North America Nebula (NGC 7000)

The North America Nebula spans about 50 light years and is a distance of 1500 light years away.  It's in the constellation Cygnus.  A huge nebula, that resembles the North American continent. 

Western and Eastern Veil Nebula

Draped in Earth's sky is a large filament of expanding gaseous clouds toward the constellation Cygnus.  The Veil Nebula is a remnant of an exploding star.  At a distance of 1,500 light years away, the Veil is an extraordinary site to image.

Western and Eastern Veil Nebula
3min X 20
Camera: QHY8pro and Hyperstar F/2
Telescope: Celestron 11" Edge HD guided
Mount: Celestron CGE Pro
Location: Lubbock, TX
Dates: July 12, 2013

M20 Trifid Nebula

A star forming region toward the constellation Sagittarius provides a vast dust lane of threaded dark filaments highly visible in the central region.  Known as Messier 20 (M20), the Trifid Nebula is a distance of 9,000 light years away.

M20, Trifid Nebula
5min X 20
Camera: QHY8pro
Telescope: Celestron 11" Edge HD guided
Mount: Celestron CGE Pro
Location: Lubbock, TX
Dates: July 13, 2013

Swan Nebula

The Swan Nebula, also known as the Omega Nebula, Horseshoe Nebula, Checkmark, or Lobster Nebula.  It is in the constellation Sagittarius.  It was discovered in 1745.  It is located in the rich starfield of the Milky Way Galaxy.  It is betweent 5,000 to 6,000 light years from Earth.  It's one of the brightest star formations in our galaxy.  This image has part of the nebula missing becuase of it's huge size.  This image, taken at F/7 with a QHY8 color CCD shows the large amount of gas that resembles a "Swan" sitting on a lake.

M51, Whirlpool Galaxy

One of my all time favorite objects to image, M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy, is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici.  At a distance of 37 million light years from Earth, M51 is one of the brightest and picturesque images in the sky.  I've posted this image before hoping to get a better image quality.  Lying near the big dipper, M51 is also very hard to see visually in smaller telescopes.  Even larger telescopes, the visual clarity is degraded unless you have really clear dark skies.
This is a 10 minute exposure from Lubbock, TX from my back yard.  Imaged in January 2013 with mild light pollution from the obnoxious Lubbock, TX lights.

M100 is located in the constellation Coma Berenices.  It is approximately 55 million light years away and has a diameter of about 155,000 light years.  Note the numerous other faint galaxies in the image and the smaller galaxy to the left.  This galaxy is known as NGC 4312.
Image was taken from Lubbock, TX on the night of February 16, 2013.  It's a 10 minute exposure with a total exposure time of 130 minutes.

Moon and Jupiter

A great image of the moon and Jupiter (upper left of moon).  From Sky and Telescope, "Although they look close together, the Moon is only 1.3 light-seconds distant from Earth, while Jupiter is 1,700 times farther away at a distance of 37 light-minutes."  Couldn't have said it better myself. 
Taken with a Canon DSLR and 100 ISO.  Less than one second exposure time and focused as good as I could get it from Lubbock, TX on January 21, 2013.