Astro Images as of April 2011

The below images are my initial batch of Astro Images.  They were taken using a Celestron 11 Inch telescope, a Hyperstar and an ATIK 314L CCD Camera.  They have not yet been touched up with Photoshop.

M42.  Orion Nebula.  An active stellar nursery in the sword of Orion.  1,600 Light Years (LY)
                  
                                   
M1.  Crab Nebula.  A remnant of a supernova in 1054 AD.  6,300 LY

 M13.  Hercules Cluster in the Hercules Constellation.  A Globular cluster of very old stars in the Milky Way.  The light around the cluster is from Tucson light polution.

M27.  Dumbbell Nebula.  A Planetary nebula with diameter of ~ 2 LY.  900 LY distance from Earth.

M31.  Andromeda Galaxy.  Our largest neighbor to the Milky Way.  2.2M LY distance.

M51.  Whirlpool Galaxy.  You can see the galaxy interacting with a nearby smaller galaxy (NGC 5195).  M51 is about 35M (million) LY from Earth.

M78.  Reflection Nebula.  Located in the constallation of Orion.  1,600 LY distance.

M81.  Bodes Galaxy.  A beautiful face-on Spiral Galaxy.  7M LY distance.

M104.  Sombrero Galaxy.  Dust lanes cut the galaxy in half giving it a look of a Sombrero.  40M LY distance.  Diameter of 105,000 LY.

NGC 253.  Sculptor Galaxy (in constellation Sculptor).  ~ 11M LY distance.
 

NGC457.  Owl Cluster (in center).  Picture the two bright stars as the eyes with the body below and wings stretched out from each side.  An open star cluster in the constellation Cassiopeia.  7,900 LY distance.

NGC 884 / 869.  Double Cluster in constellation Perseus.  7,600 LY distance.

NGC 2024.  Flame Nebula in constellation Orion.  ~ 1,000 LY distance.