Pretty Pictures

The best I can come up with, anyway. Some are pretty good, while others are interesting for other reasons.

Nebulae

M27 is a planetary nebula located 1300 light years away in the constellation Vulpecula, and gets its name from its two-lobed appearance. It is easy to find with a small telescope or binoculars.

Located at the eastern end of Orion's belt is an area containing several treats. The Flame, Horsehead and IC434.

NGC 6888 is a gaseous nebula in Cygnus. Also known as the Crescent Nebula, it is formed by the intense solar wind of the central star colliding with the shell of gas put off when the star went through its red giant phase.

The Ring Nebula is a planetary nebula. It was formed when the outer layers of the central star were expelled during the final stages of evolution. The central "void" is very sparse helium, the inner side of the ring is hydrogen and oxygen, and the outer side is sulfur and nitrogen, according to NASA's Hubble data.

The Eagle Nebula, made more popular by Hubble, is also called the Star Queen Nebula. Probably referring to the pillar-like formations at the heart of the nebula. The size of the nebula is approximately 55 ly x 73 ly.

IC 5070 - The Pelican Nebula. It includes a little of the North America Nebula.

M42 - The Orion Nebula. There are many nebulae in Orion. This is the big one.

Like the Orion Nebula, the Rosette Nebula is a hydrogen region that is being swept clean by the stellar wind of a few very large O-type stars.

Galaxies

NGC 7331 in the constellation Pegasus is a Milky Way-like galaxy some 40 million light years distant, with several visual companions which lie about 300 million light years beyond. NGC 7331 is unusual in that the central bulge rotates the opposite direction from the disk.

M31 in the constellation Andromeda is also known as the Andromeda Galaxy. It is the dominant member of the local group, which contains the Milky Way. At 4 million light years distant it is the closest spiral galaxy to us.

NGC 891 is a great example of an edge-on spiral. My favorite view.

Stephan's Quintet is a very tight group of galaxies located some 311 million light years out. It is located just outside the frame of any image of NGC7331.

M33 is a galaxy in Triangulum. It is the smallest spiral galaxy in the Local Group, and may be a satellite of M31, the Andromeda Galaxy. It is one of the farthest "permanent" objects that can be seen with the naked eye.

The Whirlpool Galaxy, M51, is actually a pair of interacting galaxies in Canes Venatici. It is found just a little bit south of the tip of the handle of the Big Dipper. It was the first galaxy whose spiral structure was observed by Lord Rosse.

NGC 2403 is a member of the M81 group, about 50,000ly in diameter, and a relatively close 8 million light years away. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1788. It contains NGC 2404, one of the largest known HII star forming regions.

Messier missed NGC 4565. A beautiful edge-on spiral at magnitude 10, located in Coma Berenices, around 40 million light years away.

M66 is a galaxy in Leo, and a member of the Leo Triplet. It is 31 million light-years away. It is disturbed by a past encounter with NGC3628.

The Markarian Chain is a string of galaxies in Virgo that are all moving the same general direction.

M65, M66 and NGC3628, known as the Leo Triplet, or the Trio in Leo, are three typical galaxies, except for the distortion in two of them from a close encounter.

NGC4631, also known as the Whale Galaxy, is in Coma Berenices, just north of ngc4645. It is obviously disturbed by something.

NGC5907 is a near edge-on galaxy in Draco.

Pinwheel Galaxy, M101 in Ursa Major. A big, low-surface-brightness galaxy on a par with Andromeda.

Supernova Remnants

NGC 6992 is a supernova remnant in Cygnus, right next door to NGC 6995.

NGC 6995 is a supernova remnant in Cygnus.

M1 is a supernova remnant in Taurus. It was named the Crab Nebula by Lord Rosse (of M51 fame). It is associated with the supernova of 1054 AD.

Star Clusters

M13 is a globular cluster in Hercules.

M15 is a globular cluster in Pegasus.

M53 is a globular cluster in Coma Berenices.

M44, or the Beehive Cluster, is located in Cancer and is visible to the naked eye under dark skies. It is one of the closest open clusters to us.

M92 is the other, often ignored, globular cluster in Hercules.