ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY

Some of the most extraordinary things to look at exist hundreds of millions of light-years away — nebulae where stars are being born, galaxies warped by gravity, vast clouds of ionised hydrogen glowing in colours the naked eye will never see. These images were captured from dark rural skies using a Dwarf III smart telescope and a Nikon DSLR, each one the result of hundreds of stacked exposures from many nights.

EASTERN VEIL NEBULA (NGC 6992)

📷 Dwarf III

The Eastern Veil Nebula is a large supernova remnant in the constellation Cygnus. It is an expanding cloud created by the death of an exploded star. Scientists believe that the light from this supernova explosion reached Earth about 5000 years ago.

CYGNUS WALL IN HUBBLE PALETTE (NGC 7000)

📷 Dwarf III

The Cygnus Wall is a turbulent region of star formation, and part of the much larger North America Nebula (NGC 7000). The Wall is about 20 light-years long, or put another way, about 1.3 million times further than the distance between the Earth and Sun!

CYGNUS WALL (NGC 7000)

📷 Dwarf III

Whale GALAXY (NGC 4631)

📷 Dwarf III

NGC 4631 is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici about 30 million light years away from Earth. This galaxy’s slightly distorted wedge shape gives it the appearance of a whale, hence its nickname. NGC 4656 is a highly warped edge-on barred spiral galaxy. This galaxy is sometimes called the Hockey Stick Galaxy or the Crowbar Galaxy.

PINWHEEL GALAXY (M101)

📷 Dwarf III

The Pinwheel Galaxy is a face-on, counterclockwise intermediate spiral galaxy located 21 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781 and was communicated that year to Charles Messier, who verified its position for inclusion in the Messier Catalogue as one of its final entries.

ROSETTA NEBULA (Caldwell 49)

📷 Dwarf III

The Rosette Nebula is an H II region located near one end of a giant molecular cloud in the Monoceros region of the Milky Way Galaxy. The open cluster NGC 2244 is closely associated with the nebulosity, the stars of the cluster having been formed from the nebula’s matter.

ORION NEBULA (M42)

📷 Dwarf III

The Orion Nebula is a diffuse nebula in the Milky Way situated south of Orion’s Belt in the constellation of Orion, and is known as the middle “star” in the “sword” of Orion.

MONKEY HEAD NEBULA (NGC 2174)

📷 Dwarf III

Monkey Head Nebula is an H II emission nebula located in the constellation Orion and is associated with the open star cluster NGC 2175. It was discovered on 6 February 1877 by French astronomer Édouard Stephan. It is located about 6,400 light-years away from Earth. The nebula may have formed through hierarchical collapse.

PELICAN NEBULA (IC 5070)

📷 Dwarf III

The Pelican Nebula is an H II region associated with the North America Nebula in the constellation of Cygnus. The gaseous contortions of this emission nebula bear a resemblance to a pelican, giving rise to its name. The Pelican Nebula is located nearby first magnitude star Deneb, and is divided from its more prominent neighbor, the North America Nebula, by a foreground molecular cloud filled with dark dust.

MILKY WAY GALACTIC CENTRE

📷 Dwarf III

The Milky Way’s spiral arms, particularly the bright core region, are visible from Earth as a dense, glowing band in dark-sky, rural locations. As viewed from Earth, the visible region of the Milky Way’s galactic plane occupies an area of the sky that includes 30 constellations. The Galactic Center lies in the direction of Sagittarius, where the Milky Way is brightest.

LEO TRIPLETT (M65, M66, NGC 3628)

📷 Dwarf III

The Leo Triplet (also known as the M66 Group) is a small group of galaxies about 35 million light-years away in the constellation Leo.

BODE & CIGAR GALAXY (M81 & m82)

📷 Dwarf III

The Cigar Galaxy really is near to Bode’s Galaxy: it’s not a trick of perspective. They’re both about 12 million lightyears from Earth.

Triangulum galaxy (M33)

📷 Dwarf III

The iconic Triangulum Galaxy, M33, is located 3 million lightyears from Earth in the Triangulum constellation, and is a fellow member of our Local Group of galaxies.

andromeda galaxy (M31)

📷 Dwarf III

The Andromeda Galaxy is the closest major galaxy to our home galaxy the Milky Way and is located over 2 million lightyears from Earth.

PLEIADES (M45)

📷 Dwarf III

The Pleiades is probably the most famous open star cluster in the sky, located 440 lightyears away.

SOUL NEBULA (IC 1848)

📷 Dwarf III

The Soul Nebula is a cloud of cosmic gas and dust 150 lightyears wide that’s being illuminated and carved by powerful streams of charged particles emanating from an open cluster of stars.

CRESCENT NEBULA (C27)

📷 Dwarf III

The Crescent Nebula is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, about 5000 light-years away from Earth.

IRIS NEBULA (C4)

📷 Dwarf III

The Iris Nebula is a located 1,400 lightyears away in the Cepheus constellation.This floral cloud of cosmic dust and gas is a reflection nebula, meaning it glows due to the scattering of the light from its central star.

CALIFORNIA NEBULA (NGC 1499)

📷 Dwarf III

California nebula is an emission nebula that looks rather like the US state of California. It is located about 1,000 lightyears away and stretches about 100 lightyears long.

CALIFORNIA NEBULA (NGC 1499)

📷 Nikon DSLR

California nebula is an emission nebula that looks rather like the US state of California. It is located about 1,000 lightyears away and stretches about 100 lightyears long.

ELEPHANT‘S TRUNK NEBULA (IC 1396)

📷 Dwarf III

The Elephant’s Trunk Nebula is over 20 lightyears long, it is a young star cluster embedded within a cloud of glowing, ionised gas in the Cepheus constellation.

HORSEHEAD NEBULA (IC 434)

📷 Nikon DSLR

The Horsehead Nebula is one of the most iconic deep-sky objects. Located in Orion, it’s formed by a finger of dark nebulosity projecting in front of bright emission nebula IC 434. The finger resembles the silhouette of a horse’s head, similar to the side-on profile of a classic knight chess piece.

STAR - TRAIL WITH ISS

📷 Nikon DSLR

A star trail photo that uses long exposure times to capture diurnal circles, the apparent motion of stars in the night sky due to Earth’s rotation. This photo captured while the International Space Station (ISS) crossing the sky.

WIZARD NEBULA

DWARF 3

NGC 7380 is a young open cluster of stars in the northern circumpolar constellation of Cepheus, discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1787. The surrounding emission nebulosity is known colloquially as the Wizard Nebula.

NORTH AMERICAN NEBULA (NGC 7000)

NIKON DSLR

NGC 7000 is known as the North America Nebula due to its similarity in shape to the geographical outline of its namesake continent. It is an emission nebula found in the Cygnus constellation, glowing due to the ionisation of interstellar gas caused by radiation being emitted by hot, young stars.