Recognized and Published Images: Hunter Wilson

IC 342 in Camelopardalis

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astrophotogallery.org November 2010 Hard Category Winner

Spiral {SAB(rs)cd} Galaxy IC 342 - also known as Caldwell 5 - is located roughly 11-14 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Camelopardalis, “the giraffe”. Its face-on appearance in the sky—as opposed to our tilted and edge-on views of many other nearby galaxies, such as the large spiral galaxy Andromeda (M31)—makes IC 342 a prime target for studies of star formation and astrochemistry, unfortunately, it is located near our galactic equator where dust obscuration makes it a difficult object for both amateur and professional astronomers to observe.

Since it lies only 10 degrees or so off the galactic equator and therefore is obscured by a factor of 2.5 magnitudes by interstellar debris. If it were not for this decrease in magnitude, it would be one of the brightest galaxies in the sky. It is the largest galaxy in the northern sky after M31 and M33.

IC342 is a member of a small group of galaxies called the Maffei group. This group is the closest group of galaxies outside of our "Local Group".

November 2, 2010

Stephan's Quintet

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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APOD November 20, 2010

Stephan's Quintet (Arp 319) is located in the constellation Pegasus. The quintet was described by Edouard M. Stephan in 1877 and is the first compact galaxy group ever discovered. The cluster is also known as Hickson Compact Group 92. The four interacting galaxies in this image (NGC 7319, 7318A, 7318B, and 7317) have a yellowish cast suggesting a similar redshift (distance) and/or that older stars reside in their cores. They also show great distortion due to their gravitational interaction. These galaxies are 300 million light years distant, while the fifth, non-interacting member (NGC7320) glows with a blue tint in the foreground, and is a mere 40 million light years away.

Assembled From Hubble Legacy Archive Data November 14, 2010

M78 in Orion

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day November 20, 2010

M78 (NGC 2068) is the brightest diffuse reflection nebula of a group of nebulae that include NGC 2064, NGC 2067 and NGC 2071 (upper portion of this shot) - in fact, it is the brightest reflection nebula in the entire sky. This group belongs to the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex and is about 1,600 light years distant from Earth.

About 45 variable stars of the T Tauri type, young stars still in the process of formation as well as some 17 Herbig-Haro objects are known in M78.

November 7 and 8, 2010

LBN 667 - "Soul Nebula" in Cassiopeia - SHO Palette

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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National Geographic Weekly Wallpaper October Week 4

Here's a Copy of the Wallpaper Downloaded from NatGeo

National Geographic "Your Shot" Daily Dozen - October Week 4

Sky and Telescope Online Gallery October 25, 2010

LBN 667 is the designation of the nebula, also known as Sharpless 2-199. Open clusters CR 34, 632, and 634 (in the head) and IC 1848 (in the body) are embedded in the nebula. The object is more commonly called by the cluster designation IC 1848.

Small emission nebulae 670 and 669 are just below the lower back area.

This complex is the eastern neighbor of IC 1805 (Heart Nebula) and the two are often mentioned together as the "Heart and Soul".

October 15, 2010

IC 59 and IC 63 (Sh2-185) - Gamma Cassiopeiae Nebula

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery October 15, 2010

Despite their almost identical proximity to Gamma Cassiopeia and similar appearance, Sh2-185, or IC 59 (lower) and IC 63 (above and right) are actually quite different in their characteristics. Both are slowly being evaporated and dispersed into the interstellar medium by the nearby blue monster star.

Gamma is 40,000 times more luminous, 15,000 times more massive, and rotates at about 300km/hr, or 150 times more rapidly than our Sun.

The General Catalog of Variable Stars lists Gamma as an eruptive blue white subgiant variable star class B0. The star is an erratic variable that reached a maximum brightness in 1937, but then unexpectedly dropped in surface temperature from 12,000°K to 8500°K. It has an 11th magnitude companion. Distance to the star has been estimated between 200 and 600 light years. Eruptive variable stars vary in brightness because of violent processes and flares in their coronae and chromospheres. Gamma is encircled by a surrounding decretion disk that radiates the "emissions". Mass loss is apparently related to the brightness variations.

October 8, 2010

IC5146 - Cocoon Nebula in Cygnus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day October 15, 2010

The Cocoon Nebula (IC5146, Caldwell 19, Sh2-125) is located about 4,000 light years away and spans 15 light years. Inside the Cocoon is a newly developing open cluster of about 20 stars (Collinder 470, and not IC 5146 as referenced elsewhere). The Cocoon Nebula is a combination of emission, reflection, and absorbtion nebulae. Recent theory holds that the massive star BD +46°3474 in the center of the nebula opened a hole in an existing molecular cloud through which much of the glowing material flows. The same star, which formed about 100,000 years ago, now provides the energy source for much of the emitted and reflected light from this nebula.

This beautiful, very dim and usually difficult object lies at the end of a path of dark nebula Barnard 168 (B168) - also known as LDN 1035 and 1045 - that is very obvious on widefield images and can be seen with binoculars in a dark sky starting about 3 degrees east-southeast of open cluster M39. This dark lane can be seen in this image trailing away westward from the Cocoon.

October 7, 2010

M33 - The Triangulum Galaxy

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery October 6, 2010

Anacortes Astronomy and Wild Bird Picture of the Day October 5, 2010

Winner Astrophotogallery.org Medium Category October, 2010

This is the first dedicated galaxy image with the QSI 583WSG. Just in case you are interested, here are links to the Luminance and Color components of the image. Notice that the color component is oversaturated and soft - rather poor as a stand-alone image, but is optimized to add color to the image, not detail. The luminance component adds all the sharpness and detail to the final image.

The Triangulum Galaxy Messier 33 (M33, NGC 598) is another prominent member of the Local Group of galaxies. This galaxy is small compared to its big apparent neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy M31, and to our Milky Way galaxy, but more of an average size for spiral galaxies in the universe. M33 may be a remote but gravitationally bound companion of the Andromeda galaxy M31.

Several knots in the spiral arms of M33 have been assigned their own NGC catalog numbers - the largest of which in this image is in the lower mid-left and is NGC 604. This is one of the largest H II regions known anywhere in the universe: it has a diameter of nearly 1500 light-years, and a spectrum similar to the Orion nebula M42. Over 200 young hot massive stars (of 15 to 60 solar masses) have recently formed here.

Some other catalogued objects are identified in this map.

October 1, 2010

NGC 457 - "Owl Cluster" in Cassiopeia

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astrophotogallery.org September, 2010 Easy Winner

The first image from the QSI 583 to have the luminance binned 2x2. My skies are usually marginal enough to be fine for this image scale (2.85 arcsec/pixel) but it still made for pixelated stars in the final image. One benefit was a quicker gathering of data at 5 min subs rather than 10 min subs with clouds rolling in.

NGC 457 - The "Owl Cluster" was discovered by F.W. Herschel in 1787 and is also catalogued as Cr 12, Mel 7, OCL 321, Lund 43, H VII-42, h 97, GC 256. This cluster seems to attract nicknames, and has also been called the Kachina Doll Cluster, the E.T. Cluster, the Owl Cluster and the Nazgul Cluster. The brightest star in the cluster, Phi Cassiopeiae is not a member of the cluster, but a foreground star instead. The cluster is about 9000 light years from the sun.

September 12 and 13, 2010

van den Bergh 152 in Cepheus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery September 13, 2010

Together, reflection nebula Cederblad 201 and Bok globule B175 are referred to as van den Berg 152, and sometimes called Lynds Bright Nebula 524 (LBN524). This collection of dark and bright reflection nebula is 1400 light years from earth in the northern constellation of Cepheus.

September 8, 2010

van den Bergh 142 (IC1396A and IC1396B) Hubble Palette

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Winner Cloudy Nights August, 2010 Challenge - Here and Here

VdB 142 (composed of two nebulae - IC1396A and IC1396B) is an exceedingly popular target for astro-imagers. The contrast and detail it provides, plus it's high signal level make it a perennial favorite in both conventional and narrowband imaging circles.

IC1396A is the "Elephant's Trunk" Nebula, and is the left part of the nebula with the "eye" in the end, and IC1396B is the right portion of the nebula coming in from the right of the frame.

For more information on this object see the writeup here.

Ha data gathered 8-6-10. OIII and SII data gathered 8-29-10. Processed 8-30-10.

LDN 935 and the "Cygnus Wall" in Modified Hubble Palette

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery August 31, 2010

What strikes me about this image is that the structure of NGC 7000 is almost unrecognizeable due to the color mapped nature of the data. Wavelengths were assigned in the traditional Hubble Pallette with Ha to green, OIII to blue, and SII to red. Then, because the Hubble Palette can be overly green, especially in Ha rich regions, the colors were adjusted to make the colorful and interesting format displayed here.

Just as prominent in this image as emission nebula NGC 7000, perhaps even more so, is dark nebula LDN 935 (Lynd's Dark Nebula) - the dust that obscures the emission nebula to form the 'Gulf of Mexico' and dominates the entire right half of the image.

