Deep Sky Objects
Deep sky photography is the most challenging. Many of the objects are faint and require long exposures to capture the details. The effort is great but the rewards can be just as great. In the past, using film made the job more difficult. With the arrival of the digital SLRs and CCD technology, the ability of amateurs to record these objects like a professional observatory improved significantly.
This page is devoted to photographing objects that I think are prime beginner targets for amateur astronomers. Many are celestial showpieces and I have labeled them the Astrophotography 100. The list does not include objects that are not visible from the latitude of 40 degrees north.
- M31/32/NGC205
- NGC 247
- NGC 253
- NGC 281
- M33
- M74
- NGC 869 and 884.
- NGC 891
- IC 1805
- NGC 1097
- IC 1848
- M45
- NGC 1232
- NGC 1499
- IC 2118
- IC 405
- M1
- NGC 1977
- M42/43
- NGC 2024
- B33
- M78
- SH2-276
- M35 and NGC 2129
- NGC 2174/2175
- IC 443
- NGC 2237
- NGC 2264
- IC 2177
- NGC 2359
- NGC 2392
- NGC 2403
- M46 and NGC 2438
- NGC 2683
- NGC 2903
- M81
- M82
- NGC 3166-69
- M105/NGC 3384 and 3389
- M108
- M97
- M65/66 and NGC3628
- M106
- M100
- NGC 4244
- M84 and M86
- NGC 4559
- NGC 4565
- NGC 4567
- M104
- NGC 4631
- NGC 4656
- NGC 4676 a and b
- NGC 4725
- M64
- NGC 5033
- M51
- M83
- M3
- M101
- NGC 5907
- NGC 5981, 5982, 5985
- M5
- Rho Ophiuchi region in Scorpio
- M13
- LDN 1773
- “Prancing Horse” dark nebula.
- NGC 6334
- B72
- NGC 6357
- M20
- NGC 6520 and B86
- M8
- NGC 6543
- M24/B92-3
- M16
- M17
- M22
- M11
- M57
- B133
- Coll339
- B143
- NGC 6822
- M27
- NGC 6888
- NGC 6914
- IC 1318
- NGC 6946
- NGC 6960
- NGC 6992
- NGC 7000
- NGC 7023
- NGC 7009
- IC 1396
- IC 5146
- IC 7293
- NGC 7331
- NGC 7635
- NGC 7822
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