All photos are © Marshall Faintich
Click on each picture for a larger image.
Nebulae are clouds of interstellar gas where stars are born as the gaseous material condenses into a tightly packed mass. Ancient and medieval man could not see the colors in nebulae, as they appear to the naked eye as a grayish smudge against the dark night sky. The Eta Carina image has the nebula in the center, with the Southern Cross to the left, and the False Cross to the right.
Loose star clusters appear to be associated as stellar groupings in the sky, but often are separated by greatly different distances from the earth. Note the blue nebulosity around the stars of the Pleiades. Globular clusters do form a spatially connected group, and often there more than a million stars in a single cluster. Galaxies contain hundreds of billlions of stars.
![]() North American, Elephant Trunk, & Veil Nebulae ![]() Rosette Nebula ![]() Rosette & Cone Nebulae |
![]() Rosette & Cone Complex ![]() Rosette & Cone Complex ![]() Monkey's Head & Jellyfish Nebulae ![]() Dumbbell Planetary Nebula |
![]() Heart & Soul Nebulae with H & Chi Persei ![]() H & Chi Persei Double open cluster ![]() California Nebula ![]() Seagull Nebula |
![]() Flaming Star and Sh2-236 Nebulae M35, M36, M37, M38 open clusters ![]() Flaming Star and Sh2-236 Nebulae M35, M36, M37, M38 open clusters ![]() Flaming Star and Sh2-236 Nebulae M38 open cluster |
![]() Andromeda & M110 Galaxies ![]() Andromeda, Triangulum & M110 Galaxies ![]() Pinwheel & NGC 5474 Galaxies ![]() Whirlpool & NGC 5195 Galaxies |
![]() Pleiades Star (Open) Cluster ![]() Christmas Tree Open Cluster ![]() M23 Open Cluster | ||
![]() M3 Globular Cluster ![]() M22 Globular Cluster ![]() M71 Globular Cluster |
![]() Dumbbell Planetary Nebula ![]() Ring Planetary Nebula ![]() Beehive Open Cluster ![]() Wild Duck Open Cluster |
![]() Eta Carina Nebula, Omega Centauri, Southern and False Crosses |
![]() Eta Carina Nebula, Omega Centauri, Southern and False Crosses |
![]() M5 Globular Cluster ![]() M13 Globular Cluster ![]() M15 Globular Cluster |