The "Cygnus Wall" is a powerful ionization front where UV radiation from young, very hot stars is bombarding the cold dust at the leading edge of NGC 7000 and exciting it into emitting Ha and particularly SII light that is then picked up on the camera's sensor. This is represented by the complex filamentous structure rolling towards the dark gulf.

Data Gathered 8-28-10, Processed 8-29-10

NGC 7380/Sh2-142 Modified Hubble Palette

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astrophotogallery.org August, 2010 Hard Winner

Sky and Telescope Online Gallery August 31, 2010

Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day September 7, 2010

Assembled in the Hubble Palette color map and then modified using the method of Bob Franke's technique - although with some twists of my own.

Data acquired and 8-18 and 8-26-2010. Processed 8-27-2010.

NGC 6888 - Crescent Nebula In Cygnus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery August 10, 2010

The Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888 or Caldwell 27) is an emission nebula in the Cygnus constellation, about 5000 light years away. It is formed by the fast stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 (HD 192163) colliding with and energizing the slower moving wind ejected by the star when it became a red giant around 400,000 years ago. The result of the collision is a shell and two shock waves, one moving outward and one moving inward. The inward moving shock wave heats the stellar wind to X-ray emitting temperatures.

The nebula is actually a huge bubble about 25 light-years across. The star is shedding its outer envelope in a strong stellar wind, ejecting the equivalent of the Sun's mass every 10,000 years. The nebula's complex structures are likely the result of this strong wind interacting with material ejected in an earlier phase. Burning fuel at a prodigious rate and near the end of its stellar life this star should ultimately go out with a bang in a spectacular supernova explosion. Found in the nebula rich constellation Cygnus, NGC 6888 is about 5,000 light-years away.

The "Cygnus Bubble" can be found in the lower left corner of this image. Good Luck! It can better be seen in an Ha/OIII bicolor image of the same object in the Narrowband Gallery.

August 7, 2010

IC1396 - Elephant Trunk Nebula and Region in Cepheus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day August 14, 2010

First light with the new QSI 583WSG camera. The camera worked flawlessly and was a real joy to use. I don't know why I have waited so long to switch over to mono imaging.

This region is the eastern/northeastern part of IC1396 including van den Bergh 142 (IC 1396A and IC 1396B).

August 6, 2010

LBN 487 and NGC 7023 - "Iris Nebula" in Cepheus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day November 23, 2010

Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day July 12, 2010

LBN 487 - the Iris Nebula - is 1300 light years away in Cepheus and about 6 light years across. The entire complex of nebulosity (VdB 139) and cluster is also known as Caldwell 4.

The nebula is mostly reflection component, but there is some emission component as well, giving the gas a purplish/red fringing.

My skies are just a little too bright in this region to really do the dark dust of this object justice. Some regions of my sky are perhaps dark enough, but not here. Pristine skies are better suited to bring out all the dark, wispy detail surrounding the reflection nebula.

July 6, 2010

NGC 5371 in Canes Venatici

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery May 11, 2010

Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day November 8, 2010

NGC 5371 (which also seems to be known as NGC 5390) is a symmetrical face-on Sbc barred spiral galaxy at a distance of 100 million light years in the constellation Canes Venatici. This galaxy with Hickson 68 makes up the Big Lick Galaxy Group.

Notice the multitude of faint, distant galaxies in the background. I mean, seriously, look at this ridiculous screen shot from Aladin showing all the galaxies in the proximity of NGC 5371.

May 4, 2010

M88 in Coma Berenices

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day April 13, 2010

Messier 88 (NGC 4501) is an Sbc spiral galaxy about 47 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices and spans over 100,000 light-years. This galaxy is one of the fifteen Messier objects that belong the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. This galaxy may be on a highly elliptical orbit that is carrying it toward the cluster center, which is occupied by the giant elliptical galaxy M87.

M88 is classified as a type 2 seyfert galaxy, which means it produces narrow spectral line emission from highly ionized gas in the galactic nuclei. The supermassive black hole at the core of this galaxy has 107.9 solar masses, or about 80 million times the mass of the Sun.

April 10, 2010

IC 405 - The "Flaming Star Nebula"

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Wikipedia Astronomy Picture of the Week - Week 28, 2010

Astronomy Magazine Online Picture of the Day March 17, 2010

The "Flaming Star Nebula" also designated IC 405, Sharpless 229 (Sh2-229), and Caldwell 31 is an emission nebula in the constellation Auriga, surrounding the blue-hot irregular variable star AE Aurigae. The material that appears as smoke is mostly interstellar hydrogen, but does contain smoke-like dark filaments of carbon-rich dust grains. The nebula is about 1500 light years distant and spans about 5 light years.

November 11, 2009

NGC 891 in Andromeda

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Wikipedia Astronomy Picture of the Week - Week 21, 2010

Astrophotogallery.org January, 2010 Hard Category Winner

Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day January 1, 2010

NGC 891 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. The galaxy is a member of the NGC 1023 group of galaxies in the Local Supercluster.

The finding of large amounts of molecular hydrogen (H2) in NGC 891 has raised the question of whether "dark matter" may be partially due to molecular hydrogen. According to two Dutch astronomers, most or all of it may be ordinary molecular hydrogen (H2), which, unlike atomic hydrogen (H), is invisible except at certain infrared wavelengths.

NGC 891 is one of those objects that makes you wonder how Messier missed it.

November 12, 2009

M33 - "Triangulum Galaxy" - "Hydrogen Enhanced"

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Wikipedia Astronomy Picture of the Week - Week 16, 2010

Sky and Telescope Editor's Choice September 22, 2008

Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day September 8, 2008

Taken almost one year to the day, this image of M33 replaces last year's effort.

Hydrogen Alpha Dataused in this image. RGB versionof this image.

Hydrogen enhancement using Chris Schur's method for Hydrogen Enhanced Galaxies.

The RGB image is split into it's components and the data from the Ha exposureis projected onto the R channel at 100% opacity with the layer set to "screen". The Ha data is also projected onto the B layer in the same manner, but at 15% opacity, which provides color for the H beta line. The RGB channels are then recombined into an image by starting with the G data as the background layer and then projecting the HaR and HaB layers on top of it as "lighten" layers.

The Triangulum Galaxy Messier 33 (M33, NGC 598) is another prominent member of the Local Group of galaxies. This galaxy is small compared to its big apparent neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy M31, and to our Milky Way galaxy, but by this more of average size for spiral galaxies in the universe. M33 may be a remote but gravitationally bound companion of the Andromeda galaxy M31.

Several knots in the spiral arms of M33 have been assigned their own NGC catalog numbers - the largest of which in this image is in the upper mid-right and is NGC 604. This is one of the largest H II regions known at all: it has a diameter of nearly 1500 light-years, and a spectrum similar to the Orion nebula M42. Over 200 young hot massive stars (of 15 to 60 solar masses) have recently formed here.

Some other catalogued objects are identified in this map.

September 6 and 9, 2008

NGC 3953 in Ursa Major

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery April 1, 2010

Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day March 25, 2010

NGC 3953 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major at a distance of 56 million light years. The tightly wound spiral structure spans about 111,000 light years (about 10% larger than the Milky Way). NGC 3953 belongs to the Ursa Major North galaxy group, which consists of 32 galaxies, including the dominant M109 (NGC 3992).

M97 - The "Owl Nebula" in Ursa Major

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day July 19, 2010

Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day March 11, 2010

Sky and Telescope Online Gallery March 18, 2010

M97 (NGC 3587), also known as the "Owl Nebula" for it's "eyes" that are seen on visual observation and in images. It is one of the more complex planetary nebulae. Its appearance has been interpreted as that of a cylindrical torus shell (or globe without poles), viewed oblique, so that the projected matter-poor ends of the cylinder correspond to the owl's eyes. This shell is enveloped by a fainter nebula of lower ionization. The mass of the nebula has been estimated to amount 0.15 solar masses, while the 16 mag central star is believed to be of about 0.7 solar masses. The nebula's age is about 6,000 years and it's distance is uncertain and listed anywhere from 1300 to 12,000 light years.

March 6, 2010

NGC 246 - "Skull Nebula" in Cetus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Poor Transparency and Windy - Series Interrupted by Moonrise

Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day March 5, 2010

Astronomy Magazine April 2010 Print Edition Reader's Gallery

NGC 246 (Caldwell 56) is a planetary nebula that lies 1600 light years away in the constellation Cetus. It's formation began thousands of years ago when the smaller, sunlike star in the central binary began shedding it's outer atmosphere on a journey towards a white dwarf. Since the double is not resolveable with this setup, it is not visible here, but the dying star can be seen in images from larger instruments. The white dwarf continues to evolve; In 1930, it was as bright as 9th magnitude. In 1969 it diminished to 11.2 and today it has faded to 12th magnitude.

November 6, 2009

NGC 2264 Region (Sh2-273) in Monoceros

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day January 19, 2010

NGC 2264 is the designation of the nebulae and star cluster in this area which lies about 2600 light-years from Earth in Monoceros the Unicorn. It may in fact be physically linked to the Rosette Nebula Complex. The names given the objects in this image are the Cone Nebula (dark cone at the bottom of the image), the Christmas Tree Cluster (upside down in this image), and the Fox Fur Nebula at the upper mid right above the reflection nebula. The area is very bright in Hydrogen Alpha emission.

