Astro-images

SPECIAL NOTE: Poor quality image display is frequently the result of your monitor setup. For best results use True Color (32bit) and 1024 x 768 in Control Panel>Display Properties>Settings. M45 Pleiades.  The Pleiades, or Seven Sisters as it is sometimes called, is an open cluster about 400 light years away. It comprises some 40 or 50 stars in the cluster, but is most recognized for the seven hot blue stars at its core. The nebulosity we see is the remaining gases from the development of the blue stars mainly surrounding the star Merope. M1 Crab Nebula. (Latest) The Crab Nebula is a faint rapidly expanding cloud of gases formed when a star collapsed and became a supernova. The supernova event occurred in 1054 AD, and is first chronicled in medieval Chinese literature as "...... a guest star became visible, and after a year became gradually invisible." Cone Nebula . Re-done The Cone Nebula is the southern-most portion of the very large nebula and open cluster NGC2264. It is about 2600 light years distant and spans about 20 light years from north to south (Wide-field version). Skull Nebula . Re-done  NGC2467 is part of the Gum emission nebula complex. It is also known as Gum 9. This emission nebula is embedded in a rich star field including the open cluster Haffner19. It resembles a skull when viewed in large telescopes. Rosette Nebula . The Rosette is a very large emission nebula embedded in the open cluster NGC2244. It is estimated to be 4900 light years away, appearing to be the same size as the full moon from Earth. However, the Rosette has a diameter of 90 light years. NGC2244 sits within the large central hole which is 30 light years in diameter. M104 Sombrero Galaxy. Re-done The Sombrero Galaxy is named for its very large central bulge and prominent dust lane giving it the appearance of a sombrero hat. It is estimated at more than 65 million light years distant, and 135 thousand light years in diameter. M101 Pinwheel Galaxy. Named for its obvious appearance, it is large face-on spiral galaxy about 25 million light years distant. It is brighter and larger than our Milky Way. Its luminosity is 33 billion suns and its diameter is over 190,000 light years. It contains patches of H-II gases seen in red and pink. NGC3628 Edge-on Galaxy. Re-done NGC3628 is the largest and most beautiful of the Leo Trio. The dust lane that passes though the center of the galaxy extends to the outer edges of the star field. M106 Spiral Galaxy. NGC 4256 is a large, beautiful, spiral galaxy. The central core is unusual since it appears to be masked by stellar dust. It is about 35 million light years distant. NGC7635 Bubble Nebula. Re-done The Bubble Nebula is a very faint and large emision nebula. IC1805 Heart Nebula. Re-done An open Cluster with very large area of nebulosity.  Called the Heart Nebula because its shape resembles a human heart.  The object is too big to reveal this in this image. NGC281 Pacman Nebula. Re-done NGC281 is an emission nebula embedded in the open cluster IC1590. It is called the Pacman Nebula for its obvious shape as a result of the dark lane cutting into the nebulosity.