgeHD Imaging camera: QSI 660 WSG Mount: Losmandy G-11 Guiding camera: ...

SH2-289 is one of the most distant HII regions of the Milky Way at almost 33,000 light years. An unusually feature seen in the nebula could be what is called the Champagne Flow. They appear as spikes jetting out at the bottom of the nebula. A champagne flow is an astrophysical event whereby an HII r...

Eskimo Nebula (NGC 2392). KG Observatory. The Eskimo Nebula (NGC 2392), also known as the Clownface Nebula or Caldwell 39, is a bipolar double-shell planetary nebula 2,870 light-years away. It was discovered by astronomer William Herschel in 1787. The formation resembles a person's head surrounded b...

Jones-Emberson 1 (PK 164 +31). KQ Observatory. Imaging camera: QSI 660 WSG Mount: Losmandy G-11 Guiding camera: Starlight Xpress Ultrastar Focal reducer: Celestron 0.7X Software: PixInsight 1.8, PHD Guiding 2, Neat Image V7, Photoshop CS3, Sequence Generator Pro, Maxim DL6 Filters: Astrodon 1.25&quo...

Sh2-290 (Abell 31). KG Observatory. Sh2-290 or Abell 31 is an ancient planetary nebula about 2,000 light years distant. A planetary nebula is created when a low-mass star blows off its outer layers at the end of its life. Sh2-290 is one of the largest known planetary nebulae, with a diameter of abou...