The Cone Nebula is a pillar of gas and dust containing an infrared source embedded in a Bok globule at its tip. The infrared source, which appears to be a hot B-class star about 3500 times more luminous than our Sun, is located just beyond the tip of the Cone nebula and may be creating a stellar wind that energises and shapes the nebula.

The bright star at the center of this picture is 15 Monocerotis (or 'S Monocerotis') - it is a multiple star system consisting of perhaps seven or more stars, including four brilliant blue-white stars (classes O7, B7, B8 and A6) and it is partly or totally responsible for causing the nebula to glow. This semi-regular variable star contains an extremely luminous class-O7 dwarf, that is in fact two hot stars orbiting each other with a period of 25 years. Their masses could be perhaps 30 and 20 times solar with luminosities 125,000 and 50,000 times that of our Sun.

January 13, 2010

M8 - "Lagoon Nebula" in Sagittarius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day January 11, 2010

M8 (NGC 6523) - The "Lagoon Nebula" lies at a distance of 4,100 light years from earth, and measures 110 by 50 light years. The entire area is a giant star forming area containing a number of dark, collapsing clouds of protostellar material, the most prominent of which are Barnard 88, 89, and 296. The stellar nursery has already formed a large, young (2 million years old) star cluster - open cluster NGC 6530 - that resides within the nebula.

Within the brightest part of the Lagoon Nebula, a proiminent feature can be seen called the "Hourglass Nebula" which occurs in a region where a vivid star formation process appears to take place; the bright emission is caused by heavy excitation of very hot, young stars. The illuminator of the hourglass is the hot star Herschel 36 (mag 9.5, spectral class O7).

June 26, 2009

M74 in Pisces - The "Phantom Galaxy"

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day January 5, 2010

Of all the objects in Messier's catalogue, number 74 has the lowest surface brightness. It is so difficult for amateur astronomers to spot through a telescope that it has been given the nickname 'The Phantom Galaxy' and is the Messier object most likely to thwart a Messier Marathon.

Discovered 1780 by Pierre Méchain, Messier 74 (M74, NGC 628) is one of the nicest examples of so-called "grand-design" spiral galaxies seen face-on, so that its spiral structure stands out conspicuously. With its comparatively low surface brightness, it is one of the more difficult objects in Messier's catalog, situated in constellation Pisces.

Its distance may be about 30 to 40 million light years, as it recedes with 793 km/sec. Its spiral arms are about 1000 light years broad. They are traced with clusters of blue young stars and pinkish colored diffuse gaseous nebulae (H II regions) in color photos, and reach out to cover a region of more than 10 minutes of arc in diameter, corresponding to roughly 95,000 light years, or about the same size as our Milky Way galaxy. The Webb Society deep sky observer's handbook gives a number of 193 known H II regions.

Two supernovae have been discovered in M74:

Supernova 2002ap was discovered in M74 on January 29, 2002 by Japanese amateur Yoji Hirose when it was at mag 13.7. This type Ib/c supernova brightened up to mag 12.3 between February 5 and 12, 2002, and was classified as a "hypernova," occurring when progenitor stars of at least 40 solar masses explode.
Supernova 2003gd was found visually in M74 by Bob Evans on June 12.82 UT, in the morning twilight at Australia as it was 13.2 mag bright, and already fading. This supernova was of type II.

LDN 1622 and 1621 in Orion

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Online Picture of the Day May 28, 2010

Sky and Telescope Online Gallery December 14, 2009

Lynds' Dark Nebula 1622 lies just outside and east of Barnard's Loop in the constellation Orion. It can be seen as a small inclusion in a northeastern wispy branch of emission nebulosity in this image of the loop. LDN 1622 is thought to be much closer than Orion's more famous nebulae, perhaps only 500 light-years away.

Here's a map of the objects in the field.

Also known as the "Boogeyman" or "Phantom" nebula, it appears as a spectral presence with glowing red eyes drifting through the sky.

December 11, 2009

Jones-Emberson 1 (PK164+31.1) in Lynx

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Coordinates: 07h 57m 30s; +53º 25 ’ 30’’

Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day February 4, 2010

Sky and Telescope Editor's Choice November 19, 2009

Jones-Emberson 1 (PK164+31.1) is a 14th magnitude planetary nebula in the constellation Lynx at a distance of 1600 light years. It is a larger planetary with low surface brightness. The 16.8-magnitude central star is very blue white dwarf.

This is 4 hours of data with my C9.25, and I believe this is at or near the limits of this setup's capability.

Discovered in 1939 by R. Jones and R. Emberson, it's "PK" designation comes from the names of
Czechoslovakian astronomers Perek and Kohoutek, who in 1967 created an extensive catalog of all of the planetary nebulas known in the Milky Way as of 1964. The numbers indicate the position of the object on the sky.

November 12, 2009

NGC 1333 in Perseus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day October 28, 2009

NGC 1333 is a sparkling jewel of dust and radiation. This star-forming region, located roughly 1,000 light-years away in the constellation Perseus encloses hundreds of newly formed stars less than one million years old. Many of these proto-stars exhibit energetic activity such as jets and strong stellar winds.

As can be seen in the image, all three kinds of nebulosity co-exist here - reflection, emission, and absorption.

This region is also of interest because at least one star system here, NGC 1333-IRAS 4B, contains massive amounts of water vapor - enough to fill the oceans on Earth five times over - and is the first time astronomers have seen water being delivered to the region where planets will most likely form.

September 18, 2009

NGC 7293 - The Helix Nebula in Aquarius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery October 21, 2009

Short integration time, clouded out. Transparency fair.

This object seems to give me trouble. I can get a decent image of it, but not a really good image of it. The delicate tendrils that project into the center just don't want to show themselves. I think it has to do with my horizon and local conditions. Still, it's a vast improvement of my original image of this object from 2007.

The Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) spans about 2.5 light years and is about 650 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius. It is one of the closest planetary nebulae to earth and was discovered by Karl Ludwig Harding before 1824. It has a very similar appearance to the Ring Nebula. It is also similar in size, age, and physical characteristics to the Dumbbell Nebula, with the significant difference in appearance being a consequence of the relative proximity and more nearly equatorial viewing angle of the Dumbbell.

October 18, 2009

M31 in HaRGB - The Great Andromeda Galaxy - 4 Panel Mosaic

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day January 4, 2010

Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day November 30, 2009

Astrophotogallery.org September, 2009 Hard Category Winner

The Great Andromeda Galaxy is approximately 2.52 million light years from earth and is 125 thousand light years across from front to back as seen from earth. It is likely that the ancestors of the human species were still on all fours when the light left the back side of Andromeda, but were walking upright and using stone tools by the time it reached the front edge of the galaxy. In any event, if you see Andromeda, keep in mind that you are seeing the light from when Humanity was just starting to gain a foothold on planet Earth.

M31 in Andromeda is the nearest major galaxy to our own Milky Way Galaxy and the two galaxies are on a collision course, approaching each other at the rate of 100 to 140 kilometers per second (300,000 MPH). This catastrophic wreck will begin to happen in approximately the year 1,000,000,000 AD.

Our Galaxy is thought to look much like Andromeda and together these two dominate the Local Group of galaxies. The several distinct stars that surround Andromeda's image are actually stars in our Galaxy that are well in front of the background object. Much about M31 remains unknown, including why the center contains two nuclei.

M31 is large enough and close enough that scientists are able to study smaller structures within the galaxy, like the structures within our own galaxy. One of these, star cluster NGC 206 has it's own designation.

Here's an interesting article by Tom Trusok concering all the different objects within the Andromeda Galaxy.

Color Data August 23 and 25, September 12, 2009
Ha Data August 31, 2009

M61 in Virgo

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Print Version Reader Gallery November, 2009 Edition

Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day April 29, 2009

Messier 61 (NGC 4303) is a large barred spiral galaxy in the southernmost part of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies located between e Virginis (Vindemiatrix) and b Leonis (Denebola). It has three arms that contain many clumps of new star clusters and HII regions.

M61 is both a starburst and a low luminosity Seyfert type 2 galaxy. These two phenomena may not just coexist in galaxies like M61, but may be co-dependant.

M61 was discovered by Barnabus Oriani on May 5, 1779 when following the comet of that year, 6 days before Charles Messier's discovery, who had seen it on the same day as Oriani but mistaken it for the comet. Messier mistook it for two nights more, until he realized that it did not move. (SEDS)

M61 is one of the larger galaxies in the Virgo cluster; its 6 arc minutes of diameter correspond to about 100,000 light years, similar to the diameter of the Milky Way galaxy. It lies about 60 million light years from earth.

Companion barred spiral NGC 4303A can be seen to the lower left of M61, and Elliptical NGC 4292 in the upper left. Hundreds of other faint, distant galaxies are present in the background - as would be expected of any field taken in Virgo.

April 16, 2009

LDN 673 in Aquila

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day November 6, 2009

Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day August 28, 2009

LDN 673 is a huge, massively dense cluster of absorption nebulae at the center of the Aquila rift (molecular cloud). Listed and named in Bevery T. Lynds Catalog of Dark Nebulae.

