Most of these images were taken with my Meade ETX-105 and Meade Deep-Sky Imager, giving about 40x magnification. A few were taken with a 135mm SLR lens (about 10x magnification) adapted to my DSI and mounted piggy-back on the ETX-105 for guidance. For more on how they were taken and processed, read my blog. [click to enlarge all]
This is the galaxy M31, the Andromeda Galaxy. It is one of our closest neighboring galaxies, and fairly similar to ours. In the sky, it's about 8x the width of the full moon, but dim enough you need binoculars to see it. This image was taken on 9/20/05 with a 135mm SLR camera lens piggybacked on my ETX-105 for guidance. It's a stack of about 20, 30 second images. Andromeda Galaxy again, 20, 30 second images, darker skies on 9/27/05. Note the smaller satellite galaxy, M110, to the lower left. This is the North American Nebula, taken through my 135mm lens on 11/2/05, 90 second exposures. I'll get Canada later... This is Orion's sword - visible to the naked eye as 3 relatively dim, fuzzy stars, but actually containing many stars and nebulae. The bright nebula in the middle is the Great Orion Nebula, M42. 60 seocond exposures taken on 11/2/05.
This is The Great Orion Nebula, M42, taken through my ETX-105. It's an enormous, backlit cloud of hydrogen gas and dust. The 4 stars in the center (bleeding together here) appear as a single, fuzzy star in the middle of Orion's sword to the naked eye. This is a stack of 5 second exposures, taken 1/1/05. Orion Nebula again, taken 2/19/05. Stack of 5 second exposures. 30 second exposures from 2/19/05. I'll need to build a mosaic to get the whole thing, visible at lower magnification in the image of Orion's sword above. Same sequence as previous images, expanded and processed differently. Processing of this is tough, trying to bring out faint details without washing-out the center.
The Pleiades, M45, taken through my piggybacked SLR lens on 9/20/05 - 15 second exposures. There is nebulosity there, but it isn't visible in this image. M34, an open cluster, taken through the SLR lens on 9/20/05. 10 second exposures. M34, with 30 second exposures from 9/20/05. The cluster is against the backdrop of the Milky Way, so with longer exposures you get a lot more stars. The globular cluster (almost a mini-galaxy) in the constellation Hercules: M13. Photo taken through the SLR lens on 9/19/05, 10 second exposures. See higher magnification version below.
 
M13 through the telescope on 2/19/05, 10 second exposures. M13 on 4/13/05, 30 second exposures. Open cluster M39, taken on 9/19/05, 10 second exposures. Not much there, so I'm not sure I had the cluster centered.  
   
Globular cluster M92, 15 second exposures, taken on 2/19/05. Comet Macholz, taken on 1/1/05. Unfortunatly, there was very little outgassing, so there was no tail. What is interesting is that the comet moves so fast that the stars in the background show trails after only about 5 minutes.    

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