David Ridge

Well done, Boulder! I got tired of taking pics and I got there as many people were leaving... 5,000? 6,000? A LOT of people🥰

LOS ANGELES CIVIL UNREST SCALE 1992 RIOTS TRADER JOE'S SILVERLAKE PARKING HOLLYWOOD BOWL INTERSECTION AFTER A CONCERT XMAS WEEK HOLIDAY SHOPPING AT GLENDALE GALLERIA LAKERS/DODGERS CHAMPIONSHIPS CURRENT LEVEL AND WEATHER 68 AND FAIR, AND ABOLISH ICE

Seti Astro My ongoing journey through our cosmos from my backyard. Astrophotography of our solar system, galaxies, nebula, and clusters to explore. Adding new projects as photons are collected.

7) [disclaimer: I did not know all this. I tip my hat to Frank at SetiAstro for his powerful program called What's in My Image. To other astro-imagers, if you've got a solved FITS file, his program will work for you - setiastro.com

Seti Astro My ongoing journey through our cosmos from my backyard. Astrophotography of our solar system, galaxies, nebula, and clusters to explore. Adding new projects as photons are collected.

6) Look up on a clear night. Lens help. Cameras are even better... (click on image to zoom in). This was about 13 hours of exposure.

Seti Astro My ongoing journey through our cosmos from my backyard. Astrophotography of our solar system, galaxies, nebula, and clusters to explore. Adding new projects as photons are collected.

5) And in the lower center-right is a galaxy with possibly an active black hole at 56,000,000 ly distance. In this image, astronomers have identified at least 15 quasars -- active galaxies in which the luminance of the black hole's consumption of surrounding material outshines the galaxy itself.

Seti Astro My ongoing journey through our cosmos from my backyard. Astrophotography of our solar system, galaxies, nebula, and clusters to explore. Adding new projects as photons are collected.

4) Directly above NGC 5248 is a Seyfert galaxy (also an active black hole) about 330,000,000 ly away. In the upper right is a "normal" galaxy, edge on, that's about 54,000,000 ly away.

Seti Astro My ongoing journey through our cosmos from my backyard. Astrophotography of our solar system, galaxies, nebula, and clusters to explore. Adding new projects as photons are collected.

3) Also included in this image are two very small "fuzzies" (galaxies) in the upper left corner that are about 1,000,000,000 (billion) light years away, one of which has an active black hole, i.e. consuming surrounding material.

Seti Astro My ongoing journey through our cosmos from my backyard. Astrophotography of our solar system, galaxies, nebula, and clusters to explore. Adding new projects as photons are collected.

1) Located in the constellation Bootes, it is on the edge of the Virgo supercluster of galaxies (of which the MW is also a part).

🔭This is about the size of the Milky Way, but at 42,000,000 light years away, NGC 5248 appears to be one fourth the size of the full Moon. It crosses the meridian (the imaginary line in the sky running north-south thru the zenith) on or about 10 pm (DST) on June 1. ].

And good catch

You are absolutely right. I realized after I posted it that I had the wrong designator but no way to change it but to remove and repost

I think that depends on the degree of certainty you'll accept for a "yes" 😉

🔭 A cache of photons collected on my prior telescope has finally been processed... NGC7822, the largest galaxy of the Deer Lick group. It's about 127,000 light years across.

Autocorrect 🙄... My intent in posting this...

My intent in paying this was for You to copy this sheet to your own repository to make it your own, adding your own data.

... end star of the handle of the Big Dipper...

That's interesting! I need to pull this up on a larger screen to appreciate it more fully

The image on the right, M101 - Pinwheel Galaxy, is almost three times the size of the Milky Way with two and half as many stars. 21 mly away to the south of the end star of the Big Dipper, it presents a beautiful spiral structure with lots of Ha regions clearly visible.

Roughly the same diameter as the Milky Way, its elliptical shape contains roughly twice the mass of the MW and an active nucleus and a black hole at least 250 times the mass of our own.

The image on the left reminds me of dancing south of the border 😁 At about 29mly away, the Sombrero Galaxy brims with about 800,000,000,000 solar masses, making it one of the most massive communities in our cosmic neighborhood.

🔭 A bit negligent in my recent image posting

🔭

The Sunflower Galaxy hangs out about 30,000,000 light years and it's overhead at about 10pm at the end of May.

Near the end of the handle of the Big Dipper, M51 hangs out in our cosmic backyard (if the back fence was 31mly away 😉). At 75% the size of the Milky Way, one might wonder how many civilizations call it home. 🔭

This planetary nebula, being the successively expelled contents of a dying star, shows an intimate relationship with the very faint nebulosity surrounding it -- likely the result of the star's long history of belching its "atmosphere" into its surroundings. The universe is so cool.... and violent!

As always, zoom in for the greatest visual effect. You might notice the distorted facial features in the lighter area (thanks Athena!) and the coil of snakes reaching into the ethers.

🔭 My recent tryst with Medusa, via my Player One *Poseidon* one shot color camera, yielded this glorious depiction. Located 1,500 light years away and spanning about 4 light years in diameter, it required 13 hours of exposure, 3 hours of broadband RGB and 10 hours of Ha and OIII narrowband.

Medusa, the beautiful Gorgon of Greek mythology, had a brief tryst with the sea god, Poseidon. Athena, enraged by this carnal affair (in a temple dedicated to her), cursed Medusa by transforming what Ovid declared, "her glorious hair, the most wonderful of all her charms" - into a coil of serpents.