Here's nice annotated image of this area by Bernhard Hubl showing the various components of the nebulosity.

August 24, 2009

M20 - Trifid Nebula in Sagittarius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astrophotogallery.org July, 2009 Medium Category Winner

Cropped closeup of M20 from the previous image.

June 23, 2009

NGC 3718 and NGC 3729 in Ursa Major

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day July 14, 2009

NGC 3718 (Arp 214) is a strongly warped spiral galaxy that is gravitationally interacting with it's neighbor, NGC 3729, which is only 150 thousand light years from it's companion. The pair is approximately 42.5 million light years distant.

NGC 3718 contains an active galactic nucleus (AGN) and is known as a Seyfert type 1.9 galaxy. HI mapping of the galaxy shows a suggestion of a tidal tail that starts on the eastern side of the galaxy and extends north towards its companion NGC 3729 strongly suggesting a gravitational relationship between the two galaxies.

Below NGC 3718 and 300 million light years distant is compact galaxy group Hickson 56, also carrying an Arp designation (322) comprised of five closely interacting galaxies, two of which are radio sources.

Members of Hickson 56 from left to right in this image:
MCG 9-19-113 (edge-on spiral) Mag=14.78
UGC 6527 (barred lenticular) Mag=14.69
PGC 35618 (lenticular, peculiar) Mag=15.82
PGC 35615 (spiral, peculiar) Mag=17.01
PGC 35609 (barred lenticular, peculiar) Mag=16.37

There are also multiple faint distant galaxies peppering the entire image, particularly the large cluster between the upper poles of NGC 3718 and NGC 3729. To the upper left of NGC 3729, the brightest members (mag 19) of distant galaxy Cluster MaxBCG J173.61398+53.22685 (z=0.232 / light travel time = 2.6 Gyr) are visible.

February 22, 2009

M81 - "Hydrogen Enhanced" Collaboration

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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February 22, 2009

Hydrogen Alpha Data:
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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day July 7, 2009

Collaboration with Ted Rafferty, using his Ha data and my RGB data to better show the HII regions of M81. The Ha data adds quite a bit, but it's somewhat subtle in appearance as M81 is quite "nodular" anyway.

M4 in Scorpius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astrophotogallery.org June Hard Object Winner

One of the nearest globulars at 7200 light years, M4 (NGC 6121) would be one of the most impressive globulars in the sky if it were not obscured by heavy clouds of dark interstellar matter in the vicinity of Antares. M4 is one of the most open, or loose, globulars and displays a peculiar 'barred' pattern in it's core, as can be seen in this photo. It was the first globular to be resolved to it's core (by Messier himself) as it is one of the most open, or loose, globulars - its classification in concentration being a class IX. It's diameter (half mass) is about 16 light years.

In 1987, the first millisecond pulsar was discovered in this globular cluster. This pulsar, 1821-24, is a neutron star rotating (and pulsating) once every 3.0 milliseconds, or over 300 times per second, which is even 10 times faster than the Crab pulsar in M1.

June 23, 2009

NGC 7008 "Fetus Nebula" in Cygnus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day June 30, 2009

NGC 7008 (PK 93+5.2) is an unusual, colorful, and very beautiful planetary nebula residing about 2800 light years distant in the constellation of Cygnus. It spans 1.3x1 light year.

May 20, 2009

M9 in Ophiuchus With Comet C/2007 G1 (LINEAR)

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Small Wonders: Ophiuchus June, 2009 (Tom Trusock)

M9 is one of the nearer globular clusters to the nucleus of our Galaxy, with a computed distance of 5500 light-years from the Galactic Center with a diameter of 90 light years. M9 is receding from us at the very high velocity of 224 km/sec.

To the north and west, its light is significantly dimmed by interstellar dust, as it lies at the edge of a patch of dark nebula (Barnard 64 - seen in this image as a dark blot to the right of the cluster); its light is probably weakened by at least one magnitude, but it's absolute luminosity is roughly 120,000 times that of our sun.

Comet C/2007 G1 (LINEAR) can be seen at magnitude 12 in the lower left third of the frame.

June 5, 2008

M107 in Ophiuchus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Small Wonders: Ophiuchus June, 2009 (Tom Trusock)

Messier 107 (NGC 6171) is another additional object found by Pierre Méchain in April, 1782. It may be the Messier object which was the latest to be discovered. Eventually, Helen Sawyer Hogg added it to the Messier Catalog in 1947, together with M105 and M106, although it appears probable that already Méchain had intended to add it to a future edition of Charles Messier's list.

M107 apparently contains some dark obscured regions, which is unusual for globular clusters. Its distance is about 21,000 light years, and it's diameter is roughly 80 light years. M107 is approaching us at 147 km/sec, contains about 25 known variables, and as a globular cluster, is of intermediate metallicity (abundances of elements heavier than Helium).

June 5. 2008

NGC 7008 "Fetus Nebula" in Cygnus - Closeup View

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Closer version of NGC 7008

Astrophotogallery.org May, 2009 Medium Category Winner

Sky and Telescope Online Gallery April 1, 2009

May 20, 2009

M3 in Canes Venatici

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Cloudy Nights CCD Imaging Forum May Challenge Winner

Astrophotogallery.org May, 2009 Easy Category Winner

Sky and Telescope Online Gallery June 1, 2009

Messier 3 (NGC 5272) is a globular cluster in the constellation Canes Venatici. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764, and resolved into stars by William Herschel around 1784. This cluster is one of the largest and brightest, and is made up of around 500,000 stars. It is located at a distance of about 33,900 light-years away from Earth.

M3 is further away than the center of our Galaxy, the Milky Way, but still shines at magnitude 6.2, as its absolute magnitude is about -8.93, corresponding to a luminosity of about 300,000 times that of our sun. M3 is thus visible to the naked eye under very good conditions. Its apparent diameter of 18.0 arc minutes corresponds to a linear extension of about 180 light years.

Globular cluster M3 is extremely rich in variable stars:
By 1978, 212 variables have been found, 186 periods determined, more than in every other globular cluster in our Milky Way galaxy.

May 18, 2009

M56 in Lyra

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery April 1, 2009

Messier 56 (M56, NGC 6779) is located about half-way between Beta Cygni (Albireo) and Gamma Lyrae in an extremely star-rich region. It is one of the less bright Messier globulars, especially lacking the bright core which most globulars have. Nevertheless it is not too difficult to resolve, even at its rather large distance. This led to its classification in concentration class X.

At its distance of 32,900 light-years. its diameter of 8.8 arc minutes corresponds to a linear extension of about 85 light years. Visually, only about the inner third of this great ball, of about 3' diameter is visible. While the NGC mentions "stars of 11th to 14th magnitude", more modern measurements have shown that the brightest stars in this cluster are of about 13th magnitude, and the horizontal branch level is at magnitude 16.2 (according to the Deep Sky Field Guide to Uranometria 2000.0). Helen Sawyer Hogg gives an average magnitude of 15.31 for the 25 brightest stars, an overall spectral type of F5, and a color index of -0.04.

Globular cluster M56 was found by Harlow Shapley to be elongated with ellipticity 8 (E2) at position angle 45 deg. He found only 1 variable star in it, and even until today, only about a dozen of variables were identified in M56. This stellar swarm is approaching us at the high velocity of 145 km/sec.

M56 was one of Charles Messier's original discoveries; he saw it first on January 23, 1779 and describes it as a "nebula without stars," like most globular clusters. It was first resolved into stars by William Herschel around 1784.

May 17, 2009

Draco Trio

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Editor's Choice May 20, 2009

A beautiful, if faint, trio in the constellation Draco is comprised of from left to right, face on spiral NGC 5985, elliptical galaxy NGC 5982, and edge-on spiral NGC 5981. Distance from earth is about 100 million light years.

NGC5985 is considered an active or 'Seyfert' galaxy. Some galaxies, notably the Seyferts, show large quantities of gas in their nuclei which is not associated with O or B stars. Their nuclei are called Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN's); the galaxies are sometimes called Active Galaxies. While making up the biggest portion, Seyferts are not the only galaxies with AGNs: Other examples are the radio galaxies and the quasars. They all have in common that their high luminosity is not produced by stars. Seyfert galaxies are characterized by extremely bright nuclei believed to be secondary to an accretion disk and jet caused by rapid rotation around a black hole. Seyfert galaxies show strong emission in the radio, infrared, ultraviolet, and x-ray. The radio emission is believed to be synchrotron emission from the jet.

A number of fainter, more distant galaxies can be seen in this image as well.

May 17, 2009

M13 in Hercules

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day July 28, 2009

Small Wonders: Hercules June, 2009 (Tom Trusock)

Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day May 18, 2009

M13 (NGC 6205) is a globular cluster in the constellation of Hercules. M13 is about 145 light-years in diameter, and it is composed of several hundred thousand stars, the brightest of which is the variable star V11 with an apparent magnitude of 11.95. M13 is 25,100 light-years away from Earth.

It was discovered by Edmond Halley in 1714, and cataloged by Charles Messier on June 1, 1764.

The Arecibo message of 1974, designed to communicate the existence of human life to hypothetical extraterrestrials, was transmitted toward M13. The reason was that with a higher star density, the chances of a life harboring planet with intelligent life forms, were higher.

The "Merceds Benz sign", a collection of known star-poor areas can be seen as an inverted "Y" in the left lower part of the core in this image.

May 11, 2009

M81 - Bode's Galaxy in Ursa Major

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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2008 SCT User Contest Winner: DSO with Non-Astro Camera

M81 (NGC 3031 or Bode's Galaxy) is a large, bright, classic spiral galaxy 12 million light years away in the constellation Ursa Major. It is the dominant member of the group of galaxies that carry it's name- one of the nearest groups to our local group.

A few tens of million years ago a close encounter occurred between the galaxies M81 and M82. During this event, larger and more massive M81 has dramatically deformed M82 by gravitational interaction. The encounter has also left traces in the spiral pattern of M81, first making it overall more pronounced, and second in the form of the dark linear feature in the lower left of the nuclear region. The galaxies are still close together, their centers separated by a linear distance of only about 150,000 light years.

The spiral arms, which wind all the way down into the nucleus, are made up of young, bluish, hot stars formed in the past few million years. They also host a population of stars formed in an episode of star formation that started about 600 million years ago. A number of sinuous dust lanes also wind all the way into the nucleus of M81.

The galaxy's central bulge contains much older, redder stars. It is significantly larger than the Milky Way's bulge. A black hole of 70 million solar masses resides at the center of M81. The black hole is about 15 times the mass of the Milky Way's black hole. Hubble research shows that the size of the central black hole in a galaxy is proportional to the mass of a galaxy's bulge.

A nice movie inspecting the Hubble image of M81.

Satellite dwarf galaxy Holmberg IX can be seen above M81.

February 22, 2009

M61 in Virgo with Supernova 2008in

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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A slightly closer view of M61 better showing the location of SN2008in. Estimated magnitude ~ 17 at the time of this image.

Sky and Telescope Online Gallery April 22, 2009

Listed on Supernovae.net

Type IIP Supernova 2008in was discovered on 26th December by Koichi Itagaki in the spiral galaxy M61 in Virgo. Type II supernovae are formed from the core-collapse and explosion of massive stars (i.e. greater than 9 solar masses). Type IIP are designated as such because they reach maximum brightness, dim slightly, and then stay at almost the same brightness "plateau" for many days before fading (hence the name type IIP, i.e. II-Plateau).

Four other supernovae have been observed in M61: 1926A (12.8 mag) was discovered by Wolf and Reinmuth, 1961I (mag 13, Humason), 1964F (mag 12, Rosino), and 1999gn (13.4 mag, Dimai). NED gives the following types and (alternative values for) maxima: SN 1926A, type IIL, 14pv; SN 1961I, type II, 13.0; SN 1964F, type I, 14.0. The Supernova 1961I appeared in the spiral arms, about 82" from the center, and was photographed by the Lick observatory.

April 16, 2009

M106 Cropped View

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day June 22, 2009

Sky and Telescope Editor's Choice April 1, 2009

March 30, 2009

Abell 39 in Hercules

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Small Wonders: Hercules June, 2009 (Tom Trusock)

Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day April 5, 2009

Sky and Telescope Online Gallery April 1, 2009

Abell 39 (PK47+42.1), a member of George Abell's Catalog of Planetery Nebulae is a low surface brightness planetary nebula in the constellation Hercules.

The most sperical planetary nebula, it is almost a perfect sphere - also one of the largest known spheres with a radius of about 2.5 light-years.

Distant spiral PGC 58246 can be seen above and left of the nebula.

March 30, 2009

NGC 2903 in Leo

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astrophotogallery.org March Easy Winner

Sky and Telescope Online Gallery April 1, 2009

NGC 2903 is a barred spiral galaxy about 20.5 million light years away in the constellation Leo. It was discovered by William Herschel who cataloged it as on November 16, 1784. NGC 2905 is a bright star cloud within this galaxy.

The bright yellow center of NGC 2903 is undergoing very active star formation and contains massive amounts of dust and gas that are coagulating into stars and new globular clusters, while the arms are composed of older stars and aging clusters. It is believed that the gravity of the dense central bar expedites star formation in the core. The core resembles a Seyfert galaxy, but at a lower magnitude.

This galaxy is just smaller than the Milky Way at about 100,000 light years across.

One of the brighter galaxies in the northern hemisphere, most agree that it is remarkable that Messier missed this object in his observations.

Distant galaxy UGC 5086 is found left of NGC 2903 and
and 16th magnitude galaxy 1648681 is seen below.

March 15, 2009

M1 HaRGB - Collaborative Image

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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November 23, 2008

Sky and Telescope Online Gallery March 27, 2009

This is a collaborative effort with Ted Rafferty adding his Hydrogen Alpha data to my RGB data to make, what I think, is a far superior image.

The two sets of data were registered and aligned in DeepSkyStacker and combined in Photoshop CS3.

The combine method used is one described by Russell Croman. Layer masks were used to keep star colors true while allowing the Ha and RGB to combine in a way to optimize the nebula's appearance.

Comet 144P/Kushida

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery March 27, 2009

Processed in DeepSkyStacker to allow the stars to trail while stacking on the comet. This gives some idea of the movement of the comet over the hour the image was taken.

Comet 144P/Kushida was discovered by Yoshio Kushida in January of 1994 and has an orbital period of 7.2 years.

At the time of this image, Comet 144P/Kushida was about mag 10.88 and had a coma of 9 min. It's position was approximately RA 03 50' DEC +15 43

Orbital data and up to date daily info here.

Finder Chart

January 16, 2009

M51 "Whirlpool Galaxy" in Canes Venatici

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Cloudy Nights Imaging/Sketching Contest Winner March 2009 and Here

Astrophotogallery.org April Easy Winner

Cloudy Nights Imaging/Sketching Contest DSLR Division March. 2009 Winner

Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day March 20, 2009

Messier 51 (NGC 5194) along with it's interacting companion NGC 5195 are know as Arp 85 and reside just south of Alkaid (the star at the end of the big dipper's handle) in the constellation Canes Venatici at a distance of about 37 million light years. The exaggerated spiral appearance is thought to be a result of interaction with NGC 5195. M51 has a diameter of 38,000 light-years. Its mass is estimated to be 160 billion solar masses.

The Whirlpool Galaxy is the brightest galaxy in the M51 Group, a small group of galaxies that also includes M63, NGC 5023, and NGC 5229. This small group may actually be a subclump at the southeast end of a large, elongated group that includes the M101 Group and the NGC 5866 Group.

M51 was the first galaxy to be recognized as a spiral. This was achieved by Lord Rosse employing a 72-inch reflecting telescope which he constructed at Birr Castle, Ireland. Sometimes M51 is used to refer to the pair of galaxies, in which case the individual galaxies may be referred to as M51A (NGC 5194) and M51B (NGC 5195).

March 4, 2009

Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33 in Bright Nebula IC 434) - HaRGB

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

]]>Canon 350D Hap Griffin Baader Mod
RGB:
40x360sec at iso 1600
APM/TMB 130/780 with APM Field Flattener
Astronomik 2" CLS Filter

Hydrogen Alpha:
11x600sec at iso 1600
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Astrophotogallery.org January Large, Hard Winner

This nebula complex is about 1500 light years from Earth, is located just below Alnitak, the star furthest left on Orion's Belt, and is part of the much larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. Components of this image include dark nebula Barnard 33; the vast red emission nebula IC 434 in the background illuminated by Sigma Orionis; reflection nebula NGC 2023 below the Horsehead; and NGC 2024 (Flame Nebula).

NGC 2023 is one of the brightest sources of fluorescent molecular hydrogen in the sky and is a cavity in the Orion Molecular Cloud 4 light years wide - one of the largest reflection nebluae.

NGC 2024 is an emission nebula and stellar nursery located about 1,500 light years from our solar system. The nebula is a region of star formation that is in the process of forming a star cluster.

November 27, 2008

M82 "Hydrogen Enhanced" Collaboration

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

]]>RGB Data:
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October 30, 2008

Hydrogen Alpha Data:
Meade DSI Pro 2 Mono
10x480sec
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Meade SN8 Reflector
Baader 1.25" 7nm H alpha filter
February 8, 2009

Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day February 13, 2009

Sky and Telescope Online Gallery February 17, 2009

Collaboration with Ted Rafferty, using his Ha data and my RGB data to show the central active Ha region of this northern powerhouse galaxy.

This image shows the intense HII regions in the mid-portion of the galaxy that the data from the modified DSLR couldn't display no matter how hard the image was stretched. These filaments stretch 10 thousand light years out from the galaxy.

NGC 772 in Aries

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Clouds stopped any further exposure time

Sky and Telescope Editor's Choice February 4, 2009

Astronomy Magazine Online Picture of the Day March 23, 2009

NGC 772 (Arp 78) is an giant spiral galaxy approximately 130 million light years distant measuring 250,000 light years across - 2.5 times that of the Milky Way. NGC 772 has a Seyfert nucleus and is very active in star formation.

