Alternatives to the Hubble Palette The Great Orion Nebula (M42, NGC 1976) is probably the brightest, most famous and most imaged nebula in the night sky....

New Resources for Amateur Astronomers Like most keen amateur astronomers I have generated all kinds of computer based resources to support my observing...

M43 - Overshadowed by its more famous neighbour! Messier 43 (NGC 1982) is an emission nebula surrounding the irregular young "nebula variable" NU Orionis. The...

Deep Imaging in Hydrogen Alpha This is a 9 page mini web site intended to show that most of the emission nebulae are far more extensive than most catalogues...

The Messier Ten Minute Challenge M4 - Globular Cluster in Scorpius Messier 4 (NGC 6121) lies at a distance of about 7,200 light years and as such is one of...

The Messier Ten Minute Challenge M5 - Globular Cluster in Serpens Messier 5 (NGC 5904) was first seen by Kirch in May 1702 and Charles Messier found it...

Supernova 2008az - Imaged March 29th 2008 Discovered 2008/02/27.51 by Jack Newton and Tim Puckett. Found in UGC 10721 at R.A. = 17h08m26s.03, Decl. =...

The Messier Ten Minute Challenge M9 - Globular Cluster in Ophiuchus Messier 9 (NGC 6333) was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764. It is one of the nearer...

The Messier Ten Minute Challenge M17 - bright nebula in Scutum M17 (NGC 6618) is a region of star formation and shines by excited emission that has been...

What can I image in 60 seconds? This is a 6 page mini website intended to demonstrate what can be imaged in the night sky in as little as 60...

Short projects for amateur astronomers A selection of ideas for short projects suitable for amateur astronomers have been collected together. Included here...

An attractive New General Catalogue group in Pisces Galaxies that are listed in the New General Catalogue are not even distributed across the sky. Some groups...

Our nearest neighbours - SO 0253-1652 SO 0253-1652 is the 23rd closest system to Sol and is located in Aries, the Ram. SO 0253-1652 was first reported as...

Suspected infra-red variables in the region of M27 Messier 27 (NGC 6853) or the Dumbell Nebulae is perhaps the most conspicuous of the planetary nebula and...

Colour contrasting double stars One of the major attractions of double stars to the amateur astronomer is that they are visually attractive, particularly when...

Our nearest neighbours - CN LEO (Wolf 359) CN LEO is the 3rd closest system to Sol. The system consists of a red dwarf of spectral class M6.0 with an...

Lynds' Catalogue of Dark Nebulae (LDN 497) LDN 497 in Scutum Lynds' Catalogue of Dark Nebulae (LDN 497) shows up well in these two images. Of almost equal...

Nova Monitoring It is perfectly possible to make a significant contribution to the hobby with just a few, well targeted, observations each week. For example...

High Profile Variable Stars (2) R CRB - a sooty star? R Coronae Borealis (R CrB) is a popular target with both visual and CCD based telescope users - not...

The Messier Ten Minute Challenge M80 - Globular Cluster in Scorpius Discovered in 1781 by Messier M 80 (NGC 6093) is one of the most densely packed globular...