Astronomy photos from the Dwarf 3 telescope

NGC 7789 or Caroline's Rose is an open cluster in Cassiopeia that was discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1783. Her brother William Herschel included it in his catalog as H VI.30. This cluster is also known as the "White Rose" Cluster or "Caroline's Rose" Cluster because when seen visually, the loops of stars and dark lanes look like the swirling pattern of rose petals as seen from above.

Some sunspots visible today.

Pushing the edge of what I can do with this telescope. I don't know if the edge is determined by my post processing skills or the telescope itself. For the first time, I am including images from the Internet to show what I was trying to capture last night. These images are of Stephan's Quintet. Stephan's Quintet is a visual grouping of five galaxies of which four form the first compact galaxy group ever discovered. The group, visible in the constellation Pegasus, was discovered by Édouard Stephan in 1877 at the Marseille Observatory. There is, in addition, another galaxy visible above and slightly to the left of center. This galaxy is also part of a group of another galaxies called The Deer Lick Group. Stephans Quintet is directly in the center of the image and is so small as to demand enlargement. Four of the five galaxies in Stephan's Quintet form a physical association, a true galaxy group, Hickson Compact Group 92, and will likely merge with each other. Radio ob...

The Elephant's Trunk Nebula (IC 1396A) is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust within the much larger ionized gas region IC 1396 located in the constellation Cepheus about 2,400 light years away from Earth. The nebula is a dark, dense globule that gets its name from its appearance at visible light wavelengths, where there is a dark patch with a bright, sinuous rim. The bright rim is the surface of the dense cloud that is being illuminated and ionized by a very bright, massive multiple star (HD 206267) that is just to the east of the Elephant's Trunk Nebula . The entire IC 1396 region is ionized by the massive star, except for dense globules that can protect themselves from the star's harsh ultraviolet rays. (The Index Catalogue (IC) —also known as the Index Catalogue of Nebulae, the Index Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, is a catalogue of galaxies, nebulae and star clusters that serves as a supplement to the New General Catalogue. It was first published ...

Take a moment to examine the first image. On the left side is a nebula that allows us to imagine the entire North American Continent. Florida and Mexico are clearly visible. On the right side of the image is imagined to be a pelican with its head and beak facing across the Atlantic Ocean towards North America. The Gulf of Mexico Nebula is a dark nebula located in the constellation Cepheus, approximately 500 light-years away from Earth. Unlike emission nebulae, dark nebulae do not emit light and are visible only by blocking out the light from background stars . This is one of the largest dark nebulae in the night sky and spans over 5 degrees in the sky, equivalent to roughly 10 times the size of the full moon. The dark nebula appears as a large, irregularly shaped cloud of dust and gas obscuring the background stars’ light. This makes it a fascinating object for both amateur and professional astronomers to study, as it provides a glimpse into the hidden world of interstellar gas and ...

This is a globular cluster located in the constellation Pegasus. It was discovered by Jean-Dominique Maraldi in 1746 and included in Charles Messier's catalogue of comet-like objects in 1764. M 15 is about 35,700 light-years from Earth, and 175 light-years in diameter. It has an absolute magnitude of −9.2, which translates to a total luminosity of 360,000 times that of the Sun. Messier 15 is one of the most densely packed globulars known in the Milky Way galaxy. Its core has undergone a contraction known as "core collapse" and it has a central density cusp with an enormous number of stars surrounding what may be a central black hole. Home to over 100,000 stars,the cluster is notable for containing a large number of variable stars (112) and pulsars. This cluster is host a rare type of black hole at its center: an intermediate-mass black hole. Supermassive black holes are found at the center of galaxies and can be billions of times more massive than the sun. More diminu...

From the driveway, this is the Dumbbell Nebula, Messier 27. The Dumbbell Nebula (also known as the Apple Core Nebula) is a planetary nebula (nebulosity surrounding a white dwarf) in the constellation Vulpecula, at a distance of about 1360 light-years.

Shot from the driveway, this is Messier 34 an open cluster in Perseus. It was probably discovered by Giovanni Batista Hodierna before 1654 and included by Charles Messier in his catalog of comet-like objects in 1764. Messier described it as, "A cluster of small stars a little below the parallel of γ (Andromedae).