Astrophotos | Universe Today

What you're looking at isn't a Hubble Deep Field image peering into the furthest reaches of space. What you're seeing is a galaxy field photographed with a 12.5" telescope located right here on planet Earth aimed 2 degrees east of Algol. It's a challenging galaxy cluster in Perseus known as Abell 426… Read more…

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Just one glance at this incredible visage is enough to make you do a double take. This intricate net of nebular mists is known as 30 Doradus, or even more commonly as the "Tarantula", but no space spider created this web. No, sir. What spun out these gossamer strands of HII silk is one of the largest and most active star forming regions known to our local galaxy group… Read more…

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If you live in the northern hemisphere, I'm sure you've very much noticed the daylight hours have become much shorter - but have you noticed the return of the winter stars during the early morning hours? If you're up before dawn the constellation of Orion sits high in the sky and with it brings promises of "Dark Knight Ahead"…. Read more…

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Our first glimpse into the intricacies of Centaurus A was the big picture. We soon found out that not only was the first photograph a deep study, but the study of NGC 5128 was going to go deeper as well. One of the most obvious of all features is the central dust lane which positively crackles to the eye photographically. Let's be mindful of the radiation and get just a little closer…. Read more…

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Before you dismiss this as just another photo of Centaurus A, you better look again. It's way deeper… First discovered by James Dunlop on August 4, 1826 this incredible galaxy known as Centaurus A (NGC 5128) has been tickling the imagination of astronomers since John Herschel described it as "two semi-ovals of elliptically formed nebula appearing to be cut asunder and separated by a broad obscure band parallel to the larger axis of the nebula, in the midst of which a faint streak of light parallel to the sides of the cut appears." in 1847. What makes this incredible galaxy tick? Step inside and let's find out… Read more…

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Known as Caldwell 20 to some, NGC 7000 to others and the North America Nebula to most, this diffuse emission/reflection nebula near Deneb can frequently be seen by the unaided eye from a dark location, but the sheer size of this 1600 light year distant gas cloud often confuses people as to the reality of what they are seeing. Let's take a look at just a few of the bricks in the "Wall".. Read more…

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There are wonderful tales which surround the circumpolar constellation of Draco. According to Greek legend, Draco represents the dragon killed by Cadmus before founding the city of Thebes - or perhaps it represented the dragon which guarded the golden fleece and was eventually killed by Jason and his famous Argonauts. To the Romans, it was simply a creature killed by Minerva and tossed into the sky as stars to be remembered. The Egyptians called it Tawaret. But the most famous of all representations of Draco was one of the twelve labors that Hercules had to overcome. Many of us will never see the jewels that hide within the boundaries of this sprawling constellation, but thanks to the Herculean efforts of Ken Crawford - we can share in its mysteries… Read more…

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It's time to take a look back to what was happening 210 years ago on the night of September 9th. Sir William Herschel was at the eyepiece of his telescope in Slough. While he was viewing in real time, what he was viewing occurred more than 10 million years ago - the fireworks that ignited in NGC 6946. Read more…

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As the very last of the summer flowers bloom in the dusty grasses of the northern hemisphere, so a cosmic flower blooms in the dusty star fields of the northern constellations. While this image conjures up a vision of an iris delicately opening its 6 light year wide petals some 1300 light years away in Cepheus, this bit of flora is anything but a pretty little posey… Read more…

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If glancing at this image takes your attention immediately, it should. Not only is it ethereally beautiful and aesthetically pleasing - but it's shrouded in bizarre cosmological coincidences. Not only do we see a dazzling array of multi-colored stars, but within this single area of space is a hidden an ancient planetary nebula, a reflection nebula, a dark dust cloud, a Bok globule, a peculiar low-mass protostar, the edges of a massive X-ray bubble and the fringes of a supernova remnant. Hold on to the light of the Cepheus Flare and let's step inside Wolf's Cave… Read more…

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If you read this week's SkyWatcher's Forecast, then you knew several areas of the world were in for a partial lunar eclipse event. While the Moon basically just did a glancing pass through the umbral shadow, the effect was still dramatic and I was hoping that at least one photographer out there would have a picture and story to share! Read more…

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Are you seeing a ghost? It could be. When most people think of the Trifid nebula they think of the wild colored fantasy images they've seen taken with filtered, long exposure photography. But what happens when you combine science with imagery? Just ask Toni Heidemann. Toni may have made his living in Grenoble, France by studying cold neutron backscattering in a spectrometer, but when he retired in 2002 he did the world a favor by turning his interest in h-alpha celestial photography into works of art. Read more…

