John's Pictures
(And a few words!)
The Galaxies
There are many millions of galaxies in the cosmos, here are just a few of them!
I do not have a telescope with a focal length suitable for photographing the smaller more distant galaxies but here are a few of the larger ones including my favourite the Whirlpool.
M31 Andromeda
The Andromeda galaxy is the closest large galaxy to the Milky Way. (Our own galaxy) and probably the first object budding astrophotographers aim for, lying 2.5 million light years away from Earth
M33 The Triangulum Galaxy
This galaxy is a little over 2.7 million light years from Earth. It is a spiral galaxy not surprisingly located in the constellation of Triangulum. Ranking third in size in the local group after Andromeda and our galaxy, The Milky Way.
NGC2403 Spiral Galaxy
NGC 2403 - is a spiral galaxy spanning 80,000 lightyears across, located 10 million lightyears away. The galaxy can be found in the constellation Camelopardalis, close to the celestial north pole
M101 Pinwheel Galaxy
The Pinwheel Galaxy Messier is another spiral galaxy. Located 21 million light years from Earth it can be found in Ursa Major. Discovered in 1781 it was one of the final entries in the Messier Catalogue.
M51 The Whirlpool Galaxy
The Whirlpool is my favourite galaxy probably because it was the first decent image I managed to take, after Andromeda, with what was then, my first rudimentary kit. M51 is located 31 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici. The image is in fact of two galaxies, the other being NGC 5195, the orange/yellow galaxy, believed to have been passing M51 for over millions of years
NGC 891
NGC 891 is an edge-on unbarred spiral galaxy about 30 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda
NGC 6946 the Fireworks Galaxy
The Fireworks is an intermediate spiral galaxy. It is Located 25 million light years from Earth between Cygnus and Cepheus. Also in the picture is the open cluster NGC 6939.
NGC 1337
NGC 1337 is an unbarred galaxy in Eridanus. Located 55 million light years away. Pictured by me using limited my focal length ‘scope it does not have the sparkle of other galaxy images.
NGC 2841