CCD imagery of the heavens

A nearby group of nine galaxies is dominated by the Northern Pinwheel, also known as M101. This enormous spiraling collection of stars, gas and, dust is located about 27 million light-years from Earth and spans over 170 thousand light-years from one side to the other. I captured this 16-hour exposure photograph over a two-year period through my 20-inch Ritchey-Chretien telescope and an 11-megapixel camera.

NGC 2903 is a barred spiral galaxy located about 25 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Leo. About two-thirds of all spiral galaxies have similar bright structures running through their central region, including our Milky Way. Scientists think a lateral density waves sweeping outward from the galactic core causes the bar. I captured this nearly 21-hour exposure over a two-week period through my 20-inch Ritchey-Chretien telescope and an 11-megapixel camera.

This picture depicts a place 1,500 lights-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Orion. It features a nearby star factory called the Foxface Nebula — also known as NGC 1788. Waves of stellar radiation pouring out from newly formed stars hidden within the dark central globule disturb and illuminate the surrounding nebula. I captured this 20-hour exposure over a two-week period through my 20-inch Ritchey-Chretien telescope and an 11-megapixel camera.

The Horsehead Nebula is located in the constellation Orion, slightly below the leftmost star of the three that form the Hunter's belt. It is part of a vast molecular cloud of dust and gas that extends throughout the entire constellation. The red coloration is the result of glowing hydrogen gas located primarily behind the formation. I captured this 17-hour exposure over a three-month period through my 20-inch Ritchey-Chretien telescope and an 11-megapixel camera.

Located in the southern constellation Sculptor, NGC 253 is the brightest member of the Sculptor Group of nearby galaxies, the closest to our own Local Group. It's also known as the Silver Dollar Galaxy because in resembles a coin when viewed through binoculars on clear, dark nights. Located about 10 million light-years from Earth, it displays dense parallel dust lanes and hundreds of prominent dust lanes running perpendicular to the galactic plane. They indicate areas of vigorous star formation, making it a good example of what astronomers call a starburst galaxy. I captured this 10-hour exposure over a five-week period through my 20-inch Ritchey-Chretien telescope and an 11-megapixel camera.

Located about 12 million light-years from Earth, M81 has been the subject of many studies searching for and analyzing evidence of strong interactions with its neighboring galaxies. In 1965, Halton Arp detected an unusual looping feature near M81 while examining photographic plates produced with the 48-inch Schmidt on Mount Palomar. Traditionally, Arp’s Loop has been interpreted as a tail resulting from the tidal interaction between M81 and nearby M82. However, I participated in recent research that concluded that Arp's Loop is an optically bright concentration of Milky Way galactic cirrus that is coincidentally located along our line of sight to M81. I captured this 23-hour exposure over a one-week period through my 20-inch Ritchey-Chretien telescope and a 16-megapixel camera.

Located about 37 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici, NGC 5033 displays evidence of major activity driven, in part, by two supermassive black holes located in its central region. Scientists suspect that the second black hole was acquired sometime in the past when NGC 5033 survived a merger with another galaxy. I captured this 23-hour exposure over a nine-week period through my 20-inch Ritchey-Chretien telescope and an 11-megapixel camera.

M106 is located in the northern constellation Canes Venatici approximately 21 million light-years from Earth. Since the early 1960s, this galaxy has been known to exhibit an extra pair of arms, located between the spiral arms. Astronomers now believe that the extra arms, seen here tinted red, are caused by high-energy jets emanating from the galaxy's active 40-million-solar-mass central supermassive black hole. I captured this 37-hour exposure over a two-month period through my 20-inch Ritchey-Chretien telescope and a 16-megapixel camera.

Interstellar dust has several optical properties. For example, this image of the Trifid Nebula (M20) displays three types of nebulae. The large blue patch that stretches across the upper portion of this picture is called a reflection nebula. It's illuminated by cosmic dust scattering light from bright new stars that were formed nearby. Below the reflection nebula, the gas at the Trifid’s core is heated by hundreds of brilliant young stars, causing it to emit red light just as hot neon gas glows red-orange in illuminated signs all over the world. The dark veins of gases and dust that crisscross the Trifid are absorption nebulae because of their light-obscuring effects. I captured this 12-hour exposure over a two-month period through my 20-inch Ritchey-Chretien telescope and a 16-megapixel camera.

