Author: Dave Hearn

Here is the Lagoon Nebula in Sagittarius, otherwise known as Messier 8. This collection of gas and dust is a stellar nursery, lying 4300 light years away. The bright open cluster to the left of the nebular core is NGC 6530, a group of very young stars. Image Info Canon 60D with an Astronomik CLS Read More …

  This is yet another attempt at improving my image of M101, the Pinwheel Galaxy in Ursa Major. This version does have more detail than the last, although there is not much gain in the brightness of the image. The Pinwheel Galaxy (also known as NGC 5457) is a face-on spiral galaxy distanced 21 million Read More …

    These are Messier(s) 65 and 66 in Leo, more popularly known as two of the three galaxies in the Leo Triplet, or the “Trio in Leo”. The third is out of the frame of this image, and is cataloged as NGC 3628. Messier 65 (NGC 3623) is an intermediate spiral galaxy about 35 million Read More …

  This is Messier 94, a spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici. Messier 94 (M94), also known as Cat’s Eye Galaxy or Croc’s Eye Galaxy, is a spiral galaxy located in the constellation Canes Venatici. The Cat’s Eye Galaxy has an apparent magnitude of 8.99 and lies at a distance of 16 million light years from Earth. Read More …

  This is Messier 46 and Messier 47 in Puppis. In this image, M46 is the lower cluster, and within it is contained the planetary nebula NGC 2438. Actually the planetary is not associated with the cluster and is most likely a foreground object. M46 is about 5,500 light-years away. There are an estimated 500 Read More …