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What are Comets?
Comets are icy objects that travel around the Sun. You can think of a comet like a dirty snowball made of ice, dust, rock, and frozen gases. Most of the time, comets are far from the Sun and are too faint to see without a telescope. But when a comet gets closer to the Sun,…
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How Are These Images Captured?
The images on this website are captured from my backyard using special astronomy equipment, a lot of patience, and some computer processing afterward. Astrophotography is very different from taking a normal picture with a phone or camera. Most galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters are extremely faint. Our eyes cannot see much detail in them because…
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What Is a Star Cluster?
A star cluster is a group of stars that are close together in space and usually formed from the same giant cloud of gas and dust. You can think of a star cluster like a family of stars. The stars may be different sizes, colors, and brightness levels, but many of them were born around…
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What Is a Nebula?
A nebula is a giant cloud in space made of gas and dust. Some nebulae are places where new stars are being born. Others are made from material left behind after a star has aged or exploded. Nebulae can be colorful, glowing, dark, wispy, or shaped like strange objects in the night sky. The word…
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What Is a Galaxy?
When you look up at the night sky, most of the tiny points of light you see are stars in our own galaxy. But far beyond those stars are huge collections of stars, gas, dust, and dark matter called galaxies. A galaxy is like a giant city in space. Instead of houses, roads, and buildings,…