NGC 2467 The Skulls and Crossbones Nebula.

This is my first capturing this object. It is quite high in the sky from Melbourne at the moment and I got some pretty good data.

It is a beautiful part of the sky and the star field in particular is quite stunning in my opinion.

Processing:

I have now made 2 versions of this image

The first image is a traditional SHO combination with RGB stars where the green hue has been shifted to the Reds and the distinct blue hue for the oxygen shows in the middle of the nebula.

The second image in a rather rare colour combination SHS. I have not seen this object processed with this colour palette before but I really like what it bring to the image with the red, orange, gold and purple tones combined with the RGB stars here which was achieved by doing an SHS combination (Oiii only in lumiance layer combined with Ha) targeting the green in the image and shifting it to the reds. Then I shifted the magenta in the neutrals to achieve the palette you see here.

I have not seen this object processed with this colour palette before. I'm really liking the red, orange, gold and purple tones combined with the RGB. stars here which was achieved by targeting the green in the image and shifting it the red and shifting the magenta in the neutrals to achieve the palette you see here.

Description:

NGC 2467 is a large and bright emission nebula located in the constellation Puppis. It is also known as the "Skull and Crossbones Nebula" due to its distinctive shape (which I'm still struggling to see the be honest) , which appears to resemble a skull and crossbones.

The nebula is situated about 12,000 light-years away from Earth and spans an area of approximately 150 light-years across.

The nebula is thought to have been formed by the intense radiation and stellar winds from massive hot stars located in its central region. These stars have ionized the surrounding gas and dust, causing it to emit light in the visible and infrared portions of the spectrum.

Astrobin: www.astrobin.com/5sd515/C/

🔭: Askar 107 PHQ

📷: ASI 1600mm Pro

Mount: Skywatcher EQ6-R

️: -10

⚫️: Antlia Ha 3nm 35x 600s

⚫️: Antlia Oiii 3nm 37x 600s

⚫️: Antlia Sii 3nm 36x 600s

🔴: Antlia Pro Red 30 x 45s

: Antlia Pro Green 30 x 45s

🔵: Antlia Pro Blue 30 x 45s

Integration: 19h 7′ 30″

Iceland

Helgafell mountain is formed in the late Ice Age when a volcano erupted under a glacier. Rising low, this mountain is made of dense sandstone and lava mound. Despite standing only 338 m (1300 feet) high, the panoramic view from the summit is picture-perfect with views of Reykjavík, Faxafói Bay, the Reykjanes Peninsula and Hafnarfjörður.

The northern lights, also known as the aurora borealis, are the visible result of solar particles entering the Earth’s magnetic field and ionizing high in the atmosphere. The ionization gives them their colors, usually green, but occasionally purple, red, pink, orange, and blue.

I am really happy with my First auto-focus image with my Celestron 9.25 Edge HD. This is the Bubble Nebula also known as NGC7635 is an emission nebula located 8000 light-years away in the Constellation Cassiopeia.

Equipment:

Telescope - Celestron 9.25 Edge HD

Imaging Camera- Qhy268m

Mount - Sky-watcher EQ6-R Pro

Software:

Sequence Generator Pro

Pixinsight

Lightroom

Photoshop

Lights:

R-30x60sec

G-30x60sec

B-30x60sec

Sii-50x300sec

Ha-40x300sec

Oiii-45x300sec

35 Darks

100 Bias

Total integration 12.75 hours

The Heart Nebula, IC 1805, Sharpless 2-190, is some 7500 light years away from Earth and is located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was discovered by William Herschel on 3 November 1787. It is an emission nebula showing glowing ionized hydrogen gas and darker dust lanes. TAK106 2600MC 50 minutes of capture data.

2020 was an unusual year as we all know. It was a very busy year for me working on a 3D Animated Motion Capture Series and Music Video from home, and as a result I didn't manage to image much.

About the Nebula:

The Elephant's Trunk Nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust with-in the much larger ionized gas region IC 1396 (located in the constellation Cepheus), about 2,400 light-years away from Earth.

Reprocessing old data:

I don't often do this, but decided to reprocess old data from 2017 in the SHO Palette (SII, Hα & OIII). IC 1396 was imaged on my first "budget friendly" Telescope (a 6" GSO Newtonian Astrograph). This was one of my first attempts at Narrowband Astrophotography, and the data that I captured back then was less than ideal, but a nice challenge to process. It is all part of the never ending lifelong learning experience.

I would like to revisit the IC 1396 region again, and image the very interesting surrounding structure with my wide-field APO Refractor Telescope. It is interesting to look back and see what you've learnt (which is why I've always kept my old learning images as a record).

Wavelengths of the Electromagnetic Spectrum of Light:

Hydrogen-Alpha (656.3nm)

Oxygen-III (500.7nm)

Sulfur-II (672.4nm)

Astrometry Info:

Center RA, Dec: 323.737, 57.633

Center RA, hms: 21h 34m 56.951s

Center Dec, dms: +57° 37' 59.617"

Size: 46.8 x 60.6 arcmin

Radius: 0.638 deg

Pixel scale: 2.02 arcsec/pixel

Orientation: Up is 269 degrees E of N

View an Annotated Sky Chart of this image.

View this image in the WorldWideTelescope.

Processing:

Pre-Processing and Linear workflow in PixInsight, and finished in Photoshop (Starnet++ was also handy).

Gear and Tech Card:

See original 2017 image for more detail.

Flickr Explore:

2020-10-14

Photo usage and Copyright:

Medium-resolution photograph licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Terms (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). For High-resolution Royalty Free (RF) licensing, contact me via my site: Contact.

Martin

-

[Website] [Photography Showcase] [eBook] [Facebook]

[3D VFX & Mocap] [Science & Physics] [Python Coding]

English below

Nel braccio del Perseo della nostra Galassia che si proietta nella costellazione di Cassiopea si trova questa nebulosa che ricorda la chela di un'aragosta. La parte settentrionale forma una sorta di anello per via del vento stellare di stelle giganti.

Esposizioni da 10 minuti per ciascun filtro, 73 per il dualband Antlia ALP-T 5 nm e 52 per l'Optolong L-Synergy. L'elaborazione scelta è la Hubble Palette SHO dove lo zolfo ionizzato (Sii) va nel canale rosso, l'idrogeno ionizzato (H-alfa) nel verde l'ossigeno due volte ionizzato (Oiii) nel blu.

Per catturare le stelle è stata aggiunta circa un’ora di integrazione in pose da 60 secondi con filtro broadband SV260.

L'integrazione totale arriva aquasi 22 ore complessive.

