NGC 5139 - Omega Centauri
Omega Centauri was first cataloged by Ptolemy in Greece in 150 A.D. At a distance of 16,000 light years and a diameter of 150 light years, it is the most massive globular cluster in the Milky Way. It is estimated to contain around 10 million stars and has a total mass of 4 million solar masses. The stars in the core of Omega Centauri are so crowded that they are estimated to average only 0.1 light years away from each other. It has been speculated that Omega Centauri is the core of a dwarf galaxy that was disrupted and absorbed by the Milky Way.
Image processed by Ron Yelton, original data from Telescope Live
 		NGC 104
This globular cluster was first recorded in 1751-2 by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille, who initially thought it was the nucleus of a bright comet, and later added to the Messier list as Messier 1 by Charles Messier. In the constellation Tucana, and lying 13,000 light-years away, NGC 104 (47 Tucanae) is the second brightest globular cluster behind Omega Centauri. Current thinking is that this globular cluster contains about 10,000 stars and may be around 13 billion years old, which is unusually old. This cluster contains numerous x-ray sources and also has 25 known millisecond pulsars. In December 2008, Ragbir Bhathal of the University of Western Sydney claimed the detection of a strong laser-like signal from the direction of 47 Tucanae.
Image processed by Ron Yelton, original data from Telescope Live 		NGC 4755 The Jewel Box Cluster
Nicolas Louis de Lacaille first discovered this open cluster in the constellation Crux back in 1751-52 while populating his catalog at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. The cluster was later named The Jewel Cluster by John Herschel, who described it as "a superb piece of fancy jewelry." Herschel recorded over 100 members of this cluster in 1834-1838. Its age is estimated at around 14 million yrs. and is the youngest known cluster. It lies about 6,400 light-years from Earth.
Image processed by Ron Yelton, original data from Telescope Live
                                  Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile
                                  Date: January 1, 2020
                                  Mount: Mathis MI-1000
                                  Telescope: Planewave CDK24 f/6.6
                                  Camera: FLI PL9000 @ -25c  (CHI-1)
                                  Exposure: 3 x 5min each for RGB. Total 15 min.		                                   Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile
                                  Date: October 21, 2020
                                  Mount: ASA DDM85
                                  Telescope: ASA 500N
                                  Camera: FLI PL16803 @-25 (CHI-2 50mm)
                                  Exposure: 6 x 3min each for RGB. Total: 1 hr.
                                   Location: El Sauce Obs, Chile
                                  Date: April 9, 2021
                                  Mount: Mathis MI-1000/1250
                                  Telescope: Planewave CDK24
                                  Camera: FLI ProLine PL 9000  @-25 (CHI-1)
                                  Exposure: 6 x 5 min RGB Total: 30 min

ngc 104




Comet Leonard C/2021 A1
Comet Leonard, a long period comet, was discovered by G. J. Leonard on 1/2/21 at the Mt. Lemon Observatory in Tucson, AZ. When first observed it was 5 AU (470M miles) from the Sun. Its nucleus is about .6 miles in diameter. It has been inside the orbit of Neptune since May of 2009. and is believed to have an orbital period of 80,000 years. It has spent the last 40,000 years inbound from 350B miles away. After its closest approach to the Sun it will be ejected from the solar system, but will return sometime in the distant future.
Image processed by Ron Yelton, original data from Telescope Live 		Comet Leonard C/2021 A1
This is a cropped version of the image to the left.






Image processed by Ron Yelton, original data from Telescope Live
M7 - Ptolmey's Cluster
This open cluster in the constellation Virgo,was first recorded by Ptolmey in 130 AD. It has about 80 stars in it, and lies about 950 light-years away. It's width is 25 light-years, and is estimated to be about 200 million years old. As of January 2022 it is one of the few Messier objects not to have been photgraphed by the Hubble Space Telescope. Process in Pixinsight and Photoshop.

 
Image processed by Ron Yelton, original data from Telescope Live
                                  Location: Heaven's Mirror Observatory, Australia
                                  Date: December 31, 2021
                                  Mount: Paramount MX                                  
                                  Telescope: Takahashi FSQ-106E (AUS-2)
                                  Camera: FLI PL16803 @ -25c
                                  Exposure: 2 x 2min each for LRGB. Total 2 min.		                                   Location: Heaven's Mirror Observatory, Australia
                                  Date: December 31, 2021
                                  Mount: Paramount MX                                  
                                  Telescope: Takahashi FSQ-106E (AUS-2)
                                  Camera: FLI PL16803 @ -25c
                                  Exposure: 2 x 2min each for LRGB. Total 2 min. 		                                  Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile                                                                   Date: April 28, 2022
                                  Mount: Mathis MI-1000/1250
                                  Telescope: Planewave CDK24
                                  Camera: FLI ProLine PL 9000  @-25 (CHI-1)
                                  Exposure: 17 x 5 min LRGB Total: 1 hr 15 min







Comet C2017 K2
  This comet was discovered back in 2017 when it was out near the orbit of Saturn. It originated in the Oort Cloud and when it was discovered it was the farthest distance recorded for first observation of a comet. From Hubble Space Telescope studies its diameter is about 11 miles and its tail runs about 500,000 miles long. Models from JPL Horizons estimate that it started in the Oort Cloud (50,000 AU, .8 ly) and took millions of years to get here. It's outbound leg back to the Oort Cloud should be about 18,000 years.

