6th -18th November 2017
WIZARD NEBULA NGC7380
Located 7200 light years away, the Wizard nebula, surrounds developing open star cluster NGC 7380. Visually, the interplay of stars, gas, and dust has created a shape that appears to some like a fictional medieval sorcerer. The active star forming region spans 100 about light years, making it appear larger than the angular extent of the Moon. The Wizard Nebula can be located with a small telescope toward the constellation of the King of Aethiopia (Cepheus). Although the nebula may last only a few million years, some of the stars being formed may outlive our Sun.
Equipment:
Telescope: SW ED80 Pro
Guide Scope: SW ST80 with Orion Starshoot
Mount: NEQ6 Pro
Camera: Atik 460ex Mono
Filter Wheel: Atik FW2
Filters: Baader Narrowband
Ha 14 x 900 seconds
Oiii 14 x 900 seconds
Sii 13 x 900 seconds
Total Integration 10 hours 15 minutes
27th October - 5th November 2017
BUBBLE NEBULA NGC7635
NGC 7635, also called the Bubble Nebula, Sharpless 162, or Caldwell 11, is an emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia. It lies close to the direction of the open cluster M52. The "bubble" is created by the stellar wind from a massive hot young central. The nebula is near a giant molecular cloud which contains the expansion of the bubble nebula while itself being excited by the hot central star, causing it to glow.
Equipment:
Telescope: SW ED80 Pro
Guide Scope: SW ST80 with Orion Starshoot
Mount: NEQ6 Pro
Camera: Atik 460ex Mono
Filter Wheel: Atik FW2
Filters: Baader Narrowband
Ha 12 x 1200 seconds
Oiii 11 x 1200 seconds
Sii 12 x 1200 seconds
Total Integration 11 hours 40 minutes
16th -27th October 2017
ELEPHANT'S TRUNK NEBULA IC1396
The Elephant's Trunk nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust within the much larger ionized gas region IC 1396 located in the constellation Cepheus about 2,400 light years away from Earth. The piece of the nebula shown here is the dark, dense globule IC 1396A; it is commonly called the Elephant's Trunk nebula because of its appearance at visible light wavelengths, where there is a dark patch with a bright, sinuous rim.
Equipment:
Telescope: SW ED80 Pro
Guide Scope: SW ST80 with Orion Starshoot
Mount: NEQ6 Pro
Camera: Atik 460ex Mono
Filter Wheel: Atik FW2
Filters: Baader Narrowband
Ha 16 x 900 seconds
Oiii 8 x 900 seconds
Sii 13 x 900 seconds
Total Integration 9 hours 15 minutes
3rd September 2017
HEART NEBULA IC1805
The Heart Nebula, IC 1805, lies some 7500 light years away from Earth and is located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. This is an emission nebula showing glowing ionized hydrogen gas and darker dust lanes. The ED80 Scope, Combined with Atik460 Camera does not allow the full Heart Shape to be captured in this image.
Equipment:
Telescope: SW ED80 Pro
Guide Scope: SW ST80 with Orion Starshoot
Mount: NEQ6 Pro
Camera: Atik 460ex Mono
Filter Wheel: Atik FW2
Filters: Baader Narrowband
Ha 11 x 900 seconds
Oiii 9 x 900 seconds
Sii 10 x 900 seconds
Total Integration 7 hours 30 minutes
25th August 2017
HEART NEBULA NGC896
The Heart Nebula, IC 1805, lies some 7500 light years away from Earth and is located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. This is an emission nebula showing glowing ionized hydrogen gas and darker dust lanes.
This image shows the very brightest part of this nebula (the knot at the western edge) it is separately classified as NGC 896, because it was the first part of this nebula to be discovered.
Equipment:
Telescope: SW ED80 Pro
Guide Scope: SW ST80 with Orion Starshoot
Mount: NEQ6 Pro
Camera: Atik 460ex Mono
Filter Wheel: Atik FW2
Filters: Baader Narrowband
Ha 7 x 900 seconds
Oiii 10 x 900 seconds
Sii 8 x 900 seconds
Total Integration 6 hours 15 minutes
31st October 2014
ORION NEBULA
The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) is a diffuse nebula situated in the Milky Way, being south ofOrion's Belt in the constellation of Orion. It is one of the brightest nebulae, and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. The M42 nebula is estimated to be 24 light years across. It has a mass of about 2,000 times that of the Sun.
31st October 2014
HORSEHEAD NEBULA
The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33) is a dark nebula in the constellation Orion. The nebula is located just to the south of the star Alnitak, which is farthest east on Orion's Belt, and is part of the much largerOrion Cloud Molecular Complex.
The Horsehead Nebula is approximately 1500 light years from Earth.
Telescope: SW200p
Guide Scope: SW ST80 with Orion
Mount: NEQ6 Pro
Camera: Modified Canon 550d
Lights, Darks, Bias 4 x 600sec iso1600
31st October 2014
ROSETTE NEBULA
The Rosette Nebula (also known as Caldwell 49) is a large sphericalH II region (circular in appearance) located near one end of a giant molecular cloud in the Monoceros region of the Milky Way Galaxy. Theopen cluster NGC 2244 (Caldwell 50) is closely associated with the nebulosity, the stars of the cluster having been formed from the nebula's matter.
I captured this and two other images, Orion and the Horsehead all on 31st October 2014 on one of the warmest Halloween nights on record.
Telescope: SW200p
Guide Scope: SW ST80 with Orion
Mount: NEQ6 Pro
Camera: Modified Canon 550d
Lights, Darks, Bias 4 x 600sec iso1600