Category: Deep Sky

[et_pb_section][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type="4_4"][et_pb_text]NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.

Thursday 2nd January 2025 was a good day & night for Astronomy.  Clear views of the Sun during the day and a fantastic clear night.  It was also an informal night too for the Society and as the sky was absolutely clear; without no hesitation members got out their telescopes and spent the evening observing the night sky.  Below are some of the superb images members took that day and night.

The Sun with lots of sunspots taken by Honor Wheeler

Crescent Moon in the sunset taken by Honor Wheeler

Waxing Crescent Moon & Earthshine by taken Honor Wheeler.  The moon was 2.62 days old and 8.35% illuminated.

Crescent Moon by taken by John Archer

Crescent Moon taken by Dr Mike Rushton using a Dwarf II smart scope. 1/30 sec x 20 at gain 0 and no filter.

The Moon & Venus by taken Honor Wheeler (Venus is in the top left corner)

Orion, Jupiter and Mars by taken Honor Wheeler. Mars is left of Orion and Jupiter is above Orion.

Members observing at the Pavilion on the 2nd Jan 2025 taken by Honor Wheeler

The Horsehead Nebula taken by Jim Burchell using a Seestar S50 smartscope. 205 stacked images and processed using the Seestar S50 processing software.  The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33 or B33) is a small dark nebula in the constellation Orion and is located just to the south of the star Alnitak, the eastern most star of Orion's Belt,

The Pleiades (also known as the Seven Sisters or Messier 45 is a young open star cluster in Taurus) taken by Diane Clarke taken using a Seestar S50 smartscope. 85 x 30sec exposures, Jpeg stacked using Seestar S50 internal software.

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A superb image of IC 410 The Tadpole Nebula (left) and IC 405 The Flaming Star Nebula (right) by member Neil Webster taken on the 3rd Jan 2025.

''IC 410 is a cosmic cloud that looks like tadpoles swimming through the cosmos.

IC 410 is located 12,000 lightyears from Earth in the Auriga constellation, and is nicknamed the Tadpole Nebula because of the tadpole-shaped clouds of dark dust that appear to be swimming towards the centre.  The Tadpole Nebula is a region of ionised hydrogen gas spanning over 100 lightyears across that's carved and sculpted by streams of charged particles called stellar winds emanating from open star cluster NGC 1893.  NGC 1893 is about 4 million years old: the blink of an eye in cosmic terms.  The 'tadpoles' that give the nebula its nickname are dense streams of dust and gas about 10 lightyears long that may well be sites of star formation.'' Ref: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/astrophotography/nebulae/tadpole-nebula-ic-410

located near the emission nebula IC 410, is IC 405 (also known as the Flaming Star Nebula, SH 2-229, or Caldwell 31).  IC 405 is an emission and reflection nebula that surrounds the bluish, irregular variable star AE Aurigae.

Neil acquired his image using a WO GT71 Apo, EQ6 R, ZWO ASI 294MC Pro Optolong L Enhance filter, Astro Essentials 50mm guide scope, and a ZWO ASI 290MM guide camera.

Processed using APT, PHD, Nebulosity and Photoshop.

58 x 240s Subs, 45 x 0.015s Flats/Bias.

Note: Neil suffered a power cut just before taking the Darks so noise reduction was applied liberally.

Check out Neil's flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/photos/137388222@N05/with/54245664968/ to see a higher resolution image.

A super image of the Elephant's Trunk Nebula (IC1396A) taken by member Neil Webster on Oct 12th 2024.  The Elephant's Trunk Nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust within the much larger ionized gas region called IC 1396 which is located in the constellation Cepheus; about 2,400 light years away from Earth. The Elephant's Trunk Nebula is a small part of the much larger IC 1396 emission nebula and can be found on the Western side of the main object.

Neil acquired the image by using a WO GT71 Apo, EQ6 R, ZWO ASI 294MC, Optolong L Enhance filter, Astro Essentials 50mm Guide Scope, and ZWO ASI290MM guide camera.  Processed using APT, PHD, Nebulosity, PS (Camera Raw), and Star X Terminator.

22 x 240s Subs, 12 x Darks, 45 x Flats/Bias.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/137388222@N05/54064512908/in/photostream/

On Friday 27th September 2024 several CMHASD members helped out at Shears Green Junior School Cosmic Camp. 

Chairman John Archer wrote ''First of all I really want to thank all of the team who supported our evening of outreach last Friday 27th.  Once again we attended Cosmic Camp at Shears Green Junior School and were greeted by an enthusiastic audience, most of whom managed to observe Saturn, as well as a number of deep sky objects. There were indoor activities run by Rita and Debra, and the pupils were treated to our slideshow of members’ aurora images. Outside there were a range of scopes – Dob’s, a refractor and also Smartscopes, ably demonstrated by our hardy team including Steve, Dave, Andy, Diane, Mike, Jim & co – thank you all so much for giving up your time and getting involved – it was a wonderful and eventually clear night''.