Il tutto è stato ripreso con un telescopio Newton 150/600 dotato di correttore Tecnosky 0.95x, camera Tecnosky Vision 571C e montatura EQ6-R Pro, elaborazione in PixInsight.

This nebula, reminiscent of a lobster's claw, is located in the Perseus arm of our Galaxy, which extends into the constellation Cassiopeia. Its northern portion forms a ring due to the stellar wind from giant stars.

10-minute exposures were taken for each filter: 73 for the dual-band Antlia ALP-T 5 nm and 52 for the Optolong L-Synergy. The Hubble Palette SHO processing was chosen, where ionized sulfur (Sii) is in the red channel, ionized hydrogen (H-alpha) in the green, and doubly ionized oxygen (Oiii) in the blue.

To capture the stars, about an hour of integration was added in 60-second exposures with the SV260 broadband filter.

The total integration time comes to almost 22 hours in total.

The whole thing was captured with a 150/600 Newtonian telescope equipped with a Tecnosky 0.95x corrector, a Tecnosky Vision 571C camera and an EQ6-R Pro mount, processed in PixInsight.

Full write-up here: theastroenthusiast.com/a-62-hour-widefield-image-of-orion/

The dark Horsehead Nebula and the glowing Orion Nebula are contrasting cosmic vistas. Adrift 1,500 light-years away in one of the night sky’s most recognizable constellations, they appear in opposite corners of the above stunning mosaic. The familiar Horsehead nebula appears as a dark cloud, a small silhouette notched against the long red glow at the lower left. Alnitak is the easternmost star in Orion’s belt and is seen as the brightest star to the left of the Horsehead. Below Alnitak is the Flame Nebula, with clouds of bright emission and dramatic dark dust lanes. The magnificent emission region, the Orion Nebula (aka M42), lies at the upper right. Immediately to its left is a prominent reflection nebula sometimes called the Running Man. Pervasive tendrils of glowing hydrogen gas are easily traced throughout the region.

This is easily one of my most ambitious astrophotography projects to date. Given that I’m fairly limited by my dslr in terms of imaging very dim objects, I decided to dump as much time on Orion as possible to see how much dust and gas in the region I could reveal. I was struck by how much wispy H-alpha gas didn’t line up exactly with the dust in the region – it was very cool to see the differences in ionized and non-ionized gas.

Website: theastroenthusiast.com/

Instagram: www.instagram.com/the_astronomy_enthusiast/

From an APOD text summary

This pretty cosmic cloud lies some 1,500 light-years away, nested securely within the boundaries of the southern constellation Fornax. Recognized as a planetary nebula, it spans about 3 light-years with its shape and colour being reminiscent of a blue robin's egg. NGC 1360 doesn't represent a beginning though. Instead it corresponds to a brief and final phase in the evolution of an aging star. In fact, visible in this image is the central star of NGC 1360 is known to be a binary star system likely consisting of two evolved white dwarf stars, less massive but much hotter than the Sun. Their intense and otherwise invisible ultraviolet radiation has stripped away electrons from the atoms in the surrounding gaseous shroud. The predominant blue-green hue of NGC 1360 seen here is the strong emission produced as electrons recombine with doubly ionized oxygen atoms.

Thanks for looking.

Hi res link:

live.staticflickr.com/65535/50809300462_232b0e597a_o.jpg

Information about the image:

Center (RA, Dec):(53.306, -25.872)

Center (RA, hms):03h 33m 13.458s

Center (Dec, dms):-25° 52' 19.140"

Size:43.4 x 28.5 arcmin

Radius:0.433 deg

Pixel scale:0.732 arcsec/pixel

Orientation:Up is 307 degrees E of N

Instrument: Planewave CDK 12.5 | Focal Ratio: F8

Camera: STXL-11000 + AOX | Mount: AP900GTO

Camera Sensitivity: Lum, Red, Green, Blue, Ha, OIII: BIN 1x1

Exposure Details: Total: 62.33 hours | Lum: 36 x 900 sec [hr], Ha: 59 x 1200 sec [hr], OIII: 65 x1200 [hr], RGB 16 x 900sec each [hrs]

Viewing Location: Central Victoria, Australia.

Observatory: ScopeDome 3m

Date: July-December 2020

Software Enhancements: CCDStack2, CCDBand-Aid, PS, Pixinsight

Author: Steven Mohr

The Horsehead (center) and Flame (lower left) Nebulae, IC 434 and NGC 2024 respectively in the constellation Orion as imaged by a Vaonis Vespera (Classic) smart telescope using a dual band H-alpha and O-III filter in a Bortle 7 zone, 659 stacked exposures in a composite mosaic (Vespera CovalENS) of 534 frames, with post processing in Adobe CS5 and Luminar Neo with noise reduction using Topaz Denoise AI.

The bright star at left center is Alnitak, a hot blue supergiant, approximately 33 solar masses and 20 times the radius. It is accompanied by two companions making this a triple star system. It is also the leftmost star in Orion's Belt.

Alnitak shines energetic ultraviolet light into the Flame and this knocks electrons away from the great clouds of hydrogen gas that reside there. Much of the glow results when the electrons and ionized hydrogen recombine. Additional dark gas and dust lies in front of the bright part of the nebula and this is what causes the dark network that appears in the center of the glowing gas. The Flame Nebula is part of the Orion molecular cloud complex, a star-forming region that includes the Horsehead Nebula.

IC434 (534 exp)

Taken over two nights. Elephant Trunk Nebula processed in SHO in Pixinsight.

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.

Distance to Earth: 2,400 light years

Distance: 2,400 ly

(Wikipedia)

Details:

Device: Dwarf3

Filter: Astro & Duo-Band

Focus: AF

Tracking: EQ Mode

Integration time: 9.20 hours

Each frames: 30 sec

Gain: 60

Darks: 40 frames

Bortle 5/6

Programs: PixInsight, BlurX, NoiseX, StarX, Photoshop

I caught some green and red airglow in this photo of the Milky Way over a red barn in Danville, Vermont. Airglow is difficult to see with the naked eye but easily picked up in long exposures. Airglow occurs at altitudes about 60 to 65 miles, the same as the aurora, but unlike the aurora it appears as streaks or bands of color. During the daytime, ultraviolet light from the sun ionizes oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere (i.e. knocks off electrons), making them electrically charged. During the night, the ions recombine with the electrons, giving off light in the process. This light is most commonly green, but depending on altitude and type of ion, it can also be red, yellow, or blue.

The bright object to the right of the core of the Milky Way is the planet Jupiter, the largest in our solar system.

Thanks for your visit.

