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Messier 106 - actually discovered by Charles Messier’s observing assistant, Pierre Méchain in 1781. It’s located 24 million LYs from Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici. Its relatively bright apparent magnitude of 9.1 means it can be spotted with a small telescope but I took this with an 8 inch SCT. Just 2 hours of cloud dodging so unfortunately not enough opportunity to gather Hydrogen Alpha.

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Located at an approximate distance of 46.5 million Light Years in the northern constellation of Draco (the Dragon) it has an apparent magnitude of 11.1. It is also known as the Knife Edge Galaxy and listed as NGC 5907 in the New General Catalogue. The fainter western part of the galaxy is catalogued as NGC 5906.

The Splinter Galaxy appears edge-on. It has an angular size of 12.7 by 1.4 arcminutes, corresponding to a physical diameter of around 173,400 light-years.

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Not quite fitting within the field of view of my 61mm refractor, using the square sensor of the 533MC Pro camera, the Heart Nebula is an emission nebula around 7,500 LY distant in the constellation Cassiopeia. The nebula is part of a large star-forming complex in the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way.

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Another perspective on the Pacman Nebula, photographed using a 360mm Zenithstar 61 II refractor. The nebula sits at a distance of 9,200 Light Years. 18 x 4 minute exposures plus calibration frames.

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The Shrimp Nebula is a planetary nebula located more than 2,000 Light Years away in the northern constellation Cassiopeia. It's catalogued as Sharpless 188 (Sh2-188) in the Sharpless catalogue of H II regions and sometimes also called the Dolphin Nebula. The evolved nebula has an estimated age of 22,500 years.

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SH2-157 The Lobster Claw Nebula - an emission nebula at 11 Light Years in Cassiopeia. Zenithstar 61 II ( 360mm FL ) 533MC Pro. 50x180 Second exposures plus calibrations.

It's primarily composed of hydrogen and is notable for its bright red and orange regions, which are areas of ionised gas.

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I captured this by the light of a 93% Waxing Gibbous moon. Never let to be said that you can't shoot a broadband target with a bright moon. NGC 4631 the Whale Galaxy - an edge on spiral at 25 million LYs in Canes Venatici. It's similar in size to our own Milky Way. 'Above' is the companion galaxy NGC 4627 which is a small elliptical. Just an hour's worth of exposures plus calibrations frames.

Celestron Edge HD8 with .7 reducer, ZWO 533MC Pro camera.

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Messier 27 The Dumbbell Nebula. A planetary nebula (nebulosity surrounding a white dwarf) in the constellation Vulpecula, at a distance of about 1360 Light Years. It was the first such nebula to be discovered, by Charles Messier in 1764. Just a quick grab before the clouds spoiled the fun.

Edge HD 8 (at native 2032mm focal length), ZWO 533MC Pro camera.

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Messier 76 Little Dumbbell Nebula. is a planetary nebula in the northern constellation of Perseus. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780 and included in Charles Messier's catalog of comet-like objects as number 76. It was first classified as a planetary nebula in 1918 by the astronomer Heber Doust Curtis. This was a very small target, even for my long focal length telescope (2032mm)

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NGC 2264 Open Cluster, the Christmas Tree Nebula and Cone Nebula amidst the spectacular Emission and Reflection Nebulae in Monoceros, roughly 2,300 Light Years from us. Zenithstar 61 II at 360mm. 533MC Pro. 25 x 5 minute exposures plus calibrations

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The famous Horse Head Nebula deep in Orion (designation IC434). I'd intended to gather more data but as often happens, everyday life got in the way. A narrowband image isolating Hydrogen Alpha and Oxygen III. The dark cloud of dust and gas is a Molecular Cloud Complex where star formation is taking place.

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IC410 the Tadpole Nebula - an H II region located approximately 12,400 light-years away in Auriga. It’s associated with the young open star cluster NGC 1893.

Captured with a 360mm Zenithstar 61 refractor, and ZWO 533MC Pro camera. 90 minutes of exposures processed in Siril.

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A wide-field view of Messier 33 the Triangulum Galaxy in the constellation of ... Triangulum captured at 360mm with my small doublet refractor. The light from this spiral galaxy took nearly 3 million years to reach my camera but despite this it is known as the smallest one of the Local Group of galaxies.

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Triangulum Galaxy captured at 2032mm with an 8" (200mm) SCT. Distance - just under 3 million Light Years. It has a diameter of 60,000 LYs and with a low surface brightness it's a notoriously tricky object to observe and capture.

