NGC 6153

A dying star in the constellation of Scorpius. #astronomy #planetarynebula #universe #cosmos #dyingstar

A Planetary Nebula in Scorpius Image exposure:10.5 MinutesImage Size:14.2 x 9.47 arcminImage date:2023-05-18 Every so often I’ll go looking for a planetary nebula. They are mostly very small objects, requiring a narrow field of view. They are are the complex result of a red giant star blowing off its outer layers to form a short-lived nebula lasting just a few tens of thousands of years. The…

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Well, that worked pretty well for an 88% waxing moon with the ZWO ASI071MC color camera. The near-full moon and Jupiter at opposition were just far enough away to make this set up work--plus a lot of 5-minute exposures. That band of red at the top left is the tail end of the ridge of hydrogen that runs behind the Horsehead Nebula (B33). Imaging notes: 63 x 300-second subs, no filters with the ZWO ASI071 color camera cooled to 0C, William Optics RedCat 15 Apo refractor, Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro mount. The Orion Nebula (M42), Running Man Nebula (Sh2-279), De Mairan's Nebula (NGC 1982,M43), and surrounding nebulosity.

More of my astro stuff here: https://SaltwaterWitch.com

This is NGC7331 and its galactic friends. NGC7331 lies in the constellation of Pegasus at a not so close distance of 40 million light years away. So what you see of it in this image is how it looked like 40 million years ago. This is the third image captured with the ZWO ASI071 camera installed last year. It continues to impress.

What is funny about this image is that I almost archived the image set for further acquisition next year. I had thought it did not have enough subs to process but it had 16 hours worth! The observatory tricks me sometimes and collects more data on me. :)

As always, the entire details of the capture are on the bin:https://www.astrobin.com/331805

Seagull Nebula

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's an enormous cloud of ionised hydrogen gas!

IC 2177 A Bright Nebula in Monoceros Image exposure:120 minutesImage Size:Size: 2.11° x 1.39°Image dates:2024-04-06 It’s a bit of a stretch but I guess, if you look hard enough, it does look a little bit like a bird or a plane flying overhead, although it seems more like a bat to me. When the shape began to emerge as I began to live-stack this image, I thought I’d made a mistake and was…

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Galactic Twins

An associated pair of spiral galaxies in the constellation of Leo.

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Omega Centauri

Imagine it. Ten million stars packed into a spherical shape with an overall diameter of 170 light years and an average distance between them of just a tenth of a light year. #astronomy #universe #cosmos

NGC 5139 A Gigantic Globular Cluster in Centaurus Image exposure: 45 minutesImage Size:2.11º x 1.4ºImage date:2024-04-06 Imagine it. Ten million stars packed into a spherical shape with an overall diameter of 170 light years and an average distance between them of just a tenth of a light year. (The nearest stars to Earth are 4 light years away). Also known as Caldwell 80, Omega Centauri is…

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Burning Bright

NGC 2467 A stellar Nursery in Puppis Image exposure: 90 MinutesImage Size:1.99º x 1.32ºImage date:2024-03-08 Against the stark blackness of interstellar space, the abundance of Milky Way stars are shining bright. In the middle, they seem to have caught alight, burning like a bonfire on Guy Fawkes Night. 4,420 light years away, the emission nebula of NGC 2467 forms a bright and colourful patch…

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Messier 50

A beautiful open star cluster, discovered in 1710 by Cassini

An Open Star Cluster in Monoceros Image exposure: 19 MinutesImage Size:2.11 º x 1.4ºImage date:2024-03-08 Another Messier List object ticked off the list. This is M50, a cluster of young stars 2,900 light-years away which have blown away the remnants of the nebulous cloud of hydrogen gas from which they were formed 140 million years ago. The cluster is 17.8 light years across and has over…

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Moon, Jupiter & Uranus

A short trip around the Solar System.

Images dated: 2024-01-18 Finally a night under the stars for Cosmic Focus! It’s been so long that I needed a test session to remove the rust. Even though I kept it simple, I still got some of my established setup procedures wrong. A fun place to start off at was the First Quarter Moon. The most prominent features are the Mare Seranitatis and Mare Tranquilitatis (the two largest dark…

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Saturn's Ring Rumours

I’ve noticed some recent articles written by other astronomers which have debunked social media posts which sensationally predict that Saturn’s rings will have disappeared by 2025! I haven’t seen any such posts myself -but is it true? Will Saturn’s rings disappear in 2025? The short answer is “yeah… but… no… but…”. The longer answer is that as Saturn continues along its 29.5 year orbital path…

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The Black Eye Galaxy

The Black Eye Galaxy, M64 #astronomy #galaxy #black_eye #m

Messier 64 A Spiral Galaxy in Coma Berenices. Also known as NGC 4826 Image exposure:100.5 MinutesImage Size:34.3 x 26.9 arcminImage date:2023-05-18 I was planning for a three hour exposure of this super-interesting galaxy but the session was curtailed by cloud interference, nothing new there, so I achieved just one hour and 40 minutes. Messier 64 is called the Black Eye Galaxy because of the…

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The Spindle Galaxy

The spindle Galaxy in Sextans. NGC 3115

NGC 3115 A Galaxy in Sextans Image exposure:30 MinutesImage Size:28.4' x 18.9‘Image date:2023-05-24 I viewed this galaxy a number of times when I was a visual observer. I found the edge-on view rather fascinating and would sometimes show it to visitors at public stargazing nights held by Macarthur Astronomical Society the Campbelltown Rotary Observatory. I always imagined it to be a classical…

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Wishing Well Cluster

An open cluster in Carina. #astronomy #stars #wishing_well

Caldwell 91, NGC 3532, in Carina Image exposure:20 MinutesImage Size:2.12º x 1.41ºImage date:2023-04-21 This is a an open cluster of about 150 bright young white stars, in front of the dimmer, more distant Milky Way stars in the background. C91 is sometimes known as the “Wishing Well Cluster” because it was thought to resemble an aggregation of silver coins at the bottom of a well, shimmering…

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NGC 6772

Planetary Nebula NGC 6772 in Aquila.

Planetary Nebula in Aquila Image exposure:47 MinutesImage Size:27.3′ x 18.2′Image date:2022-07-29 This is an object I imaged in July 2022. Despite being a lover of planetary nebulae, for some reason I never got around to publishing it. So here it is, a twelfth magnitude planetary nebula, 4,300 light years away in the constellation of Aquila. It is an irregular shaped annular ring nebula, a…

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Omega Centauri

The massive globular cluster, the beautiful Omega Centauri. #astronomy

The Brightest and Largest Globular Cluster Also known as NGC 5139 and Caldwell 80 It is the brightest, largest and at 4 million solar masses, the most massive-known globular cluster associated with the Milky Way. Of all the globular clusters in the Local Group of galaxies, only Mayall II in the Andromeda Galaxy is brighter and more massive Wikipedia Image exposure:31 MinutesImage Size:2.13 º x…

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Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF)

A comet passing through.

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