This is the official first-light image with my new APM 107/700 Triplet APO! It works beautifully with the Hotech SCA Field Flattener and the ATIK 460EXm and produces a nice flat field – much better than my previous setup. This combo will be my high-resolution combo for quite some time. As you will have guessed […]
The Rosette Nebula, a stunning emission nebula at the edge of a large molecular cloud in Monoceros, some 5000 light years away. Its flowery appearance is sculpted by the winds and radiation from its central cluster of hot young stars. This is a narrowband composite from (16,16,20) x 1800 sec exposures in Ha, OIII, and […]
The complete Cygnus Loop or Veil Complex in a bicolor narrowband rendering. Recently, I posted a version of the same object taken during my summer vacation in the Mediterranean. I liked it, but was not perfectly happy with the raw data and the processing. So, back home I decided to do it again from scratch, […]
The Cave Nebula, Sh2-155, is at the heart of a lively and colorful region in Cepheus. The Ha region Sh2-155 is the red structure in the center of the image, surrounded by a whirl of colorful stars, reflection nebulae, and dark clouds. A beautiful and rich scenery – look at it in full-size view. This […]
This is Sharpless 64 (Sh2-64) and its neighborhood in the constellation Serpens Cauda. The star-forming Ha region Sh2-64, also known as Westerhout 40, is the red structure below the image center. But honestly, I find the surrounding nebulosity much more exciting. There is a huge maze of reflection and dark nebulae criss-crossing the whole field […]
This is van den Bergh 15 (vdB 15), a beautiful reflection nebula surrounding the magnitude 5 star C Cam and part of a large dust cloud in Camelopardalis. The image is an LRGB composite using 12.5 hours of data taken at the Deep Sky West Observatory. Exposure: LRGB, (24,17,17,16) x 600sec Date: 2016-03-05…2016-09-27 Setup: Takahashi […]
The southern part of the North America Nebula, NGC7000, with a dramatic cloudy ridge also known as the Cygnus Wall – the most active star forming regions in the nebula. This image is composed of Ha, OIII, and SII frames with a total of 22 hours of exposure time. Exposure: HOS, (18,10,16) x 1800sec Date: […]
Sharpless 86 (Sh2-86) is a rich and beautiful emission nebula surrounding the open star cluster NGC 6823 plus small reflection nebula NGC 6820 in Vulpecula. The star cluster including 50 to 100 stars was discovered by William Herschel in 1785 and is about 6000 light years away. The remarkable pillar like features that are pointing […]
This is Sharpless 119 (Sh2-119), a nice an often forgotten emission nebula sitting right next to the North America Nebula – somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Probably, this is why are there not many images of it. In addition to the dominant H-alpha emission there are some prominent dark dust lanes. In the center of […]
This is Sharpless 119 (Sh2-119), a nice an often forgotten emission nebula sitting right next to the North America Nebula – somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Probably, this is why are there not many images of it. In addition to the dominant H-alpha emission there are some prominent dark dust lanes. In the center of […]
Some people call it Flying Bat Nebula, but I think Potato Nebula is the more fitting name for Sharpless 129 (Sh2-129). The bright star in the upper-right is Alderamin and in the upper-left quadrant you will find a nice compact planetary nebula. This target deserves a little more exposure time to bring out more of […]