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This one was quite a challenge. Messier 74 - a low surface brightness but large spiral galaxy which is face-on to us in the equatorial constellation Pisces. It's about 32 million Light Years away.

The galaxy contains two clearly defined spiral arms and is therefore used as an archetypal example of a grand design spiral galaxy. Its low surface brightness makes it a difficult Messier object to observe and image.

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This stellar nursery lies at a distance of around 6,400 Light Years.

30 x 300 Secs exposures plus calibrations, using my small William Optics Zenithstar 61 mm refractor at a focal length of 360mm and the ZWO 533MC Pro cooled camera. The image was captured using the Optolong L-eXtreme narrowband Ha/OIII filter.

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Messier 57 The Ring Nebula - a planetary nebula in the northern constellation of Lyra. It's a very small object even in a telescope in excess of 2000 mm focal length. Such a nebula is formed when a star, during the last stages of its evolution before becoming a white dwarf, expels a vast luminous envelope of ionised gas into the surrounding interstellar space.

20x3 minute exposures. 8" (203mm) aperture Schmitt Cassegrain telescope and a Peltier cooled astronomy camera (ZWO 533MC Pro).

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Dark Nebula LDN 1369 or Melotte 15: the Wizard's Spire at the heart of the Heart Nebula, located in the Perseus Arm of the galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. It's a a sinuous mass of interstellar material comprised of dust which obscures the light from behind, hence the designation of Dark Nebula.

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Messier 42 the Orion Nebula is a large but tricky subject. For this image I took 3 sets of exposures, each set being: 10x30 Secs, 20x60 Secs and 20x180 Secs respectively.

I then blended the resultant stacks to balance the exposure between the extremely bright Trapezium area and the other areas of the nebula.

I used my 360mm Zenithstar II refractor to capture the wide field of view.

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Hydrogen Alpha and Oxygen III emission lines from Supernova remnant the Eastern Veil Nebula some 2,400 Light Years distant in the constellation of Cygnus.

Just a short run totalling 30 minutes of unguided exposures before the clouds encroached.

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Messier 31 the Andromeda Galaxy never fails to impress. The companion galaxies are M110 and dwarf elliptical galaxy M32 both lying at a similar distance to Andromeda. The latest estimates put the number of stars in M31 at 1 trillion, occupying a space 22,000 light years across. It’s more than double the size of our own galaxy but the star distribution is less dense.

Andromeda is on such a trajectory that one day, around 5 billion years from now it will merge with our own galaxy, but the human race will be long gone by then. It's moving towards us at a speed of around 110 kilometres per second (68 miles per second) 40x3 minute exposures using my little Zenithstar 61 doublet refractor at 360mm and the ZWO 533MC Pro Peltier cooled astronomy camera.

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This flocculent galaxy - a type of spiral without well defined spiral arms - is a beautiful photographic subject.

Discovered in 1779 by the French astronomer Pierre Méchain, it was the first of 24 objects that Méchain would contribute to Charles Messier’s catalog.

The galaxy is located roughly 27 million Light Years from Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici. It has an apparent magnitude of 9.3 and appears as a faint patch of light in small telescopes.

The best time to observe M63 is during May. It took my large 2032mm SCT to capture this image. 1 hour of 3 minute exposures using a City Light Pollution filter to aid seeing.

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Galaxy Cluster - Stephan's Quintet. It's named after Édouard Stephan, the French astronomer who discovered the visual grouping in 1877. Together, the five galaxies are also known as the Hickson Compact Group 92 (HCG 92). Although called a “quintet,” only four of the galaxies are truly close together and caught up in a cosmic dance.

The fifth and leftmost galaxy, NGC 7320, is well in the foreground compared with the other four, residing at 40 million light-years from Earth while the other four galaxies (NGC 7317, NGC 7318A, NGC 7318B, and NGC 7319) are about 290 million light-years away.

Edge HD 8 reduced to 1422mm. 40x3 minute exposures plus calibrations. ZWO 533MC Pro camera.

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NGC 4498 The Cocoon Galaxy and its smaller 'companion' NGC 4485 in Canes Venatici. These two interacting galaxies are about 45 million Light Years away (LYs) and have already had their closest approach and are speeding away from each other, separated by 24,000 LYs.

Both galaxies are thought to have originally been spirals but have been heavily distorted by the tidal forces of the interaction. They're collectively known as Arp 269. Just one hour capture with my 8" (203mm) aperture SCT (Edge 8HD reduced to a focal length of 1422mm.

