Great Orion Nebula and Friends
This wide field view of the Orion Constellation shows the great Orion Nebula (M42), the neighboring Running Man (Sh2-279), the Horsehead (Barnard33) and Flame Nebula (NGC2024). It has been captured with my trusty old Canon EF 70-200mm lens at about 170mm and using a monochrome camera (ASI294MM) with R, G, B, L and Ha filters.
Great Orion Nebula and Friends (annotated)
Horsehead and Flame Nebulae
This is a closer view of the Horsehead (Barnard33) and Flame Nebula (NGC2024).
The Great Orion Nebula and Running Man
Here is is a more close-up view of the Orion Nebula (M42) with Mairan's Nebula (M43) and the Running Man on top (NGC1977). This is a visual spectrum (RGBL filters) image, based on less than 2 hours of data.
Rosette Nebula
Here's another narrowband image of the greater Orion region: The Rosette Nebula (C49, NGC2237) in the constellation Monoceros, about 5000 lightyears away and 130 lightyears across. It created and contains an open star cluster (C50, NGC2244).
The Bubble and the Claw
This narrowband image contains several deep space objects: The Lobster Claw Nebula (SH2-157), The Bubble Nebula (NGC7635), the adjacent Salt & Pepper Cluster NGC7654 as well as the Northern Lagoon Nebula (NGC7538).
Christmas Tree Cluster and Cone Nebula
This is the last object in the Orion arm of the Milky Way for this year. I recorded the Christmas Tree Cluster with the Cone Nebula (on top) in the constellation of Monoceros with my Narrowband method over two evenings and applied a new color mapping method. The object is about 2700 lightyears away from Earth.
Elephant's Trunk Nebula - IC1396
The Elephants Trunk (IC1396A) … is a curious cloud of interstellar dust and gas within the rather large ionized gas region IC1396, located in the constellation of Cepheus. This object sits at a distance of about 2400 lightyears from us.
Tadpoles and Flaming Star Nebulae
The Flaming Star Nebula (left, IC405) and the Tadpoles Nebula (right, IC410) are two large emission nebulae located in the constellation Auriga. While the Tadpoles are about 12,000 lightyears away, the Flaming Star is much closer at 1,5000 lightyears. The Tadpoles Nebula derives its name from two elongated clouds of dust looking like tadpoles swimming towards the center of the object.
Cygnus Wall (starless)
The Cygnus Wall is the most prominent part of the North America Nebula (NGC7000). It is a star forming region and about 20 light years long.
Cygnus Wall
Swan Nebula
The Swan Nebula, also known as Omega Nebula, is an H II region in the constellation Sagittarius, between 5,000 and 6,000 light years distant. It is one of the brightest and massive star-forming regions in the Milky Way.
Swan Nebula (starless)
Heart and Soul Nebulae
The area of the Heart and Sould Nebulae depicted here spans about 300 light years and is located in the constallation of Cassiopeia, about 6000 light years distant. The Soul Nebula (NGC1871) can be seen in the upper right part of the image, while the Heart Nebula (NGC1805) sits below and left here. The appendix at the bottom of it is called Fishhead Nebula (NGC1795).
Question Mark Nebula - NGC7822 and Sh2-170 (starless)
Near the border of Cassiopeia and Cepheus lies a rather large area of nebulosity, known as Question Mark Nebula or Cosmic Question Mark. In its core i0s the star forming region NGC7822, at about 2900 light years distance. At the bottom of the image sits Sh2-170, a small emission nebula also known as Little Rosette Nebula. It is almost three times as distant with 7500 light years.
Question Mark Nebula - NGC7822 and Sh2-170
The Elephants Trunk Nebula is a rather interesting collection of interstellar gas and dust. The most prominent feature (IC1396A) gives the nebula its name, because of its appearance as a dark patch with a bright, sinuous rim. The nebula is an active area of star formation with several very young (< 100,000 yr) stars, providing illumination on the gas/dust clouds. Its location is in the constellation of Cepheus at a distance of approx. 2400 light years.
North America and Pelican Nebulae
The constellation of Cygnus is a very busy area of the Milky Way (see my "Wild Cygnus" widefield image). The most prominent object probably is the North America Nebula (NGC7000, C20) depicted in the center with the bright star Deneb on the top and left. It is "only" 2600 lightyears away and measures 90 by 140 lightyears. The Pelican Nebula (IC5067, IC 5070) sits on the top of the larger North America Nebula.
North America and Pelican Nebulae (starless)
The Veil Nebula in the constellation of Cygnus (a.k.a. “Cygnus Loop”) is a supernova remnant, i.e. an expanding cloud caused by the explosion of a massive star some 1500 light years away. The explosion was seen on Earth about 5000 years ago, but the remnants are too dim to make out with the naked eye nowadays. The whole Cygnus Loop is several times the size of the Moon! This is a wider view, capturing all major components of the Loop: Eastern Veil, Pickerings Triangle, and Western Veil (a.k.a. Witches Broom). This image uses a separate process for stars and nebulosity to reduce the impact of the stars in this rather busy region of the Milky Way. It is based on Hydrogen-alpha and Oxygen III data only (HOO pallette).
Some 5000 lightyears away in the constellation of Cygnus lies the Crescent Nebula, a fascinatin blue-glowing object in the middle of reddish nebulosity (see my wide field image). The background story of its shape and color is quite interesting... read up on it on Wikipedia! This image is a closer look, shot in June 2022 with close to 5 hrs of narrowband data.
