ASTRONOMY PICTURES
Not many of them. I usually do Variable Stars and Eclipsing Binaries.
Click on an image to see the whole picture.

NGC7331
Galaxy NGC7331. Nucleus overexposed to show the faint outer spiral arms.
The Galaxy is 46,000,000 light years away. It was originally observed by William Herschel in 1784.

NGC7331
Galaxy NGC7331 Negative.
The same image as above, but the reversed image allows the spiral arms to be seen even more clearly.
There are some other galaxies in the picture, can you identify them?
NGC7331
Galaxy NGC7331 again, this time with the nucleus underexposed to show the inner spiral arm region. In this picture you can see a faint inner spiral arm just outside the bright central region.

NGC7331
Another "negative" image which makes those inner arms a little more prominent.
M57, Ring Nebula
M57, the Ring Nebula. I've seen better images, but this one is mine. The ring is caused by a dying star in the middle (faint and hard to see in this picture, if it's there). The star is blowing off the outer layers of its atmosphere. The Sun will do this, about 5 billion years from now, come next Tuesday.
Part of the Veil Nebula
Part of the Veil Nebula in Cygnus. This is a supernova remnant. A massive star blew up 5-10,000 years ago, its expanding gases are visible in the picture because they are ionized when colliding with gas in the interstellar medium. The Sun is not massive enough to explode like this.
Page last updated on 2009 May 30

Copyright © Bob Manske 2009 - 2011