skypointer2000
California and its Nebula
During my visit to Joshua Tree NP, I had to find a target for the two hours of darkness, before the moonrise.
I chose the border region between the constellations Perseus, Taurus and Auriga. This area of the Winter Milky Way is often overlooked in landscape astrophotography, because of its proximity to eye-catching Orion. Time to change that! Join me on a little stroll through the area:
As I was lingering in one of Califonia's National Parks, I couldn't resist to put the Cailfornia Nebula center stage. This energized Hydrogen cloud is named so, because its resembles the outline of the US State of California. The nebula is the birth place of many young stars, including Menkib, the 4th magnitude star that makes the cloud glow. It can be seen at the right boundary of the nebula.
The most famous denizens of the area however are the Pleiades (Seven Sisters), probably the best known star cluster in the sky. The Pleiades are dominated by hot blue stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. The reflection nebulae around the brightest stars are an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium through which the stars are currently passing.
The Hyades, another open star cluster, are rising on the right edge of the frame. It consists of several hundred stars, sharing the same age, origin and characteristics. The most famous star in that area of the sky, bright yellow Aldebaran, is however not part of the Hyades and located much closer to us.
On the lower left is another red emission nebula, called the Flaming Star Nebula. This interstellar Hydrogen cloud is ionized by the unralated star AE Aurigae passing through it. Proper motion of AE Aurigae shows that is was expelled from the center of the famous Orion Nebula (not in this image), after a close encounter with another star there.
The image also contains a network of diffuse dark clouds. This is the Taurus Dark Nebula Complex, a sooty network of tendrils that span more than 30° of sky. It is not very well known, as it is only possible to photograph it from a dark sky location. The Taurus Molecular Cloud is the nearest star-forming region to Earth.
EXIF
Canon EOS Ra
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L ll @ 50mm
iOptron SkyTracker Pro
Sky
Stack of 20 x 90s @ ISO1600
Foreground:
Focus stack of 6 x 25s @ ISO800 during twilight.
California and its Nebula
During my visit to Joshua Tree NP, I had to find a target for the two hours of darkness, before the moonrise.
I chose the border region between the constellations Perseus, Taurus and Auriga. This area of the Winter Milky Way is often overlooked in landscape astrophotography, because of its proximity to eye-catching Orion. Time to change that! Join me on a little stroll through the area:
As I was lingering in one of Califonia's National Parks, I couldn't resist to put the Cailfornia Nebula center stage. This energized Hydrogen cloud is named so, because its resembles the outline of the US State of California. The nebula is the birth place of many young stars, including Menkib, the 4th magnitude star that makes the cloud glow. It can be seen at the right boundary of the nebula.
The most famous denizens of the area however are the Pleiades (Seven Sisters), probably the best known star cluster in the sky. The Pleiades are dominated by hot blue stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. The reflection nebulae around the brightest stars are an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium through which the stars are currently passing.
The Hyades, another open star cluster, are rising on the right edge of the frame. It consists of several hundred stars, sharing the same age, origin and characteristics. The most famous star in that area of the sky, bright yellow Aldebaran, is however not part of the Hyades and located much closer to us.
On the lower left is another red emission nebula, called the Flaming Star Nebula. This interstellar Hydrogen cloud is ionized by the unralated star AE Aurigae passing through it. Proper motion of AE Aurigae shows that is was expelled from the center of the famous Orion Nebula (not in this image), after a close encounter with another star there.
The image also contains a network of diffuse dark clouds. This is the Taurus Dark Nebula Complex, a sooty network of tendrils that span more than 30° of sky. It is not very well known, as it is only possible to photograph it from a dark sky location. The Taurus Molecular Cloud is the nearest star-forming region to Earth.
EXIF
Canon EOS Ra
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L ll @ 50mm
iOptron SkyTracker Pro
Sky
Stack of 20 x 90s @ ISO1600
Foreground:
Focus stack of 6 x 25s @ ISO800 during twilight.