Below are 2 of the images taken by members whilst at the school that the children saw.

M31 by Dr Mike Rushton using a Dwarf II smartscope with no processing.  Stacked image of 200 x 10s exposures at gain 80.

M31 is a barred spiral galaxy and is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way. It is also known as The Andromeda Galaxy, Messier 31 and NGC 224. The galaxy is approximately 765 kpc (2.5 million light-years) from Earth. The galaxy's name stems from the area of Earth's sky in which it appears, the constellation of Andromeda. Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromeda_Galaxy.

M27 by Diane Clarke (with the help of Jim Burchell) taken using a Seestar S50. Stacked image of 224 x 10s exposures. Processed using Affinity Photo.

Neil's first Deep Sky image for 18 months.......The North America Nebula & the Pelican Nebula and what a super image it is!

The North America Nebula (NGC 7000) is at the top and the Pelican Nebula (IC 5070) is at the bottom. 

The North America Nebula (NGC 7000 or Caldwell 20) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, close to the star Deneb.  It is named the North America Nebula because its shape resembles North America.

''The Pelican Nebula (also known as IC 5070) is an H II region associated with the North America Nebula in the constellation Cygnus. The gaseous contortions of this emission nebula bear a resemblance to a pelican, giving rise to its name. The Pelican Nebula is located nearby first magnitude star Deneb, and is divided from its more prominent neighbour, the North America Nebula, by a foreground molecular cloud filled with dark dust.'' Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelican_Nebula

Neil acquired his image on the 27th Sept 2024 using a WO GT71 apo, EQ6-R, ZWO ASI 294MC Pro, Optolong L-Enhance filter, Astro Essentials 50mm guide scope & ZWO ASI 290MM guide camera.

Processed in APT, PHD, Nebulosity, Photoshop and Star Xterminator

38 x 240s Subs, 12 x darks, 45 x flats/bias

For a more detailed view of Neil's image check out his flicker page at https://www.flickr.com/photos/137388222@N05/54032311437/

Two excellent deep sky images taken by Jim Burchell on the 14th Sept 2024 of NGC 6992 and NGC 891 using his Seestar S50 smartcope.

The Veil Nebula is a cloud of heated, ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus. It constitutes the visible portions of the Cygnus Loop a supernova remnant.  Sections of the Veil Nebula have their own individual names and catalogue identifiers and NGC6992 is a bright area in the Eastern Veil (also known as Caldwell 33) of the Veil Nebula. 

The image is made up of 138 x 10 second stacked images. Then processed in Snapseed.

''NGC 891 (also known as Caldwell 23, the Silver Sliver Galaxy, and the Outer Limits Galaxy) is an edge-on unbarred spiral galaxy about 30 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. It was discovered by William Herschel on October 6, 1784.'' Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_891

This image is made up of 48 x 10 sec stacked images. Then processed in Snapseed. Ref:

A superb image of the Fireworks Galaxy also known as NGC6946 taken by member Terry Miles on the 10th Sept 2024 using his Seestar S50 smartscope despite some very annoying high thin clouds that would not just go away. 

''The Fireworks Galaxy, is a face-on intermediate spiral galaxy with a small bright nucleus, whose location in the sky straddles the boundary between the northern constellations of Cepheus and Cygnus. Its distance from Earth is about 25.2 million light-years.'' Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_6946

An absolutely stunning mosaic image of the Veil Nebula taken by member Kevin Langford from Bexley on the nights of the 11th & 12th August 2024.

The Veil Nebula is a cloud of heated, ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus. It constitutes the visible portions of the Cygnus Loop a supernova remnant.

This is a 4 panel mosaic; with just 40 mins of data per panel. Kevin says it needs a lot more data to be added but we think it is fantastic already.

Equipment used: ES102 with focus reducer, L-eNhance filter.
Software used Nina, Sirilic, Ice, Siril, and Affinity photo.

Messier 31 The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) taken by member Kevin Langford on the 19th August 2024 from Bexley.  Kevin said ''This is just a 30mins of exposure as I was packing up for the night.  I know it is very grainy, it needs a lot more time spent on it.''  Well we think it is rather superb as it is Kevin!

Kevin acquired his image using an ES102 with focus reducer and L-eNhance filter. Processed using Nina, Siril, and Affinity photo.  

Two super images by member Terry Miles taken using his Seestar S50 smart telescope on the 11th August 2024. The images are short exposures for deep-sky objects but you can clearly see the ring nebula in the 1st image and some nebulosity of the Eastern Veil Nebula in the 2nd image.

M57 The Ring Nebula.  Also catalogued as NGC 6720 is a planetary nebula in the northern constellation of Lyra.

NGC 6992 The Eastern Veil Nebula.  The Veil Nebula is a cloud of heated and ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus.