Galaxies

These Island Universes once thought to be simply "spiral" nebula of our own Milky Way are now known to be millions and in many cases, billions of light years distant. Many of these images were taken when amateur astronomical CCD imaging was still new using a relatively new endeavor. As I take new images I'll replace the older ones.

M33 Color image with STL-4020, FSQ 106,  LRGB, 60,30,30,30 Processed with CCD Stack and Photoshop. Click on the thumbnail for a larger image.
Everyone's favorite Spiral galaxy and why not? It is bright beautiful, easy to find and well plaeed for imaging for most Northern Hemisphere observers. This is 45 minutes with ST-7 and a 5inch f6 AP Refractor
M63 aka as the Sunflower glalxy. This B&W image was taken at the Texas Star Party in 1998 with an early model ST-7 and an AP 5 inch f6 refractor
M64 aka as the Black eye Galaxy again Texas Star Party 1998 early model ST-7 and AP 5inch refractor
M81, taken along time ago with an ST-6 and a 11 inch SC at f6.3.
M82 again taken a long time ago with an ST-6 and a 11 inch SC at f6.3. Just trying to put the galaxy on the small chip was a challenge
M100 is a small face on spiral of the Grand Design. It is part of the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies
M101 is a large face on Spiral Just above the Handle of the Big Dipper
M104 is known as the Sombrero galaxy. This is an almost edge on with a very dark dust lane. M104 has a a very large bulge that was beautifully imaged by HST a few years ago
M105 is one of this close triplet
M106
Leo Triple M65 M66 and
Ngc253 color image C14 ST-10
NGC4565 is a beautiful edge on Spiral.
NGC 5128 is an active galaxy on Centaurus. It maybe a result from a collision and the prominent dust lane was a remnant from it
M31 the Great Andromeda galaxy. This is the furthest object that can be easily seen with the unaided eye. Many observers have seen this small smudge in Andromeda and turned their binoculars to it and seen a spectacular site. Andromeda is larger than the full moon and with binoculars it really shows it shape. With a telescope the narrower field actually detracts from the aesthetic but it does really bring out the object.
Markarian's Chain Anchored by the large galaxies M84 and M86 This Chain of galaxies forms a unique "asterism" of galaxies that is useful in navigating the Virgo Cluster. It is the brightest gruping of galaxies in the night sky. In this image taken with the STL-4020 and TAK FSQ106N there are over 30 galaxies. The Asterism of M84, M86, NGC4387 and NGC4388 make up "the face". M84 and 86 are the eyes. This color image was taken over 2 nights and is composed of about 5 hours of imaging. The red images were very noisy due to high clouds thus the red glow on the edges.