Tagged: Caldwell - Adam Lundie - Eatons Hill Observatory

First Calalogued in 1752, the NGC 3532, also known as the Wishing Well Cluster is an open cluster comprised of approximately 150 stars. It was also the first object ever observed by the Hubble Space Telescope. The bright orange star in the top right of the image is x Carinae (x Car), the brightest yellow hypergiant in the sky - 200,000 times as luminous as the Sun.

NGC 6744 (Caldwell 101) is a spiral galaxy about 31 million light-years away, tilted towards our line of sight. It is thought to be one of the most Milky Way-like spiral galaxies in our immediate vicinity. It also has at least one distorted companion galaxy similar to the Magellanic Clouds.

The Sculptor Galaxy, also known as the Silver Coin or Silver Dollar Galaxy, NGC 253, is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Sculptor. The Sculptor Galaxy is a starburst galaxy, which means that it is currently undergoing a period of intense star formation.

After a brief hiatus from astronomy to build a new, larger observatory, I've chosen another difficult target that was surprisingly bright.

Caldwell 101 is a spiral galaxy about 31 million light-years away, tilted towards our line of sight. It is thought to be one of the most Milky Way-like spiral galaxies in our immediate vicinity. It also has at least one distorted companion galaxy similar to the Magellanic Clouds.

I was playing around with my camera binning modes in preparation for a dark sky trip next weekend, and ended up with this. Even though it's just a test shot, I think it turned out pretty well. New lesson learned; don't overexpose the stars.

The Saturn Nebula is a tiny but complex planetary nebula, ~4000 light years away in Aquarius. The Saturn Nebula gets its name from its resemblance to the planet Saturn to the observer.

This southern sky barred spiral galaxy shines bright in the southern skies, from about 45 million light-years away.

The Rosette Nebula is an emission nebula 3000 light years away. The central area of the nebula contains an open cluster of hot, blue stars which have cleared much of the center of its gas.

NGC 300 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Sculptor. It is one of the closest galaxies to the Local Group at 6 million light years distance.

Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) is the largest globular cluster in the Milky Way at a diameter of roughly 150 light-years. It is estimated to contain approximately 10 million stars.

Less than 500 light-years away and blocking light from more distant, background stars in the Milky Way, the densest part of the dust cloud of Caldwell 68 is about 8 light-years long. At its tip is a group of reflection nebulae cataloged as NGC 6726, 6727, 6729, and IC 4812. A characteristic blue color is produced as light from hot stars is reflected by the cosmic dust.

The Antennae Galaxies, also known as NGC 4038/NGC 4039, are a pair of interacting galaxies ~45 million light years away. They are currently going through a starburst phase, in which the collision of clouds of gas and dust, with entangled magnetic fields, causes rapid star formation.

The Antennae Galaxies, also known as NGC 4038/NGC 4039, are a pair of interacting galaxies ~45 million light years away. They are currently going through a starburst phase, in which the collision of clouds of gas and dust, with entangled magnetic fields, causes rapid star formation.

While looking through the data captured of the Antennae galaxies, I discovered a very dim object slowly moving through the field of view. I have identified the object as main belt asteroid 2000 JU₂₃, magnitude 18.8