It contains the irregular variable star AE Aurigae, which adds a bluish color . This book discusses the objects in the night sky tonight are large enough, bright enough, and high enough to be photographed for each month of the year. The Virgo Cluster is in prime position for observing and imaging by late March, and it is absolutely filled with galaxies. Posted by. Although it is an easy target to image with an unmodified DSLR camera, you will be able to get much more data if you either attach a, As we mentioned at the beginning of this post, it is with Messier 101 that we started Galactic Hunter! This unbarred spiral galaxy is located in a vast area of black space in the constellation Virgo. M66 is the brightest of the group, at magnitude 8.9, and is located 36 million light-years away from Earth. Astronomers are weird people and they often name things according to their strange ideas. The winter deep-sky targets in the Orion constellation are arguably the best of the Northern Hemisphere. The telescope used to photograph Bodes Galaxy in Ursa Major. This deep-sky object, shining at a magnitude of +6.0, can be found north of the celestial equator. We have imaged many deep-sky objects before that, but this is the one that first appeared in a YouTube Episode. We hope this guide will be a great resource for you for several years to come! Stellarium view of my backyard filtered by galaxies. NGC 3628 (The Hamburger Galaxy) is more similar in distance (35 mly) and magnitude (10.2) to M65 than M66. To locate this object in the sky above, tap on the target icon. A new noteworthy comet has been discovered! Observing it through a telescope will give you a similar view as if you were looking at the Cigar Galaxy (M82). Check it out if you are planning on capturing the two as we talk about several important things to know including how to frame the pair nicely. Pingback: The Night Sky | February 2022 | Winter Constellations | Comet Borrelly | Snow Moon | Late Night Astronomy, Pingback: The Night Sky | March 2022 | How to find the James Webb Space Telescope | Moon, Venus, Mars & Saturn | Late Night Astronomy, Your email address will not be published. Nicknamed the "Owl Nebula" after William Parson's hand drawing after his discovery in 1781, M97 looks like a ball of gas in space with two dark spots representing the eyes of an owl. Messier 63 was Pierre Mchain's first discovery, in 1779! View my complete astrophotography equipment details These are clusters . Constellation:Ursa Major. The two small nearby galaxies are also faint, so make sure to try your best to make them stand out without over-processing NGC 4565. What's in the Sky this Month | March 2023 | High Point Scientific. These same adjustments could be made on each frame before stacking, if you prefer. includes: Thanks, Kenneth. Product Quality: A product that you won't have to buy again or that will last you a long time is an important consideration, especially when it comes to the deep sky objects by . list of hand-picked best ~650 DSOs sorted by name, List of best 650 DSO (const-name) (PDF, 120KB, 11 pages) The star is believed to have gone supernova anytime between 3,000 and 30,000 years ago. As a beginnerastrophotographer, I lacked knowledge of the position of some attractive astronomy targets in the night sky. The core of the galaxy, as well as its companion NGC 5195, can be better observed through small telescopes. The Needle Galaxy is located just 3 degrees away from the North Galactic Pole. The big problem faced by non-professional observers is what to look at - what is visible at a particular time of year. Find out! On the right, you can see Hubble's version of M101, taken in 2009. The Rosette Nebula is mostly made up of Hydrogen Alpha gas, which naturally appears red in photographs. Below you will find the video I created sharing the 8 galaxy season targets mentioned above: I like to use a planetarium software called Stellarium to plan my galaxy season projects. M106 is officially a galaxy that is between "normal" and "barred spiral". Thor's Helmet is a more complex version of the Bubble Nebula and really does look like Thor's Helmet. Every year, I image the Orion Nebula in January or February. Hoping this will help many beginner astrophotographers capture beautiful objects for the beginning of the new year, SPRING - The 15 Best Astrophotography Targets for March, April, and May, Thankfully, the temperature does not get too hot to have an impact on your camera sensor, as Summer usually gives us a lot of trouble with hot pixels and noise if imaging with our uncooled DSLR camera. It is bright enough to be spotted with the naked eye (if the sky is not light-polluted). 