NGC 6992 - Veil Nebula

NGC 6992 is part of the larger Veil Nebula, a supernova remnant in Cygnus. This LRGB image was taken by Richard Berry, a CCD imaging pioneer and co-author of The Handbook of Astronomical Image Processing, with a QSI 532ws camera through an 8" f/4 Vixen Newtonian with a Paracorr. Total exposure time was just 50 minutes using 60-second unguided sub-exposures -- 20 luminance images and 10 each RGB through Astronomik filters. Click the image at right to see the full-size image.

Richard Berry has written or co-authored numerous astronomy books including, Build Your Own Telescope, and Discover the Stars. Richard also was a former Editor of Astronomy magazine and helped popularize amateur CCD astronomy in the 1990's with The CCD Camera Cookbook.

M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy

M51 is probably the best known and most photographed example of interacting galaxies. The pair of galaxies in Canes Venatici were originally described by Charles Messier in 1773 and are estimated to be 37 million light years away.

This image of M51 was taken by Alan Smallbone with his QSI 520wsi camera on a Vixen VC200L at f/6.3. Total exposure time was 270 minutes using 10-minute subexposures. The image is a combination of 9 luminance frames and 6 each through Astronomik red, green and blue filters.

There are several small galaxies visible around M51. Click on the image to the right to view the full-size image.

NGC 2264 - Christmas Tree Cluster and Cone Nebula

This image is roughly 5 hours of Hydrogen-alpha data added to an earlier RGB image from a single-shot color camera. The Ha data was captured by Bud Guinn with a QSI 532ws camera on an f/2.8 Takahashi Epsilon-180. The Ha data was captured through an Astrodon 6nm Hydrogen Alpha filter. Click the image at right to see a larger image.

VDB142 - Elephant Trunk Nebula

This is a Hydrogen-alpha image of VDB-142 in Cepheus, commonly called the Elephant Trunk Nebula. The image was captured by Alan Smallbone with a QSI 516ws camera on a Vixen R200SS f/4 Newtonian with a Baader coma corrector. Total exposure time was 195 minutes. The image is a combination of 11 5-minute, 5 10-minute and 6 15-minute sub-exposures through an Astronomik 13nm Hydrogen Alpha filter. Click the image at right to see the full-size image..

NGC 4565 - Spiral Galaxy On Edge

From Earth's perspective we see the spiral galaxy NGC 4565 almost directly along its galactic plane. NGC 4565 is in the constellation Coma Berenices in a rich galaxy area of the sky. Click the image to the right to view the full-size image and you'll see several other faint galaxies in the background.

This image was taken by Alan Smallbone with his QSI 520wsi camera on a Vixen VC200L at f/6.4. Total exposure time was just over 6 hours. The image is a combination of 45 6-minute luminance frames and 5x6x6 RGB through Astronomik LRGB filters.

M42 - The Great Orion Nebula

This is an Ha/RGB image of Messier Object 42, the Great Nebula in Orion. It was taken with a QSI 532ws camera by Nik Szymanek, a well-known UK imager, using a Vixen ED115S at f/7.7. Click the image at right for a larger image.

M8 - Lagoon Nebula

This image of Messier Object 8, the Lagoon Nebula, was taken with a QSI 516ws camera attached to an Orion 80ed refractor at f/7.5 by Alan Smallbone. Total exposure time was 168 minutes using 3-minute sub-exposures, 23 luminance images and 11 each through Astronomik Type IIc red, green and blue filters. Click the image at right to see the full-size image.

Messier Object M13

This LRGB image of M13, the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules, was taken with a QSI 516ws camera attached to an Orion 80ed refractor at f/7.5 by Alan Smallbone. Total exposure time was 96 minutes using 3-minute sub-exposures, 8 each through Astronomik Type IIc luminance, red, green and blue filters.

Click on the image to the right and look around the full-sized image at the small galaxies in the background.

Comet 17P/Holmes

The image to the right is Comet 17P/Holmes captured by Richard Berry using a QSI 532ws camera on an 8-inch f/4 Newtonian with a Parrcorr coma corrector. 60-second sub-exposures were used so as not to saturate the nucleus. The color image spans an extremely wide dynamic range with the inner coma being ~1000 times more intense than the blue outer coma.

Roll your mouse over the comet image to see a Larson-Sekanina rotational difference image which reveals jet-like radial structures in the inner coma. The make this image, a master image was rotated about the location of the nucleus to make two new images. One was rotated 2 degrees clockwise and other 2 degrees counter-clockwise. Both were then subtracted from twice the original image. If there were no radial structure, the coma would appear uniform gray, but the technique reveals small brightness differences if they are present. Click the image at right to see the full-sized Larson-Sekanina rotational difference image.

For more comet images and analysis, visit Richard Berry's web site >> .