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NGC 3953 - a barred spiral in Ursa Major. The galaxy exhibits an inner ring structure that encircles the bar. Roughly 54 million LYs distant, it's a member of the M109 Group - a large group of galaxies located within the constellation Ursa Major that contains over 50 galaxies.

40 stacked images each of 2 minutes duration. Captured using an 8 inch (203mm) aperture Schmitt Cassegrain telescope at 2032mm focal length.

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NGC 3628 the Hamburger Galaxy; an unbarred spiral galaxy located in the constellation of Leo. The galaxy is about 100,000 Light Years across and occupies an area of 15 by 3.6 arcminutes of the apparent sky.

Three hours of exposures, each of 3 minutes duration captured some fine detail using the long focal length Edge HD 8 SCT.

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Early March sees the opening of Galaxy Season, lasting until about mid-May. It presents a window of opportunity for astronomers to photograph a wide variety of galaxies at their best.

Messier 82 the Cigar Galaxy is close to Ursa Major and is a starburst galaxy approximately 12 million Light Years away. It is about five times more luminous than the whole of our Milky Way and has a centre one hundred times more luminous than our galaxy's centre.

The natural choice for these immensely distant objects is the high focal length of a Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope (SCT) at 2032mm.

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NGC 1499 the California Nebula at a distance of around 1,000 Light Years (LYs) and 100 LYs in length. It spans an area of the sky equivalent to approx 5 full moons from our perspective.

It’s a vast hydrogen gas cloud lying in the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way. It's so called due to its similarity in outline to the State of California.

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NGC 7000 / Caldwell 20 A small segment known as 'The Wall' of the North America Nebula captured in Hydrogen Alpha and Oxygen III and rendered in the Hubble Palette using the Schmitt Cassegrain telescope optically reduced to 1422mm. Just 15x4 minute stacked exposures.

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Messier 97 / NGC 3587 the Owl Nebula. It is a starburst (planetary) nebula approximately 2,030 Light Years (LYs) distant in Ursa Major. It's estimated age is about 8,000 years and it was formed from the outflow of material from the stellar wind of the central star as it evolved.

A mildly owl-like appearance of the nebula is the result of an inner shell that is not circularly symmetrical, but instead forms a barrel-like structure. Its outer radius is around 0.91 LYs and it's expanding with velocities in the range of 27–39 km/s.

This was a very small and dim object in the telescope and as such proved tricky to capture. 2030mm f7, 30x3 minute stacked exposures.

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American astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard discovered this nebula in the August of 1883, describing it as "a large faint nebula, very diffuse".

I don't agree. It is a bright emission nebula being part of an Hydrogen rich region in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia; part of the Perseus arm of our Milky Way galaxy. It's estimated to lie at around 9,200 Light Years from us. The nebula region is visible in amateur telescopes from dark sky locations, but I photographed it using The 8" Schmitt Cassegrain reduced to 1422mm at f7, stacking 30x3 minute exposures. my field of view (FOV) was insufficient to capture its entire structure, even at this reduced focal length.

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Another cosmic curiosity the Crescent Nebula - a rather curious looking emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, about 5,000 Light Years distant. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1792 and is formed by the fast stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 colliding with and energising the slower moving wind ejected by the star when it became a red giant around 250,000 to 400,000 years ago.

The result of the collision is a shell and two shock waves, one moving outward and one moving inward. The inward moving shock wave heats the stellar wind to X-ray-emitting temperatures. I captured just 30 minutes of 5 minute exposures before the weather thwarted my efforts. The resulting image is nevertheless passable.

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We are probably all familiar with the Orion Nebula situated south of Orion's Belt in the constellation of Orion, and seen as the middle "star" in the "sword" of Orion.

But here I captured the Horse Head and perhaps lesser known 'Claw". The bright star to the left of the image is Alnatak, the star which forms the left hand edge of Orion's belt, in the Northern hemisphere at least.

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This was a colourful but unusual subject to capture. Planetary Nebula Jones-Emberson 1 (PK164+31.1) also known as the Headphone Nebula, is a 14th magnitude Planetary Nebula in the Lynx constellation at a distance of 1,600 Light Years.

It is a Larger Planetary with low surface brightness. The -16.8 magnitude central star is a very blue White Dwarf. I captured it in Narrowband (Hydrogen Alpha and Oxygen III) to bring out the colour and texture using my 8" (203mm) Schmitt Cassegrain telescope and the Peltier cooled ZWO 533MC pro astronomy camera.