7 Spring Astrophotography Targets to Photograph During the Galaxy Season (March, April, May), Fall Astrophotography: The 7 Best Autumn Targets for Beginners, Winter Astrophotography: 5 Best Targets For Beginners, 10 Best Astrophotography Tips for Beginners - Proven and Instant, The Best Astrophotography Telescope for Beginners , Dumbbell Nebula (M27): How to Photograph with a DSLR Camera. I have learned the hard way, which is why I wrote this guide - to help beginners find fantastic astrophotography targets easier and quicker. The calculation is made at 49 North. NGC 4565, or the Needle Galaxy, is one more perfect example of a galaxy seen Edge-on. You can read more about this in our Top 15 targets for Summer post. Messier 22 (NGC 6656, the Sagittarius Cluster) is a globular cluster located in the constellation Sagittarius. In July 2022, two deep-sky objects will pass near the Moon. No joy here all bad this spring so u keep them coming Hi . magnitude, number of stars, page in Uranometria 2000, comments, common name, etc. http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-fid, http://cds.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/Dic-Simbad, Book project: Discovering Deep Sky Objects. Objects in your sky: Deep Sky by Dominic Ford Sky diagram Planets Comets Asteroids Deep Sky Rising/Setting Times Altitude/Time Objects visible on From location Virginia Beach Open clusters M45 (mag 1.3) will become visible around 18:36 (EST), 68 above your south-western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. NGC 4565 was discovered in 1785 by William Herschel and is located in the constellation Coma Berenices. Objects selected for this list: all Messier, Herschel, Caldwell, "SAC's best of NGC" and ~150 additional DSO objects selected by author. NGC 891 galaxy 3. The Whale Galaxy is pretty faint, but like M97, it is a popular target for amateur astrophotographers because it also has a neighbor nearby, the Hockey Stick Galaxy (NGC 4654/4657). Here you will find my entire collection ofastrophotography targets -galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters - thatI have worked on since the beginning of my astrophotography journey. Most named stars, if not surrounded by nebulae, are described in the "Special stars" section ofthe IAU Constellation page. Magnitude:8.9 (M66) Processing your data might be a little bit difficult because of how bright the core of the Needle Galaxy is (similar to Messier 104) and how faint the outer arms are. The reason why it is popular is mainly that, just like Number VII above, it can be photographed with a neighbor! You should be able to get a great final image of it as long as you have the patience to spend 6 or more hours capturing all these dim photons. Medium-sized telescopes will provide a view of individual stars. Depending on where you live, Spring usually starts out very cold but the temperature outside gets much more pleasant around May. Messier 51 can be seen with binoculars quite easily. To get a real accurate color of the sky/DSO you can edit the levels of each channel separately around 30/30/30 for a neutral sky works well. The link : document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Hi, I'm Pawe Biaecki, the author of this site! Thanks! list of hand-picked best ~650 DSOs sorted by constellation and magnitude, List of best 650 DSO (name) (PDF, 120KB, 11 pages) IC 443 is one of the most studied supernova remnants. Join my FREE space newsletter and grab my eBook: "10 Easy Astrophotography Targets for Beginner"! In March, the stars of spring lie eastward. Also, it is one of the four globular clusters to host a planetary nebula. List of best 650 DSO (const-mag) (PDF, 120KB, 11 pages) list of 7000 objects from SAC database sorted by name. I'm an astrophotographer, iOS app software developer (I make iPhone apps), and passionate stargazer. Messier 97 is very small and dim, making it a challenging target for amateur astrophotographers. Let's go over five of our favorite astrophotography objects you can image this month! Three supernovas have been discovered since 1994 from the Whirlpool Galaxy. Would I be better off purchasing a higher end DSLR or a CCD camera? Is there something else? Ring Nebula (M57) 5. You can see this in the picture on the left, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. For Ha images you will only pull out the red channel to use in your RGB-Ha composite. I was anxious to try something and hadnt yet figured out I should perhaps do something with White Balance. Messier 104's supermassive black hole has a mass of more than 1 billion suns. I just got my first telescope last month (Celestron Evolution 9.25) and have been working on the easy stuff so far. Here is a list of the ones that do. After finding the three stars that make up Orions belt, move down until you come across what looks like a patch of gray clouds floating in the sky. The term "deep-sky object" (DSO) is mostly used by amateur astronomers to denote astronomical objects outside the Solar System that are not individual stars. This one is very small (9 x 4 arc-minutes), so it is best suited for telescopes in the 1000mm+ focal length range. The screenshot from Stellarium below shows the view looking east/southeast from my backyard (yes, those are all galaxies). It also has several other galaxies around it, including the companion, The spiral arms of M106 are full of Hydrogen-Alpha, so if you are able to, make