M63 in the constellation Canes Venatici is one of the northern skies most striking spiral galaxies. Also known as the Sunflower Galaxy, M63 is located about 35 million light-years from Earth. I participated in recent studies that revealed the existence of a very faint, giant looping stellar stream from a disrupted dwarf satellite galaxy that was subsequently accreted by M63 billions of years in the past. I captured this nearly 11-hour exposure over a three-month period through my 20-inch Ritchey-Chretien telescope and an 11-megapixel camera.

Stars, dust, and gas combine to create an interstellar industrial zone of astronomical proportions. M8, also known as the Lagoon Nebula, is a place where stars and planets are fabricated by the force of gravity. Over millions of years, the persistent tug of gravity nudges interstellar material into vast clouds that eventually give rise to bright new suns. Our Sun and Earth formed under similar conditions in a long since vanished stellar nursery. This six-panel 76-megapixel mosaic image stretches over 50 light-years and captures a region located about 5,000 light-years distant towards the southern constellation Sagittarius. I captured this 45-hour exposure over a three-month period through my 20-inch Ritchey-Chretien telescope and a 16-megapixel camera.

Space is an ocean populated with stellar-sized inhabitants engulfed by our most profound mysteries. About 25 million light-years from Earth, toward the northern constellation Canes Venatici, the 140-thousand-light-year-diameter Whale Galaxy (NGC 4631) plies the cosmic sea like a leviathan seen in profile. I captured this nearly 24-hour exposure over a three-week period through my 20-inch Ritchey-Chretien telescope and a 16-megapixel camera.

The Whirlpool Galaxy lies about 23 million light-years from Earth toward the northern constellation Canes Venatici. Actually a pair of galaxies locked in a gravitational embrace, the large spiral's structure resulted when the smaller companion came from behind and passed through its disk. As recently as 50 to 100 million years ago, a subsequent disk passage returned the smaller companion to slightly behind the larger spiral where we see it today. This stellar system produced two supernovae between 2005 and 2011. I captured this 14-hour exposure over a one-month period through my 20-inch Ritchey-Chretien telescope and a 16-megapixel camera.

Similarly sized to the Large Magellanic Cloud, NGC 4449 is located about 12.5 million light-years from away toward the constellation Canes Vinitici. The galaxy is the site of intensive stellar formation and was the first dwarf star system identified to have a star stream of its own by an international team of astronomers with whom I collaborate. I captured this 30-hour exposure over a nine-week period through my 20-inch Ritchey-Chretien telescope and a 16-megapixel camera.

The Perseus Galaxy Cluster contains about 500 galaxies located approximately 250 million light-years from Earth toward the northern constellation Perseus. Viewed through a curtain of stars shining in our home galaxy, this picture spans about 1.5 million light-years. The gravity exerted by the luminous parts of a galaxy cluster is insufficient to hold the cluster together. Thus, scientists have concluded that the missing adhesive must be dark matter. Red-tinted jets expand from the heart of NGC 1275, an active galaxy whose supermassive central black hole feeds on other nearby star systems. I captured this 31-hour exposure over a two-week period through my 20-inch Ritchey-Chretien telescope and an 11-megapixel camera.

A familiar subject for both visual observers and astrophotographers, NGC 891 can be glimpsed through small telescopes prior to midnight by looking toward the constellation Andromeda during the northern late fall and winter seasons. NGC 891 is an iconic example of a galaxy seen edge on from our planet's perspective. The spiral galaxy spans about 100 thousand light-years and is approximately 30 million light-years distant. I captured this 35.5-hour exposure over a five-week period through my 20-inch Ritchey-Chretien telescope and a 16-megapixel camera.

Viewed face on, as it appeared about 30 million years ago, M74 is considered one of the most photogenic spiral galaxies in the sky. The scale of this galaxy is enormous — it takes light an estimated 95,000 years to cross from one side to the other. The galaxy is rich in young blue stars and glowing red regions of dust and molecular hydrogen, where new stars are being created. I captured this nearly 9-hour exposure over a three-week period through my 20-inch Ritchey-Chretien telescope and an 11-megapixel camera.