Astrophotography

Astrophotography is a great technical hobby. It involves interesting optics, automatic control for sub-arcsecond tracking, cooled cameras, and lots of signal and image processing. And there are all sorts of amazing objects out there to photograph.

All shots below were taken from my house on the Stanford campus. Click any image to view full size.

Rosette Nebula
A bright nebula in Monoceros, overhead in winter just below Gemini.

M35 and NGC 2158
The open cluster M35 with its hot, young, bright blue stars next to the globular cluster NGC 2158 with its ancient stars. Right at the foot of Gemini.

Globular Cluster M3
One of the larger globular clusters, in Hercules.

Helix Nebula
A large, fairly bright planetary nebula in Aquarius.

Antares and the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex
One of my favorite parts of the sky. Emission nebulae (red), reflection nebulae (blue and orange), two globular clusters, dark nebulae, against the edge of the Milky Way.

Veil Nebula
A spectacular supernova remnant in Cygnus, directly overhead during the summer.

The Pleiades
A beautiful open cluster overhead in late fall. A reflection nebula, with hot blue stars illuminating dust clouds from behind.

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF)
The green comet, imaged over half an hour.

Supernova in M101 (May 2023)
The supernova appeared on May 19, 2023. The image on the left was acquired three days earlier.