Nebulae


Eastern Veil Nebula (NGC6992)

This is about 1/3rd of the large Veil Nebula. Like many nebulae, the Veil is the remnants of a supernova, the material ejected when a star exploded. It is in the constellation Cygnus, but its distance from Earth is not precisely known.  This image from late October of 2013 replaces an older version.  The new version adds an S-2 channel and more exposure time.  Captured at Wa-chur-ed Observatory.  Scope: AT111EDT at f/5.6 Mount: AP Mach1 Camera: QSI 583wsg at –15C Exposure: 12 x 900s H-alpha, 6 x 1800s O-3, 6 x 1800s S-2 (9 hrs total)


LDN673

Dark nebulae like this usually don’t have common names, just catalog numbers. But they are often very attractive silhouettes, and a nice change from the usual “glowing gas” nebulae. Scope: AT111EDT at f/5.6 Mount: AP Mach1 Camera: QSI683 Exposure: LRGB, 4.4 hrs total


Jellyfish Nebula (IC443)

A supernova remnant, the Jellyfish has a neutron star at its core. The structure has two “shells” of dense gases. Scope: AT111EDT at f/5.6 Mount: AP Mach1 Camera: QSI583 Exposure: H-a/OIII/SII, 10.5 hrs total


IC405, 410, and 417

The trio of IC catalog objects are seen here to all be part of the same region of hydrogen.  Also included in the frame is the small, bright nebula on the right (NGC1931) and M38, the open star cluster in the lower right. Scope: Tamron 70-200mm camera lens at 200mm Camera: QSI583 Exposure: H-a/OIII/SII, 10 hrs total


Cygnus Wall

The Cygnus Wall is part of the North American Nebula, corresponding to the portion that would be Mexico and Central America. AT111EDT at f/5.6 AP Mach1 QSI583 H-a/OIII/SII, 9.5 hrs total


Cave Nebula (Caldwell 9)

The Cave Nebula is 2400 light-years distant in the constellation Cepheus.  It combines emission, reflection, and dark nebulosity in one striking image.  I had tried several times before to capture this object, but it never seemed to work until this attempt in September of 2013 at Goldendale, Washington (RGB data) and Wa-chur-ed Observatory (H-alpha data).  It is quite dim and requires quite long exposures, even for the RGB portion.  H-alpha data was captured later and added to enhance details in the red.  There are some fascinating small details in the image that are not easily seen in this small version. […]


Heart Nebula (IC1805)

This is a re-processing of an image originally captured in September of 2012.  That version was combined with a second frame to form the image of the Heart Nebula in natural color (see Heart Nebula).  While the earlier version is close to natural color (pretty much all red), this one uses false color to bring out more detail, separating the H-alpha, O-3, and S-2 regions. The Heart is an emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia and about 7,500 light years from Earth. It does look like a heart, sort of. I suspect that the neighboring Soul Nebula (also about 7,500 […]


Swan (or Omega) Nebula (M17)

The Swan or Omega Nebula is another emission nebula in Sagittarius, but a bit higher (further north) than the Lagoon and near the Eagle Nebula.  Like the Lagoon, it is very popular with visual observers because of its bright nebulosity and interesting shape.  Through a telescope you typically see just the brightest part of this image and it does look a bit like a swan. Scope: AT111EDT at f/5.6 Mount: AP Mach1 Camera: QSI683 Exposure: LRGB, 2.5 hrs total


Trifid Nebula (M20)

Very near the Lagoon Nebula is the Trifid Nebula (Messier 20).  The name comes from the apparent division into three lobes.  The Trifid also contains all three types of nebulosity:  The red is an emission nebula (mostly hydrogen), the blue area is a reflection nebula (dust reflecting light from nearby stars), and the dark areas all around it are “dark nebula” – dust that blocks the light from objects behind it. Captured at Pine Mountain Observatory near Bend, Oregon in RGB.  This image was captured after completing some scientific imaging with students Katie, Jaclyn, and Samara, who helped in capturing […]