The Bronte Astronomer

M31, The Andromeda Galaxy revisited. Imaged locally in Bronte over multiple nights, 251 mins total. Seestar S30, cropped and adjusted in Lightroom and Snapseed.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Androme...

#astrophotography #Seestar #seestars30 #Andromeda #Andromeda_Galaxy

Good morning and TGIF as I present the Eastern Veil Nebula imaged locally in Bronte over two nights. Seestar S30, 98 minutes, EQ, AI Denoise, Deep Sky Stacker and cropped in Lightroom and internal phone settings

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veil_Ne...

#astrophotography #seestars30 #astronomy

Our beautiful neighbour. The Andromeda Galaxy, Messier 31. Imaged locally over two nights, Seestar S30, EQ, Deep Sky Stacker, AI Denoise and adjusted in phone.

And the planetary nebula, The Dumbell Nebula, M27 S30, EQ, 4K, AI Denoise.

#astrophotography #Seestar #seestars30

NGC 7000
The North American Nebula
Imaged here in Bronte's urban skies with the Seestar S30. An elusive object that visually requires pristine skies and a wide field of view. Can be seen in binoculars under dark skies.
#astrophotography #Seestar #seestars30 #nebula #ngc7000
#astronomy

Summertime Nebula Fun
M16 Eagle Nebula
M17 Omega/Swan Nebula
Portions of the Veil Nebula

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_N...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_N...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veil_Ne...

#astrophotography #seestars30 #seestar ##thebronteastronomer

Gamma Cygni Nebula
Revisited last night with an even wider mosaic with the Seestar S30 keeping in mind that this was taken locally here in Bronte under urban skies. Sky conditions worsened near the end of the session.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadr_Re...
#seestar #astrophotography
#seestars30

The Sun
20 July 2025
#astrophotography #Seestar
#seestars30 #Sun #solar

www.facebook.com/groups/11485...

Crescent Nebula NGC 6888
Combined image over two nights from our backyard here in Bronte! Seestar S30 in EQ mode, 20 second exposures.

#astrophotography #Seestars30 #CrescentNebula

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crescen...

Galaxy Goodies in the Summer
Imaged last night here in Bronte in skies that were soupy. Two galaxies in Draco quite close together, a beautiful edge on galaxy NGC 5907 and the Spindle Galaxy sometimes identified as M102, NGC 5866. These are works in progress as time is always short in the Summer.

M27 The Dumbell Nebula and M56, a globular cluster in Lyra. Imaged with the Seestar S30

Messier 56 (NGC 6779) is a globular cluster in Lyra,
M 27, the Dumbbell Nebula, perhaps the finest in the sky. It is easily seen in binoculars, and a popular observing target for amateur telescopes.

Messier 92 was imaged last night in Bronte with the Seestar S30.

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Messier 92 (NGC 6341) is a globular cluster in the constellation Hercules. It is one of the brighter globular clusters in the northern hemisphere
#astrophotography #seestars30 #Seestar

Ancient Light: The Wall of Hercules
This doesn't seem much to look at but NGC 6166 is the brightest member of Galaxy Cluster Abell 2199. 6166 alone is over 490 million light years away! Imaged locally in Bronte.
#astrophotography #Seestar #seestars30

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What an amazing turnout tonight to see the Strawberry Moon. Thank you to everyone who showed up this evening.
And big thank you to our volunteers!

Again a big thank you. Below are images obtained by the Seestar S30, unedited

#astrophotography #seestars30 #thebronteastronomer

🌟 The June 2025 edition of The Evening Sky Map is now available for download at skymaps.com/tesm/. The PDF includes a Sky Calendar and user-friendly sky maps for the northern & southern hemispheres, and for equatorial regions. Please share, and enjoy exploring the Universe! 🔭
#astronomy #stargazing

I'll keep coming back to this point and pushing it, because we take "the Sun is in the sky" for granted so much, but:

It is absolutely neat (and vital) that we live this close to a star.

It's like those far away points of light we see in our night sky, but this one is just right there, next to us.

Imaged locally in Bronte with the Seestar S30.
"Messier 3 (M3), a globular cluster, is located in the constellation Canes Venatici. It's about 34,000 light-years away from Earth. It lies roughly halfway between the bright stars Arcturus in the constellation Boötes and Cor Caroli in Canes Venatici"

With the Seestar and the 60 sec exposures times. The M81 group, M13 and the Whale Galaxy and friends.
#astrophotography #seestarS30 #killbearprovincialpark

Ancient Light: The Needle. A Sliver of Light
A big Dobsonian Target in dark skies. Or for those stuck in suburbia, readily accessed from a Smartscope, a Needle slicing through the abyss and of time. The Needle is revisited.
#astrophotography #seestars30

Ancient Light: A Needle in the Sky
Another work in progress. The finest edge-on galaxy, NGC 4565 or "The Needle", which is well placed this time of year in Coma Berenices. This image taken here in Bronte.
#astrophotography #seestars30

Messier 3
#astrophotography #seestars30

Plumes from Saturn's Moon Enceladus Might Come Straight from Its Hidden Ocean Researchers reanalyzing Cassini data think the plumes from Enceladus might provide direct access to the Saturnian moon's underground ocean.

