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M51, Whirlpool Galaxy

One of my all time favorite objects to image, M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy, is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici.  At a distance of 37 million light years from Earth, M51 is one of the brightest and picturesque images in the sky.  I've posted this image before hoping to get a better image quality.  Lying near the big dipper, M51 is also very hard to see visually in smaller telescopes.  Even larger telescopes, the visual clarity is degraded unless you have really clear dark skies.
This is a 10 minute exposure from Lubbock, TX from my back yard.  Imaged in January 2013 with mild light pollution from the obnoxious Lubbock, TX lights.

M100 is located in the constellation Coma Berenices.  It is approximately 55 million light years away and has a diameter of about 155,000 light years.  Note the numerous other faint galaxies in the image and the smaller galaxy to the left.  This galaxy is known as NGC 4312.
Image was taken from Lubbock, TX on the night of February 16, 2013.  It's a 10 minute exposure with a total exposure time of 130 minutes.

Moon and Jupiter

A great image of the moon and Jupiter (upper left of moon).  From Sky and Telescope, "Although they look close together, the Moon is only 1.3 light-seconds distant from Earth, while Jupiter is 1,700 times farther away at a distance of 37 light-minutes."  Couldn't have said it better myself. 
Taken with a Canon DSLR and 100 ISO.  Less than one second exposure time and focused as good as I could get it from Lubbock, TX on January 21, 2013.

Rosette Nebula

Located in the constellation Monoceros, the Rosette Nebula is an awesome photographic image that truly looks like a rose pedal.  Located some 1500 light years away, the Rosette Nebula shows its huge hydrogen ejection carried off by the stellar cosmic winds.  Taken in my back yard in Lubbock, TX under mild light pollution. 
Imaged with a QHY8 CCD and Hyperstar focal reducer.  This is an f/2 image and autoguided.  10min exposure X 15 images stacked for a final image.
Equipment included my Celestron 11" Edge HD and CGE Pro Mount.

The second image is the same object taken the same night, but reprocessed a little different.  Thanks to a Facebook friend for the reprocessing.

NGC 2841

Spiral Galaxy NGC 2841 is found in the constellation Ursa Major shows dust lanes with a bright nucleus.  Around the galaxy are fainter smaller galaxies in the image in the upper left corner.  NGC 2841 has a diameter that stretches 150,000 light years across and is about 30 million light years away.

Imaged in Fort Davis, TX on January 12, 2013 using a QHY8 CCD camera.  Equipment included the 11" Edge HD and CGE Pro mount.  Autoguided using the popular ORION Single Shot Autoguider.  This is a 10 minute exposure with a total exposure time of 160 minutes total time.

Reprocessed after the first image post.  01/15/2013

NGC 891

NGC 891 is an Edge-On spiral galaxy with a faint dust lane along its equator and interstellar gas.  It's span from tip to tip is about 100,000 light years.  Very similar to our own Milky way.  Distance is about 30 million light years from Earth in the constellation Andromeda. 

Imaged in Fort Davis, TX on November 10, 2012.  5-min exposure X 20 images.