Dale — Among Stars

Astrophotography · Edinburgh, Scotland

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// Personal Astrophotography Archive

Light from the edge
of the observable

Deep-sky objects — galaxies, nebulae and star clusters — captured from Edinburgh with a Dwarf 3 smart telescope. Each image represents hours of integration against the northern light-polluted sky.

Tonight's sky conditions → Cloud, moon and darkness over Edinburgh

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DSS Sky Survey · Aladin Lite
Real sky imagery · CDS Strasbourg · Scroll to zoom · drag to pan  |  DSS2 optical colour  2MASS near-infrared  Hα hydrogen-alpha emission
3D Distance Map · Stretched-log scale · Light-years from Earth
▶ How to read this map
• Sky plane — the translucent panel on the left represents your photograph: everything in the scene lies behind it, at its true distance from Earth.
• Depth sticks — dotted lines run from the sky plane out to each target's marker, making it easy to see which objects are at similar distances and which are dramatically further away.
• Stretched-log scale — the distance axis is logarithmic and then further stretched beyond 10 Mly so that nearby targets (light-years away) and distant galaxies (millions of light-years) are both readable in the same view. Equal spacing does not mean equal distance.
• Hover a marker to see the exact distance · drag to rotate · scroll to zoom · double-click or use the Reset button to return to the default view.
Building depth scene…
Drag to rotate · scroll to zoom · hover markers for distance · double-click to reset
All Targets — 3D Map Galactic coordinates · Sol at centre · Pin height = galactic latitude
▶ How to read this map
• Sol sits at the centre of the disc — that is you, here, now.
• Radial distance from Sol uses a stretched-log scale so nearby targets (light-years away) and distant galaxies (millions of light-years) can coexist in the same view without the close ones being invisible.
• Angle around the disc is galactic longitude (l) — the real compass bearing in the sky relative to the galactic centre at l = 0°.
• Pin height above or below the plane is galactic latitude (b). Nebulae and clusters hug the plane; galaxies stand well above or below it because we're looking out through the disc to objects far beyond it.
• Gold dashed ring = the edge of the Milky Way disc at ~100,000 light-years.
• Drag to rotate & tilt · scroll to zoom · hover a dot for coordinates.
Show:
Galaxy
Nebula / SNR
Cluster
Dashed gold ring = Milky Way edge (100 kly)
Drag to rotate & tilt · scroll to zoom · hover markers for coordinates · Escape closes