A 12 Field stitched panorama of the Milky Way above the Tetons taken along the Teton River. The green glowing fan-like colors in the sky within the Milky Way is Green Airglow. Airglow turns up in our time exposure photographs of the night sky as ghostly ripples of aurora-like light. Its similarity to the aurora is no coincidence. Both form at around the same altitude of 60-65 miles (100 km) and involve excitation of atoms and molecules, in particular oxygen. But different mechanisms tease them to glow.

Auroras get their spark from high-speed electrons and protons in the solar wind that bombard oxygen and nitrogen atoms and molecules. As excited electrons within those atoms return to their rest states, they emit photons of green and red light that create shimmering, colorful curtains of northern lights.

Airglow’s subtle radiance arises from excitation of a different kind. Ultraviolet light from the daytime sun ionizes or knocks electrons off of oxygen and nitrogen atoms and molecules; at night the electrons recombine with their host atoms, releasing energy as light of different colors including green, red, yellow and blue. The brightest emission, the one responsible for creating the green streaks and bands visible from the ground and orbit, stems from excited oxygen atoms beaming light at 557.7 nanometers, smack in the middle of the yellow-green parcel of spectrum. I was unaware of this phenomena until someone recently pointed it out to me.

Nikon D850

Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8

This is Sh2-132 (part of the lion nebula)

It is located in the southern edge of the constellation of Cepheus.

Estimated at 10400 light years from earth, two massive wolf-Rayet stars are responsible for the ionization of gasses.

There are a lot of renditions of Sh2-132

SHO, HSO, HOO, LRGBha and other variations

RGB is faint, but narrow band is fairly strong in this region of the Milky Way

I like all of them, each version shows different structures, so why not combine them.

Using pixel math, I combined four sets of separate data.

Hoo, Sho, and a small percentage of the foraxx script

Then after minor adjustments the RGB stars were added.

Way too much work.

Hopefully you’ll like this version

Stellarvue SVX130T Raptor

Paramount MYT

Mallincam Ds26m TEK

Chroma 5nm SHO, RGB

44x900 each SHO channel

15x300 RGB

SG-Pro

PixInsight

The Lagoon Nebula (catalogued as Messier 8 or M8, NGC 6523, Sharpless 25, RCW 146, and Gum 72) is a giant interstellar cloud in the constellation Sagittarius. It is classified as an emission nebula and as an H II region. The Lagoon Nebula is estimated to be between 4,000–6,000 light-years away from the Earth. In the sky of Earth, it spans 90' by 40', which translates to an actual dimension of 110 by 50 light years. Like many nebulae, it appears pink in time-exposure color photos but is gray to the eye peering through binoculars or a telescope, human vision having poor color sensitivity at low light levels. The nebula contains a number of Bok globules (dark, collapsing clouds of protostellar material), the most prominent of which have been catalogued by E. E. Barnard as B88, B89 and B296. It also includes a funnel-like or tornado-like structure caused by a hot O-type star that emanates ultraviolet light, heating and ionizing gases on the surface of the nebula. The Lagoon Nebula also contains at its centre a structure known as the Hourglass Nebula (so named by John Herschel), which should not be confused with the better known Engraved Hourglass Nebula in the constellation of Musca. In 2006, four Herbig–Haro objects were detected within the Hourglass, providing direct evidence of active star formation by accretion within it. (RASA 8, AM5, ASI2600MC-Pro, IDAS NBZex, ASIAIR, PixInsight, Photoshop).

NGC 2736 The Pencil Nebula

🔭: Askar 107 PHQ

📷: ASI 1600mm Pro

Mount: Skywatcher EQ6-R

️: -10

⚫️: Antlia Ha 3nm 59x 600s

⚫️: Antlia Oiii 3nm 73x 600s

⚫️: Antlia Sii 3nm 40x 600s

🔴: Antlia Pro Red 30 x 45s

: Antlia Pro Green 30 x 45s

🔵: Antlia Pro Blue 30 x 45s

Integration: 29h 47′ 30″

NGC 2736, also known as the Pencil Nebula, is a fascinating object located in the southern constellation of Vela, approximately 800 light-years away from Earth.

It is a part of the larger Vela Supernova Remnant, which was formed by a massive stellar explosion that occurred around 11,000 years ago.

The Pencil Nebula is a type of nebula called a filamentary or linear nebula, it is about 5 light-years long, but its width is only about 0.3 light-years.

The Pencil Nebula is primarily composed of ionized oxygen gas but there are also a fair amount of hydrogen (Red) and Sulfur (purple) present.

The origin of the Pencil Nebula is not entirely clear. Some astronomers believe it was formed by a shock wave from the supernova explosion that created the Vela Supernova Remnant, while others suggest that it was formed by a separate, more recent supernova.

Processing:

The colour combination was a HSO but with Sulfur added to the magenta rather than the green to keep a natural colour look.

The Askar had a nice focal to capture this object with and allowed me to present the object with a lot more resolution compared to my hi resolution mosaic of the entire vela supernova

More details and Full Res here: www.astrobin.com/i1d7k9/

The Eagle Nebula (M16) and the Omega Nebula (M17) are two iconic star-forming regions located in the constellation Serpens and Sagittarius, respectively. Both lie in the same rich region of the Milky Way and are separated by just a few degrees in the sky—making it possible to capture both in a single wide-field frame.

M16 (Eagle Nebula) is about 7,000 light-years away and is best known for the "Pillars of Creation," towering columns of gas and dust imaged famously by Hubble. This nebula spans roughly 70 light-years and is an active stellar nursery teeming with young, hot stars that sculpt the surrounding gas.

M17 (Omega/Swan/Nebula) lies slightly farther away at about 5,500 light-years and is one of the brightest and most massive H II regions in our galaxy. It spans roughly 15 light-years across and glows intensely due to ionization from its embedded young stars.

Raptor 61, FL 275, ZWO2600M, Optolong SHO, ASIAir Plus, AM5 mount

22 hrs integration, Bortle 1-2 Arizona

On a rocky summit of an icy planet sits a remote research outpost. This frozen world orbits a inconspicuous star in a minor arm of a giant barred spiral galaxy.

Named after a mythical creature of an ancient culture that once dominated the planet, this scientific outpost is called the Sphinx. The Spinx is mythicized to have mercilessly killed those who couldn't answer her riddle.

The Sphinx station has a prime view on one of the galaxies major star forming regions, named after another mythological figure, a giant hunter. Not all scientific riddles within the hunter are solved yet, but fortunately the Sphinx hasn't killed any scientists so far.

