It was just amazing to experience an annular solar eclipse aka the “Ring of Fire”.

Mars and the Beehive star cluster (M44) in Cancer, which is one of the closest star clusters to us (at about 600 light years) and it can be seen with naked eyes. All the stars in this cluster are quite young - only ~600 million years of age. read more

Supernova SN2023ixf was spotted on May 19th and it continues to brighten. Took the top image on May 23rd and for comparison is an image from April 30th on the bottom. This supernova will continue to brighten over the next few days. This supernova is in galaxy M101 which is 21 million light years … read more

The Rosette nebula from Monoceros constellation at ~5000 light years, is one of the brightest nebula in the sky. The cluster of young stars (~4million years old) in the center provides the energy that makes this cloud glow. As always, the streaks of dark dust are the most striking features. This … read more

Mars visiting Gemini on March 30, 2023. Open star cluster M35 at the bottom is at 2600 light years away and made up of young stars that are only 100 million years old. At the bottom right, the cluster of yellow stars (NGC2158) is made up of stars that are 10 times older and 6 times farther. read more

After missing the closest approach yesterday, I was relieved that I caught some break in the clouds to view the Venus and Jupiter conjunction. The cloud bands added a nice glow to the planets. The Gallelian moons Callisto, Ganymede, and Europa are seen above Jupiter and Io is on the other side. … read more

Moon, Jupiter and Venus in the western sky. Couldn’t catch them when they were closer to each other a couple of days ago. In the third photo, the moons of Jupiter can be seen if you zoom in. read more

Got this photo of Elephant trunk nebula printed on canvas. It looks quite good considering its big size - 20x30 inches. Wasn’t sure how it will turn out. Last week, it was also featured on this website. They wrote such a nice description. read more

The Pleiades (M45) aka The Seven Sisters aka Subaru is an open star cluster ~444 light years away. It is the nearest star cluster to us. The reflection nebulae around the young stars are left from the time of their formation about 100 million years ago. WO ZS61; ZWO ASI533MC-Pro; 70 min (35x2m) … read more

2013: How it started…. 2023: How it’s going…. read more

This must be my best effort at capturing the running man and Orion nebulae so far. This nebula is a region of massive star formation and is closest of such kind to Earth at ~1300 light years. Taken with WO ZS61; ZWO ASI533MC-Pro. Only 40 one minute subs without any narrowband filter. Processed with … read more

The green comet is so close to a bright star, Capella right now. I’d be out taking pictures if there were no clouds covering it all up. ☹️☹️ read more

Got my Veil nebula photo printed. This is the first time for me to get an acrylic print. It was expensive but I see why that was so. It seems like the print is mounted under a clear ~4mm thick piece of plastic (acrylic?!). It looks great. Can’t wait to put it on a wall. read more

Comet C2022/E3 (ZTF) or the green comet as mentioned in the news was captured on the night of Friday (1/27) from my front yard. The relative movement of the comet over that time can be seen as the background stars made startrails. In the second image, the processing was done a little differently to … read more

A part of the Veil nebula complex from Cygnus. This is Pickering’s triangle and Witch’s broom (NGC6960). This supernova remnant glows in Halpha and Oiii frequencies which is perfect for LeXtreme narrowband filter that selects those frequencies. I have tried this image several times before but this 4 … read more

Pacman nebula (NGC 281) is in the constellation of Cassiopeia. This bright emission nebula is at 9200 light years away in the Perseus arm of the Milky Way galaxy. WO ZS61 - ZWO ASI533MC-PRO - LeXtreme - 50 x 3 min - SIRIL - PS read more

Playing with long exposure (3 mins) photos with a 40 mm lens attached to Nikon Z6 on a SkyWatcher star tracker. Here is one that shows Andromeda galaxy (M31), top right and Triangulum Galaxy (M33), bottom center. Also two open star clusters: M34 in Perseus (left edge) and NGC 752 in Andromeda (left … read more

The Bubble nebula (NGC 7635) and an open cluster M52 in the constellation Cassiopeia. They appear next to each other but the nebula is ~11000 LY away while M52 is closer at a distance of only ~5000 LY. The bubble is about 10 LY across and is formed because of the intense radiation from the star … read more

Here are attempts to put together the photos taken during the course of yesterday's total lunar eclipse - one as a composite image and other a timelapse video. read more

It is hard to get excited about lunar eclipses. They are not as dramatic as the solar ones. The eclipse started at around 3 am local time and the sky was supposed to be clear. Without that “cloudy sky” excuse, I decided to wake up to watch it from start to end. Once I was up and started taking … read more