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Mike Lundy

@ml_astroworks

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ZWO 2600MM/MC, 2400MC, 294MM, 071MC // Stellarvue SVX130T, TAK FSQ-85, Epsilon 130, TS Optics 10” RCT, RC51, MiniCat51
Backyard Observatory and SFRO

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feeling so incredibly loved heading into our wedding year!!!

@morganvanblarcum - you sure know how to throw a party 🤍💍

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Stephan’s Quintet and the Deer Lick Group of Galaxies. Located in the constellation Pegasus are two distinct clusters of galaxies, one of which I like to show around Christmas.

Stephan’s Quintet is a famous galaxy group of 5 galaxies that appear close together. The blue spiral galaxy NGC 7320 is not a true member and lies at a distance of 39 million light-years. In contrast, the other four galaxies form a compact galaxy group known as Hickson Compact Group 92 and are in the process of merging into a single galaxy, in fact it probably happened already. Still, we see these galaxies as they were around 300 million years ago. The true member galaxies are NGC 7318a and NGC 7318b at 280 million light-years, NGC 7319 at 311 million light-years away, and NGC 7317 at 301 million light-years distant. The individual galaxies are so distant that the effects of redshift can be seen with the four members of HCG 92 appearing more yellow in hue when compared to NGC 7320. This galaxy group is also the first compact galaxy group discovered, it was discovered in 1877 and has been photographed countless times by both professional astronomers, and amateur observers. Even the Hubble space telescope turned its powerful gaze to it as well as the James Webb space telescope.

Stephan’s Quintet was also famously used in the opening scenes of the 1846 Christmas movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” where the galaxies were depicted as angels conversing.

The deer lick group is composed of a large spiral galaxy NGC 7331 which is similar in size and appearance to the Andromeda Galaxy and lies 40 million light-years away and several background elliptical and spiral galaxies known as the “fleas” which are located 294-365 million light-years away.

#astrophotography #space #astro #cosmos #astronomy #spacephotography #stars #nebula #galaxy #spacepics #telescope #passioneastrofotografia #deepspace #christmas #itsawonderfullife #stephansquintet #hubbletelescope #jameswebbspacetelescope #darkmattersastro #planewaveinstruments

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NGC 1365 The Great Barred Spiral Galaxy

NGC 1365 is located 56 million light-years away in the constellation Fornax and is a member of the Fornax Cluster of Galaxies. This elegant galaxy features a prominent central bar and two symmetric long sweeping spiral arms. Prominent dust lanes can be seen along the central bar which spiral into the deep core where a 2 million solar mass supermassive black hole resides. Countless star-forming regions can be seen along the spiral arms juxtaposed against the blue glow of hot young O and B-type stars within the spiral arms.

Data acquired from Telescope Live

#astrophotography #space #astro #cosmos #astronomy #spacephotography #stars #nebula #galaxy #spacepics #telescope #pixinsight #passioneastrofotografia #skyandtelescopemag #qhyccd #planewaveinstruments #telescopelive

Image Acquisition details

Telescope Live remote Imaging CHI-1 CMOS
- telescope: Planewave CDK24 (3962 mm, 610 mm, f/6.5)
- Accessories: Mathis MI-1000/1250 with absolute encoders
- Camera: QHY 600M Pro
- Filters: Astrodon Luminance, Red, Green, Blue
- Location: El Sauce Observatory, Río Hurtado, Coquimbo Region, Chile
- Sky conditions: Bortle 1
- Processing: Siril stacking, Pixinsight processing
- Integration time: (Luminance: 33x300s, Red: 40x300s, Green: 41x300s, Blue: 30x300s)

Total integration time: 12 hours, 0 minutes

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M 45 the Pleiades Star Cluster

Messier 45 The Pleiades Open Star Cluster.
This cluster is named after the seven sisters of the Pleiades in Greek mythology, in reality the cluster contains thousands of individual stars, but only the most luminous are visible with the unaided eye. This luminous cluster of hot, Blue stars is located 444 light years away in the constellation Taurus which makes it one of the closest star clusters to Earth. It is also the easiest object in the night sky to spot with the naked eye. The cluster surrounded by dust such gives of an ethereal glow in long exposure photographs. This dust is not bound to the cluster but M45 is actually moving through the dust and gases of the Taurus molecular cloud and will eventually disperse due to gravitational interactions between the many stars of the cluster.

