Category Archives: Astronomy

Messier 76

M76 (NGC 650/651)  is a planetary nebula in Perseus known as the Little Dumbbell Nebula. It is one of the faintest Messier objects and one of only four planetary nebulae in Messier’s catalog.

A planetary nebula is from an exploded star, in spite of its name .

M76 is in the center of the frame below.: Continue reading

Messier 31

M31 (NGC 224) is a spiral galaxy in Andromeda and is our closest galaxy neighbor– the Andromeda Galaxy.

Most of M31 is in the frame below.

The picture was taken by a modified Canon Rebel on a TEC 140 in the Alpenglow Torrey House Observatory in the dark sky community of Torrey on September 25th 2022. Continue reading