sure to add a couple of hours or more with a, Thor's Helmet is a more complex version of the, NGC 2359 spans about 30 light-years in diameter and is located not far from Sirius in the constellation of the great dog, Canis Major. These galaxies are members of the M81 group, with M81 being the largest galaxy in the group overall. The distance between them will be 3.9. The Rosette Nebula can be found in Monoceros, and the cluster of stars can be spotted with binoculars quite easily. Thank you for your compliments. A long total exposure time will of course help, but if you really want the gas to be obvious in your own work, we would recommend adding a couple of hours of exposure using a DSLR Ha Clip-On filter. List includes all Messier, Herschel, Caldwell, SAC's best of NGC, and ~150 additional DSOs. The cluster is best observed from the Southern Hemisphere; stargazers located north of 10N will not be able to see it. Many of these galaxies appear small and featureless from our vantage point on Earth and do not make great astrophotography targets. The list is sorted by constellation and magnitude (sorting by name is also available). I have a Celestron . M81 and M82 are two beautiful galaxies that are easy targets for beginner astrophotographers looking to get two impressive objects for the price of one. This will allow your equipment to acclimate to the outdoor temperature while the sky gets nice and dark for your night out under the stars. Or if I wanted to use a LPF, I would do the custom white balance with the LPF filter in place? Thanks for the kind words, and let me know what you decide:). Jupiter and Venus appeared very close together in the night sky on Wednesday, with the two planets passing each other in what's known as a conjunction. Messier 63 is a spiral galaxy in the faint constellation of Canes Venatici, 37 million light-years away. Although the pair it is not difficult to image, it is not easy to reveal the starburst region of M82. Processing this target might be a little bit tricky because you need to make sure to not make the core too bright or your image will look overexposed. Our full episode about imaging M97 and M108. They are located in the constellation of Leo (obviously), not far from Ursa Major and Virgo. You can see the larger galaxy eating the smaller one in a fiery spin. It is a really faint target with a magnitude of 11.45, but surprisingly, its colors really pop even with an unmodified DSLR camera, so give it a try if you are up for a challenge! Magnitude:10.42 It can be found in the constellation Pavo. 1. go to Simbad : http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-fid, 3. select Output format = ASCII (;-separator for spreadsheet), check file output, 4. on the second column, only check Identifier, Object type (verbose description), Coordinates 1 (ICRS J2000 2000 decimal), Fluxes/Magnitudes (only check V), Angular size, 7. enter the catalogue name (NGC, IC, ACO for Abell, APG for Arp, HCG for Hickson, M for Messier, SN for Supernova, SNR for Supernova remnants, PN for pPlanetary Nebula, LDN for Lynd's Dark Nebula, LBN for Lynd's Bright Nebula), 8. select "A whole catalogue" in the you can choose to query dropdown list, 9. click on Submit ID and wait a few seconds, 10. save the file somewhere on your hardisk and open it with Excel, You canaccessthe fullcatalogues' namesat this link : http://cds.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/Dic-Simbad, Fred, your effort and time are very much appreciated. Now you know all you need about the deep-sky objects that are best seen in July 2022. Please note that NGC 2359 is actually higher in the sky in Winter, but is still available at the beginning of Spring in case you missed it! March marks the end of the cold Winter months and the beginning of Spring! Constellation:Ursa Major. The almost New Moon wont hinder the view. Welcome to the night sky report for March 2023 -- Your guide to the constellations, deep sky objects, planets, and celestial events that are observable during the month. Astrophotography Books Our favorite members of the chain are Markarian's Eyes, staring at you from a distance of 52 million light years. Although it is an easy target to image with an unmodified DSLR camera, you will be able to get much more data if you either attach a DSLR Ha Clip-On filter to your camera or modify it for astrophotography. Kelly Kizer Whitt. We might just use our DSLR camera on a tracker if we get impatient! This is one of the best subjects to try if youre using a telescope with a focal length of 1000mm or less, such as a small refractor. I have been lucky enough to observe M51 through a 20 Dobsonian telescope under dark skies. This target is actually too large for our current set up (, Our photo below was taken with an unmodified Canon DSLR camera and our, The Rosette Nebula is mostly made up of Hydrogen Alpha gas, which naturally appears red in photographs. Designation: M101 Nicknamed the ", The reason why it is popular is mainly that, just like Number VII above, it can be photographed with a