The thin atmosphere of the planet at this high altitude location contains enough water to form clouds, which shroud the observatory in freezing fog about 40% of the time. If the clouds part, the hunter's giant molecular clouds of ionized hydrogen are lighting up the sky.

I had the opportunity to visit the Sphinx outpost with benjaminbarakat in September for a night of astrophotography. After a sternous night, we were happy that both the planet and the mythical creatures had shown mercy. The hunter had made its appearance and we escaped this stunning place without getting killed by lack of oxygen, the cold or the wrath of the Sphinx.

Prints available: ralf-rohner.pixels.com/featured/the-outpost-ralf-rohner.html

EXIF

Canon EOS EOS Ra

Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 L ll @ 50mm

iOptron SkyTracker Pro

Sky:

4 panel panorama, each a stack of 7 x 60s @ ISO1600

Foreground:

Panorama of 4x 2s @ ISO400 during blue hour

Full write-up here: theastroenthusiast.com/the-tarantula-nebula/

The tarantula nebula is probably my favorite region in the night sky. The sheer expansive spread of the nebula, the complexity in the outstretched tendrils, the thousands of different colors, all come together form this incredible spread of gas and dust. This data from telescope live was incredibly deep despite the low integration time, as the sheer brightness of the region makes it really easy to image.

The Tarantula Nebula, also known as 30 Doradus, is more than a thousand light-years in diameter, a giant star forming region within nearby satellite galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud. About 180 thousand light-years away, it’s the largest, most violent star forming region known in the whole Local Group of galaxies. The cosmic arachnid sprawls across this spectacular view, composed with narrowband filter data centered on emission from ionized hydrogen atoms. Within the Tarantula (NGC 2070), intense radiation, stellar winds and supernova shocks from the central young cluster of massive stars, cataloged as R136, energize the nebular glow and shape the spidery filaments. Around the Tarantula are other star forming regions with young star clusters, filaments, and blown-out bubble-shaped clouds. In fact, the frame includes the site of the closest supernova in modern times, SN 1987A, left of center. The rich field of view spans about 1 degree or 2 full moons, in the southern constellation Dorado. But were the Tarantula Nebula closer, say 1,500 light-years distant like the local star forming Orion Nebula, it would take up half the sky.

Website: theastroenthusiast.com/

Instagram: www.instagram.com/the_astronomy_enthusiast/

The Heart Nebula, IC 1805, Sharpless 2-190, lies some 7500 light years away from Earth and is located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was discovered by William Herschel on 3 November 1787. It is an emission nebula showing glowing ionized hydrogen gas and darker dust lanes.

Equipment:

Scope: Lacerta 72/432 F6 0.85x reduktorral (367mm F5.1)

Mount: Skywatcher EQ-5 Pro Synscan Goto

Guide scope: Orion 50mm mini

Guide camera: ZWO ASI120mm Mini

Main camera: ZWO ASI183MM-Pro cooled monochrome camera

Accessories:

ZWO ASIAIR Pro

Lacerta Dew-heater 20cm

Lacerta Dew-heater 30cm

Programs:

PixInsight

Adobe Photoshop CC 2020

Details:

Camera temp: -15°C

Gain: 200

Astronomik 6nm Ha: 96x300s

Astronomik 6nm O3: 36x300s

This image shows SH2-155 aka the Cave nebula which consists of 180 images! With APP I was able to integrate my Luminance, H-alpha and color data to get really the most out of the data. I used blurxterminator to get even more detail out of the image in combination with a touch of noisexterminator.

I'm very happy with the result that came out with the new programs. The colours of the stars were as I liked them to be and somehow it resulted (in my opinion) in a very colourful representation of this beautiful region in the sky.

More info about the region:

This colorful skyscape features the dusty, reddish glow of Sharpless catalog emission region Sh2-155, the Cave Nebula. About 2,400 light-years away, the scene lies along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy toward the royal northern constellation of Cepheus.

Astronomical explorations of the region reveal that it has formed at the boundary of the massive Cepheus B molecular cloud and the hot, young, blue stars of the Cepheus OB 3 association. The bright rim of ionized hydrogen gas is energized by the radiation from the hot stars, dominated by a bright blue O-type star. Radiation driven ionization fronts are likely triggering collapsing cores and new star formation within. Appropriately sized for a stellar nursery, the cosmic cave is over 10 light-years across. [Source: APOD]

Exposure info:

Telescope: TMB92 Camera: QSI583ws

Lum: 90x300s + 21x600s Ha: 42x1200s R,G,B: 9,9,9x600s

Total: 29,5 hours

impressions @ high energy level

Simultaneous Impact Ionization

of two energy-saving bulbs

My second pass at this object. Captured a few more hours of data to add to the first set. I used very short exposures with the rgb camera to avoid the bright star nearby (Gamma Cassiopeiae) from over saturating the surrounding area.

"Cassiopeia's Ghost Nebula is a reflection and emission nebula located in the constellation Cassiopeia. It is often referred to as "Cassiopeia’s Ghost" due to its wispy, ghostly appearance. Here is an overview of its key characteristics:

Location and Distance: Cassiopeia’s Ghost Nebula lies approximately 550 light-years away from Earth. It is located near the bright star Gamma Cassiopeiae, a variable star that plays a critical role in illuminating the nebula.

Appearance and Structure: The nebula appears as a faint, ghostly cloud, with delicate, wispy features that resemble spectral forms. It has a combination of emission and reflection characteristics:

Emission Features: The red hue of the nebula comes from the ionization of hydrogen gas caused by the ultraviolet radiation from Gamma Cassiopeiae.

Reflection Features: The blue tones in the nebula are the result of starlight from Gamma Cassiopeiae being reflected off the surrounding dust particles.

Illuminating Star: Gamma Cassiopeiae, a massive and highly energetic Be-type star, is the primary source of radiation that influences the nebula. The intense radiation from this star causes the hydrogen gas in the nebula to glow and the dust to scatter the light.

Visibility and Observing: Cassiopeia’s Ghost Nebula is relatively faint and best observed through long-exposure astrophotography. It can be challenging to see with small telescopes but becomes more apparent with the use of filters and under dark sky conditions.

Scientific Interest: The nebula is of significant interest to astronomers studying the effects of stellar radiation on interstellar matter. It serves as an example of how nearby massive stars can shape and alter the appearance of nebulae."