#astrophotography #space #astro #cosmos #astronomy #spacephotography #stars #nebula #galaxy #spacepics #zwo #williamoptics #zwoasi #optolong #telescope #highpointscientific #agenaastro #passioneastrofotografia#skyandtelescopemag

Image Acquisition details
- Telescope: William Optics GT81 WIFD (478mm focal length, 81mm aperture, f/5.9)
- Accessories: ZWO AM5, ZWO EAF, William Optics Flat 6AIII 0.8x reducer/flattener (380mm focal length, f/4.8 )
- Camera: ZWO ASI2600 MC Duo
- Filters: Optolong L-Quad Enhance, Optolong L-Ultimate
- Location: Bellefonte, PA
- Sky conditions: Bortle 4
- Processing: ASIair image acquisition, Siril Stacking, Pixinsight processing.
- Integration time: 195 x 300s L-Quad Enhance, 50 x 600s L -Ultimate.

24 hours, 35 minutes integration time.

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NGC 1097 Galaxy

NGC 1097 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Eridanus and is a member of the Fornax Cluster of Galaxies. This galaxy is currently merging with its smaller companion which is triggering star formation in the core as well as shaping the two prominent spiral arms. Several tidal streams can be seen radiating outward which are remnants of prior galactic collisions. NGC 1097 is located 45 million light-years away. Deep within the galactic core lies a 140 million solar mass supermassive black hole that powers an active galactic nucleus. The influx of material along the central bar has produced a bright ring of star formation around the core.

Data acquired from Telescope Live

#astrophotography #space #astro #cosmos #astronomy #spacephotography #stars #nebula #galaxy #spacepics #telescope #pixinsight #passioneastrofotografia #skyandtelescopemag #qhyccd #planewaveinstruments #telescopelive

Image Acquisition details

Telescope Live remote Imaging CHI-1 CMOS
- telescope: Planewave CDK24 (3962 mm, 610 mm, f/6.5)
- Accessories: Mathis MI-1000/1250 with absolute encoders
- Camera: QHY 600M Pro
- Filters: Astrodon Luminance, Red, Green, Blue
- Location: El Sauce Observatory, Río Hurtado, Coquimbo Region, Chile
- Sky conditions: Bortle 1
- Processing: Siril stacking, Pixinsight processing
- Integration time: (Luminance: 31x300s, Red: 33x300s, Green: 34x300s, Blue: 38x300s)

Total integration time: 11 hours, 20 minutes

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IC 2118 The Witch Head Nebula

For Halloween this year I decided to showcase a spooky target that i haven’t been able to image myself. Located 1,000 light-years away, near the bright star Rigel in the constellation Orion, lies this ethereal dust cloud, illuminated by the bright B-type blue supergiant star Rigel, which is actually a triple star system comprising two main-sequence B-type stars. Behind the dust cloud, a faint red glow of ionized hydrogen can be seen, which is a component of the Orion-Eridanus bubble created by multiple supernovae in the Orion OB1 association. Deep in the background many spiral and elliptical galaxies can be seen as well as a galaxy colisión near the bottom of the frame. This image was captured in a three-panel mosaic by Hellas Sky Deep Sky Photography with their 36cm RASA and processed by me in Pixinsight.

#astrophotography #space #astro #cosmos #astronomy #spacephotography #stars #nebula #galaxy #spacepics #telescope #pixinsight #passioneastrofotografia #skyandtelescopemag #celestron #halloween #witch

Image Acquisition Details

Hellas Sky Deep Sky Photography RASA36
- telescope: Celestron Rowe-Ackermann Schmidt Astrograph (790 mm, 360 mm, f/2.2)
- Accessories: Micron GM2000 HPS, Filter Wheel, Electronic Focuser
- Camera: QHY 600C PH BSI
- Filters: none
- Location: Greece
- Processing: Pixinsight processing
- Integration time: (94x180s, 88x180s, 87x180s)

Total integration time: 13 hours, 27 minutes

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NGC 281 Pacman Nebula

NGC 271 is an emission nebula located 9500 light-years away in the Perseus arm of our galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. This interesting nebula is called the Pacman nebula due to its striking resemblance to the classic video game character with a dark dust lane forming the “mouth”, several clumps of dust can be seen suspended against the glow of the ionized gases, these are known as Bok globules and often hide protoplanetary discs and unborn stars. This nebula is ionized by the young star cluster IC 1590. For this image, I decided to capture both narrowband data and broadband data to show both the emission nebula and the thick dust present around NGC 281.

