The Andromeda Galaxy M31 a truly magnificent sight. It is the sister of our own galaxy and the closest major galaxy. Our Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy, the Triangulum Galaxy M33 are members of the Local Group. M31 contains about 1 trillion stars, twice as many as our home galaxy. It’s not only one of […]
On end of Markarians Chain with M84, M86 and NGC4438 (The Eyes) plus lot of smaller galaxies. Straight LRGB with data from the Astro-Physics RH-305 at Deep Sky West Observatory. Exposure: LRGB (24,24,24,24) x 600sec Date: 2018-04-10…2018-05-16 Setup: Astro-Physics RH-305 with FLI ML8300 Site: Deep Sky West Observatory, NM, USA
This is NGC 3718, a twisted spiral galaxy with dust lanes obscuring its yellowish central regions. Only 150000 light-years to the left is another large spiral galaxy, NGC 3729. The two are likely interacting gravitationally, accounting for the peculiar appearance of NGC 3718. While this galaxy pair lies about 52 million light-years away, the Hickson […]
The Seagull Nebula, IC 2177 or Sh2-292, in a straight LRGB composite with a total of 16 hours of data. Actually, only the head of the seagull is shown – the wide-spread wings are at and beyond the left edge of the frame. Everything taken with the Astro-Physics RH-305 at the Deep Sky West Observatory. […]
Jones-Emberson 1, also known as PK164+31.1, is a beautiful planetary nebula in the constellation Lynx. Some people also call it the headphone nebula for obvious reasons. It resulted from the collapse of a sun-like star that expelled its outer layers before collapsing to a white dwarf. The picture shows, both, the shells of gas expelled […]
The Triangulum Galaxy (M33, NGC598) the third largest member of the local group, with its larger sisters the Andromeda Galaxy and our Milky Way. It consists of 40 billion stars, really small compared to the 400 billion of the Milky Way and the 1 trillion of the Andromeda Galaxy. This image is an LRGB composite […]
The constellation of Orion is a treasure-trove of deep-sky nebulosity, not only the famous emission nebulae, but also interstellar dust clouds. This is one of them, M78 or NGC2068, an impressive blue reflection nebula about 1500 light-years away and 5 light-years across in the center of the image. The blue nebulosity in the upper part […]
The Helix Nebula again, this time with data from the Astro-Physics Riccardi-Honders-System at Deep Sky West. The pixel scale is around 1 arcsec/pixel, just as for the previous version from the Astro-Physics Starfire Refractor, but the field of view is smaller. At the same time the system is much faster, total integration time was just […]
This is the Helix Nebula, NGC7293, a large planetary nebula located in the constellation Aquarius. It is about 700 light-years away, spanning about 2.5 light-years. The image uses RGB data, with additional Ha data to enhance the luminance channel, taken with the Astro-Physics 175 Starfire Refractor from the Deep Sky West Observatory. Exposure: H […]
Sharpless2-188, a difficult target already for narrowband imaging. This version, however, is RGB with Ha mixed into the luminance channel. This object is an unconventional planetary nebula located in the constellation Cassiopeia. The expanding gas from the planetary nebula is colliding with ambient gas in the interstellar medium. The nebula is brighter to the southeast […]
This is the Iris Nebula, NGC7023, as seen with the Astro-Physics 175 Starfire Refractor from the Deep Sky West Observatory. Exposure: LRGB (21,27,23,10) x 900sec Date: 2017-07-17…2017-09-21 Setup: Astro-Physics 175 Starfire with FLI PL16070 Site: Deep Sky West Observatory, NM, USA
The Cocoon Nebula, IC5146, seen with the RH-305 setup at the Deep Sky West Observatory. I was hoping to get a more prominent appearance of the dark lane extending from the Nebula itself… will have to reprocess this image to get out more. Still, the colors are beautiful. Exposure: LRGB, (63,22,13,18) x 600sec Date: 2017-05-05…2017-09-16 […]