Askar ACL200: 200mm f/4, ASI533MM : Ha 36x5m , Sii 34x5m

Askar ACL200: 200mm f/4, ASI533MC : rgb 821@15s

Nikon 70-200mm 200mm f/2.8, ASI533MM : Oiii 56@5m

Guided on ZWO AM5

Captured with N.I.N.A. processed with PixInsight, Ps

After a long hiatus caused by moving to another State, I am finally back in the field. This image was taken in October 2024 from Kartchner Caverns State Park in Southern Arizona. I recommend this park. The cave is good, the facilities are well maintained, and there are a few interesting hikes in the vicinity. The sky is also good, Bortle 3 or 21.3 on the SQM scale. The following description is taken from APOD.

This skyscape features dusty Sharpless catalog emission region Sh2-155, the Cave Nebula. In the telescopic image, data taken through LRGB filters tracks the reddish glow of ionized hydrogen atoms. About 2,400 light-years away, the scene lies along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy toward the northern constellation of Cepheus. Astronomical explorations of the region reveal that it has formed at the boundary of the massive Cepheus B molecular cloud and the hot, young stars of the Cepheus OB 3 association. The bright rim of ionized hydrogen gas is energized by radiation from the hot stars, dominated by the brightest star below the picture center. Radiation driven ionization fronts are likely triggering collapsing cores and new star formation within. Appropriately sized for a stellar nursery, the cosmic cave is over 10 light-years across.

Scope: Vixen VC200L courtesy of Larry Parker

Mount: Paramount MYT

Camera: ASI2600mm with ZWO LRGB filters.

Total exposure time was ~30 hours, of which ~30% was discarded due to poor quality.

The image is rotated 180 degrees so North is down.

Reprocessed August 2025 to remove a faint cast.

A Cloud Chamber, also known as a Wilson Cloud Chamber, is a particle detector used for visualizing the passage of ionizing radiation. A cloud chamber consists of a sealed environment containing a supersaturated vapor of water or alcohol.

Finally back into astrophotography ! My imaging laptop died on me a while back so this is my first image with the new computer. Some of this integration was done last year. This is the Flying bat nebula also known as Sh2-129. This also includes the seahorse nebula and the squid nebula which was fist discovered in 2011. Hope you all enjoy and thanks for any constructive comments.

Equipment:

Telescope - William Optics Redcat 51

Imaging Camera- Qhy268m

Mount - Sky-watcher EQ6-R Pro

Software:

Sequence Generator Pro

Pixinsight

Lightroom

Photoshop

Lights:

L-50x60sec

R-50x60sec

G-50x60sec

B-50x60sec

Ha-40x300sec

Oiii-40x300sec

Oiii-30x900sec

35 Darks

100 Bias

Total integration 17.5 hours

Although there are no seasons in space, this cosmic vista invokes thoughts of a frosty winter landscape. It is, in fact, a region called NGC 6357 where radiation from hot, young stars is energizing the cooler gas in the cloud that surrounds them.

This composite image contains X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the ROSAT telescope (purple), infrared data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope (orange), and optical data from the SuperCosmos Sky Survey (blue) made by the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope.

Located in our galaxy about 5,500 light years from Earth, NGC 6357 is actually a "cluster of clusters," containing at least three clusters of young stars, including many hot, massive, luminous stars. The X-rays from Chandra and ROSAT reveal hundreds of point sources, which are the young stars in NGC 6357, as well as diffuse X-ray emission from hot gas. There are bubbles, or cavities, that have been created by radiation and material blowing away from the surfaces of massive stars, plus supernova explosions.

Astronomers call NGC 6357 and other objects like it "HII" (pronounced “H-two”) regions. An HII region is created when the radiation from hot, young stars strips away the electrons from neutral hydrogen atoms in the surrounding gas to form clouds of ionized hydrogen, which is denoted scientifically as "HII."

Researchers use Chandra to study NGC 6357 and similar objects because young stars are bright in X-rays. Also, X-rays can penetrate the shrouds of gas and dust surrounding these infant stars, allowing astronomers to see details of star birth that would be otherwise missed.

A recent paper on Chandra observations of NGC 6357 by Leisa Townsley of Pennsylvania State University in State College appeared in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series and is available online. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, controls Chandra’s science and flight operations.

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The Veil Nebula in the constellation Cygnus doesn't quite fit in my RedCat 51’s field of view, so I photographed it in 4 sections and stitched the results together. Each of the 4 sections were imaged through Ha and OIII filters, so there were 8 data streams to process and combine. Imaged over 5 nights, I ended up with about 3 hrs of data for each of the 8 sections. The Ha data are mapped to red and the OIII to blue.

And now for Wikipedia's contribution:

The Veil Nebula is a cloud of heated and ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus.

It constitutes the visible portions of the Cygnus Loop, a supernova remnant, many portions of which have acquired their own individual names and catalogue identifiers. The source supernova was a star 20 times more massive than the Sun which exploded between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago. At the time of the explosion, the supernova would have appeared brighter than Venus in the sky, and visible in the daytime. The remnants have since expanded to cover an area of the sky roughly 3 degrees in diameter (about 6 times the diameter, and 36 times the area, of the full Moon). While previous distance estimates have ranged from 1200 to 5800 light-years, a recent determination of 2400 light-years is based on direct astrometric measurements.

When finely resolved, some parts of the nebula appear to be rope-like filaments. The standard explanation is that the shock waves are so thin, less than one part in 50,000 of the radius, that the shell is visible only when viewed exactly edge-on, giving the shell the appearance of a filament. At the estimated distance of 2400 light-years, the nebula has a radius of 65 light-years (a diameter of 130 light-years). The thickness of each filament is 1⁄50,000th of the radius, or about 4 billion miles, roughly the distance from Earth to Pluto. Undulations in the surface of the shell lead to multiple filamentary images, which appear to be intertwined.

Rio Rancho NM Bortle 5 zone,

June 13-18, 2023

William Optics Redcat 51

ZWO 183mm pro

ZWO 30mm f/4 mini guide scope and ZWO 120 Mini

ZWO ASI Air Pro

Sky-Watcher HEQ5

36 X 300s Ha

36 x 300s OIII

Darks bias dithering

Gain 111 at -10C

Processed in DSS, GraXpert, and PS

SH2-100 is an emission nebula located in the constellation Cygnus, not too far from the famous North America Nebula (NGC 7000). It is often associated with a young star cluster called Berkeley 59.

The distance from Earth to SH2-100 is approximately 2,000 to 3,000 light-years. Like many other emission nebulae, SH2-100 gets its vibrant colors from the ionization of hydrogen gas by the intense ultraviolet radiation emitted by nearby hot, young stars.