Image processed by Ron Yelton, original data from Telescope Live 		Messier 12
  Messier 12 is a globular cluster in the constellation Ophiuchus.It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764. He described it as a nebula without stars. From Earth, M12 is about 16,400 light-years away, and has a diameter of about 75,000 light-years. It has an unusually low number of low-mass stars - probably due to them being stripped off as the cluster passed through the plane of the Milky Way.


 Image processed by Ron Yelton, original data from Telescope Live
 M7 - Ptolmey's Cluster
This is a different version of Ptolmey's Cluster. The first version that I did (on the row above) was done with CCDStack and Photoshop. this version was done entirely with Pixinsight. Came out a bit differently.
                                 Location: IC Astronomy, Oria, Almería, Spain                                   Date: July 22, 2022
                                 Mount: Paramount MX+                               
                                 Telescope: Takahashi FSQ106EDX4 (SPA-3)                                  Camera: FLI PL16083
                                 Exposure: 2 x 3min for LRGB filters Total: 3 min.
                               Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile                                                               Date: May 16-18, 2023
                              Mount: Mathis MI-1000/1250
                              Telescope: Planewave CDK24
                              Camera: QHY600m @-25 (CHI-1)
                              Exposure: 12 x 5 min LRGB Total: 1 hr 40 min                     		                                  Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile                                                                   Date: April 28, 2022
                                  Mount: Mathis MI-1000/1250
                                  Telescope: Planewave CDK24
                                  Camera: QHY600m (CMOS) @-25 (CHI-1)
                                  Exposure: 18 x 5 min LRGB Total: 1 hr 20 min







Brocchi's Cluster - Collinder 399 - The Coathanger
  This cluster really isn't. It is an asterism located in the constellation Vulcepula. The asterism being  6 stars that line up in a straight line. It was first described by the Persian astronomer Al Sufsi in 964. It was considered to be a star cluster up until 1997 when it was determined that none of the stars are affected by each others' gravity. It is commonly known as The Coathanger. Can you see the Coathanger?


 Image processed by Ron Yelton, original data from Telescope Live		 Comet C2022 E3
Discovered on March 2, 2022, comet C2022 E3 is a long-period comet that originated in the Oort cloud. It's bright green glow comes from the Sun's radiation exciting diatomic carbon and cyanogen. The nucleus is about a kilometer in size and it rotates once about every 8.6 hours. Its tails of dust and gas extended for millions of kilometers.



Image processed by Ron Yelton, original data from Telescope Live		 Messier 4 - The Spider Globular Cluster
  This globular cluster was first observed in 1745 by Philippe Loys de Cheseaux. Then , in 1764, it was cataloged by Charles Messier. It is the first globular cluster in which individual stars were resolved. This cluster resides in the constellation Scorpius (the Scorpion). It is 75 light-years across and is about 60000 light-years away from us, making it the closest globular cluster to Earth. The Hubble Space Telescope found some white dwarf stars that are some of the oldest stars in our galaxy - at about 13 billion years old. One star was found to have a planet that is 2.5 times the size of Jupiter.
Image processed by Ron Yelton, original data from Telescope Live
                    Location: Heaven's Mirror Observatory, Australia
                    Date: April 2023
                    Mount: Paramount MX                                  
                    Telescope: Takahashi FSQ-106E (AUS-2)
                    Camera: QHY600m  @ -25c
                    Exposure: 15 x 300 sec each for RGB. Total 1 hr 15 min.. 		                                 Location: IC Astronomy, Oria, Almería, Spain                                   Date: February 1, 2023
                                 Mount: Paramount MX+                               
                                 Telescope: Takahashi FSQ106ED (SPA-1)                                  Camera: FLI PL16083
                                 Exposure: 9 x 30sec for LRGB filters Total: 4.5 min.             		                              Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile                                                               Date: May 2024
                              Mount: Mathis MI-1000/1250
                              Telescope: Planewave CDK24 (CHI-1)
                              Camera: QHY600m @-25
                              Exposure: 112 x 5 min LRGB Total: 8 hr 50 min