ZAIN DHANANI

Astrophotographer & Physics Enthusiast

At 13 I recall looking up at the night sky in Sedona, AZ. It had been a blistering day of hiking Antelope Canyon and the cool desert evening was a relief. As a kid from the suburbs, I had always loved star gazing, but out in the middle of the desert, the sky took on a form I had never observed. It was as if the entire universe had tumbled out of the blackness. I recall thinking "This is what I want to do with my life, look up at the stars and understand them."

This page features some pictures I have taken over the years. I update them on a regular basis and only keep a limited number up at any one time so please keep checking back as there is always something new to see.

I also sell high resolution prints of my pictures so if you see something you like, please email me at zdastrophoto@gmail.com for price information. I can do custom sizes. Each picture comes with a description of the object and information of the type of equipment I used to take it.

Thank you for your interest in my photography.

Zain

Messier 42 (The Orion Nebula)

The Orion Nebula is easy to see with the naked eye in low light pollution and is loacted at a distance of 1,344 light years away.

"Believed to be the cosmic fire of creation by the Maya of Mesoamerica, M42 blazes brightly in the constellation Orion. Popularly called the Orion Nebula, this stellar nursery has been known to many different cultures throughout human history. The nebula is only 1,500 light-years away, making it the closest large star-forming region to Earth and giving it a relatively bright apparent magnitude of 4. Because of its brightness and prominent location just below Orion’s belt, M42 can be spotted with the naked eye, while offering an excellent peek at stellar birth for those with telescopes. It is best observed during January."

(Photo Credit: Zain Dhanani. Description credit: NASA.)

M57 (Ring Nebula)

M57, or the Ring Nebula, is a planetary nebula, the glowing remains of a sun-like star. The tiny white dot in the center of the nebula is the star’s hot core, called a white dwarf. M57 is about 2,000 light-years away in the constellation Lyra, and is best observed during August. Discovered by the French astronomer Antoine Darquier de Pellepoix in 1779, the Ring Nebula has an apparent magnitude of 8.8 and can be spotted with moderately sized telescopes.

(Photo Credit: Zain Dhanani. Description credit: NASA.)

Messier 104 (The Sombrero Galaxy)

The hallmark of the nearly edge-on galaxy is a brilliant, white, bulbous core encircled by thick dust lanes comprising the spiral structure of the galaxy. This dust lane is the site of star formation in the galaxy. The center of M104 is thought to be home to a massive black hole.

Hubble easily resolves the Sombrero galaxy’s rich system of globular clusters, estimated to be nearly 2,000 in number — 10 times more than the number of globular clusters in our Milky Way galaxy. The ages of the clusters are similar to those in the Milky Way, ranging from 10-13 billion years old. Embedded in the bright core of M104 is a smaller disk (not visible in the image), which is tilted relative to the large disk. X-ray emission suggests that there is material falling into the compact core, where a one-billion-solar-mass black hole resides.

With an apparent magnitude of 8, the Sombrero galaxy is beyond the limit of naked-eye visibility but can be spotted through small telescopes most easily during May. M104 is located 28 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo, and with a mass equal to 800 billion suns, it is one of the most massive objects in the Virgo galaxy cluster.

M104 was discovered in 1781 by the French astronomer and comet hunter Pierre Méchain, one of Charles Messier’s colleagues.

(Photo Credit: Zain Dhanani. Description credit: NASA.)

Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared or NEOWISE Comet

I attempted to capture the comet on several ocassions but was unable to capture its tail.

Discovered on March 27, 2020 by NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) mission, Comet NEOWISE is putting on a dazzling display for skywatchers before it disappears, not to be seen again for another 6,800 years.

(Photo Credit: Zain Dhanani. Description credit: NASA.)