This is NGC7822, a young and star forming region in Cepheus, also containing Sh2-171. Usually a target for false-color narrowband imaging, which nicely highlights the structures and pillars within the cloud. This, however, is a pure LRGB image in ‘natural’ colors. During processing I reduced the green component somewhat, which leads to a cooler colour […]
The Baby Eagle or Vulture Nebula LBN777 is another example of a difficult bright nebula. It is part of the Taurus Molecular Cloud, consisting of cosmic dust and molecular gas with very low density. The clouds are cold and only scatter light from surrounding stars, so they appear as very faint reflection nebulae. The densest […]
A quite busy scenery… including the Bubble Nebula NGC7635 together with the open cluster M52 in the upper right, the Lobster Claw Nebula Sh2-157 in the lower left, and NGC7538 in the lower right. This is a two-panel mosaic of Ha, OIII and SII narrowband exposures with a total of 48 hours (!) worth of […]
The interesting part is the part that you do not see. Dark lanes in a dense field of stars… with some bright stars illumination blue reflection nebulae. The dark nebulae are LDN 767,768,769,… and the faint blue reflection nebulae in the foreground are VDB 126, LBN 134. This image is a LRGB composite with a […]
Here is the western part of the Veil Nebula, also known as Witches Broom, again as a bi-color image composed of Ha and OIII data taken from my backyard. The Veil is one of the largest and most spectacular supernova remnants. The supernova that created it has exploded 8000 years ago and the remnant has […]
It has been a while since the last few hours of clear skies from my backyard, but now I had another chance. I decided to go for a bi-color image of the Eastern Veil Nebula using Ha and OIII data. The Veil is one of the largest and most spectacular supernova remnants. The supernova that […]
The Iris Nebula, NGC 7023 or better LBN 487, is definitely one of my all time favorites. I have one of my early versions from a year ago in this blog. Usually we admire the mysterious blue glow of the reflection nebula diverting the light of the embedded magnitude 7 star, SAO 19158. However, there […]
Dark nebulae are something completely out of reach for my usual imaging conditions… pitch black skies and long exposures are mandatory. Deep Sky West offers both, so dark nebulae are a prime target for RGB imaging there. This is the “Howling Wolf” Nebula, consisting of a collection of objects, i.e., vdB 149/150 and LDN 1235. […]
Can you see the pelican? This is Pelican Nebula IC5070 in a tri-color narrowband composite. As with all narrowband composites, these are false colors and the color scheme is largely a matter of taste. Here I use a somewhat conservative and not overly colorful scheme. I am still not completely happy with the post-processing. This […]