Category: galaxy

Galaxies are huge collections of stars are moving around a common center.

NGC 4236 (RGB)

NGC 4236 is a barred spiral galaxy in Draco. The central bar is the most prominent feature in this image. It is about 14.5 million light years from Earth. The galaxy has an apparent width about ⅔ the size of the full moon and an apparent height of not quite ¼ the width of the…

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SN2023ixf in Messier 101 (RGB)

On May 20th, a supernova was detected in M100 and on the night of the 21st it was clear in Virginia though wildfire smoke had a major negative effect on transparency. I didn’t think it would be a good night for trying to do detailed, faint imaging but when someone suggested the supernova I thought…

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Messier 99 (LRGB)

Messier 99 is a grand design spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices. Unlike our Milky Way, it does not have a bar structure across the center. It is about 45 million light years away and is part of the large Virgo Cluster of galaxies Its apparent size is fairly small, only around 5 arc minutes in…

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Antennae Galaxies (LRGB)

The Antennae Galaxies (NGC 4038 & 4039) are merging galaxies in Corvus. This is one of the places in the universe where you can see the steps in the gravitational dance all celestial bodies are performing. Granted we can only see this one step and it’s not likely we’ll see any visible change in our…

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