neighbor! About the white balance. That added focal length means that accurate guiding is essential to produce a sharp image. If you don't see a popular object listed below, don't worry! The constellation of Corona Borealis hosts many interesting deep-sky objects as well, such as the Abell 2065 galaxy cluster, the Corona Borealis Supercluster, the NGC 6085, and 6086 spiral and elliptical galaxies, or the Abell 2142, 2061, 2067 and 2162 galaxy clusters, among others. M97 also lies in Ursa Major and is very close to another Messier object: M108. NGC 6752 is one of the few globular star clusters that can be seen with the naked eye (away from light-polluted big cities). This video talks about the Great Orion Nebula located in the Orion Constellation. NGC 2359 spans about 30 light-years in diameter and is located not far from Sirius in the constellation of the great dog, Canis Major. The targets listed below are, in our personal opinion, the 15 best deep sky objects to photograph for beginner amateur astrophotographers in Spring. Here at Astro Photons, I share my astrophotography, space, and astronomy knowledge to help beginners make their first steps into their hobbies. This is because M101 has several dwarf companions, including, The famous Leo Triplet group of galaxies consists of 2 Messier objects (, The Sunflower Galaxy is a great target for beginner astrophotographers if you are prepared to spend enough time on it to reveal the faint details in the arms. Do you like my astrophotography targets by month list? You can see a picture of the Eyes on the left, so you can understand why this beautiful pair of galaxies is called "The Eyes". Even though Ive never seen it with the naked eye, this long exposure image I took of the Horsehead nebula shows the incredible beauty of this dark nebula with the flame nebula parked right near it as an added bonus. Fabulous effort Fred - I will be downloading very shortly. This galaxy is bright enough to be seen under the light-polluted sky. If you can put up with the added software and even steeper learning curve, perhaps a CCD at this stage would set you on the right track for your imaging goals well into the future. This opens the door to complete narrowband imaging which means more time and money, but the potential for jaw-dropping images. I am right in the middle of testing a new CCD camera, and just tonight got some decent results. Deep-Sky Wonders, a month-by-month selection of those columns, was published in 1999 and is available from Sky Publishing. For observation planning there is a list sorted by constellation and magnitude. To learn when an object is visible from your location, use the Sky Tonight app. As I learn new and better ways to produce high-quality images, I will update my collection of images taken during galaxy season. It could reach naked-eye visibility by mid-October 2024. Illustrated Messier objects list (PDF, 4.9MB, 7 pages) Amateur astronomers like to target deep-sky objects with their telescopes. The photo above was captured using my rarely used Orion 8 F/4 Newtonian. Your email address will not be published. Created by Charles Messier, an 18th-century comet hunter, this catalog consists of 109 of the finest objects the sky has to offer. NGC 4565 has a very bright core and the bulge is clearly visible. Stunning image and a great walk through using DSS and Photoshop. Star hop from bright star to bright star until you get to the Deep Sky Object you are looking for. You might be able to spot a hint of its gas with binoculars if observing from a perfectly dark location. July 10: The Great Peacock Globular (NGC 6752), July 1: the Moon meets the Beehive Cluster, one of the first objects of its kind ever found, the third-brightest globular cluster in the sky, they usually are at the peak of visibility for around a month, the top 15 star clusters that can be spotted with the naked eye. The Ring differs from most planetaries by the . Messier 108 is a galaxy nicknamed the "Surfboard" as it is seen edge-on. Messier 44. Although you will spend most of the season on galaxies, you will rejoice when Summer comes around with the core of the Milky Way rising up in the sky, full of wonderful nebulae to photograph. Articles on this site may contain affiliate links. This unique edge-on spiral galaxy was the subject of one of my first YouTube videos. IAU Constellations: sky maps with boundaries for . Comment * document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "a3251c90c29b6fb85c5ac1d41eba7f4a" );document.getElementById("cfd2c22fe2").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Spring Constellation: Leo the Lion EarthSky. The galaxy contains about 1 trillion stars and is about 70% larger than our Milky Way! The seven sisters are another great naked eye and binocular target that will reveal more and more stars as you move your way up to views through a telescope at low and medium magnifications. Ptolemy's Cluster. After stacking the images in DSS, my image will be anywhere from grey to pink. Luckily, the almost invisible waxing crescent Moon wont interfere with observations. Look for the handle of the Big Dipper Asterism and you should find M101 just above the double stars Alcor and Mizar. 