Researchers reanalyzing Cassini data think the plumes from Enceladus might provide direct access to the Saturnian moon’s underground ocean.
buff.ly/RaUxWcC
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#astronomy #cassini #enceladus #saturn #saturnmoons

Ancient Light: The Context Last night was a return trip to the Coma Cluster of Galaxies (while the hockey game was on). Also called Abell 1656, this cluster is approximately 10 million lightyears across but 321 million lightyears away. Mind boggling distances on their own don't mean a lot. Huge numbers are simply too large for any meaningful discourse by themselves. To put it into context, the light that left this swarm of galaxies, earth wasn't even inhabited by dinosaurs yet. It was a very different place. http://www.fossilmuseum.net/GeologicalHistory.htm Briefly stated, 321 million years ago, during the late Carboniferous period, Earth was warm and humid with vast swampy forests dominated by giant ferns, horsetails, and clubmosses. These forests formed the coal deposits we use today. Oxygen levels were higher than now, supporting enormous insects like dragonflies with 2.5-foot wingspans. Continents were slowly drifting together toward the supercontinent Pangaea, and early reptiles were beginning to appear on land. Context. The vastness of our cosmos is staggering to our minds, it is a conversation worth having as we try to understand what the cosmos is and how it got here.

Ancient Light: The Context Last night was a return trip to the Coma Cluster of Galaxies (while the hockey game was on). Also called Abell 1656, this cluster is approximately 10 million lightyears across but 321 million lightyears away. Mind boggling distances on their own don't mean a lot. Huge numbers are simply too large for any meaningful discourse by themselves. To put it into context, the light that left this swarm of galaxies, earth wasn't even inhabited by dinosaurs yet. It was a very different place. http://www.fossilmuseum.net/GeologicalHistory.htm Briefly stated, 321 million years ago, during the late Carboniferous period, Earth was warm and humid with vast swampy forests dominated by giant ferns, horsetails, and clubmosses. These forests formed the coal deposits we use today. Oxygen levels were higher than now, supporting enormous insects like dragonflies with 2.5-foot wingspans. Continents were slowly drifting together toward the supercontinent Pangaea, and early reptiles were beginning to appear on land. Context. The vastness of our cosmos is staggering to our minds, it is a conversation worth having as we try to understand what the cosmos is and how it got here.

Ancient Light: The Context
Last night was a return trip to the Coma Cluster of Galaxies (while the hockey game was on). Also called Abell 1656, this cluster is approximately 10 million lightyears across but 321 million lightyears away.
#astrophotography
www.facebook.com/groups/11485...

More galaxy goodies this time the Coma Cluster -- Abell 1656. Ordinarily this object is off limits in urban skies but that's where tech helps again as the Seestar S30 is able to let us have a peek with a 66 minute run time. Light gathered locally here in Bronte.
#astrophotography

Markarian's Chain, the Heart of the Virgo Cluster, public astronomy edition.

The Seestar S30 made Markarian's Chain more accessible and engaging to the public by simplifying astrophotography. This experience helped spark curiosity and excitement about deep space.
#astrophotography

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Yes we are having a public astronomy night at Bronte Heritage Park
#astronomy #Oakville #Bronte #astrophotography #telescopes #telescope #space

Messier 101 The Pinwheel Galaxy
#astrophotography #Seestar #seestars30

The Sombrero Galaxy is an oblong, pale white disc with a glowing core. It appears nearly edge-on but is slanted slightly in the front, presenting a slightly top-down view of the inner region of the galaxy and its bright core. The outer disc is darker with shades of brown and black. Different coloured distant galaxies and various stars are speckled among the black background of space surrounding the galaxy.

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has returned to an old time favourite for its #Hubble35 anniversary!

The enigmatic Sombrero Galaxy has features of both spiral and elliptical galaxies. Read more 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...

🔭 🧪

What created the Cat's Eye Nebula's bizarre halo? This image highlights its intricate outer structure, spanning over 3 light-years. Likely formed by earlier, puzzling events in the dying star's life, this halo is far older (50-90k years) than the nebula itself (10k years). Credit: Taavi Niittee

What created the Cat's Eye Nebula's bizarre halo? This image highlights its intricate outer structure, spanning over 3 light-years. Likely formed by earlier, puzzling events in the dying star's life, this halo is far older (50-90k years) than the nebula itself (10k years).

Credit: Taavi Niittee

The Whirlpool Galaxy Messier 51
#astrophotography #messier51 #whirlpoolgalaxy #m51 #seestars30

The sky is bright with moonlight, which hindered the view. But comparing it to stars in the area, SWAN looked to be about 9th magnitude or dimmer. I could not see it through a 120mm telescope. It showed up only in this tracked 8-second exposure with a 180mm lens, the Askar FMA180 astrograph. The field of view is similar to that of binoculars. But don't expect to see it in binoculars, certainly not easily. It is low and in a moonlit sky for the next couple of weeks. Perhaps it might be better in early May by which time it will be brighter and low in the evening sky. Assuming it does not fizzle away!

Astronomy friends might have heard about this new comet, C/2025 F2 (SWAN), discovered late last month and appearing - barely! - in the pre-dawn sky. This is a telephoto lens image from home (latitude 51º N) on the morning of April 11, with the comet a tiny dim green dot in the Square of Pegasus.