Astrodoc: Astrophotography by Ron Brecher

Celestron Origin Mark II First Light

Ron Brecher — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 18:26:07 +0000

Celestron Origin Mark II First Light Click images for full size versions August 19, 2026 Celestron has kindly loaned me a Celestron Origin Mark II 'Intelligent Home Observatory' to use for a while. I had first light with it on August 17. It took about five minutes to assemble the three main parts (tripod, mount [...]

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NGC 6946 & NGC 6939

Ron Brecher — Sat, 08 Aug 2026 07:16:47 +0000

NGC 6946 & NGC 6939 Click image for full size version August 8, 2026 The two objects in this image each cover about 1/3 of the Moon's diameter, but one lies about 6,000 times further away from us than the other. Open cluster NGC 6939 (upper right) lies within the Milky Way, our home galaxy, [...]

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Coathanger – Gear 90 First Light

Ron Brecher — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 13:59:34 +0000

Coathanger - Gear 90 First Light Click image for full size version August 2, 2026 The Coathanger is an asterism -- a pattern of stars -- that looks unmistakably like its namesake. It is also catalogued as Brocchi's Cluster and Collinder 399. The Coathanger is located in the constellation of Vulpecula, not far from the [...]

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Soap Bubble Nebula

Ron Brecher — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 18:29:01 +0000

Soap Bubble Nebula Click image for full size version July 29, 2026 The Soap Bubble Nebula (PN G75.5+1.7) is about 5,000 light years away, near the Crescent Nebula in Cygnus. It is extremely faint, and was discovered in 2007 by amateur astronomer Dave Jurasevich using a 160 mm refractor. This image was taken at much [...]

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NGC 6791 (2026)

Ron Brecher — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:03:32 +0000

NGC 6791 (2026) Click image for full size version July 20, 2026 NGC 6791, in Lyra, is one of the most studied open clusters in the sky. It has a mass of about 5,000 times that of our Sun. It is old, at about 8 billion years, but contains some unusual younger stars (4 and [...]

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Crescent and Soap Bubble Nebulae

Ron Brecher — Sat, 11 Jul 2026 10:00:04 +0000

Crescent and Soap Bubble Nebulae Click image for full size version (22 MB) July 11, 2026 The Crescent Nebula is an emission nebula situated about 5,000 light years away, and dominates the right side of this image. It lies in a patch of Milky Way that runs right through Cygnus, the Swan. The richness of [...]

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The Sun, July 3 2026

Ron Brecher — Sun, 05 Jul 2026 14:50:05 +0000

The Sun, July 3, 2026 Click image for full size version July 5, 2026 The air was steady and transparent when I captured this picture of the Sun on July 3, 2026. I used my Sky-Watcher Heliostar 76α H-alpha telescope and Player One Xena 585-M camera, all on a Sky-Watcher Wave 100i mount. I controlled [...]

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Draco Triplet

Ron Brecher — Sat, 04 Jul 2026 14:29:28 +0000

Draco Triplet Click image for full size version July 4, 2026 The three main galaxies in this image, from left to right, are NGC 5985, NGC 5982, and NGC 5981. They are at quite different distances, and appear close only due to being along the same line of sight. This field is located in [...]

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Sh2-112 Narrowband

Ron Brecher — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 16:16:00 +0000

Sh2-112 in Narrowband Click image for full size version July 1, 2026 Sh2-112 lies about 5.600 light years from Earth in Cygnus, the Swan It's not far from the North America Nebula, but twice as far away. This whole area of Cygnus is dominated by the Milky Way and is awash in faint nebulosity, as [...]

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Solstice Sun

Ron Brecher — Sun, 21 Jun 2026 17:30:37 +0000

Solstice Sun, June 21, 2026 Click image for full size version June 21, 2026 It is the summer solstice. The longest day of the year. It was a beautiful day to capture another picture of the Sun with my Sky-Watcher Heliostar 76α H-alpha telescope and Player One Xena 585-M camera, all on a Sky-Watcher Wave [...]

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