About 20 hours on this one – it’s LRGB with Ha added in, so a little tricky to process. I also separated the stars from the nebula toward the end, so I could boost the contrast of the nebula, dust, and emission more. There’s a little bit of everything in this – emission nebula, dark nebula, reflection nebula – collect ’em all!
Formally IC 5146, the Cocoon Nebula is an area of active star formation within Cygnus, about 4,000 light-years away.
Our new home has clear views of the sky down to about 15 degrees from the horizon; which means some objects that are normally considered only visible from the Southern hemisphere just peek above our trees for a few hours. One such object is the galaxy Centaurus A; it’s an odd galaxy that looks like…
A progression of photos taken at 15-minute intervals from 10:30 PM to 12:15 AM on the evening of Jan 20-21, 2019. Click to zoom in – there’s a lot of detail!
On December 21, 2020, something really special happened in the sky: Jupiter and Saturn had an approach so close that it only happens every 800 years or so. They were so close in the sky that to the unaided eye, they looked like a single, bright star. This led many to proclaim it to be…
Messier 88, within the constellation Coma Berenices, is part of the nearby Virgo cluster of galaxies. And by “nearby”, I mean 50-60 million light years away! The light we’re seeing from this galaxy originated from the time of the dinosaurs. Telescopes are really time machines. There are many other galaxies surrounding M88, both smaller and…
The iconic Horsehead Nebula, near Orion’s belt. Shot in narrowband over two evenings.
There’s a reason I’ve been quiet lately – we sold our house and are in the process of moving to Los Angeles! Also, Florida’s weather hasn’t been terribly cooperative either. The sad news is that we had to leave the observatory behind, and I donated its equipment to the Central Florida Astronomical Society, as LA…