Summer of Astrophotos

With school (both work and study) back upon me, my observation time shifts back to scientific imaging. The past month though I had some time to take some "pretty picture" astrophotos. One is from the WCO and the rest are from my first trip to the SSSP. Photos below the cut, click on the photos for larger versions.

The first is M29, often called the "cooling tower" cluster. This is an open cluster in the constellation Cygnus, a group of stars that were formed together and are starting to spread out into the galaxy. This was taken with my 127mm Mak from the WCO

Next up is M33, a spiral galaxy in our galactic neighbourhood called the Local Group. It is located in the constellation of Triangulum and is about 2.3 million light years away. Taken with my 127mm Mak from the SSSP.

Another spiral galaxy, M101. This is further away than M33 at about 20 million light years distant. This means that since it looks about the same size in the sky, it is much larger than M33. Taken with my 127mm Mak from the SSSP.

Finally a small elliptical galaxy, M110. This is a satellite galaxy of the spiral galaxy M31, the Great Andromeda galaxy, making it a member of our Local Group. Taken with my 127mm Mak from the SSSP.