Starship Asterisk*

Tadpole Nebula (IC 410, SH2 236). KG Observatory. The Tadpole Nebula lies about 12,000 light-years away in the northern constellation of the Charioteer (Auriga). These two relatively dense streamers of material are potential sites of ongoing star formation. These cosmic "tadpole" shapes ar...

Sharpless 200 (SH-200). KG Observatory, San Diego, CA. Imaging telescope or lens: Celestron 8" EdgeHD 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, ...

Sharpless 188 by KG Observatory. Mapped Ha, SII, OIII to Red, Yellow, Blue. Sharpless 188 (SH2-188, Simeis 22 or the Dolphin Nebula) is an unusual planetary nebula in the galactic disk, approximately 850 light-years away from Earth in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia. Despite their name, pla...

IC 2162 by KG Observatory. Imaging telescope or lens: Celestron 8" EdgeHD Imaging camera: QSI 660 WSG Mount: Losmandy G-11 Focal reducer: Celestron 0.7X Software: PixInsight 1.8, PHD Guiding 2, Neat Image V7, Photoshop CS3, Sequence Generator Pro, Maxim DL6, Astronomy Tools Actions Set V1.6 Fil...

Melotte 15 in IC1805 (Heart Nebula). Copyright KG Observatory. Hubble Palette, This bright star cluster is known as Melotte15 after its discover, Philibert Jacques Melotte (1880-1961). Melotte 15 is embedded within and illuminates the central portion of the much larger glowing nebula identified as I...

The Bubble Nebula. Copyright KG Observatory. Mapped Ha, SII, OIII to Red, Yellow, Blue. Imaging telescope or lens: Celestron 8" EdgeHD 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 ...

IC63. Copyright KG Observatory. IC63 is illuminated by the B0 IV star, Gamma Cas. IC63 can be referred to as a "cometary cloud" and is pointing toward Gamma Cas. IC63 has bright filaments that are ionized fronts of gas created by Gamma Cas, and seen by us as nearly edge-on. There is some d...

The Wizard Nebula. Copyright KG Observatory. Imaging telescope or lens: Celestron 8" EdgeHD 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 G...

Veil Nebula. Copyright KG Observatory. Imaging telescope or lens: Celestron 8" EdgeHD Imaging camera: QSI 660 WSG Mount: Losmandy G-11 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&qu...

Crescent Nebula. Copyright KG Observatory. Imaging telescope or lens: Celestron 8" EdgeHD Mount: Losmandy G-11 Guiding camera: Starlight Xpress Ultrastar Focal reducer: Celestron 0.7X Software: PHD Guiding 2, PixInsight 1.8, Neat Image V7, Photoshop CS3, Sequence Generator Pro, Maxim DL6 Filter...

Dumbbell Nebula. Copyright KG Observatory. Imaging telescope or lens: Celestron 8" EdgeHD Imaging camera: QSI 660 WSG Guiding camera: Starlight Xpress Ultrastar Focal reducer: Celestron 0.7X Software: PHD Guiding 2, PixInsight 1.8, Neat Image V7, Photoshop CS3, Sequence Generator Pro, Maxim DL6...

Dumbbell Nebula in Ha and OIII. Copyright KG Observatory. Imaging telescope or lens: Celestron 8" EdgeHD Imaging camera: QSI 660 WSG Guiding camera: Starlight Xpress Ultrastar Focal reducer: Celestron 0.7X Software: PHD Guiding 2, PixInsight 1.8, Neat Image V7, Photoshop CS3, Sequence Generator...

M92, Copyright KG Observatory. M92 is a globular cluster of stars in the northern constellation of Hercules. M92 is at a distance of about 26,700 light-years away from Earth. Among the Milky Way population of globular clusters, M92 is among the brighter clusters in terms of absolute magnitude. It is...

M92

RIng Nebula. Copyright KG Observatory. This object is positioned nicely for me to capture from 10 PM to 5 AM. I used this time to capture 3 hours of Ha and 2 hours of Luminance. I then layered this over RGB I had from July 2015. Final image is LHaRGB. I used a "Screen" blend layer in Phot...

RIng Nebula. Copyright KG Observatory. This object is positioned nicely for me to capture from 10 PM to 5 AM. I used this time to capture 3 hours of Ha and 2 hours of Luminance. I then layered this over RGB I had from July 2015. Final image is LHaRGB. I used a "Screen" blend layer in Photo...

NGC 4567 and 4568. Copyright KG Observatory. Imaging telescope or lens: Celestron 8" EdgeHD Imaging camera: QSI 660 WSG Mount: Losmandy G-11 Guiding camera: Starlight Xpress Ultrastar Focal reducer: Celestron 0.7X Software: PHD Guiding 2, PixInsight 1.8, Neat Image V7, Sequence Generator Pro, M...

NGC 4725. Copyright KG Observatory. While most spiral galaxies, including our own Milky Way, have two or more spiral arms, NGC 4725 has only one. NGC 4725 is over 100 thousand light-years across and lies 41 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. NGC 4725 is a Seyfert Galaxy, s...

Heron Galaxy. Copyright KG 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, Sequence Generator Pro, Maxim DL6, Adobe Photoshop CC 2014 Filters: Astrodon 1.25&...

M88. Copyright KG Observatory. Charles Messier described the 88th entry in his 18th century catalog of Nebulae and Star Clusters as a spiral nebula without stars. Of course the gorgeous M88 is now understood to be a galaxy full of stars, gas, and dust, not unlike our own Milky Way. In fact, M88 is o...

M94. Copyright KG Observatory. I started this on an unusually steady night on December 8th. Then it's been mostly cloudy since then. I saw high cloud wisps during sundown on March 3rd and figured it would not be a clear night. It's very difficult to see high clouds at night. I decided to start shoot...

I started this on an unusually steady night on December 8th. Then it's been mostly cloudy since then. I saw high cloud wisps during sundown on March 3rd and figured it would not be a clear night. It's very difficult to see high clouds at night. I decided to start shooting at 8:30 PM to see what migh...

The famous Needle Galaxy, NGC4565. Copyright KG Observatory... NGC 4565 is a giant spiral galaxy more luminous than the Andromeda Galaxy. Much speculation exists in the literature as to the nature of the central bulge. In the absence of clear-cut dynamical data on the motions of stars in the bulge, ...

Copyright KG Observatory. NGC 4151 is an intermediate spiral Seyfert galaxy with weak inner ring structure located 19 megaparsecs (62 million light-years) from Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici. The galaxy was first mentioned by William Herschel on March 17, 1787. It is one of the nearest ga...

Helix Galaxy (NGC 2685), Copyright KG Observatory. Imaging telescope or lens: Celestron 8" EdgeHD Imaging camera: QSI 660 WSG Mount: Losmandy G-11 Guiding camera: Starlight Xpress Lodestar X2 Focal reducer: Celestron 0.7X Software: PixInsight 1.8, PHD Guiding 2, Neat Image V7, Sequence Generato...