#astrophotography #space #astro #cosmos #astronomy #spacephotography #stars #nebula #galaxy #spacepics #zwo #williamoptics #zwoasi #optolong #telescope #highpointscientific #agenaastro #passioneastrofotografia#skyandtelescopemag #askar

Image Acquisition Details
- Telescope: William Optics GT81 WIFD (478mm focal length, 81mm aperture, f/5.9)
- Accessories: ZWO AM5, ZWO EAF, William Optics Flat 6AIII 0.8x reducer/flattener (380mm focal length, f/4.8 )
- Camera: ZWO ASI2600 MC Duo
- Filters: Optolong L-Quad Enhance, Optolong L-Ultimate Ha-OIII, Askar Colour Magic D-2 OIII-SII.
- Location: Bellefonte, PA
- Sky conditions: Bortle 4
- Processing: ASIair image acquisition, Siril stacking, Pixinsight processing.
- Integration time: (L-Ultimate Ha-OIII: 159x300s, Askar D-2 OIII-SII: 107x300s, L-Quad Enhance 140x300s)

33 hours, 50 minutes

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A Comet Visits a Galaxy.

On October 4, 2025, I aimed my telescope at a new comet and was surprised by not only the dynamic changes in the tail with each sub-exposure but also what was waiting in the field of view of my telescope. When I stacked the images I was surprised to see a faint spiral galaxy known as NGC 3184 “The Little Pinwheel Galaxy” which is named for its resemblance to Messier 101 which also happens to reside in Ursa Major. NGC 3184 Lies 40 million light-years away and contains at least two prominent HII regions NGC 3180 and NGC 3181 respectively. The comet gives off an ethereal green glow and bright ion tail, contrasting the distant galaxy’s symmetric spiral structure. The Mount Lemmon Survey discovered C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) and has an outbound orbital period of 1150 years and 1350 years inbound due to the gravity boost from our sun. The comet will make its closest approach to Earth on 10/21/2025 and reach perihelion on 11/8/2025 where it will swing around the sun and fly out past the outer planets to the Oort Cloud for the next 1150 years.

#astrophotography #space #astro #cosmos #astronomy #spacephotography #stars #nebula #galaxy #spacepics #zwo #williamoptics #zwoasi #optolong #telescope #highpointscientific #agenaastro #passioneastrofotografia#skyandtelescopemag #comet

Image Acquisition Details
- Telescope: William Optics GT81 WIFD (478mm focal length, 81mm aperture, f/5.9)
- Accessories: ZWO AM5, ZWO EAF, William Optics Flat 6AIII 0.8x reducer/flattener (380mm focal length, f/4.8 )
- Camera: ZWO ASI2600 MC Duo
- Filters: None
- Location: Bellefonte, PA
- Sky conditions: Bortle 4
- Processing: ASIair image acquisition, Pixinsight stacking, and processing.
- Integration time: (L-Quad Enhance 82x60s)

1 hour, 22 minutes

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one less thing on my to do list!

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a Phoenix family vacation brought to you by Kacie graduating law school
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so proud of my favorite human and my number one legal consultant!

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Time-lapse of the Moon chasing Venus, Saturn and Jupiter through the clouds 🪐
By @ml_astroworks
Via @arcoiblue
#augustinmagazine
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#astrophotographer #longexposurephotography #nightphotography #nightscape #timelapse #exploretheuniverse #thediscoverer #espritmag #onearthmagazine #somewheremagazine #underfleuron #ourmag #artclassified #timetobehave #taintedmag #classicsmagazine #forevermagazine #n8zine #nightwalkermagazine #purpleaesthetic

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