From Wikipedia:

" M13, the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules (also known as the Hercules Globular Cluster, Messier Object 13, Messier 13, M13, or NGC 6205) is a globular cluster in the Hercules constellation . "

 This light travelled for 25,000 years before being captured. I took 42 exposures of 20 seconds each and stacked them to increase the signal of this faint object.

Imagine living on a planet orbiting around one of these stars. What would the night sky look like?

I'm on a deep sky kick now for the first time.  This is 40 photographs of 20 seconds each combined.

The Eskimo Nebula (NGC 2392), also known as the Clownface Nebula,^[4] is a bipolar^[2] double-shell^[5] planetary nebula (PN). It was discovered by astronomer William Herschel in 1787. From the ground, it resembles a person's head surrounded by a parka hood.

(All from Wikipedia.)

 This object appears about 1/45th the size of the moon, but of course is fantastically huger.  The light from this object travelled for between 1000 to 3000 years (uncertain) before landing on my camera sensor.

I collected my first inter-galactic photons last week. Next time I'll rotate the damn camera! This light was emitted 37 million years ago.

Here is one of Comet Holmes from the backyard tonight. This is a great thing to look at just with binoculars so make sure you don't miss it.

Being an amateur astronomer in Alaska has a few ups, and many downs.  It's light half the year, thats bad, but it's also dark half the year, so that's good. Unfortunately the darker it gets the colder it gets, and that gets bad. (Ever bumped your lips up against a -10F telescope?) I think the worst aspect is that we are so far North that the planets, the Moon and the Sun do not climb as high into the sky as would be desirable for good steady seeing conditions. Jupiter cant even been seen from my location for another couple years. I have no recollection of ever seeing the Moon or Sun be directly overhead until a few trips to the continental USA in my late 30's! What a strange sight that is. Here are my best Saturns from last Winter. I'm a newbie astrophotographer, so my results suck compared to the experienced, but I enjoy trying. This Winter it will be Mars I'm snapping pictures of.

Master set Dobby free!