NGC1499 is better known as the California Nebula due to it's shape, though I think it's more like The Mosquito Trapped in Amber Under Halogen Light Nebula. This is a 2 panel mosaic shot over most of January/February. This huge gas cloud is located in the constellation Perseus. The super-bright blue star Xi Persei fuels the ionized gases made up of Hydrogen (green in image), Sulphur (red in image) and Oxygen (blue in image) to glow in their respective spectral ranges. The star is reported to be about 12,000 times brighter than our Sun. NGC1499 is located in the Orion arm of the Milky Way galaxy roughly 1000-1500 light years away and 60-100 light years across.

For a brief time window, I was able to point my telescope at the Sun and capture a curious group of sunspots before clouds covered everything. The Sun is going through a busy period of its cycle, in which it has manifested mass ejections, active regions of various kinds and configurations, and caused a few geomagnetic storms. In particular, one of the sunspots in this photograph (along with an active region not shown in this photo) generated M-class flares that ionized the upper part of Earth's atmosphere, causing shortwave radio blackouts. It's good to know that our planet has its shields deployed at all times to protect us from the intense, furious energy of our star.

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"Explore Scientific" Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope 127mm, f/15. Meade solar filter 575, Player One Neptune-M camera (monochromatic), Player One IR685 filter.

July 27, 2024, 18:22 UT. Rural area, Concordia, Entre Ríos, Argentina.

IC 1805 Heart Nebula

The Heart Nebula, IC 1805, Sharpless 2-190, is some 7500 light years away from Earth and is located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was discovered by William Herschel on 3 November 1787. It is an emission nebula showing glowing ionized hydrogen gas and darker dust lanes. The brightest part of the nebula (a knot at its western edge) is separately classified as NGC 896, because it was the first part of the nebula to be discovered. The nebula's intense red output and its morphology are driven by the radiation emanating from a small group of stars near the nebula's center. This open cluster of stars, known as Collinder 26 or Melotte 15, contains a few bright stars nearly 50 times the mass of our Sun, and many more dim stars that are only a fraction of our Sun's mass.

EQ6R-Pro

WO GT81 with WO flattener

ZWO 2600MC Camera

L Ultimate Filter

ZWO ASIAIR Pro

ZWO 120MM Mono Guide camera and scope

82 x 300s exposures (6 hours 50 mins total integration time)

30 x dark, flat and bias calibration frames

Bortle 6 light pollution

TS APO65Q Telescope

Atik 490EX CCD Camera

QHY5L Guide Camera on 90x50 finder scope

Baader Ha, OIII and SII narrow band filters.

Artemis Capture.

PHD2 Guiding.

All processing Pixinsight incl stacking (image integration) plus some actions in PS

This version is a blended image made up of the following.

R= SII and Ha

G= Ha +OIII

B= OIII

L= Ha

Around about 6.5 hours usable exposures. 38 in total. 7 were discarded.

Imaging was done over 6 nights in July 2016. Many interuptions! Been so busy only just managed to process this.

This image is just part of The Veil Nebula.

The Veil Nebula is a cloud of heated and ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus. It constitutes the visible portions of the Cygnus Loop (radio source W78, or Sharpless 103), a large but relatively faint supernova remnant. The source supernova exploded circa 3,000 BC to 6,000 BC, and the remnants have since expanded to cover an area roughly 3 degrees in diameter (about 6 times the diameter, or 36 times the area, of the full moon). The distance to the nebula is not precisely known, but Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) data supports a distance of about 1,470 light-years.

The Hubble Space Telescope captured several images of the nebula. The analysis of the emissions from the nebula indicate the presence of oxygen, sulfur, and hydrogen. This is also one of the largest, brightest features in the x-ray sky.

**STARLESS VERSION OF THE ELEPHANT'S TRUNK NEBULA**

Well this is my first image since January this year and to get my Mojo back (could be a expensive way of doing it) I’m trying a new telescope with focal reducer to get over 2° field of view. This scope is a new/refurbished “Explore Scientific 102mm F7 APO Carbon” kindly on loan/test from Kerin at Telescope house with option to buy. I hope I’ve done the Telescope justice with my image.

Note:

I plan to be at the Herstmonceux astronomy festival between the 2nd & 4th Sep 2022 and can be found hanging around the Telescope House stand or the beer tent later in the day.

IC 1396A also commonly known as the “Elephant’s Trunk Nebula” is a star forming region some 2,400 Light Years from earth. The bright rim is the surface of the dense cloud that is being illuminated and ionized by a bright, massive star. The Nebula is now thought to containing several very young stars less than 100,000 yr old.

EQUIPMENT:-

Explore Scientific 102mm F7 APO Carbon

Explore Scientific 0.7 Focal Reducer

Skywatcher AZ-EQ6 GT

ZWO ASI1600mm-Cool cmos camera

Orion Mini Auto Guide

Astronomik 6nm Ha Filter

Astronomik 6nm Oiii Filter

Chip Temp Cooled to -20 degC

IMAGING DETAILS:-

IC1396A Elephant's Trunk Nebula (Cepheus)

Gain 139 (Unit Gain)

Dithering

36 Ha subs@240sec (2h 24min)

30 Oiii subs@240sec (2h 00min)

Total imaging Time 4h 24min

20 Darks

25 Flats

PROCESSING/GUIDING SOFTWARE:-

APT "Astro Photograph Tools"

DSS

PS CS2

Floating 5,000 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus, the Crescent Nebula is basically the result of a massive star having a midlife crisis. A Wolf-Rayet star decided to shed its outer layers leaving behind this ionized crescent of hydrogen and oxygen gasses that gives it its name.

-Equipment-

Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI1600MC Pro

Scope: Sky-Watcher Esprit 100

Mount: Celectron CGX

Focus: ZWO EAFN

- Acquisition -

∙ 31 x 5 min exposures (total 5H 5M)

Shot at the Dark Sky Viewing Area near Erinsville, Ontario

IC 5070 a.k.a. Pelican Nebula

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This is a nebula emission that can be found at a distance of about 1800 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Cygnus, right next to the North American nebula, being separated from it by a molecular cloud that crosses that region. Pelican Nebula is an area that stands out both for the good environment for the formation of new stars, and also for the gas clouds that are constantly expanding. In other words, Pelican Nebula is in a continuous transformation. due to the ionization caused by the light of the new stars that heats the gas in the area, thus leading to an increase in the volume of these gas clouds.

Equipment and settings:

Mount: Skywatcher Eq6 R

Telescope: Explore Scientific 102ED FCD100

Camera: ASI 533MM Pro

Filters: Astrodon 1.25 H, S, O

Total exposure : only 3h20'

Ha filter - 15 exposures x 5 min each

Sii filter - 10 exposures x 5 min each

Oiii filter - 15 exposures x 5 min each

Stacking with Deep Sky Stacker.