The galaxy below it in this image is E3 elliptical dwarf NGC 770 - a satellite of NGC 772 - that interacts gravitationally with it's companion causing deformation of one of the larger galaxy's arms. NGC 770 may be one of the few examples of where two dwarf galaxies have merged into one.

The Arp catalog of peculiar galaxies was compiled by astonomer and big bang critic Halton Arp.

In 2003, two supernovae were seen in NGC 772 within three weeks of one another.

January 22, 2009

Rosette Nebula and Cluster in Monoceros - HaRGB

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

]]>RGB:
Canon 350D Hap Griffin Baader Mod
33x360sec at iso 1600
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Orion ED80 with WO 0.8 reducer/flattener vII
Astronomik 2" CLS Filter

Hydrogen Alpha:
Canon 350D Hap Griffin Baader Mod
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Orion ED80 with WO 0.8 reducer/flattener
Baader 7nm H alpha filter

Combined with a method described by Russell Croman.

The combined image, besides needing color adjustment, was luminance heavy and thus too opaque. Post processing improved these issues.

Sky and Telescope Online Editor's Choice January 26, 2009

The Rosette Nebula is a huge collection of gas and dust residing in an area 1 degree across, or about 5 times the area covered by the full moon. Its parts have been assigned different NGC numbers: 2237, 2238, 2239, and 2246.

Open star cluster NGC 2244 is positioned in the center, consisting of the young stars which recently formed from the nebula's material. After forming about 4 million years ago, the stars began to fuel the nebula's glow by exciting the surrounding gas. Star formation is ongoing. The cluster is causing the hollow in the center of the nebula with the strong stellar winds from it's member stars.

The complex is 5,500 light years distant with a diameter of about 130 light years. Mass is estimated at 10,000 to 11,000 solar masses, so it is one of the more massive diffuse nebulae.

This is one of a great number of objects in our galaxy where "Bok Globules" (named for Dutch astronomer Bart Jan Bok) can be found. These are small, dark condensations of material which may contain young protostars.

January 16, 2009

M82 in Ursa Major

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day January 23, 2009

Messier 82 (NGC 3034) is a galaxy of peculiar type in the galaxy-rich constellation Ursa Major. It is usually classified as irregular, though probably a distorted disk galaxy. It is the prototypical "starburst galaxy" as it is very active in star forming, probably due to the energizing influence of a recent close (in galactic terms on both counts - the most recent being 50 to several 100 million years ago) encounter it's neighbor M81. M82 forms stars at the rate of 10 times that of a normal galaxy.

Also due to this close encounter, M82 is the brightest infrared emitting galaxy in the sky, and recently over 100 young globular clusters were recently discovered there by the Hubble Space Telescope.

M82 is 12 million light years distant and spans 40,000 light years.

October 30, 2008

NGC 253 in Sculptor

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Cloudy Nights Small Wonders: Quick Peeks - Sculptor 01/09 (Tom Trusock)

Two hours is all that my sky would give me on this spendid far southern galaxy. I'll take it, since I didn't think that I could ever image it as low as it is in my sky.

NGC 253 is the brightest member of the Sculptor group of galaxies, which is grouped around the South galactic pole (therefore, also sometimes named "South Polar Group"). The Sculptor group is perhaps the nearest to our Local Group of galaxies. NGC 253 is also one of the brightest galaxies beyond the Local Group.

The type Sc galaxy is about 10 million light years distant. NGC 253 is considered a starburst galaxy because of high star formation rates and dense dust clouds in its nucleus.

NGC 253 was one of the major discoveries of Caroline Herschel, the sister of William Herschel. She discovered this object on September 23, 1783 with "an excellent small Newtonian Sweeper" of 27 inches focal length and a power of 30 (William Herschel's description).

November 1, 2007

Barnard's Loop in Orion HaRGB

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Canon 70-200L f/2.8 at 70mm f/3.2
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Color Data:
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Astronomik CLS Clip Filter

Hydrogen Alpha:
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Step Down Rings

Sky and Telescope Editor's Choice December 30, 2008

Ha data used as luminance layer, with color data used as color layer. Second set of colorized Ha data (red) added as a lighten layer to first image to enhance the Ha color in the faint nebulosity - resulting in this image.

Links above lead to the separate RGB and Ha images.

Barnard's Loop (Sharpless 2-276) is an emission nebula in the constellation of Orion. It is part of a giant molecular cloud which also contains the bright Horsehead and Orion nebulae. The stars within the Orion Nebula are believed to be responsible for ionizing the loop.

It is estimated to lie at a distance of approximately 1600 light years, giving it actual dimensions of about 300 light years across. It is thought to have originated in a supernova explosion about 2 million years ago. Several known runaway stars may have resulted from the same explosion - AE Aurigae, Mu Columbae and 53 Arietis are thought to have been part of a multiple star system in which one component exploded as a supernova about 2 million years ago.

Obvious components of this image also are M42/M43 and Running Man, the Horsehead, and Flame nebulae.

December 28, 2008

IC 2118 - Witch Head Nebula in Eridanus - Closer View

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Just a little closer because I can't decide which I like best.

Astrophotogallery.org Large/Hard Object November, 2008 Winner

November 4, 2008

NGC 1931 in Auriga

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astrophotogallery.org Small/Hard Object November, 2008 Winner

NGC 1931 has been referred to as a "Miniature version of the Orion Nebula", and I suppose it does have some of the same characteristics. It is a mixed emission-reflection nebula, and contains a smaller version of the Trapezium in it's hot young star cluster centered in the emission nebula. The entire cluster/nebula complex is only about 3 arcmin in size. The distance from earth is estimated at about 7000 light years.

October 29, 2008

M45 - Pleiades in Taurus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Yahoo Digital Astro Group November, 2008 Monthly Challenge Runner Up

Perhaps the most famous star cluster on the sky, the Pleiades can be seen without binoculars from even the depths of a light-polluted city. Also known as the Seven Sisters and M45, the Pleiades is one of the brightest and closest open clusters. The Pleiades contains over 3000 stars, is about 400 light years away (among the closest open clusters to earth), and only 13 light years across. Quite evident in the image are the blue reflection nebulae that surround the brighter cluster stars. Low mass, faint, brown dwarfs have also been found in the Pleiades. (APOD)

The cluster is dominated by hot blue stars, which have formed within the last 100 million years. Dust that forms faint reflection nebulosity around the brightest stars was thought at first to be left over from the formation of the cluster but is now known to be an unrelated dust cloud that the stars are currently passing through. Many objects have been cataloged in this busy region.

Astronomers estimate that the cluster will survive for about another 250 million years, when it will have dispersed due to gravitational interactions with the spiral arms of the galaxy and giant molecular clouds.

Edge-on spiral UGC 2838 at magnitude 17.88 is visible to the right of M45. It is 300 million light years distant.

November 27, 2008

M1 - Crab Nebula in Taurus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day December 6, 2008

Yahoo Digital Astro Group December, 2008 Monthly Challenge Runner Up

The Crab Nebula (M1, NGC 1952, Sharpless 244, Taurus A [radio source]) is the best known and most prominent supernova remnant in the sky. It lies at a distance of 6500 light years and spans 11 light years across. It is expanding at the rate of 1500 kilometers per second.

We all know the story of how a "new star" was first observed on July 4, 1054 A.D. by Chinese astronomers. The supernova was about four times brighter than Venus, or about mag -6. According to the records, it was visible in daylight for 23 days, and 653 days to the naked eye in the night sky.

Remaining from the supernova explosion is the Crab Pulsar - the first pulsar found to have a visual component. This pulsar was first discovered in the radio range on November 9, 1968 by astronomers of the Arecibo Observatory 300 meter radio telescope in Puerto Rico. This pulsar is a rapidly rotating neutron star that rotates at the rate of 30 times per second. The neutron star is an extremely dense object, denser than an atomic nucleus, concentrating more than one solar mass in a volume of 30 kilometers across and is 100,000 times more energetic than our sun. The pulsar can be seen as a mag 16 star in this image - the lower right and dimmer of the stars in the double star at the center of the nebula.

October 28, 2008

M42 - The Great Orion Nebula Complex

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day November 26, 2008

Cloudy Nights Imaging/Sketching Poll DSLR Division Winner November 2008

Anacortes Wild Bird and Telescope Picture of the Day December 13, 2008

Astrophotogallery.org Large/Hard December, 2008 Winner

The Orion Nebula - M42, NGC 1976 - is a large diffuse nebula visible to the naked eye and located in Orion's Sword. The nebula complex is 1270 light years distant, spans 24 light years and is the closest large star-forming region to earth.

The Nebula is in fact part of a much larger nebula that is known as the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. The Orion Molecular Cloud Complex extends throughout the constellation of Orion and includes Barnard's Loop, the Horsehead Nebula, M43, M78 and the Flame Nebula.

Also visible in this image (as is usually the case) are nebulae M43 and NGC 1973, 1975, and 1977 (a group of reflection nebulae known as the Running Man Nebula). Open clusters NGC 1980 to the right (south) and NGC 1981 to the left (north) are also present.

November 22, 2008

NGC 6946 - "Firecracker Galaxy" in Cepheus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day November 24, 2008

Poor seeing, but the Firecracker was bright enough to stand up to it.

