Daily Archives: October 24, 2015

Cocoon Nebula (IC5146)

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From the 2011 Oregon Star Party, the Cocoon Nebula in Cygnus both emits and reflects light. The red, flower-like main part is mostly hydrogen, but there is also bluish light around the edges that is caused by reflections of light from the central star. The dark path leading to the main part is a “dust lane” that partially blocks the light of stars behind it. The nebula is about 4,000 light years from Earth.  Scope: AT111EDT at f/5.6 Mount: AP Mach1 Camera: QSI 583 at –15C Exposure: 10 x 480s H-alpha, 30 x 120s L, 10 x 240s RGB (4 […]

Iris Nebula (NGC7023)

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(Updated Dec. 2017) I have photographed the Iris Nebula many times – probably more than any other target, partly because I like it so much, but also because it’s difficult to capture.  Each of my attempts has been a little better than the last, so I will probably continue to shoot it. In this case I used LRGB capture, with far more emphasis on the L.  That provides a lot of information in the dim dust areas, but it’s not quite as sharp as I would like it to be, and that’s partly because the AT111EDT telescope has a bit […]

Elephant’s Trunk Nebula (IC1396)

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It often happens that a photo of a deep space object does not suggest the common name of the object. That is because the name almost always comes from the object’s appearance to a visual observer. The Elephant’s Trunk (the dark path on the right side of the image) is outlined in a bright region that is about all you can see in most telescopes. Because this is a narrowband image showing hydrogen in red and oxygen in blue-green (if there were any oxygen), the appearance is quite different. The entire region is much larger than what is shown here. […]

Wizard Nebula (NGC7380)

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(New version captured July, 2013 – posted here September 2013) One of my first targets with the AP 142 telescope, the Wizard is interesting in that it contains a fair amount of both oxygen and sulfur in addition to the predominant hydrogen. With more OIII and SII data I suspect there would be quite a variety of colors in this image, but it still took special processing to bring out the OIII and SII details and color. The Wizard (NGC 7380) is in Cepheus and about 7,000 light years from Earth.  Look for his hat, nose, and outstretched hands.  There […]

Bubble Nebula (NGC7635)

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The Bubble Nebula is a hydrogen-rich emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia. It is 11,000 light years from Earth. This photo also includes the open cluster M52 and NGC7538. This image is a composite of shots from two sessions.  The area immediately around the bubble is from my AP 142 at f/7.5 (1065mm focal length), while the rest of it was done with the AT111EDT at f/5.6 (622mm fl). The wide shot was the first image I captured with my Astro-Physics Mach1GTO mount. Captured on 2011-10-25 & 26 at Wa-chur-ed Observatory using H-alpha for red plus green and blue filters. […]

Lamb’s Head Nebula (NGC7822)

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Although this region is part of a larger structure known as the “Question Mark Nebula” (this being part of the semi-circle in the question mark), this fascinating region itself does not have a common name. I’ve decided to call it the “Lamb’s Head Nebula” because of the obvious (to me, anyway) shape near the top center. Scope: AT111EDT at f/5.6 Mount: AP Mach1 Camera: QSI 583 at –15C

Pacman Nebula (NGC281)

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(Updated Dec. 2017) As is often the case, the name of this nebula is more sensible when seen with the eye through a telescope than in a photograph that includes colors we can’t see when this faint. But if you imagine the shape of the famous video game character I think you might see how this object got its name. The previous version of this target used only H-a and O-3 data.  Adding S-2 (and quite a bit more exposure time) really added a lot of detail and color. Scope: AT111EDT at f/5.7 Mount: AP Mach1 Camera: QSI 683 at […]