The Observatory

The business end of the scope

Rigel and companion about 900 light years away

Look closely to the upper right, close to Rigel you'll see it's companion star about nine seconds of arc away. Rigel is a blue supergiant about 900 light years away. Rigel is many times the size of our sun. Our sun would appear like a small dot compared to Rigel.

M27 Planentary Nebula - 1360 light years away

M-51 Whirlpool Galaxy - 37 million light years from Earth (click to enlarge)

The above image was obtained on 5/30/2010, with a Canon 40D attached to a equatorial fork mounted 10" Schmidt Cassegrain telescope. This was a series of 35x120 second exposures W/8 darks, @ISO 800 - A 6.3 focal reducer was used in the optical train along with an Astonomik LP filter. All calibrated and stacked in DSS.






M51, the 'Whirlpool Galaxy' in Canes Venatici. It was discovered by Messier in 1773. Its companion galaxy, NGC 5195, is a spectacular example of interacting galaxies, in this case NGC 5195 is being "ripped apart" by the huge gravitational disturbance of M51. The distance of M51 is estimated to be about 37 million light years. The diameter is approximately 100,000 light years and the total mass is estimated to be the equivalent of 160 billion suns.

Orion Nebula M-42, 1275- Light years from Earth (click to enlarge)

M42 Orion is a stellar nursery where over 700 stars at various stages are being formed within the central core of the nebula.

Eastern Veil Nebula NGC 6992 - Supernova remnant (click on image to enlarge)

Veil Nebula is an old supernova remnant in the constellation Cygnus. It is the remains of cataclysmic explosion of star that exploded between 5,000 and 8,000 years ago. This nebula is about 1,860 light-years distance.