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Summertime conjurs up great images of enjoying a double dip ice cream cone, and what more wonderful way to enjoy than with two flavors? Would you like to have some fun while the Moon waxes this coming week? Then invite someone along for the ride and let's take a look at how differently people perceive stellar color! Read more…

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"Night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast, And yonder shines…" Another galactic pair? Discovered by Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel in 1787, this particular galactic pairing known as Arp 23 find its home in Canes Venetici, and the duo most certainly has a colorful history. The smaller of the pair - NGC 4625 is a distorted dwarf galaxy formally classified as Sm, a structure which resembles spiral galaxies - especially the Magellanic clouds. So what does a single arm galaxy have to say for itself? Read more…

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Take a very close look at this image of NGC 5216 and companion galaxy NGC 5218 and you'll see a bridge of galactic material that joins these two isolated galaxies. Located in the constellation of Ursa Major (RA 12 30 30 Dec +62 59), this tidally connected pair known as Keenan's System has been well-studied but you'll find they have rarely been imaged. Read more…

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Since it was first observed in a half inch diameter spy glass by Abbe Nicholas Louis de Lacaille during his visit to South Africa in 1751-2, the Kappa Crucis star cluster (NGC 4755) has intrigued and and confounded astronomers since. Today let's open John Herschel's 'casket of variously coloured precious stones' and take a closer look at the "Jewel Box"… Read more…

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Deep in the large Magellanic Cloud a 325 light-year sized cosmic monster is born. Its open maw spans some 250 light years across, and from it spews massive particle winds. Held in its glowing gas jaws could be the expanding shells of old supernovae and it has even coughed forth hot X-ray emitting gas. What exactly is this wide-mouthed creature? Step inside… Read more…

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Out in the deep reaches of space, a cocoon has formed. Here on Earth, a cocoon represents the casing of a pupae - the child/insect which is about to undergo a magnificent transformation into a beautiful moth or butterfly. So what does the cosmic cocoon, IC 5146, hide inside? Let's take a look… Read more…

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Over the weeks we've taken a look at some very curious objects which have often raised some wonderful questions. One such question dealt with what could be observed should a supernova event involve a planetary system. In this case, it's not quite the explosive mass destruction scenario - but a planetary nebula that consumed its planets… Read more…

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For those of us old enough to remember riding on an old fashioned carousel, there was once a quaint custom where the operator would hold a brass ring out and the lucky contestant who captured it could ride again for free. Before you dismiss this astrophotograph as just another colorful look at a Messier, perhaps you better step inside the workings of the merry-go-round to learn more about what you're really seeing here… Because this ring is pure gold. Read more…

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Over the weeks we've looked at a lot of curious objects and today is no exception. NGC 6302 is often called the "Bug Nebula", but its resemblance to an insect isn't what makes it unique - it's the complex structure. Deep inside this bipolar planetary nebula lay an unseen star… One of the hottest objects in the galaxy. Read more…

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Trevor Paglen is an astrophotographer with a difference… he takes photos of satellites that are not there. Officially "not there", anyway. He spends many nights surveying the skies, waiting for classified spy satellites to pass overhead. When one appears, after researching what is actually out there (which is a hard task, these things are not meant to be discovered!) he captures it with his hi-tech astronomical spy satellite-catching equipment. His work makes for captivating (if unnerving) reading. Apart from capturing 189 "ghost" satellites in orbit, he's turned his stargazing lenses to Earth and taken a peek into the top secret world of "black ops"…
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If you think we're looking straight down the maul of the "Doomsday Machine", you'd be pretty much correct. While the fictionalized Star Trek account had the planet killer slowly destroying a distant solar system, this particular "star eater" is very real and still exists along the Auriga-Taurus border… Read more…

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Back a few month's ago, we had an article about Galaxy Zoo. In essence, it's a type of consortium that studies galaxies and works towards classifying them. In the process of studying the images, they made a rather unusual discovery… One that's still around. Read more…

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Those huge, gravitationally bound balls of stars know as globular clusters aren't without a heart. Containing a thick concentration of 10,000 to more than a million stars in a region spanning just 10 to 30 light-years, globular clusters are more akin to seething masses of suns where the lightweights head for the outer edges while the giants collect in the core. What causes this process? Do globular clusters really have a way of getting some stars closer to the heart? Read more…

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