Pete's Amateur Astronomy Web Site

Notes on these images.   Images were acquired with  SBIG ST-10XME or ST-2000XM cameras with a CFW-8A color filter wheel at prime focus (generally binned 2x2).   The 24" R-C at Star Hill, New Mexico, or the 10" or 14" Meade LX-200GPS telescopes at Morristown, NJ, were used to collect these pictures.

Additional images may be viewed by clicking HERE.

M27, the Dumbbell Nebula in Vulpecula.  This bright and colorful nebula is only about 1200 light years distant and so a fair amount of detail is visible. If you look carefully, you will see that the object is probably a sphere formed by expanding shell of gases being ejected by the bluish star in the very center.  Taken at the Star Hill Observatory in October, 2004, with the 24" R-C telescope (f/8).

 This is an LRGB image of the large Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) in Aquarius.  This  nebula is only about 700 light years away, one of the closest planetary nebulas.  It is generally similar in appearance to the Ring Nebula (see below), although far larger when seen from the Earth.  The image was taken in October, 2007, at Star Hill, New Mexico, using a Televue NP101 telescope and SBIG ST-10XME camera.

M57 the Ring Nebula in Lyra.  Single luminance, red, green and blue images were combined for this photo.  Additional fine detail in the gas ring is visible in this image, compared to the one taken from the Morristown site.   The ring and other planetary nebula appear as gray or blue-green objects by eye even through very large telescopes under dark skies.  The reds and yellows you see here can only be detected using long photographic exposures.  This photo was acquired in October, 2004, at the Star Hill Observatory with the 24" R-C telescope (f/8).