Michael Purcell's Astrophotography

Unless otherwise attributed, all photographs within this Web site are:

Copyright @ 1995-2004 by Michael Purcell.

You are free to download them for your own enjoyment.
Neither republishing nor commercial use are permitted without the author's consent.

 

Messier Galaxies.

 

NGC Galaxies.

 

Nebulae.

 

Star Clusters.

First Picture

 
NGC44945
See the Master List for details.

Real science
versus
non-science
 

Master Index to all Images

 
 

Other good links

 

Other objects of Interest.

-- Places where I have taken these images --

My Driveway

New Mexico desert

Grove Creek Observatory

Star Hill Inn


The Lake County
Astronomical Society

Previous Site of ASR ASR master site Next Site of ASR
This Site takes part in the AstroPhotography Sites Ring

Organization:

Each image is identified as to where I took it. Many of my earliest images were taken from my driveway in north suburban Chicago. Hence, the theme of my Web site. Since then, I have also taken images from dark sites in New Mexico and, most recent, Australia.

I have organized the images according to type (galaxies, globular clusters, nebulae, etc.). The images are shown in the alphabetical order of their astronomical designation (e.g., M1, NGC891, ...). Each image has a thumbnail image along with its name. Clicking on the thumbnail will take you to a page dedicated to the object. The object's page will contain a 1/4th size image, a brief description of the object, parameters of the image (how I actually took the picture), and a link to the full size image. I am using this organization to help improve the performance of these pages. My intent is to provide my images, not to compete with astronomical encyclopediae. Therefore, most pictures have no additional comments except for the CCD camera parameters. In a few cases I have included comments about the object or how I created the image. If you have suggestions for improvement please let me know!

See my Notes on Astrophotography for a fuller discussion of how I took these images, processed them, and prepared them for your access.


Browser, HTML, and JPEG Image Quality

Important: I have noticed that not all browsers display my JPEG images equally well. If the grayscale palette of an image appears messy, capture the image to disk and view it later with a good JPEG viewer. Or, identify your JPEG viewer as a "helper application" for the browser. In either case the image will improve. Also set your screen palette option to be GREATER than 256 colors. That is, 16 bit or 24 bit color.

If you are an AOL user, and my pictures appear muddy, then do the following. These steps will vary somewhat between the different versions of AOL's software.



Recommended AStronomy and Astrophotography Links

  • Steve Albers
  • Amateur AstroImaging by CCD
  • Amateur Astronomer's Notebook: Photo Gallery
  • Astronomical Images - Deep Sky Astrophotography
  • Astrophotography by PLDove
  • Astrofili on the Web
  • Axiom Research: Image Processing (MIRA)
  • Matt BenDaniel
  • CCD Pixel Size Optimization
  • CCD TechNotes
  • Mel Bartels
  • Stephen C. Bell
  • Kevin Bonges
  • Rick Bright's Astrophotographer List
  • Michael Boschat
  • Richard Colman and David H. Spiers
  • A Comparison of CCD Chips
  • Darklight Observatory Images
  • Galaxy Images and Photos
  • Gordon Garradd
  • Gunther Groenez
  • David Hanon
  • IMSTAR
  • Paul Laughton
  • Steve Lee
  • Observatory Techniques Magazine
  • Night Sky Info
  • Planetary Image Research Laboratory
  • Purcell's images at SEDS
  • Pedro Re
  • Jim Scala
  • The Seven Hills Observatory
  • Luc Vanhoeck
  • Martin Yates
  • Wallis - Provin
  • Jason Ware's Galaxy Photography
  • Andy Williams' pages - astronomy and space
  • Steven Williams at Grove Creek Observatory


  • Contact Michael Purcell

    This page last updated on November 16, 2005

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