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The Iris Nebula NGC 7023 and Caldwell 4 is a bright reflection nebula in the constellation Cepheus lying at a distance of 1,300 Light Years and surrounded by dense and dark interstellar dust. The designation NGC 7023 refers to the open cluster within the larger reflection nebula.

The nebula itself is illuminated by a magnitude +7.4 star. It's one of many nebulae in the night sky with a common name associated with a flower.

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Straddling the boundary between the northern constellations of Cephus and Cygnus, NGC 6946 the Fireworks Galaxy is a face on grand design Spiral with a small bright nucleus at 25 million Light Years. So called because firstly it resembles a familiar Catherine Wheel firework and all also because it is a highly active galaxy due to its prodigious rate of star formation.

2 hours of exposures were sufficient to do this bright object some justice, even on a fairly bright moonlit night. 40x3 minute exposures in broadband (full spectrum light).

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Messier 104, or NGC 4594 The Sombrero Galaxy is known as a peculiar Galaxy, being of an unclear classification. It lies 31.1 million Light years (LYs) from us and is a member of the Virgo group; a series of galaxies strung out from the southern edge of the Virgo Supercluster. It has a diameter of between 94,900 and 105,000 LYs.

It has a bright nucleus, an unusually large central bulge, and a prominent dust lane in its outer disk, which from Earth is viewed almost edge-on. The dark dust lane and the bulge give it the appearance of Sombrero hat, hence its popular name.

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I was feeling something like a kid in a sweet shop with galaxy season in full swing. Checking potential targets, I found myself with a choice of 12 galaxies on the night, all attainable from my location despite the usual obstructions in the landscape. Just a shame there are not more hours of darkness in which to capture them. I chose Messier 64 the Black Eye Galaxy, located about 17 million LYs in the constellation of Coma Berenices.

The galaxy gets its name from the band of dark dust obscuring part of the bright core. The gas in the outer regions of the galaxy is rotating in the opposite direction to the gas and stars in its inner regions, possibly due to a merger with a satellite galaxy over a billion years ago. New stars are forming in the region where the oppositely rotating gases collide. 40x150 Sec exposures, stacked to aggregate the photons captured.

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NGC 891 - a spiral galaxy discovered by William Herschel in 1784. At at an approximate distance of 30 million Light Years (LYs) in the constellation of Andromeda, its diameter is estimated at 100,000 LYs.

The galaxy is oriented towards Earth such that we see it almost exactly edge on. Imaging it presented something of a challenge at this focal length on a very breezy night. Just 12x2 minute exposures using a computer tracked and guided 8 inch (203mm) aperture Cassegrain telescope at 2032mm.

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The Wizard Nebula (NGC 7380) - a young open cluster of stars in the Cepheus constellation, made famous by NASA’s iconic ‘Pillars of Creation’ Hubble image. I haven’t quite achieved that but then again, my imaging rig didn’t cost $16 billion to deploy and use. The nebula spans 25 arcminutes of sky and measures 100 Light Years(LYs) across. Stars within NGC 7380 are 2-4 million years old.

The nebula lies 7,000 LYs from Earth. I captured this spectacular subject using Narrowband filtration in Hydrogen Alpha and Oxygen (OIII), with 44x3 minute tracked and guided exposures using the 8 inch (203mm) Schmitt Cassegrain telescope and the 533MC Pro Peltier cooled astronomy camera.

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Messier 81, Bode’s Galaxy close to Ursa Major. Bode’s is some 12 million Light Years (LYs) distant with a diameter of 90,000 LYs. It is about five times more luminous than the whole of our own Milky Way galaxy and has a centre one hundred times more luminous than our galaxy's centre.

Three hours of data captured with a Celestron Edge HD8 Schmidt Cassegrain telescope at 2032mm Focal Length and a ZWO 533 MC Pro dedicated cooled astronomy camera.

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The Western Veil Nebula in Cygnus, also known as The Witch’s Broom. It’s part of a supernova remnant from a star that was 20 times the size of our sun.

It exploded between 10 and 20 thousand years ago and forms just a minor part of the greater Cygnus Loop. This rendering was produced using "PixelMath' in order to produce a faux Hubble colour palette.

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NGC 7331 ((Caldwell 30) an unbarred spiral galaxy about 44 million Light Years (LYs) away in the constellation Pegasus. It’s the brightest galaxy in the field of a visual grouping known as the NGC 7331 Group of galaxies.

In fact, the other members of the group, NGC 7335, NGC 7336, NGC 7337 and NGC 7340, lie far in the background at distances of approximately 300–350 million LYs. 30x3 minute exposures at 2032 mm using an 8 inch (203mm) aperture, tracked and computer guided Schmitt-Cassegrain telescope.

