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Baker’s Astrophotography

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Baker’s Astrophotography

Turning the Universe into art one photo at a time🔭 🌌
Astronomy⭐️|Cosmology🪐|Physics⚛️
Learning to understand the “How” behind the “Wow”.

07/13/2026

photo i got last month that i forgot to share.

06/30/2026

The Dead Mans Chest Cluster(NGC 6520 and Barnard 86)

NGC 6520 is dense young star cluster located in the southern part of the Sagittarius constellation.
*Distance from Earth: about 5,500 light years
*Discovered by: William Herschel, May 24, 1784
*Scientific importance: Its age range and spectral composition make it a target for understanding early-stage star formation.

Barnard 86 also known as the "Ink Spot" is a dark cloud nebula located 4 arcminutes to the east of NGC 6520.
*Distance from Earth: about 5,500 light years
*Discovered by: Edward E. Barnard in 1919
*Scientific importance: The cluster NGC 6520 and Barnard 86 nebula are at similar distances, suggesting they may have originated from the same molecular cloud.
Arcminutes: unit of angular measurement equal to 1/60th of a degree, most commonly used in astronomy and navigation.

Why is it called the Dead Mans Chest?
The name "Dead Man" comes from a poetic reference to NGC 6520 being near such a dark mysterious part of the Galaxy.
The "Chest" part of the name comes from the visual contrast between NGC 6520's bright stars and Barnard 86's dark cloud nebula, which appears to look like a chest filled with jewels.

06/13/2026

6/12/26 11:10PM Night sky
Featuring the Swan Nebula(M17)
M17 is a Star forming region in the constellation Sagittarius, it is one of the brighter Nebulae in the milk way. The M17 spans 15 light years in diameter, its geometric structure is similar to the Orion Nebula, but it is viewed edge-on rather than face-on.
*Discovered by: Philippe Loys de Chéseaux in 1745–46, then later rediscovered by Charles Messier on June 3, 1764.
*Distance from Earth: 5,500 light years
*Scientific importance: Its combination of bright emission regions and dark dust lanes makes it a key target for studying gas dynamics, turbulence, and feedback from massive stars.

05/30/2026

Don't have any new pictures yet, hopefully this weekend we'll get some clear skies! For now, here's a picture I took of the Sun, one of the first photos I took with my telescope.
Fun fact: those little black dots located on the Sun, also known as “sunspots,” may seem small from 93 million miles away, but they are actually bigger than the Earth.
How many Earths do you think could fit in the Sun?
(Check Comments for answer)

05/26/2026

5/25/26 2:22am night sky
Featuring the Lagoon Nebula(M8)(TOP) and Trifid Nebula(M20)(BOTTOM)

M8 is a giant emission nebula and one of the Milky Way’s most active and visually striking star forming regions, located in the constellation Sagittarius.
*Discovered by: Giovanni Battista Hodierna around 1654 and then later cataloged by Charles Messier on May 23, 1764.
*Distance from Earth: 4000-5200 light years.
*Scientific importance: M8 is one of the closest and most accessible stellar nurseries, allowing astronomers to study how gas clouds collapse into protostars.

M20 is a young, active star‑forming region only about 300,000 years olds, it combines emission, reflection, and dark nebulae in one object!
*Discovered by: Charles Messier on June 5, 1764.
*Distance from Earth: 5200 Light years
Scientific importance: M20's massive young stars emit intense UV radiation that sculpts and erodes surrounding gas, allowing scientists to study how star formation is triggered

05/25/2026

12:30am night sky
Featuring the Black Hole Nebula(Barnard 92)
Barnard 92 is a Dark cloud of interstellar gas and dust located in the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud(M24), Its dense molecular field blocks out nearly all starlight that is emitted from behind it!(hints the name Black Hole Nebula)
*Discovered by: Edward Emerson Barnard in 1913
*Distance from Earth: 10,000 light years
*Scientific Importance: Barnard 92 is used to study interstellar dust, star‑forming molecular clouds, the structure of the Milky Way’s inner regions and interstellar extinction.

05/24/2026

CLEAR SKIES TONIGHT!!!

05/22/2026

A bubble of quantum death, known as one of the many theories that the universe will end by a “vacuum death”, but in my opinion, it’s the coolest way to come to an end because it could be happening right now and we’d never even know it! Technically, a bubble of quantum death could wipe out the entire Earth and everything in the universe right after you finish reading this, though that's incredibly unlikely, as you have a higher chance of being struck by a meteorite. However, that doesn’t mean it can’t be out there in some other part of the possibly infinite universe, destroying everything in its path, one day consuming us and the Earth as well.
Now, what is a bubble of quantum death you ask? A bubble of quantum death describes the apocalyptic event where the Higgs field abruptly drops to a lower, more stable energy state and creates an expanding bubble that destroys everything in its expansion.

(What is the Higgs field? Well, it’s an invisible quantum field that permeates the entire universe, giving mass to fundamental particles like quarks and electrons. Basically, without the Higgs field, the universe as we know it could not exist. The Higgs field currently rests in a metastable state, meaning it is stable for now but could potentially drop lower and maybe to what’s known as the Higgs field's vacuum expectation value or non-zero.)

Helpful Definition
(Quantum tunnel: subatomic particles passing through solid barriers)

If a tiny pocket acquires enough energy to quantum tunnel through the Higgs field, causing the Higgs field to drop to the absolute lowest energy state in that localized area, the drop would then create a bubble that expands in every direction at the speed of light relative to where that energy occurred. The bubble would destroy everything in its path, making it mere dust. Eventually, the whole universe would meet this fate, even us. If the bubble were to appear and begin to expand in our solar system right next to Earth, within the blink of an eye, the entire Earth and everything on it would collapse into nothing… floating dust forever floating in a vacuum of nothing…
(Check Comments)

05/19/2026

5/18/26 1:17am night sky
Featuring the Bubble Nebula(NGC 7635)

NGC 7635 is an H II emission nebula in the Cassiopeia constellation, famous for its perfectly carved bubble created by wind from a massive, hot star. The "Bubble" of NGC 7635 spans 3-5 light years in radius that's 17.6-29.4 TRILLION MILES!!!
*Discovered by: William Hershel on November 3, 1787.
*Distance from Earth: 7,100 to 11,000 light years
*Scientific importance: NGC 7635 is a example of how powerful O‑star winds carve cavities in the interstellar medium. Winds exceed 4 million mph!

05/18/2026

5/17/26 11:06pm night sky
Featuring the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules(M13)
The M13 is a ancient globular cluster in the Hercules constellation it is estimated to be 11.65 billion years old, making it one of the oldest deep sky objects in the Milky Way.
*Discovered by: Edmond Halley in 1714 then later cataloged by Charles Messier on June 1st 1764.
*Distance from Earth: 22,200-25,000 light‑years
*Scientific importance: M13 contains ancient, metal poor Population II stars, offering insight into the early Milky Way’s formation and chemical evolution.

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