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Revisiting “Thor’s Helmet”
Domey McDomeFace’s days are numbered, I’m afraid! Our property is up for sale, and hopefully its new owner will continue to use it to produce amazing images of their own. Meanwhile, I’m taking advantage of every clear night I can, while we’re still here. Here’s one of my favorite objects: “Thor’s Helmet” or NGC2359. Like…

The “Fish-Head Nebula”
It’s really just a small portion of the Heart Nebula… that kinda looks like a fish. Maybe not the prettiest object in the cosmos, but it reflects a few technical accomplishments for me. About 20 hours of exposure time in total on this. Below I’m presenting it in a false-color “Hubble Palette”, as well as…

Globular Cluster M15
Located about 33,600 light-years away within the constellation Pegasus, Messier 15 is a globular cluster – a tight, ancient ball of stars on the outskirts of our galaxy. The Milky Way is surrounded by many such clusters; this one’s special because it’s known to host a rare intermediate-sized black hole at its center, and it…

Goodness gracious, great balls of… oxygen?
Well, it was certainly born of fire. This is planetary nebula Abell 39, one of the largest spheres in the galaxy… it’s 2.6 light-years across! It really is that color blue. You’re seeing ionized Oxygen gas blown off by the dying star in its center. Look closely for the distant galaxies in the background, including…

Late-night planetary imaging.
Imaging the planets requires completely different techniques and equipment than deep-sky stuff, and it’s something I’m not really good at yet. What matters the most is the seeing conditions – how stable the atmosphere is. A big part of taking good planetary images is just having the perseverance to get out there whenever the seeing…

Horsehead Nebula
The iconic Horsehead Nebula, near Orion’s belt. Shot in narrowband over two evenings.