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Messier 94 the Croc’s Eye Galaxy is an interesting galaxy at 16 million Light Years in Canes Venatici. It has an outer and inner ring. The inner ring is a region of very active star formation, probably triggered by infalling gas from the outer parts of the galaxy.

Unfortunately on this occasion my capture time, coupled with bright moonlight, was insufficient to capture any real hint of the much fainter outer ring; one to return to with longer integration I think.

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NGC 5194 the Whirlpool Galaxy at 31 million Light Years (LYs) distant in the constellation Canes Venatici. It is 60 thousand LYs across. Designated M51 by its discoverer Charles Messier in 1773, the Whirlpool galaxy interacts with a smaller companion galaxy NGC 5195 in a gravitational cosmic dance.

The companion's gravitational influence is triggering fresh star formation in the Whirlpool. Captured at 2032mm. 50x3 minute exposures, both in Narrowband (Hydrogen Alpha and Oxygen III) and Ultraviolet and Infrared, in a bid to capture the intricate detail and beauty of these galaxies.

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The Rosette Nebula in the constellation Monoceros. The open cluster NGC 2244 is closely associated with the nebulosity; the stars of the cluster having been formed from the nebula's matter.

I captured this using my small Zenithstar 60mm refractor telescope and a Peltier cooled astronomy camera (ZWO 533MC Pro). Colour rendering is in a faux Hubble Colour pallet.

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Messier 1 / NGC 1952 the Crab Nebula - the shattered remnants of a massive star that ended its life in a supernova explosion. The supernova was noted in the constellation of Taurus by Chinese astronomers in the year 1054. It was deemed a 'guest star' and was so bright that it was visible in the daytime sky for nearly a month.

Given its distance of 6,500 Light Years from Earth, the explosion actually occurred during the Mesolithic but it took the light, travelling at a speed of 186,000 miles (299.3km ) per second, 6,500 years to reach the astronomers of China.

Just under two hours of data imaged at 2030mm focal length in Narrowband (Hydrogen Alpha and Oxygen III).

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NGC 2359 Thor’s Helmet. An emission nebula in Canis Major. It lies about 12,000 Light Years (LYs) distant and is 30 LYs in size. Within the nebula's filamentary gas and dust structures the blue / green colour originates from strong Oxygen atom emissions. The nebula is produced by a massive, hot Wolf-Rayet star emitting a stream of charged particles (stellar wind) that is expanding outwards to produce an interstellar bubble.

This bubble is interacting with molecular clouds nearby, causing the ionising of radiation that gives the nebula its glow. 30x3 minute exposures using a narrowband filter on an 8 inch (203mm) aperture Schmitt Cassegrain telescope with a focal length of 2032mm. Camera was the Peltier Cooled ZWO 533MC Pro.

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NGC 7635 The Bubble Nebula at 7,100 light-years in the constellation of Cassiopeia. Something of a cosmic curiosity, it burns a million times brighter than our sun, with stellar winds that travel at more than four million miles per hour.

The "bubble" is created by that same stellar wind from a massive hot, 8.7 magnitude young central star, SAO 20575. I captured just one hour of data before being thwarted by cloud.

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SH2-274 the Medusa Nebula in the constellation Gemini near the border with Canis Minor. Following its discovery as late as 1955, it was first thought to be a Supernova remnant but was later confirmed as a Planetary Nebula.

I captured it using narrowband filtration in Hydrogen Alpha and Oxygen III (Ha and OIII) over two nights with a total of 40x3 minute exposures using my 8 inch (203mm) aperture, tracked and computer guided Schmitt Cassegrain telescope and a ZWO 533MC Pro Peltier cooled astronomy camera.

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NGC 4216 - a spiral galaxy located near the centre of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies, at 50 million Light Years, complete with the January 2024 supernova (arrowed).

Seen nearly edge-on, it's similar in size to our own galaxy and is one of the largest and brightest spiral galaxies of the Virgo Cluster (brighter than the Andromeda Galaxy).

I was privileged to witness this Supernova for myself through the telescope and captured it for prosperity.

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IC 1795 The Fishhead Nebula in Cassiopeia at just over 6,000 Light Years. The nebula is 3.1 arcminutes across and appears adjacent to the larger and better known Heart Nebula IC 1805.

This mass of Hydrogen was revealed using a Narrowband filter (Hydrogen Alpha and Oxygen III). Exposures were 30 x 180 Seconds.