Astrophotography Gallery

Bode’s Nebula is not a nebula at all but is actually a beautiful spiral galaxy within the constellation Ursa Major. The galaxy was discovered in 1774 by Johann Elert Bode, a German astronomer. While it was initially described as a “nebulous patch”, it was soon found to be a galaxy. It is a close neighbor, at 12 million light years from Earth. Bode’s Nebula is estimated to have about 250 billion stars – about the same number of stars as our own Milky Way. It’s a spiral galaxy with a central bulge of stars and arms of stars, dust and gases. Bode’s Nebula is one of a group of 34 galaxies in the Messier 81 Galaxy Group. Galaxy M 82 is a nearby galaxy and is often imaged with M 81.

Pisces - Feb 19 - Mar 20. The spiral Pinwheel Galaxy is between 20 and 27 million light years from us in the constellation Pisces. That means that the light we see was emitted over 20 million years ago and took that long (at the speed of light!) to travel to Earth. The Pinwheel Galaxy is a cluster of around a trillion stars held together by gravity. It’s a spiral galaxy with a central bulge of stars and arms of stars, dust and gases. The entire galaxy is rotating together. Hotter stars appear white or blue, while cooler stars appear red or brown.