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Spiral galaxy NGC 2566, 76 million light-years away in the constellation Puppis.

Credit: NASA/ ESA, Hubble

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Pleiades, The Seven Sisters

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NGC 7023, Iris

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The Great Square of Pegasus // Ireneusz Nowak

Read below the cut for some info about some of the stars in this image as well as an annotated image to guide the eye!

Starting with Pegasus first, in order of brightness:

Scheat (β Pegasi) is a red giant star that forms the upper right corner of the Great Square. It is about 196 light years away and has swelled to over 100 times the size of the Sun. Its name comes from the Arabic phrase Al Sā'id meaning "the upper arm".

Markab (α Pegasi) is a blue-white star located about 133 light years away, marking the lower right corner of the Great Square. Its name comes from an Arabic word markab meaning "the saddle of the horse".

Algenib (γ Pegasi) is a blue subgiant star about 470 light years away and marks the lower left corner of the Great Square. It has a mass of about 9 times that of the Sun. Its name comes from the Arabic word al-jānib meaning "the flank".

Matar (η Pegasi) is a yellow-white star about 196 light years away. It is a binary system, with the primary being about 25 times larger than the Sun. Its name comes from the Arabic phrase Saʽd al Maṭar meaning "lucky star of rain".

Homam (ζ Pegasi) is a blue star about 204 light years away. It is only about 4 times as large as the Sun, but is emitting over 200 times the light. The origin of the name is unclear, but it likely comes from the Arabic phrase Sa'd al Humam meaning "lucky star of the hero."

Sadalbari (μ Pegasi) is a yellow giant star about 113 light years from Earth and is about 9 times the size of the Sun. Its name comes from the Arabic phrase saʿd al-bāriʿ meaning "the lucky star of the splendid one."

ι Pegasi is a binary star system about 39 light years away. The primary is a yellow-white star about the mass of the Sun but 1.5 times the size.

λ Pegasi is a yellow giant star about 365 light years away. It is about 1.5 times the mass of the Sun, but over 28 times the size of the Sun.

Next up are the few stars in Andromeda, in order of brightness:

Alpheratz (α Andromedae) is a binary star system that forms the upper left corner of the Great Square. The primary is a blue-white star with about 3.5 times the mass of the Sun. The entire system is located about 97 light years from Earth. Its name comes from the Arabic phrase surrat al-faras meaning "navel of the horse".

Mirach (β Andromedae) is a red giant star about 200 light years from Earth. It is only about 2.5 times as massive as the Sun, but has swelled to over 85 times that of the Sun. Its name comes from the Arabic word mīzar meaning "girdle".

δ Andromedae is a triple star system about 105 light years from Earth. The primary is a orange giant star about the mass of the Sun, but about 13 times the size.

μ Andromedae is a blue-white star about 130 light years from Earth. It is about twice the mass and three times the size of the Sun.

ν Andromedae is a binary star system about 620 light years from Earth and appears very close to the Andromeda Galaxy on the sky. The primary is a blue star about six times as massive as the Sun.

Finally, two stars in Pisces:

ν Piscium is a binary star system about 365 light years away. The primary is an orange giant star about 1.6 times the mass of the Sun with almost 35 times the size.

τ Piscium is an orange giant star about 169 light years away. It is slightly more massive than the Sun, but 10 times the size.

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Arp 286: Trio in Virgo

Credits: CHART32 Team, Johannes Schedler

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Distant World.

Twitter / Instagram / Gumroad / Patreon  

KnownOrigin / SuperRare / OBJKT / Zedge 

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Dwarf Galaxy Holmberg IX by Hubble Heritage

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Blue Rosette © Tommy Lease

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Illusion and Evolution in Galaxy Cluster Abell 2667

Credits: NASA, ESA, Jean-Paul Kneib, Laboratoire d�Astrophysique de Marseille, et al.

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NGC 3147, Galaxy Rose

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M33 - The Triangulum Galaxy

62x30s 6400iso

This is the second closest major galaxy to us after Andromeda and is about 62'x37' in the constellation of Triangulum, about 2.73mly away

Sorry for taking so long to post this! This is the last of the 6400iso shots I'm doing, the next target is gonna be at 800 and I've been out in the cold the last three nights, including while I type this, getting 120s subs and I should end up with at least 140 of them, depending on how long my battery holds out.

As for this shot though, it was a bit of trouble because I had to wait a while for it to be high enough. In fact that's why I shot Andromeda in the first place, I wasn't planning to do so originally but had to kill time. Again I managed to get most of the noise out with careful stretching but the red banding is still pretty awful. I still learned a lot while capturing this gorgeous galaxy!

We've had some very clear skies this week so I'm not wanting a single night. After my current target, I'm debating between retrying the north American nebula with my new knowledge, or finding a new target. Unfortunately most of the sky is blocked off from where I usually am, which is why I've done a lot in that small section from cygnus to triangulum so far. Suggestions for large targets are very welcome!

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Orion Nebula, 27th December 2022.

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N44 Superbubble

N44 is a large, bright region of ionized gas located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.

It is often referred to as a "superbubble" because it is formed by the combined effects of stellar winds and supernova explosions from massive stars.

These processes create a large cavity in the surrounding interstellar medium, leading to the characteristic bubble shape.

The N44 superbubble is notable for its complex structure and the presence of young, hot stars, as well as regions of active star formation.

Credits: NASA, ESA, V. Ksoll and D. Gouliermis (Universität Heidelberg), et al.; Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

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Picture taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the spiral galaxy NGC 5668. A galaxy who happens to produce stars really fast, 60% faster then the milky way, a star factory of sorts.

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The heart of Crab Nebula

At the center of the Crab Nebula lies a pulsar, known as the Crab Pulsar (PSR B0531+21), which is a highly magnetized, rotating neutron star.

This pulsar emits beams of electromagnetic radiation, including radio waves, visible light, and X-rays, and is responsible for the nebula's energetic emissions.

The Crab Pulsar rotates approximately 30 times per second and is surrounded by a complex structure of gas and dust that was expelled during the supernova event.

Credits: NASA and ESA Acknowledgment: J. Hester (ASU) and M. Weisskopf (NASA/MSFC)

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The Ghost Nebula

The Ghost Nebula, also known as LBN 762, is a dark nebula located in the constellation Cassiopeia.

It is named for its ghostly appearance in images taken in infrared light, where it appears as a dark silhouette against the backdrop of brighter stars and gas.

Credits: NASA, ESA, and STScI; Acknowledgment: H. Arab (University of Strasbourg)

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