NGC 6946 (Arp 29) is a nearby intermediate spiral galaxy at a distance of 10 million light years (one of the nearest to us), which at one time was suspected to be an outlying member of the the local group, but has since been shown to be a relative loner in space. It is highly obscured by interstellar matter of the Milky Way galaxy, as it is quite close to the galactic plane. If it weren't for this screening by the Milky Way, this galaxy might be the brightest in the sky. It spans about 20,000 light years.

This galaxy is EXTREMELY active (partially the reason for the name "Firecracker") and is thought to have been spewing out supernovae for tens of millions of years. Together with M83, NGC 6946 shares the record number of observed supernovae. Nine supernovae have been observed in NGC 6946.

October 23, 2008

NGC 1499 - California Nebula in Perseus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Baader 2 inch 7nm H alpha filter
Step Down Rings

Taken during a near full waxing gibbous moon.

Astrophotogallery.org Large/Hard Object October, 2008 Runner-Up

NGC 1499, also known as the California Nebula for it's resemblence to the western state, is a pure and classic emission nebula. NGC 1499, like all emission nebulae glows as a result of hydrogen atoms recombining with long lost electrons, stripped away (ionized) by energetic starlight. In this case, the star most likely providing the energetic starlight is the bright, hot, Xi Persei seen here below the nebula (not looking so bright here because of most of it's blue light being filtered out by the Ha filter). The radiation from this star is not only causing the glow, but also pushing the gas away causing the scalloped appearance at the mid-portion of the nebula.

The California Nebula is 100 light years long and about 1000 light years distant (the same as the star Xi Persei).

(Thanks to APOD for the corny physics major-type joke)

October 11, 2008

NGC 281 HaRGB/RGB - RGB with ED80/Ha with 130/780

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

]]>NGC 281 - Apparently a very bright Ha target.

Astrophotogallery.org Large/Moderate Object October, 2008 Runner-Up

A combination of two sets of data - RGB taken with an ED80 and Ha taken with a 130/780 refractor. Registered in DeepSkyStacker, combined in Photoshop Elements by Starizona method 2 and then adding the RGB as a top layer (Lighten) at 70% opacity to add in stars.

Then, because the hue was somewhat pink due to the addition of the Ha as luminance, I placed a "hue" layer consisting of the original RGB image at 100% opacity on top of this image to bring back the original red Ha color.

I was pleased to see that I could actually combine data from two different focal length scopes - a year apart, at that.

Canon 350D Hap Griffin Baader Mod
21x360sec at iso 1600
30 Darks/Flats/Bias
Orion ED80 with WO 0.8 reducer/flattener
Astronomik CLS Filter

Plus

Canon 350D Hap Griffin Baader Mod
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September 18, 2007 and July 14, 2008

C/2006 OF2 (Broughton)

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Seiichi Yoshida's Comet Catalog

Sky and Telescope Online Gallery November 10, 2008

C/2006 OF2 (Broughton) was imaged in Lynx at approximately RA 06h41m, DEC +60°42', magnitude 10.8.

Earth Distance: 1.8986au
Solar Distance: 2.4828au

October 30, 2008

M77 in Cetus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Cloudy Nights Small Wonders: Quick Peeks - Cetus 12/08 (Tom Trusock)

Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day December 8, 2008

Sky and Telescope Editor's Choice November 3, 2008

Messier 77 (NGC 1068, Arp 37), lies about 60 million light years away (approximately the same distance but another direction as the Virgo Cluster) in the constellation Cetus. It is the nearest Seyfert type II galaxy to Earth, but also the most distant Messier object according to some sources.

This galaxy has been studied extensively regarding galaxy core supermassive black holes and is thought to contain a monster black hole of 15 million solar masses.

Most images of M77 are composed of the bright central core, but as you can see here, there is more to the galaxy than the bright core. Including the less-bright periphery, the galaxy spans perhaps 170,000 light years - larger than the Milky Way - and one of the largest in the Messier Catalog - containing an estimated 1 trillion solar masses.

October 30, 2008

NGC 672 and IC 1727 - Interacting Pair in Triangulum

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery November 3, 2008

While not a very visually appealing pair (I defy you to find a pretty picture of this duo), NGC 672 (top) and IC 1727 are quite the interesting couple. Being only 88,000 light years apart - about the diameter of one of them - they interact extensively, even to the degree that they are encapsulated in a common envelope of shared gas and intermingling stars . IC 1727, from the data, seems to be getting the worst of this relationship.

This pair has been shown to be related to the the NGC 784 group (previously thought to be independent) by being situated along the same dark-matter filament in an otherwise galaxy-sparse part of the universe. The theory is that the dark matter has focused the regular matter in the region, allowing it to condense into small, irregular galaxies and then into larger spirals by way of heirarchial clustering.

These galaxies lie only 18 million light years distant from Earth, and thus can be resolved into some of their galactic components, as can begin to be seen here.

Three other faint edge-on spirals can be seen in the image as well.

October 29, 2008

NGC 7814 in Pegasus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day November 17, 2008

Sky and Telescope Online Gallery November 3, 2008

NGC 7814 (Caldwell 43) is a beautiful edge-on spiral located in the southeast corner of the great square of Pegasus. It looks somewhat like a miniature version of M104 - the Sombrero Galaxy and the plane of the galaxy can be seen to be slightly warped, which is not usually seen at optical wavelengths.

If one examines the background field, it is evident that the area around NGC 7814 is swarming with distant galaxies. Like the Hubble deepfield, this type of image puts our tiny earth in perspective and is truly humbling.

The galaxy is between 40 and 55 million light years distant and glows at magnitude 10.6.

October 30, 2008

NGC 925 in Triangulum

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery November 3, 2008

This object is about the limit of the 350D's ability to gather photons. Much lower surface brightness than I expected. Still, this image compares favorably with images from larger scopes and CCD cameras.

NGC 925 is nearly face-on with us. A barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Triangulum, this galaxy is part of the Hubble Space Telescope Key Project on the Extragalactic Distance Scale, which was designed to determine the Hubble Constant within +/-10% using Cepheid Variables. It is 45 million light years distant. The central bar is dominated by old yellow stars, while the arms are populated by star-forming areas and young, blue stars.

October 23, 2008

IC 5146 "Cocoon Nebula" in Cygnus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery November 3, 2008

The Cocoon Nebula (IC5146, Caldwell 19) is located about 4,000 light years away and spans 15 light years. Inside the Cocoon is a newly developing open cluster of about 20 stars (Collinder 470, and not IC 5146 as referenced elsewhere). The Cocoon Nebula is a combination of emission, reflection, and absorbtion nebulae. Recent theory holds that the massive star BD +46°3474 in the center of the nebula opened a hole in an existing molecular cloud through which much of the glowing material flows. The same star, which formed about 100,000 years ago, now provides the energy source for much of the emitted and reflected light from this nebula.

This beautiful, very dim and usually difficult object lies at the end of a path of dark nebula Barnard 168 (B168) - also known as LDN 1035 and 1045 - that is very obvious on widefield images and can be seen with binoculars in a dark sky starting about 3 degrees east-southeast of open cluster M39. This dark lane can be seen in this image trailing away westward from the Cocoon.

September 6, 2008

IC 1805 and LBN 667 - The Heart and Soul Nebulae in Cassiopeia

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Step Down Rings

Astrophotogallery.org September Challenge Winner

It takes a very wide field to capture the Heart and Soul together.

The pair are intense emitters of Ha light, as can be seen in this image. The region is one massive star nursery, and contains many young, hot, star clusters. The contrast between the red, glowing gas and the blue hot star clusters isn't apparent in the Ha image, but can easily be seen in the RGB images of IC 1805 and LBN 667.

August 11, 2008

IC 59 and IC 63 (Sh2-185) - Gamma Cassiopeia Nebula

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astrophotogallery.org September Challenge Winner

An extremely interesting object that I just couldn't resist.

I knew this would be a tough one, and that I might be wasting part of my night on a lark. With Mag 2.5 Gamma Cassiopeia right there, the washout, reflections, and star bloat during processing was horrendous.

The processing is extreme, but it does show the nebulae pretty well. I will have to do this one again with Ha for luminosity and RGB for color.

Despite their almost identical proximity to Gamma Cassiopeia and similar appearance, Sh2-185, or IC 59 (above) and IC 63 (lower) are actually quite different in their characteristics. Both are slowly being evaporated and dispersed into the interstellar medium by the nearby blue monster star.

Gamma is 40,000 times more luminous, 15,000 times more massive, and rotates at about 300km/hr, or 150 times more rapidly than our Sun.

The General Catalog of Variable Stars lists Gamma as an eruptive blue white subgiant variable star class B0. The star is an erratic variable that reached a maximum brightness in 1937, but then unexpectedly dropped in surface temperature from 12,000°K to 8500°K. It has an 11th magnitude companion. Distance to the star has been estimated between 200 and 600 light years. Eruptive variable stars vary in brightness because of violent processes and flares in their coronae and chromospheres. Gamma is encircled by a surrounding decretion disk that radiates the "emissions". Mass loss is apparently related to the brightness variations.