3 25 2 . There is an alternative download mirror in box.net website here. I couldnt include every galaxy in this list of targets for galaxy season, but here are two subjects worth checking out. You have just found the gorgeous Orion Nebula and its stellar nursery of stars being born. Constellation:Canes Venatici. So grab your equipment, find some dark-sky spot, and shoot! You can also try this handy image scale and field-of-view calculator to better plan your galaxy photo. Astro Photons Pawe Biaecki, os. The Night Sky | January 2022 | Quadrantid Meteor Shower | Mercury Rises, The Night Sky | February 2022 | Winter Constellations | Comet Borrelly | Snow Moon | Late Night Astronomy, The Night Sky | March 2022 | How to find the James Webb Space Telescope | Moon, Venus, Mars & Saturn | Late Night Astronomy, Follow Late Night Astronomy on WordPress.com. That is a really tough call. This article was originally posted in March 2017 and updated in April 2022. Equipment: Nikkor 135mm, ASI1600MM, Optolong RGB filters. DSO data source: Saguaro Astronomy Club database, version 7.7, Objects which are listed in best 650 DSO list appear in bold, DSO's up to 14th magnitude are listed (also objects without magnitude), DSO's with declination lower than -60 (southern objects) are NOT listed, Sorting order: Messier, NGC, IC, other catalogs (Barnard, PLN, PGC, Mel, etc), Details for each object: Name (catalog number), other name, type, constellation, magnitude, surface brightness, maximum dimension, coordinates, Uranometria 2000 page number, class (for clusters and galaxies), number of stars (for clusters), central star magnitude and magnitude of brightest star, notes from SAC database (including common names). Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for SKYWATCHING and DEEP SKY OBJECTS by DAVID H. LEVY Lot of 2 Books SIGNED at the best online prices at eBay! However, youll need very sharp eyesight and a dark, clear sky to see it, so its easier to observe the cluster via binoculars or a telescope. They are located near the center of the group and you should aim to frame your shot according to these two interacting worlds. Note that the dates mentioned above are not the only days the DSOs can be seen: they usually are at the peak of visibility for around a month. This is a very easy one for beginners and one of the most photographed objects in the sky! Enjoy the best astrophotography targets by month - all year! In 2006, NASA and the ESA released this incredible close-up of the Pinwheel Galaxy, which was the most detailed image of a galaxy taken by the Hubble Space Telescope at the time. IC 443 is faint and difficult to capture, but it still deserves its place on this list. Messier 106 (or NGC 4258) is another fantastic subject for galaxy season. Using the finest optical telescopes available for amateur work, superior eyepieces and the darkest site on Earth, he describes and sketches the view from the telescope as never . It is too thin and dim to be seen with the naked eye and is almost impossible to spot with binoculars. Sign up for a new account in our community. I'll tell you my top 3 winter deep sky objects further down this post. The list is vast so you will have a lot of Astro-work during the year! The Beehive Cluster, also known as Praesepe or Messier 44 (M44). From early March until Mid-May, the window of opportunity for night-sky enthusiasts to photograph a wide variety of galaxies is at its best. Some targets are more prominent; some are smaller ones. Join our subscribers who get content directly to their inbox. As you can see on the image above from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Whale Galaxy is full of details! Messier 63 was one of the first galaxies studied where a spiral structure was identified. List includes all Messier, Herschel, Caldwell, SAC's best of NGC, and ~150 additional DSOs. Description: NGC 3114 is quite a difficult object to study because of the high number of field stars from the Milky Ways disk. Or get the digital version for half the price HERE! list of 7000 objects sorted by constellation and magnitude. A quick initial white balance can be performed on the image using the Levels > Set Gray Point Eye Dropper. The Blackeye galaxy includes a notable dark band of dust in front of the bright nucleus. The Leo Triplet is a personal favorite of mine because it offers a view of 3 distinctly different types of galaxies at once. A new noteworthy comet has been discovered! Designation: M51 For more information on it, please visit skysafariastronomy.com. Building a Telescope Rig to Photograph Galaxies (Video), AstroBackyard | Astrophotography Tips and Tutorials2023. In between Aurgia and Orion right at the edge of Taurus is the Crab Nebula. Just completed watching your tutorial on the California Nebula, and it is really good. Messier 65 and Messier 66 are both intermediate spiral galaxies that are only 20 