Edit in Pixinsight and Lightroom.

Location: my Bortle 6+ backyard.

IC2944 is a well known circumpolar object in the southern hemisphere. It can be found in the constellation of Centaurus, with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.5. You will find it nestled between the Southern Cross and Carina area. It’s a large structure spanning around 75 arcmin. Other names include The Running Chicken Nebula, RCW 62, and G42. No matter how hard I try, I just can’t see the chicken, maybe a bird in flight?

This rendition is a narrowband Bi-Colour base with RGB stars. My intent was to present an image approximating the more traditional RGB look and feel while using narrowband data as the base. Ha filtered light was used in the red channel. OIII filtered light in the green and blue channels without any weighting applied.

A fascinating feature would have to be the very dark areas in the nebula. These are known as Bok globules, small dark nebula containing dense dust and gas. Usually found in H II regions, they are areas of partially ionized interstellar atomic hydrogen. These globules are now known as Thackeray’s Globules, named after the South African astronomer David Thackeray.

You may notice a slight brightening on the right side of the photo. This glow is the halo of Lambda Centauri, a very bright star about 420 light-years from Earth. With an apparent visual magnitude of +3.13, this halo intrudes into this right side of the image.

Exposure Details:

•Ha 12 X 1200 Bin1

•OIII 22 X 1200 Bin2

•Red 8 X 900 Bin1

•Green 8 X 900 Bin1

•Blue 8 X 900 Bin1

Total Time: 17.3 hours

Instruments

•Telescope: 10" Ritchey-Chrétien RCOS

•Camera: SBIG STL-11000 Mono

•Mount: Astro-Physics AP-900

•Focal Length: 2310.00 mm

•Pixel size: 9.00 um

•Resolution: 0.82 arcsec/pix

Thanks for looking

Terry

NEW DISCOVERY: Strottner-Drechsler 141 - a planetary nebula in Cassiopeia.

This discovery shows how important and wonderful an international and friendly cooperation can be.

Strottner-Drechsler 141 is the remains of a dying star that at the end of its life slams its outer gas shells into space.

This filigree bubble was produced from turquoise ionized oxygen gas (OIII) and red ionised hydrogen gas (H-alpha).

The gas is stimulated by the UV radiation of the compact core of the former star to shine.

StDr 141 was discovered in December 2021 by my very good friends Xavier Strottner from France and Marcel Drechsler from Germany. Within days I had trained my robotic telescopes in Spain on to the target and photographed it for over 40 hours of exposure. This was followed by spectroscopic observation at an observatory near Mont Ventoux (France) and analysis by Pascal Le Dû, Lionel Mulato, Laurent Bernasconi and Tom Petit. In record time, the PN candidate was classified as a true planetary nebula by Quentin Parker of the University of Hong Kong and added to the HASH database of Galactic PN.

It took only 3 weeks from the initial discovery to formal confirmation and registration.

The team invited me to come up with a name for Strottner-Drechsler 141 so I chose "The Wine Glass Nebula", because the shape of the planetary nebula is indeed reminiscent of the shape of a wine glass filled with red wine.

Data collection and pre-processing: Peter Goodhew

Image processing: Marcel Drechsler

Image captured on my remote dual rig at Fregenal de la Sierra in Spain between 27 December 2021 - 7 January 2022.

Scopes: APM TMB LZOS 152 Refractors

Cameras: QSI6120wsg8

Mount: 10Micron GM2000 HPS

A total of 41 hours image capture (HaOIIIRGB)

www.imagingdeepspace.com/stdr-141.html

English below

11 ore e 20 minuti in pose guidate da 600 secondi con filtro dualband Antlia ALP-T 5nm, per le stelle un'ora in pose guidate da 60 secondi con filtro broadband SV260. Telescopio newton 150/600 con correttore Tecnosky 0.95x, camera Tecnosky Vision 571C, montatura Eq6-R Pro, elaborazione in Pixinsight.

The nebula known as Boogeyman corresponds to object number 1622 in the Lynds' Catalogue of Dark Nebulae (LDN 1622). It is located in the eastern part of the Orion constellation, a region of the sky rich in ionized hydrogen structures belonging to the winter Milky Way complex.

A total of 19 hours of integration, 79 guided exposures of 600 seconds with the SV260 broadband filter, to which I added another 29 with the Antlia ALP-T 5nm dualband filter. For the stars, I performed one hour of guided exposures of 60 seconds, again with the SV260. A 150/600 Newtonian telescope with a Tecnosky 0.95x corrector, a Tecnosky Vision 571C camera, an Eq6-R Pro mount, and processing in Pixinsight.

The Heart Nebula, IC 1805, Sharpless 2-190, lies some 7500 light years away from Earth and is located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was discovered by William Herschel on 3 November 1787. It is an emission nebula showing glowing ionized hydrogen gas and darker dust lanes.

Added more Ha for it.

ASI183mm Pro and Lacerta 72/432 F6 apo w/ 0.85x reducer.

Ha: 96x300s Gain 200 -15°C

Oxygen: 36x300s Gain 200 -15°C

The Heart Nebula, IC 1805, Sharpless 2-190, lies some 7500 light years away from Earth and is located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was discovered by William Herschel on 3 November 1787. It is an emission nebula showing glowing ionized hydrogen gas and darker dust lanes.

ASI183mm Pro and Lacerta 72/432 F6 apo w/ 0.85x reducer.

Ha: 25x300s Gain 200 -15°C

Oxygen: 36x300s Gain 200 -15°C

The Veil Nebula is a cloud of heated and ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus.It constitutes the visible portions of the Cygnus Loop,a supernova remnant, many portions of which have acquired their own individual names and catalogue identifiers. This is a portion of the Eastern Veil (also known as Caldwell 33), whose brightest area is NGC 6992, trailing off farther south into NGC 6995 (AKA IC 1340 and the Bat nebula,shown). Some parts of the nebula appear to be rope-like filaments. The standard explanation is that the shock waves are so thin that the shell is visible only when viewed exactly edge-on, giving the shell the appearance of a filament. At the estimated distance of 2400 light-years, NGC 6995 spans only 1/2 degree, about the apparent size of the Moon. That translates to 12 light-years at the Veil's estimated distance. Undulations in the surface of the shell lead to multiple filamentary images, which appear to be intertwined. Text from Wikipedia

Mount: Paramount MYT

Scope: Vixen VCL200 @ F6 1278mm F/L

Camera: QSI 683

R:G:B 2h:2h:2h binned 2x2

For this image I wasted a lot of time taking luminance, Ha, and O3 frames that I ended up not using. The RGB looked the best.

