The Flaming Star Nebula (IC405) is illuminated by the bright variable star AE Aurigae. Although it is mostly an emission nebula, the Flaming Star Nebula also has a reflection nebula component which is seen as blue filaments near AE Aurigae. This nebula is estimated to be about 1500 light years away and about 5 light-years […]
The Pacman Nebula (NGC281) is an active star forming region. Prominent features include a small open cluster of stars, a diffuse red-glowing emission nebula, large lanes of obscuring gas and dust, and dense knots of dust and gas in which stars may still be forming. The open cluster of stars IC1590 visible around the center […]
The Pleiades M45 is an open star cluster containing middle-aged hot stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky. It is dominated by hot blue and extremely luminous stars that have formed within […]
The Elephant’s Trunk Nebula is an elongated dark globule within the emission nebula IC 1396 in the constellation of Cepheus. Located at a distance of 2,450 light-years, the globule is a condensation of dense gas that is barely surviving the strong ionizing radiation from a nearby massive star. The globule is being compressed by the […]
The Heart Nebula IC1805 – it is kind of obvious why it got its name. The Heart Nebula is an emission nebula and star forming region of almost 200 light-years across, located within the Perseus Arm of our Milky Way galaxy, about 7500 light-years away in the northern constellation Cassiopeia. This is a two-color narrowband […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]