Here is a before and after picture I took of a supernova, an exploding star in the distant Whirlpool Galaxy about 40 million light years way. Visually it doesn't look all that fantastic but you have to remember this is a single star in a very distant galaxy that temporally outshines almost than anything else in the entire galaxy. It's not that bright in this shot because I wasn't able to take a picture of it until a few days after the inital blast. Stars that are about eight times the mass of our sun blow themselves up at the end of their lives. All by itself the Whirlpool Galaxy is cool because it's one big galaxy swallowing another. (above)

Jellyfish Nebula (above)

M8 - The Lagoon Nebula in the Constellation Sagittarius - About 5000 Light Years Away

Leo Triplet Galaxies - All About 35 Million Light Years Away

M5 - Globular Cluster - 25,000 Light Years Away - Around One Million Stars Crammed within 170 Light Years

M20 - Trifid Nebula in the Constellation Sagittarius - 7600 Light Years Away

M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy Swallowing a Smaler Galaxy over 30 Million Light Years Away

M57 - Ring Nebula - A Planetary Nebula Dying Star over 2300 Light Years Away

M81 - The Bodies Galaxy and M82 (The Cigar Galaxy) - Both About 12 Million Light Years Away

M101 - Pinwheel Galaxy that's over 25,000 Light Years Away

NGC7000 - Just a Small Part of the North American Nebula - About 25,000 Light Years Away