Taken from Mendocino NF, July 2022

Reprocessed Dec 2022

NGC 6891 is a bright, asymmetrical planetary nebula in the constellation Delphinus, the Dolphin. This Hubble image reveals a wealth of structure, including a spherical outer halo that is expanding faster than the inner nebula, and at least two ellipsoidal shells that are orientated differently. The image also reveals filaments and knots in the nebula’s interior, surrounding the central white dwarf star. From their motions, astronomers estimate that one of the shells is 4,800 years old while the outer halo is some 28,000 years old, indicating a series of outbursts from the dying star at different times.

Hubble studied NGC 6891 as part of efforts to gauge the distances to nebulae, and to learn more about how their structures formed and evolved. NGC 6891 is made up of gas that’s been ionized by the central white dwarf star, which stripped electrons from the nebula’s hydrogen atoms. As the energized electrons revert from their higher-energy state to a lower-energy state by recombining with the hydrogen nuclei, they emit energy in the form of light, causing the nebula’s gas to glow.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Hajian (University of Waterloo), H. Bond (Pennsylvania State University), and B. Balick (University of Washington); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

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Here is my latest Hubble Palette (SHO) version, a very wide view of The Heart IC1805 and Soul Nebula IC1848 using data from Grand Mesa Observatory’s System 1a the William Optics Redcat together with a QHY16200A Monochrome CCD, this combination is giving a field of view of approximately 6 x 5 degrees, In this Hubble Palette version the H-Alpha is mapped to green, SII is mapped to red and OIII is mapped to the blue channel. Captured over 6 nights in 2020 and 2021 for a total acquisition time of 15.3 hours.

The William Optics Redcat with QHY16200A and its 7 position filter wheel is now available at Grand Mesa Observatory for subscription, see here for details grandmesaobservatory.com/equipment

View in High Resolution:

Astrobin www.astrobin.com/s7iu8d/

7000-7500 light-years distant in the constellation of Cassiopeia lie the emission nebulae colloquially known as the Heart and The Soul Nebulae. The gasses (mostly hydrogen) that comprise the nebulae are being ionized by the stars within the region and as a result, the gasses glow, much like a neon sign.

The pressures exerted upon the material by the stars nearby are causing the material to become compressed. When enough of the gas becomes highly compacted, it triggers the birth of new stars. In effect, this is a beautiful snapshot of a multimillion-year process of an enormous cloud of dust and gas transforming itself into new stars.

Technical Details

Captured and processed by: Terry Hancock

Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colorado

Sep 29th, Oct 14th, 16th, Nov 11th 2020, Jan 1st and 2nd 2021

HA 270 min 27 x 600 sec

OIII 340 min 34 x600 sec

SII 310 min 31 x 600 sec

Filters by Chroma

Camera: QHY16200A

Gain 0, Offset 130 Calibrated with Flat, Dark and Bias Frames.

Optics: William Optics Redcat 51 APO @ F4.9

EQ Mount: Paramount MEII

Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6

Pre Processing in Pixinsight

Post Processed in Photoshop CC

Star Removal by Starnet

These are images of M101 (NGC 5457), The Pinwheel Galaxy, in colour and monochrome.

I have annotated the colour version to identify some of the many pink/red HII (hydrogen) ionized regions found throughout this system. They are identified with their NGC catalogue number. These areas of high density molecular Hydrogen gas are active areas of star formation.

Also labelled are a number of fainter galaxies present within the image.

Found in Ursa Major The Pinwheel Galaxy is has a galactic diameter over twice that of our Milky Way and is host to some 1 trillion stars!

Imaged with my Esprit 120ED and ZWO 2600MC camera. Imaged over 2 nights for a total of 9.5 hours exposure.

Many thanks for looking!

M 101 is a spiral Galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major. Within the frame there are also the dwarf galaxy NGC 5477, the OIII and Ha ionized Nebula NGC 5471 and lots of small background galaxies. The goal was to get a decent mixture of broadband data and emisioon line data.

The data were imaged with a TS Photoline 130/910 mm apo triplet and an ASI2600mm-pro.

200 x 90 s L (2022-02-25)

107 x 60 s R (2022-02-26)

97 x 60 s G (2022-02-26)

96 x 60 s B (2022-02-26)

50 x 240 s OIII (2022-02-27)

70 x 240 s Ha (2022-02-28)

An upward unconnected leader (or upward streamer as it is more commonly termed) is a positively charged channel of ionized air that rises from ground objects (like buildings, towers, trees or even the ground itself) towards a negatively charged downward-moving "stepped leader" from a storm cloud. When an upward leader "connects" with a downward leader, the lightning bolt we see occurs. It is possible to catch (in a photo) one or some of the upward leaders who "didn't make it" to connect with the downward one.

Photography and Licensing: doudoulakis.blogspot.com/

My books concerning natural phenomena / Τα βιβλία μου σχετικά με τα φυσικά φαινόμενα: www.facebook.com/TaFisikaFainomena/

English below

Già percettibile ad occhio nudo come una debole macchia lattiginosa, la Grande Nebulosa di Orione è probabilmente uno degli oggetti del cielo notturno più iconici e più fotografati. Per quanto non possa considerarsi una novità, una foto di questa nube di gas emoziona sempre per la sua ricchezza e la sua bellezza.

Mosaico di due pannelli con una combinazione di pose guidate da 30 e 300 secondi l'una per un totale di circa 6 ore per pannello con filtro broadband SV260 a cui ho aggiunto circa 3 ore per pannello di segnale ricavato da pose di 600 secondi con filtro dualband Antlia ALP-T 5nm per enfatizzare l'idrogeno ionizzato. Telescopio newton 150/600 con correttore Tecnosky 0.95x, camera Tecnosky Vision 571C, montatura Eq6-R Pro, elaborazione in Pixinsight.

Already visible to the naked eye as a faint milky patch, the Great Orion Nebula is probably one of the most iconic and photographed objects in the night sky. While it's hardly new, a photograph of this gas cloud is always breathtaking for its richness and beauty.

A mosaic of two panels, combining guided exposures of 30 and 300 seconds each, for a total of about 6 hours per panel with an SV260 broadband filter. I added about 3 hours per panel of a signal obtained from 600-second exposures with an Antlia ALP-T 5nm dualband filter to emphasize ionized hydrogen. 150/600 Newtonian telescope with a Tecnosky 0.95x corrector, Tecnosky Vision 571C camera, EQ6-R Pro mount, and Pixinsight processing.

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.

impressions @ high frequency level