Category: celestial objects

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NOTE: Exposure times varied; generally the further away the object was, the longer exposure time was used.  Unfortunately, most objects weren’t in my part of the sky long enough for a really good image; one exception is the Moon shot.  I had the luxury of watching it from a very high angle and had time for a longer exposure time than probably necessary.  It ended up being a 20 minute exposure (4 frames/second) for the shot.  All images were then stacked (as all the images on the page were) to get the final image.

Solar System Planets - Click on any image for the full size & start a slideshow

Moon-Full phase on 2-12-25

I captured the Moon at or near the top of it orbit that night well clear of Earth's atmosphere. It was 13 days old and over 99% illuminated. On this day it was 242, 037 miles from Earth.

jupiter

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined. It is located 422.5 million miles fro earth and 483.3 million miles from the sun.

Mars - The Red Planet

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. The surface of Mars is orange-red because it is covered in iron oxide dust, giving it the nickname the Red Planet. Its diameter is 4,200 miles and is 153.6 million miles from the sun.. Its distance from earth varies due to their orbits: as little as 65 million miles (current distance as of 2/25) up to 141 million miles.

Venus

Venus is the 2nd planet from the sun. It is the hottest planet in our solar system. It is a terrestrial planet having a rocky surface.
It has a thick atmosphere which traps heat and makes Venus very hot. It has an active surface, including volcanoes! It is 107 million miles from the sun. It can get as close as 24 million miles to the earth. It has phases similar to the Moon. The shot shows it in a 'waxing gibbous' phase.

Uranus

Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun and the third largest planet in our solar system. It's an ice giant, meaning it's made up of a thick, icy soup of water, methane, and ammonia. Uranus is very cold and windy, with a mean temperature of -320°F (-195°C). Its diameter is 32,000 miles and is1,783,744,299 miles from the sun. Its closest pass to earth is 1.6 billion miles.

PLEASE NOTE: most of the shots taken on this page were accomplished with much less exposure time needed to really get an accurate image.  I just started all this, so was too anxious to get things started!  With the opportunity, I will re-image most of these in the future to hopefully get more accurate image color and quality:-)  Btw…both the spiral and elliptical galaxies are quite accurate in their depiction.  The are a long way away from Earth!

Deep Sky Objects - Click on any image for the full size & start a slideshow

M1-Crab-Nebula

The Crab Nebula is a supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula in the constellation of Taurus. It is an expanding remnant of a star's supernova explosion recorded in 1054 AD. It has a diameter of 1100 light years and is 6523 light years from Earth.

Dwarf satellite spiral galaxy in the Andromeda Galaxy

Usually seen in the northern quadrant of the Andromeda. Galaxy. It measures 17,000 light years in diameter and contains 10 billion stars. Its distance from the earth is 2.67 million light years.

Great Nebula in the Orion Constellation

Can be seen all winter in the southwest sky. It has an apparent magnitude of 4, making it visible to the naked eye. It is located 1350 light years from earth and is 25 light years in diameter.

Dwarf satellite elliptical galaxy of the Andromeda Galaxy.

Despite its size at only 6500 mile diameter, it contains a supermassive black hole at its center. It is 2.5 million light years from Earth.

Betelgeuse red supergiant star

Found in the Orion constellation and one of the brightest objects in the sky., even brighter than the Sun. It is a pulsating, variable star meaning it gets brighter and dimmer on a regular basis. It is located 498 light years from earth.

Bubble Nebula

Found in the Cassiopeia constellation. It is 3.5 light years in diameter and 11, 090 light years from Earth

Aldebaran

Giant red star in the Taurus constellation. Also known as Alpha Tauri. It is one of the 15 brightest stars. Its diameter is 44 times that of the Sun and is 65 light years from Earth.