The Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888) is a +7.40 emission nebula that’s about 5.5 thousand light-years away from us. William Herschel discovered the Crescent Nebula in 1792. The Crescent Nebula is believed to be the remains of gas that once belonged to the bright star, HD 192163, near the center of the image. About 400,000 years […]
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Have You Ever Seen a Globular Cluster? Globular Clusters are tightly packed spheres of hundreds of thousands of stars. The name “globular” comes from the Latin word “globulus” which means a small sphere! The first discovery of a globular cluster is credited to a German astronomer, Johann Ihle. In 1665, he was credited with discovering […]
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This is NGC 4631, the Whale Galaxy. William Herschel discovered NGC 4631 in 1787, but it wasn’t given a name until the 1990s. In a 1995 copy of Interstellarum, it was called “The Herring Galaxy,” but NGC 4631 had already been named “The Whale Galaxy” in “Supernova Search Charts and Handbook,” which was written and […]
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This is the Andromeda Galaxy. It’s the closest large galaxy to the Milky Way. With a visual magnitude of +3.3, you might be able to see it with your naked eye on a very clear, dark night. The earliest known record of it was made by a Persian astronomer in 964 B.C. It also appeared […]
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The eastern skies of February offered some great views of galaxy clusters. The Leo Triplet is one of my favorites: The two galaxies on the right part of the image are M66 on the bottom and M65 above it. M66 has a visual magnitude of +8.91, making it the brightest of the three galaxies. It’s […]
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The Orion Constellation is very well known for its famous Orion Nebula (M42), but there are other fantastic nebulae in Orion. Two of the most popular ones are the Flame Nebula (NGC 2024) and Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33). Both of these nebulae are actually composed of two distinct objects. In each case, there is an […]
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A lot of people went out on the evening of Monday, December 21, to try and get a glimpse of the Great Conjunction of 2020. Most of us on Hatteras Island were disappointed by the incoming clouds, but I was able to get a short period of clear visibility. Unfortunately, Jupiter turned out a little […]
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This picture actually contains three bright nebula. The largest and brightest is the Orion Nebula, M42. Its magnitude is +4.0, which means you can see it with your naked eye! M43 is the small circular nob, (near the center of the image), that appears to be part of M42. It has a magnitude of +9, […]
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November offers great view of Mars! Mars is the fourth planet from the sun. That means it’s between us and Jupiter, but the average distance from Earth to Mars is about 44 million miles, while the distance from Mars to Jupiter is 342 million miles. Mars has a diameter that’s about one half of Earth’s. […]
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Third Place is Often Forgotten! This is the Triangulum Galaxy, M33. It’s the third biggest galaxy in our local group of galaxies. That means it’s the little brother of the Andromeda Galaxy and our own galaxy, the Milky Way. It also means that a lot of star watchers, (myself included), kind of forget about it […]
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