NGC 225 is an open cluster of young stars about 2,200 light years away in Cassiopeia. Many of the stars in this cluster are binaries, though as the cluster ages gravity may disrupt some of these pairs. This is an active star forming region. There are some interesting pillars in… Continue Reading... "NGC 225"
NGC 7822 is a young star forming region 2900 light years away in Cepheus. It exhibits many interesting dust clouds and elephant trunks. In the top right corner is the open cluster NGC 7762. This is 63 hours of data taken with my little scope. Continue Reading... "NGC 7822"
With all of the rich targets available in the Milky Way this time of year, I thought to myself, why not image one I already did again? This time, I went a little extra on it. NGC 6888, commonly called the Crescent Nebula, is the result from the stellar wind… Continue Reading... "The Crescent, Cooked Three Ways"
I’ve spent the last couple of months focused on other household projects, and the observatory needed it’s yearly maintenance. While waiting for the next new moon, I decided to brush up my processing skills on some old data from 2021. The Iris Nebula is a reflection nebula in Cepheus that… Continue Reading... "A new take on old data"
I took a chance on this guy, as I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. I am glad I did! I ended up getting over 42 hours on this target from October through December. The Flaming Star nebula is a an emission and reflection nebula about 1,500 light years… Continue Reading... "IC 405, the Flaming Star Nebula"
NGC 1499, also known as Sharpless-2 220, is a quite large emission nebula in Perseus, almost the same apparent size as the Andromeda galaxy at 2.5° in length. It is about 1,000 light years from Earth. Its size is estimated to be 60 light years, wide enough to fit 2,000… Continue Reading... "NGC 1499, California Nebula"
You ever have one of those projects that just gets away from you. 🙂 From the end of July to the beginning of September, I collected 11 nights’ worth of data on this target, getting almost 49 hours in total exposure, my new record for a single target. Since I… Continue Reading... "M27"
The Elephant’s Trunk nebula, IC 1396A, is a dark nebula, consisting of interstellar dust, in the larger emission nebula IC 1396. This nebula lies about 2,400 light years away in Cepheus. The Elephant’s Trunk is an active star forming region, with very young stars discovered within it in 2003. The… Continue Reading... "Elephant’s Trunk Nebula"
With all of the recent excitement over seeing a supernova happen in real time in M101, what does one look like after 10,000 years? The Veil Nebula is a supernova remnant in Cygnus, about 2,400 light years away. The star this came from was probably 20 times the mass of… Continue Reading... "Eastern Veil Nebula"
Well, it took me three years, but I finally got enough clear winter nights to image the famous Horsehead nebula! Barnard 33, commonly called the Horsehead nebula, might be the most famous nebula, M42 notwithstanding. Relatively speaking, this is a dim nebula in Orion’s belt, just south of the eastmost… Continue Reading... "The Horsehead"
