Dave's Back Yard Astrophotography

Supernova SN2011dh in Whirlpool Galaxy

2011-06-18T12:57:00.000-07:00

On June 5th, I imaged a new supernova in the Whirlpool Galaxy, 26 million light years away. This single explosion is as bright as the foreground stars in the image which are from our own Milky Way galaxy. It's strange to think that this event happened long before humans walked the earth.

Lunar Straight Wall

2010-04-22T19:19:00.000-07:00

A lunar fault line that is 110 km long and 1000 feet high.

Mars is Back

2010-01-10T08:44:00.000-08:00

Greg and I took this image of Mars on a very cold, clear night. It was 2:30am and -18 degrees Celsius. The polar cap is clearly visible and the dark albedo feature to the lower right is Syrtis Major.

M1 - The Crab Nebula

2009-11-11T12:35:00.001-08:00

Cool Hi-Res Flyby on Mars

2009-09-25T07:06:00.001-07:00

Hubble Ultra Deep Field

2009-09-24T10:13:00.000-07:00

http://

The Andromeda Galaxy - M31

2009-09-20T13:45:00.001-07:00

Uranus

2009-09-17T04:06:00.001-07:00

Double Eclipse on Jupiter

2009-08-26T21:13:00.001-07:00

I witnessed 2 of Jupiter's moons creating solar eclipses on the "surface" of Jupiter tonight. The black shadow on the far left is caused by the moon Ganymede (right of centre). Europa is far right near the top of the Equatorial Belt and is casting a shadow near the center of the image. Callisto is out of view, far to the right. Io is behind Jupiter.

Neptune

2009-08-24T21:19:00.001-07:00

M20 - Trifid Nebula

2009-08-24T21:18:00.001-07:00

Inside SkyNews

2009-08-21T12:50:00.000-07:00

Jupiter

2009-08-16T21:51:00.001-07:00

Moons from left to right: Ganymede, Io, Callisto, Europa

The Dumbell Nebula - M27

2009-07-29T21:12:00.000-07:00

Pluto

2009-07-20T14:15:00.000-07:00

The Ring Nebula - M57

2009-06-24T05:48:00.001-07:00

Full Moon

2009-05-08T23:02:00.000-07:00

Lunar Apennine Mountain Range

2009-05-02T22:43:00.001-07:00

First Quarter Moon

2009-05-02T22:42:00.000-07:00

Last Quarter Moon

2009-04-17T08:59:00.001-07:00

Spiral Galaxies

2009-03-28T09:29:00.000-07:00

M109

M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy (just below the handle of the Big Dipper).

Distance from Earth = 37 million light years.

Diameter = 100,000 light years.

M101 - The Pinwheel Galaxy

Distance from Earth = 27 million light years.

Diameter = 200,000 light years.

Globular Clusters

2008-08-02T13:34:00.001-07:00

M3 (NGC 5272) is a globular cluster consisting of approximately 500,000 stars located within our galaxy at a distance of approximately 30,600 light years. This cluster is located in the constellation Canes Venatici.

M13 - This globular cluster is almost straight overhead in the constellation Hercules. There are over 150 of these mysterious objects orbiting our Milky Way Galaxy.

Nebulae

2008-01-05T08:59:00.000-08:00

On a cold winter's night (-12 degrees C), I ventured outside to capture this photo of the Orion Nebula.

Planets

2007-12-28T08:44:00.000-08:00

Saturn and Three of its Moons

Jupiter - Moons from left to right are Ganymede, Io, Europa, and Callisto. I was pleased that the Great Red Spot was visible that night.

Mars (the dark band is Syrtis Major)

Mars and its Two Moons

Venus - Rising before Dawn

2007 - My New Telescope

2007-07-16T07:07:00.000-07:00

Greg took these pictures from our backyard. If you look closely, you can see the Milky Way stretching across the sky.