Astronomy photos from the Dwarf 3 telescope

Messier 82 (also known as NGC 3034, Cigar Galaxy or M82) is a starburst galaxy approximately 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. It is the second-largest member of the M81 Group. It is about five times more luminous than the Milky Way and its central region is about one hundred times more luminous. M82 is being physically affected by its larger neighbor, the spiral M81 seen directly below "The Cigar". Tidal forces caused by gravity have deformed M82, a process that started about 100 million years ago. This interaction has caused star formation to increase tenfold compared to "normal" galaxies.

On a wispy cloudy night, I tried to capture a barred spiral. Need fewer clouds, more images and better post processing skills. Wikipedia says it should look like this: By Credit Line and Copyright Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona - File:N1530s.jpg

First night out in a long while between health and weather. Returned to M 51, The Whirlpool Galaxy. Wikipedia says - What later became known as the Whirlpool Galaxy was discovered on October 13, 1773, by Charles Messier while hunting for objects that could confuse comet hunters, and was designated in Messier's catalogue as M51.[13] William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, employing a 72-inch (1.8 m) reflecting telescope at Birr Castle, Ireland, found that the Whirlpool possessed a spiral structure, the first "nebula" to be known to have one.[14] These "spiral nebulae" were not recognized as galaxies until Edwin Hubble was able to observe Cepheid variables in some of these spiral nebulae, which provided evidence that they were so far away that they must be entirely separate galaxies.[15] The advent of radio astronomy and subsequent radio images of M51 unequivocally demonstrated that the Whirlpool and its companion galaxy are indeed interacting.

A nice Gibbous Moon on a cold November night.

The skies stayed clear at 11 PM last night and I grabbed 300 thirty second images of the Monkey Head Nebula. The NGC 2174 nebula has a very particular shape and has been nicknamed "monkey head" precisely because it shows the vague appearance of a monkey's head seen in profile. In reality this celestial object, which is located about 6400 light years from us, is an area of star formation, a cloud of gas - mainly hydrogen - and dust within which there are some young, very bright stars. It is precisely their ultraviolet radiation that illuminates the nebula, ionizing the hydrogen of which it is composed and thus giving it that typical reddish color.

From my driveway, with every neighbor's exterior lighting on at 5 AM this morning. Not bad. I was concerned as to whether or not the comet was high enough but the Dwarf's Atlas said it was 35 degrees above the horizon, so all trees were easily cleared. Below Comet Lemmon and on the right side, is NGC 3180, The Small Pinwheel Galaxy.