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 […]
Melotte 15, a cluster of young super-giant stars in the heart of the heart nebula. The strong stellar winds from this cluster sculpture the gas clouds in their vicinity, creating pillars and cavities. A spectacular array of shapes and colors. This is a narrowband composite using more than 14 hours of data in Ha, OIII, […]
This is the main part of the constellation Cygnus, including Deneb and Sadr as main stars, covering a field of about 20 by 20 degrees. This image focusses on the rich H-alpha nebulosity in this region. In contains some of the famous emission nebulae, e.g. the North America Nebula, the Pelican Nebula, the Crescent Nebula, […]
This is the official first-light for my new QHY 163m cooled CMOS camera. For this, I decided to go for the Eastern Veil Nebula, again. The Veil is definitely one of the most striking supernova remnants. The supernova that created it has exploded 8000 years ago and the remnant has been expanding since then. The […]
Yet another take of the Sh2-131 emission nebula in Cepheus with the embedded star cluster IC1396 and home to the famous Elephant’s Trunk Nebula VDB142. It is a large emissions nebula with stunning inlays of dust clouds absorbing most of the lights. The total size of the complex corresponds to about 10 times the full […]
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 […]
Two different perspectives on the head of the Pelican Nebula: false-color narrow band (above) and real color RGB (below). Both taken with the same setup, the new Astro-Physics 175 mm f/8 Starfire EDF at the Deep Sky West Observatory. Processing was very straight forward, no tricks necessary. Exposure: HOS (13,5,10) x 1800sec LRGB (14,15,14,9) […]
This is the Trifid Nebula, M20, with the open cluster M21, my first test target from the new Astro-Physics 175 mm f/8 Starfire EDF at the Deep Sky West Observatory. Processing was very straight forward, no tricks necessary. Exposure: LRGB, (22,8,9,10) x 600sec Date: 2017-06-14…2017-06-30 Setup: Astro-Physics 175 Starfire with FLI PL16070 Site: Deep Sky […]