U2drvr Photography

IC 342 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Camelopardalis. This galaxy is about 7 million light years away. It is sometimes referred to as the “Hidden Galaxy” because it is very near the Milky Way and is somewhat difficult to observe.

More details here: https://www.astrobin.com/ztoygm/

Messier 45 - The Pleides star cluster. Also known as the seven sisters, this cluster is easily visible to the naked eye and is prominent in mythology from the greeks to the Maori (Matariki), Mayans (Tzab-ek). The Japanese call it the Subaru Cluster and it the basis of the logo of the Subaru Corporation. The faint blue reflection nebula surrounding the cluster is suspected to be the remnants of a supernova. This object is one of our closer neighbors at 380 light years away.

More image details are here: https://www.astrobin.com/pmt277/

NGC 7380 - The Wizard Nebula is in the constellation Cepheus. This active star forming region is about 7200 light years away and 100 light years across.

More image details are here: https://www.astrobin.com/cjkgeo/

Messier 51, the Whirlpool Galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. This galaxy is 28 million light years away and is about 38,000. light years across. It is comparable in size and mass to our own Milky Way.

More image details are here: https://www.astrobin.com/341222/

Messier 16, the Eagle Nebula in the Constellation Serpans Cauda. This cloud of interstellar dust and gas is an active. star forming region and is about 7000 light years away and is about 70x55 light years in size.

More image details are here: https://www.astrobin.com/411822/C

IC 1396 - The Elephant Trunk Nebula in the constellation Cephus. This image is a small portion of the large IC 1396 nebula and is a concentration of interstellar dust and gas that is being ionized by a luminous blue star behind it. This object is about 3000 light years away and is an active star forming region.

More image details here: https://www.astrobin.com/420463/

NGC 4565 - The Needle Galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices. This is an edge on spiral galaxy that is about 40 million light years away.

More image details are here: https://www.astrobin.com/410093/

Messier 13 - The Great Hercules Cluster is a globular cluster in the constellation Hercules. This dense cluster of several hundred thousand stars is about 25,000 light years away and about 145 light years is diameter. It’s age is estimated to be 12 billion years, which makes it nearly as old as the galaxy itself.

More image details are here: https://www.astrobin.com/409034/B/

Messier 33 - The Triangulum Galaxy or Pinwheel Galaxy is the third largest galaxy in the local group, after Andromeda and the Milky Way, and is located in the constellation Triangulum. This galaxy is about 3 million light years away and is about 50,000 light years in diameter, or about half the size of the Milky Way.

More image details are here: https://www.astrobin.com/371720/

Messier 101 - The Pinwheel Galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major. This galaxy is about 27 million light years away and has a diameter of about 170,000 light years, nearly double that of the Milky Way, is one of the largest spiral galaxies known.

More image details are here: https://www.astrobin.com/356192/

Messier 81 and 82- Bode’s Nebula and the Cigar Galaxy are in the constellation Ursa Major and are about 12 million light years away

More image details are here: https://www.astrobin.com/381038/0/

The Horsehead Nebula and Flame Nebula are in the constellation Orion and are about 1600 light years away. The bright star in the image in Alnitak, which is the leftmost star in Orion’s belt. They are part of a huge region of gas and dust in Orion that is a very active star forming area.

More image details are here: https://www.astrobin.com/379809/B/

Messier 100 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices is the brightest member of the Coma-Virgo Galaxy Cluster. M100 is 56 million light years away and has a diameter of 130,000 light years.

More image details are here: https://www.astrobin.com/403414/

Messier 63 - The Sunflower Galaxy is in the constellation Canes Venatici. This galaxy is about 37 million light years away and is 90,000 light years across

More image details are here: https://www.astrobin.com/347785/

NGC 281 - The Pacman Nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia is a cloud of gas and dust that is about 10,000 light years away.

