Starship Asterisk*

My recent capture of M33, the Triangulum Galaxy, has revealed some breathtaking details within this deep-space gem! At about 2.73 million light-years away, M33 is a spiral galaxy rich with HII and OIII regions—each telling a different story about the galaxy’s star-forming activity. The HII regions I...

Presenting the heart of the heart nebula, Melotte 15! This region, 7,500 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia, showcases striking structures of ionized gas sculpted by intense radiation and stellar winds from young, massive stars. Melotte 15 is a star cluster containing several massive, ...

Presenting a panoramic Aurora! The Sun has been spitting fire lately! We’re witnessing some of the strongest geomagnetic storms in decades, and the skies are lighting up in response! Here’s a panorama I captured on Oct 10th with my Nikon Z6. The auroras were absolutely breathtaking! High res image a...

Hi, My Submission for APOD, the "Tadpoles Swimming through the Cosmos (NGC1893) Located in Auriga at 12,000 light years away from us, the Tadpoles nebula is called so for its dust and gas at its center that resembles little tadpoles. This cloud of glowing gas is over 100 light-years across. One...

IC1396 - The famous Elephant’s Trunk Nebula. For full resolution and details, check my Astrobin https://www.astrobin.com/0t8ouw/ or Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/devesh_pande/54023490728/in/pool-apods/ or Instagram https://www.instagram.com/astrodarks/ Imaging Scope: Wiiliam Optics Redcat 51 ...

The Watermelon Aurora! WatermelonAurora2(1)_copy_6000x4000.jpg Captured on the night of Aug 12th 2024. Michigan got a glimpse of this rare phenomenon called "watermelon aurora". This term is used when the aurora borealis (or northern lights) display colors is reminiscent of a watermelon—ty...

The Omega Nebula (Messier 17 or Swan Nebula), located 5,000-6,000 light-years away in Sagittarius, is a star-forming region illuminated by young, massive stars. Discovered in 1745, it spans about 15 light-years. Intense UV radiation from these stars ionizes surrounding hydrogen gas, creating a brigh...

Presenting widefield view of Cygnus constellation made in Hubble palette. At least 10 deep sky objects in one frame! Targets in this frame: NGC 6888, the Crescent Nebula, Sh2-104, SH2-101, the Tulip Nebula, The Soap Bubble Nebula, WR 134, NGC 6881, NGC 6883, NGC 6871, IC 4996 and PGC 101342: 440 mil...

A song of Ice and Fire! Presenting WR134 in Cygnus! WR134_AstroDarks_ApodSubmission.jpg Title: A Song of Ice and Fire Although there is anything but icy in this image, the cooler colors of oiii and the fiery hydrogen made me title it this way. This image has been on my bucket list for over a year. I...

The Wizard of the North (NGC7380) NGC 7380, commonly known as the Wizard Nebula is a spectacular emission nebula located in the constellation Cepheus. Discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1787, this celestial marvel is approximately 7,200 light-years away from Earth and spans about 110 light-years acr...

The Clamshell Nebula, SH2-119. This is a large but diffuse nebula located in Cygnus, just a few degrees from the brighter North America Nebula. This target is large but dim and needs a lot of integration time using narrowband, as compared to its brighter neighbors. The sulphur and Oxygen especially ...

Time for some Fireworks! Presenting my last galaxy shot of the season, NGC6946 or the Fireworks galaxy along with open cluster NGC 6939. NGC6946_The Fireworks Galaxy_AstroDarks_Submission.jpg Title : A Galaxy and an open Star Cluster This image was taken from Bortle 7.5 skies. In early May, when Cyg...

The Cygnus wall and a part of the North America nebula in SHO! This image shows the star forming wall lit and eroded by bright young stars, and partly hidden by the dark dust they have created. The part of the North America nebula (NGC 7000) shown spans about 15 light years and lies about 1,500 ligh...

A Space Bubble! Also known as NGC 7635, the Bubble Nebula is an emission nebula located in the constellation Cassiopeia and approximately 1 1,000 light-years from Earth. The Bubble Nebula looks like a gigantic soap bubble. Hence its quirky nickname. The outer shell is the result of a powerful flow o...

Galaxy season ✅ Galaxy Cluster ✅ Bortle 7 😰 ✅ 😶‍🌫️✅ The galaxy season is well and truly here. Presenting the famous M81 and M82 pair commonly known as the Bodes and Cigar galaxy! These galaxies are 12 Million light years away from us. It means that when we are looking at them, we are actually lookin...

Here are the marvelous Bailys beads before second contact,C2, and after the third contact C3. What's seen between them is totality! Shortly after the diamond ring emerges in a total solar eclipse, it disintegrates into points of light called Baily’s beads, created by sunlight passing through valleys...

Totality is one mesmerizing moment. But even before it begins, another phenomenon dazzles the sky. Bailey's beads Shortly after the diamond ring emerges in a total solar eclipse, it disintegrates into points of light called Bailey’s beads, created by sunlight passing through valleys on the Moon's ed...

A cosmic helmet! Thor's Helmet, given its similarity in shape to the Norse god's famous headwear is an emission nebula located 12,000 lightyears away in Canis Major catalogued as NGC2359. The nebula originates from a scorching Wolf-Rayet star ejecting a flow of charged particles termed a stellar win...

The Rice Hat Nebula, also known as Sh2-224, is a supernova remnant located about 14,700 light-years from Earth. It has an apparent size of 20 x 3 arc-minutes and a true diameter of 163 light-years. This is a supernova remnant located in the Constellation of Auriga. The shape of this nebula resembles...

A Lion in Space! SH2-132, also known as The Lion Nebula, is a rich HII region with star clusters, emission nebulae, and dark dust regions. Located in the southern portion of the constellation Cepheus, the Lion Nebula is roughly 10,00 light-years away in the Perseus Arm of the MilkyWay Galaxy. Acquis...

The Nothing Nebula! Presenting a very rarely imaged target, Sh2-124 or the nothing nebula. Named as there is really nothing written about it. This target is located in Cygnus at 8500 light years away from us. It bears resemblance to trifid nebula and the it's closest neighbor, the cocoon nebula. Muc...