That's the one thing I hate about living in San Diego; I can't see the stars. I need to see what Dave sees before I die.

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...4I_4zW7NH_mHBj

THAaaaats DEEeeeep Mannnn

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Great movie...

we dont fly off just get smashed by hurricanes and fall thru the crack's the ultra quakes cause and get burned to a crisp by every volcano on earth going off. Not nearly as bad i think honestly i would rather fly off and die immediately!

By the way Dave i think we are in agreement to say astronomy kicks major arse i need a new scope mine broke and when i had a working one i would use the old school logitech cams mounted on the lens with a real long usb cable to do my astraphotography with so that is a good pointer for those of you with a old school logitech messenger cam or similar and a telescope. U get more magnification as well as save your best viewings on your pc to relive over and over.

Took this on Monday at a Dark Sky site and though it was only 150 minutes it came out nicely I think.

Object data: M51, the 'Whirlpool Galaxy' in Canes Venatici is famous for its beautiful spiral structure, first noted by Lord Rosse in 1845. It was discovered by Messier in October 1773 and catalogued by him in January 1774.

Its companion galaxy, NGC 5195, (seen to the right of M51 in this image) was discovered in 1781 by Messier's colleague, P. Mechain. The M51 system is a spectacular example of interacting galaxies - in this case NGC 5195 is being "ripped apart" by the huge gravitational disturbance of M51, while M51 has in turn undergone huge structural alteration from the gravitational effects of NGC 5195.

The distance of M51 is estimated to be about 37 million light years. The diameter is approximately 100,000 light years and the total mass is estimated to be the equivalent of 160 billion suns.

If you look in the background carefully all the little "fuzzy" objects are other galaxies that are 100's of millions of light years away. It's amazing how studded the sky is with them.

More cool stuff, keep it coming Dave!

What time of night was this taken?

About 3AM to 5AM

That's awesome work Dave.
If I'm up at that hour it's usually because I’m on here telling someone there and idiot.

This is a Shot of M84, M86 and NGC4402. M84 (lower right) and M86 (lower on the left) are both giant lenticular galaxies at the heart of the Virgo cluster of Galaxies.

Located in Markarian's Chain, M84 was studied by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1997 and was found to contain a massive central object, estimated at 300 million solar masses, located less than 26 light years from the center of the galaxy.

NGC 4402, a spiral galaxy at the top of the photo, appears Almost completely edge on to the Milky Way. There are lots of little "fuzzies" in the background that are other members of the cluster .

Located about 70 million light years away, the Virgo cluster is a gigantic collection of several thousand galaxies that dominate our local part of the universe.

The Virgo Cluster is a cluster of galaxies whose center is 53.8 ± 0.3 Mly (16.5 ± 0.1 Mpc)[2] away in the constellation Virgo. Comprising approximately 1300 (and possibly up to 2000) member galaxies,[3] the cluster forms the heart of the larger Local Supercluster, of which the Local Group is an outlying member. It is estimated that its mass is 1.2×1015 M☉ out to 8 degrees of the cluster's center or a radius of about 2.2 Mpc.[4]

Many of the brighter galaxies in this cluster, including the giant elliptical galaxy Messier 87, were discovered in the late 1770s and early 1780s and subsequently included in Charles Messier's catalogue of non-cometary fuzzy objects. Described by Messier as nebulae without stars, their true nature was not recognized until the 1920s.[5]

The cluster subtends a maximum arc of approximately 8 degrees centered in the constellation Virgo. Many of the member galaxies of the cluster are visible with a small telescope.

The cluster is a fairly heterogeneous mixture of spirals and ellipticals.[6]As of 2004, it is believed that the spirals of the cluster are distributed in an oblong prolate filament, approximately 4 times as long as wide, stretching along the line of sight from the Milky Way.[7] The elliptical galaxies are more centrally concentrated than the spiral galaxies.

The cluster is an aggregrate of at least three separate subclumps centered on the galaxies M87, M86, and M49. Of the three subclumps, the one centered on M87 is the dominant one, with a mass of approximately 1014 solar masses, which is approximately an order of magnitude larger than the other two subclumps.[8]

The large mass of the cluster is indicated by the high peculiar velocities of many of its galaxies, sometimes as high as 1,600 km/s with respect to the cluster's center.

The Virgo cluster lies within the Local Supercluster, and its gravitational effects slow down the nearby galaxies. The large mass of the cluster has the effect of slowing down the recession of the Local Group from the cluster by approximately ten percent.

About 60 million light years away, in the constellation of Leo, sits this magnificent group of galaxies, number 44 in a catalog of 100 such clusters compiled by astronomer Paul Hickson. This scene is an interesting study in the range of galaxy types. Just below center is NGC 3190, a striking spiral that we see nearly edge on. The dust lane traversing it is characteristic of spiral galaxies. To the lower left is NGC 3193, a good example of an elliptical galaxy. To the upper left is NGC 3187, another spiral, but with a prominent central bar. To the top right is NGC 3185. This is also a barred spiral, but its bar is subtle and much smaller relative to its overall size.

The galaxies in Hickson 44 are close enough that they interact with each other gravitationally. This causes the individual galaxies to become distorted and in some cases even share material. If you look closely, you may notice a faint halo around NGC 3190, and also a very subtle smudge of light between it and NGC 3193, a bridge of stars being shared between the two giants as they embrace in their cosmic dance.

Finally, inspect the background of the field and you will find hundreds of tiny yellowish and reddish objects. These are not stars, but extremely distant galaxies, hundreds of millions of light years away. This awesome backdrop almost makes the galaxies of the main group group seem close by!

I live here in San Diego and I can see the stars. I guess it just depends on what part of town you live in.

If you went out to a dark sky site way out in the boonies you'd shit yourself