More image details are here: https://www.astrobin.com/367870/

This image contains NGC 5033 and NGC 5005 in the constellation Canes Venatici. NGC 5033 is Seyfert galaxy about 37 million light years away. NGC 5005 is about 70 million light years away. The two galaxies are weakly influencing one another. Also in this image is a tiny fuzzy spot that is PGC 2095155, which is a galaxy 3 Billion light years away and is the most distant object I’ve identified in any of my images.

More image details are here: https://www.astrobin.com/412883/

Messier 104 - The Sombrero Galaxy in the constellation Virgo is about 29 million light years away. This galaxy has an unusually large central bulge and a very bright core. This galaxy has a supermassive black hole at the core that is more than a billion times the mass of our sun.

More image details are here: https://www.astrobin.com/405905/

NGC 7023 - The Iris Nebula is a reflection nebula in the constellation Cepheus. This object is about 1300 light years away and 6 light years across. The center of this nebula is a very hot young star that is illuminating the dust and gas surrounding it.

More image details are here: https://www.astrobin.com/405904/

The Heart Nebula is a large complex of nebulosity located in the constellation Cassiopeia. This nebula is about 7500 light years away. The wide image is about 2/3 of the whole nebula. The cropped image (the heart of the heart) shows details of the open cluster of stars (Melotte 15) that illuminates the nebula.

More image details are here: https://www.astrobin.com/376810/

The Pelican Nebula is a very large emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus. The nebula is about 2000 light years away and 30 light years across. This image is just a small portion of the overall nebula.

More image details are here: https://www.astrobin.com/374307/

NGC 7635 - The Bubble Nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia. This nebula is about 11,000 light years away. The spherical “bubble” is created by the fierce stellar wind of a young, massive, hot star pushing against a surrounding molecular cloud.

More image details are here: https://www.astrobin.com/369028/C/

The Cocoon Nebula is an emission nebula and star cluster located in the constellation Cygnus. This object is about 4000 light years away.

More image details are here: https://www.astrobin.com/364433/

NGC 6888 - The Crescent Nebula is an emission nebula 4700 light years away in the constellation Cygnus. This unusual object is created by a Wolf-Rayet star that is shedding its outer envelope, ejecting the equivalent of the sun’s mass every 10,000 years. This stellar wind is colliding with the slower moving material ejected when the star became a red giant about 400,000 years ago. The resulting collision is creating a shell that is about 25 light years across. The central star is expected to go supernova sometime in the next million years.

More image details are here: https://www.astrobin.com/361970/

Stephan’s Quintet is a group of five faint galaxies in the constellation Pegasus. One of the galaxies is about 39 million light years away and the other 4 are 210-340 million light years away and will probably eventually merge. This image also contains NGC 7331, which is about 49 million light years away, as well as several other galaxies.

More image details are here: https://www.astrobin.com/360539/

The Western Veil Nebula is the western portion of the Cygnus Loop, the remnants of a supernova explosion that occurred 5000-8000 years ago.

More image details are here: https://www.astrobin.com/359207/

The Eastern Veil Nebula is the eastern portion of the Cygnus Loop, the remnants of a supernova explosion that occurred 5000-8000 years ago.

More image details are here: https://www.astrobin.com/359190/

Messier 109 is a barred spiral galaxy in Ursa Major and is about 84 million light years away.

More image details are here: https://www.astrobin.com/387720/0/

Messier 42 - The Great Orion Nebula. This one of the brightest nebulas in the sky and can bee seen with the naked eye. It is a region of massive star formation that is 1350 light years away and is about 24 light years across. It is a small part of the much larger Orion Molecular Complex.

The Leo Triplet is a group of 3 galaxies consisting of M65, M66, and NGC 3628 in the constellation Leo. All three galaxies are about 35 million light years away and are interacting gravitationally with each other.

A cluster of dozens of galaxies in the constellation Perseus.

Markarian’s Chain is a cluster of galaxies in the core of the much larger Virgo cluster and includes M84, M86, and a couple of dozen other galaxies.

A wide shot of the Milky Way with the Eagle Nebula in the center.

These images were taken during the great solar eclipse on August 21, 2017 from Madras, Oregon.