degrees apart, making them a beautiful pair to look at with any instrument. The Messier catalog, is the most famous listing of deep-sky objects. The spiral arms of M106 are full of Hydrogen-Alpha, so if you are able to, make sure to add a couple of hours or more with a Hydrogen-Alpha filter to add to your data during processing. Updated: 8:58 AM EST Mar 2, 2023. An 8 SCT such as the Celestron C8 has a focal length of 2032mm, so that could capture most of these galaxies in detail. You can photograph almost every target on the list with a telephoto lens (100mm focal length or more) and a telescope (even a small one - I almost always use mySkyWatcher Evostar 72ED). You can find our list of the best targets of the other three seasons below: SUMMER - 15 best astrophotography targets for Summer, FALL - 15 best astrophotography targets for FALL, WINTER - 15 best astrophotography targets for WINTER. The list was created using Microsoft Excel and converted to PDF format. Required fields are marked *. The answer is that our own galaxy blocks our view of many galaxies in the night-sky, so we can see the most galaxies when we see the least of our own. The objects benefitted from the added focal length (800mm), but there is still not enough data acquired to do this pairing justice. With an apparent magnitude approaching 9.0, this deep-sky object is within range of backyard telescopes. In case you are getting sick of galaxies, here is another nebula for your to photograph during the Spring season! The best telescopes for deep space will let you observe far-away galaxies, nebulas, star systems and more. Watch the video below if you'd like to learn about these targets in a video format. Welcome to September! My favorite objects are bolded on the list, so check them out if you want to find the best ones. I compiled the NGC, IC, Messier, Arp, Hickson, Sharpless, Lynd (dark and bright nebula) catalogs from the Strasbourg university (Simbad). If using binoculars to scan this area of the sky, you might stumble on the star cluster Messier 35, located very close to IC 443. Here is what we know about it so far. A popular telescope choice for galaxy photography is an SCT, such as the Celestron EdgeHD 11, as it provides a large aperture (11) and high magnification views (2800mm). In this article, youll find info on the peak dates and observing conditions. Its one of the brightest galaxies in our night sky! This target means a lot to us and you can check out the video below if you'd like to see how we captured it with our old unmodified Canon T3i DSLR camera! Each and every one of the galaxy photos took several hours to capture and process. Start out with your finder scope and a low magnification eyepiece whenever you are looking for objects in the night sky. Designation: M104 Free shipping for many products! Over from Orions Belt you will find one of the brightest reflection nebulas in the night sky, M78. The Whale Galaxy is quite small when captured through a small refractor telescope. Messier 81 is a, Although the pair it is not difficult to image, it is not easy to reveal the starburst region of M82. Two supernovas were discovered in M106 since 1981. You can now see some of the fine details and textures of this grand spiral design galaxy in detail. The cluster will rise high in the sky above the Southern Hemisphere and wont be observable from latitudes north of 39N. Click on the image to see all the acquisition details and, if you have the time, watch our full Episode about capturing the Sombrero Galaxy! I made it using SAC database as main source of data, excluding objects with declination lower than -60 (south). Take one look at your favorite astronomy app, filter the object type by galaxy in the planetarium, and youll quickly see why amateur astronomers refer to the spring as galaxy season. Using an unmodified DSLR camera is not the best option to image this object, unless using filters. The following seasonal guide to a variety of nebulae consists of excerpts from the book. Even with moderate light pollution, my 8 inch Dobsonian telescope can pick up a grayish teal color coming from this deep sky object. The book that taught thousands of people about astrophotography has been completely revised and updated in this second edition. Remember when we said that you will be eating a LOT of galaxies this season? It is located 28 million light-years away and is about the same size as our Milky Way. Messier 81 is a spiral galaxy seen face-on (just like M101) and you can clearly see the arms of the galaxy spreading out around the core. The photos you are about to see were all captured by me, using amateur astrophotography equipment in the city. It all comes down to what you can see yourself enjoying the most down the road. And this month, NASA's Jupiter-orbiting Juno spacecraft is slated to make a special, fast flyby of one of those icy moons, Europa, on the 29th. If you plan on imaging this target soon, we recommend that you spend as many hours as your patience will allow you to really gather as much data as you can.