M 63
Lying roughly 27 million light-years away in Canes Venatici, M63 takes its popular name from the resemblance of its loosely wound, feathery spiral arms to the layered petals of a sunflower. Rather than a grand-design structure, its arms are patchy and discontinuous - the hallmark…
NGC 281
NGC 281, the Pacman Nebula, is an expansive star-forming region in Cassiopeia, roughly 9,500 light-years away. Its name comes from the distinctive shape visible in broadband light - an open mouth reminiscent of the arcade character. The nebula glows under the influence of the…
moon
At roughly 20% illumination, the waxing crescent reveals the Moon at its most dramatic. The terminator - the dividing line between lunar day and night - runs sharply across the northern disc, casting every crater rim and mountain wall into hard raking light. The surface stops…
NGC 3682
Some 35 million light-years away in the constellation Leo lies one of the spring sky's most iconic galaxy groups: the Leo Triplet, also known as the M66 Group. Three large spiral galaxies - M65, M66, and NGC 3628 - are gravitationally bound to one another, and the evidence of…
M 106
Messier 106 is no ordinary spiral galaxy. At 23.7 million light-years in the constellation Canes Venatici, a Seyfert II nucleus harbors a central black hole of roughly 36 million solar masses - actively consuming matter and releasing enough energy to deform the galaxy's own…
Sh2-171
Sharpless 171 is one of the most fascinating star-forming regions in the northern sky - a sprawling H II emission nebula in the constellation Cepheus, known together with its surrounding complex as NGC 7822, and nicknamed the "Question Mark Nebula" for its distinctive shape. The…
LDN 1235
LDN 1235 - better known as the Shark Nebula - is one of those targets that rewards patience more than aperture. In this new capture, the “shark” emerges from the crowded star fields of Cepheus as a broad, smoky silhouette: not a glowing emission nebula, but a dense interstellar…
NGC 2174
NGC 2175, better known as the Monkey Head Nebula, is a beautiful emission nebula and open star cluster in the constellation Orion. The object sits in the larger Sh2-252 complex (closely tied to the designation NGC 2174) and lies roughly 6.400 light-years from Earth - a distant,…
Sh2-229
Sh2-229, better known as the Flaming Star Nebula or IC 405, is a striking emission and reflection nebula located in the constellation Auriga. At a distance of roughly 1,500 light-years, this cosmic cloud spans several light-years and is shaped by intense ultraviolet radiation and…
Sh2-155
Sh2-155, commonly known as the Cave Nebula, is an active star-forming region located in the constellation Cepheus, at a distance of approximately 2,400 light-years. It lies on the ionized edge of the Cepheus B molecular cloud, within the larger Cepheus molecular cloud complex,…