I’ve been taking advantage of the long winter nights in January to take more astronomy pictures when the sky is clear. Here are the best I have taken recently.

C25, “Intergalactic Wanderer” star cluster

This faint object is a distant globular star cluster in the constellation Lynx, nicknamed the “intergalactic wanderer” because it lies about 300,000 light‑years from Earth and may be the remnant core of a small galaxy captured by the Milky Way.

M36, “Pinwheel” star cluster

Messier 36 is an open star cluster of 60-100 stars in the constellation Auriga, “the Charioteer.” M36 is young, with an estimated age of roughly 20–30 million years. It is 4000 light-years from Earth.

M45, “Pleiades”

I’ve taken several of the Pleiades before. This was a long exposure, wide-angle view.

C31, “Flaming Star” nebula

The red cloud is hot hydrogen gas lit up by the blue star AE Aurigae, which is just passing thrrough the cloud. C31 is about 1500 light-years away.