Images of objects closer to the Earth, such as the moon and planets, are taken with an LPI camera (Lunar Planetary Imager). These are some of the first images taken with our telescope. Note the three moons around Jupiter in the last picture!

 

 

Images of objects farther out into the universe, beyond our solar system, are taken with a DSI camera (Deep Sky Imager). Astronomers compiled catalogs of nonstellar astronomical objects as they discovered these objects. One of these catalogs, the Messier Catalog, is a compiled list of 110 nebulas, star clusters, and galaxies that are numbered M1 to M110. Some of the common or favorite Messier objects include M31 - Andromeda Galaxy, M42 and M43 - Orion Nebula, and M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy. 

 

 

Messier object M103 is an open cluster of stars in the constellation Cassiopeia. This image was taken with a DSI camera operating at f/10 which leaves a narrow field of view of the whole cluster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Messier object M15 is a globular cluster of stars in the constellation Pegasus. This image was also taken with a DSI camera operating at f/10 which works fine for this cluster of stars approximately 33,000 light years away.