September 1, 2008

North America and Pelican Nebulae Complex In Cygnus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Editor's Choice October 14, 2008

Taken during a waxing gibbous moon.

Over 5 hours of Hydrogen Alpha data on the huge NGC 7000/IC 5070 Nebula complex in Northern Cygnus.

This area is a vast collection of dust and gas in the Orion arm of the Milky way at a distance of about 2000 light years, spanning 100 light years. This group of nebulae, both bright and dark, contains no less than 30 seperate objects, as can be seen in the field of view of the Canon 200mm lens in Cartes du Ciel.

October 9, 2008

"Barnard's Cascade" in Perseus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery October 14, 2008

Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day November 3, 2008

A string of dark nebulae, a couple reflection nebulae, a very young star cluster, and a hint of hydrogen emission can be seen in this area that begins in the south of Perseus near the star Atik and proceeds southwest through Taurus and into northeastern Aries. The field seen here spans about 7 degrees of the sky.

I would like to respectfully call this area "Barnard's Cascade" (even if no one else does). These include the first five members of Barnard's catalogue of dark nebulae (B1-B5) and five of his later entries (B202-B206) derived from Barnard's great work, "A Photographic Atlas of Selected Regions of the Milky Way". Here are links to his original photograph and chart of the region. Here are the two superimposed. Looking at this superimposed version and my image, it appears to me that B2 is not a dark nebula, but actually a clear hole in the dust allowing the darker background to shine through - an understandable error considering the technology of the day.

While these objects are catalogued as separate structures, they are actually all part of one large collection of dust and gas, excited at points by the hot stars within. If one looks close, the faint red-brown glow of excited hydrogen can be seen above one of the dominant reflection nebulas, NGC 1333 at right center.

The most prominent of the Barnard objects in this field are B5 above and left of prominent reflection nebula IC348 at upper left, and B3, the "Y" shaped dark patch to it's right. Many others can be seen as well.

The predominant reflection nebula is IC348, which abuts the south edge of Atik at left center. This patch of nebulosity also contains the very young star cluster by the same name at magnitude 7.3. The age of this cluster is only 2 to 3 million years.

The other prominent reflection nebula is NGC 1333 which contains stars less than 1 million years old. This nebula also has a significant emission component, though barely visible at this scale, and is seen as a reddish patch at the bottom of the nebula. One particular star system within this nebula, NGC 1333-IRAS 4B, is particulary high in water vapor and is exciting researchers with the obvious possibilities.

October 8, 2008

M72 in Aquarius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Cloudy Nights Small Wonders: Quick Peeks - Aquarius 10/13 (Tom Trusock)

Messier 72 (M72, NGC 6981) is one of the apparently smaller and fainter globular clusters in Messier's catalog. It is situated in the very western part of constellation Aquarius, close to the the group of four stars, M73.

Globular cluster M72 was discovered by Pierre Méchain in the night of August 29-30, 1780. Consequently, Charles Messier looked for it on the following October 4 and 5, and included it in his catalog.

M72 is one of the more remote of Messier's globular clusters: At about 53,000 light years, it lies a considerable distance beyond the Galactic Center. It is of 9th or 10th apparent magnitude, but as it is so distant it is one of the more intrinsically luminous globular cluster. M72 is approaching us quite rapidly, at 255 km/sec. Its diameter is about 106 light years.

June 5, 2008

IC 1396 Complex in Cepheus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Cloudy Nights Small Wonders: Quick Peeks - Cepheus 10/08 (Tom Trusock)

Taken under near full moon conditions.

IC1396 is a huge nebular complex located south of the massive red supergiant Mu Cephei - Herschel's Garnet Star. This star is a story in and of itself, but suffice it to say that this huge beast, currently converting helium to carbon and waiting to go supernova, is approximately 1,420 times larger than our sun's solar radius, and if it were placed in the Sun's position, its radius would reach between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn. Mu Cephei could fit over 1 billion suns into its body. Only five known stars (VY Canis Majoris, KW Sagitarii, KY Cygni, V354 Cephei and VV Cephei) are believed to be larger. This very interesting movie gives some idea of the size of this monstrous carbon supergiant.

IC 1396 is a large (3 degrees in diameter) but relatively faint emission nebula lying about 2000 light years distant in the constellation Cepheus. The nebula complex is virtually littered with dark nebulae, the largest of which is probably Barnard 160 at the lower right edge of the IC 1396. This dark nebula alone is the size of the full moon. Others include VdB142, B161, B162, B163, B365, and B367.

The cluster in the center of IC 1396 is known as Trumpler 37

July 15, 2008

NGC 7479 in Pegasus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery September 30, 2008

NGC 7479 (Caldwell 44) is a barred spiral galaxy discovered by William Herschel in 1784, about 105 million light-years away and roughly 120,000 ly across (20% larger than our Milky Way). Supernova SN 1990U occurred in NGC 7479 on July 27, 1990 at 22"W and 54"S of the galaxy's nucleus and reached mag 16.

NGC 7479 is also recognized as a Seyfert galaxy undergoing starburst activity in the nucleus and the outer arms (Kohno, 2007 ). Polarization studies of this galaxy indicate it recently underwent a minor merger and that it is unique in the radio continuum with arms opening in an opposite direction to the optical arms (Laine, 2005). (Glen Youman)

September 22, 2008

M16 "Eagle Nebula" Closeup

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day September 23, 2008

Astronomy Magazine Weekly Newsletter September 26, 2008

This crop of the previous image is contrast enhanced (at the expense of oversaturation of some of the stars) and shows the central star-forming region of the nebular complex. It is here that the so-called "pillars of creation" are actively forming new, hot stars that stoke the furnaces of the gaseous nebula surronding them. The "fairy of the eagle nebula" can be seen in recline at the lower right of the bright central region.

The tips of the "pillars" and the "fairy" can be seen to glow even in this image through a 5" earthbound telescope. This represents evaporation of low density volatiles in the pillars due to intense bombardment by radiation from the superhot stars nearby. This leaves higher density E.G.G.'s which form stars.

September 18, 2008

Double Cluster in Perseus - NGC 869 and NGC 884

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day September 10, 2008
Garrett's name on it by mistake like the Veil image, but no collaboration here

Astronomy Magazine Weekly Newsletter September 12, 2008

Astrophotogallery.org Easy Object October, 2008 Winner

The Double Cluster in the constellation Perseus, normally known by its Greek designation transliterated. chi Persei (NGC 884, on the left) and h Persei (NGC 869) are about 7000 light-years away and less than 100 light-years apart. The Double Cluster is approaching earth at the speed of 21 km/s.

The Double Cluster is surrounded by one of the largest concentrations of red supergiants in the sky, and therefore was a fertile site of early red giant research. There are, however, an almost equal number of blue and red supergiants in the clusters.

August 25, 2008

M33 - "Triangulum Galaxy"

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day September 8, 2008

Taken almost one year to the day, this image of M33 replaces last year's effort.

The Triangulum Galaxy Messier 33 (M33, NGC 598) is another prominent member of the Local Group of galaxies. This galaxy is small compared to its big apparent neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy M31, and to our Milky Way galaxy, but by this more of average size for spiral galaxies in the universe. M33 may be a remote but gravitationally bound companion of the Andromeda galaxy M31.

Several knots in the spiral arms of M33 have been assigned their own NGC catalog numbers - the largest of which in this image is in the upper mid-right and is NGC 604. This is one of the largest H II regions known at all: it has a diameter of nearly 1500 light-years, and a spectrum similar to the Orion nebula M42. Over 200 young hot massive stars (of 15 to 60 solar masses) have recently formed here.

Some other catalogued objects are identified in this map.

September 6, 2008

C/2006 OF2 (Broughton)

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Seiichi Yoshida's Comet Catalog

C/2006 OF2 (Broughton) was imaged in Perseus at approximately RA 04h30m, DEC +53°02', magnitude 11.3.

Earth Distance: 2.3949au
Solar Distance: 2.4420au

August 25, 2008

Veil Nebula Supernova Remnant in Cygnus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Yahoo Digital Astro Group August, 2008 Monthly Challenge Winner

This image is a somewhat unconventional view of the Veil Complex in Cygnus. I wanted to show the southern reaches of the nebulosity that is often excluded in even widefield images of this object.

The resolution isn't great, but adequate for a wide field, small scale image. Remember, it's through a 48mm objective.

The Veil Nebula Complex is the remnant of a supernova explosion that occured 5000 to 10,000 years ago. It is a very good example of a "middle aged" supernova remnant and is studied extensively.

The entire shell spans about 3 degrees on the sky, corresponding to about 6 full moons. It is about 1,500 light-years away from Earth, and although it is really one large object, it is catalogued as NGC 6992, NGC 6995, NGC 6960, and NGC 6979 (East, West, and Pickering's Wisp).

Here is a list of 14 bright supernova remnants.

August 11, 2008

NGC 6992 "East Veil Nebula" in Cygnus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day August 27, 2008
(Garrett didn't really help, but we thought it was cool and didn't correct it)

Also Featured in Astronomy Magazine Weekly Newsletter August 29. 2008

The Veil Nebula is the remnant of a Type II supernova explosion that occured approximately 5000 years ago. The East Veil (NGC 6992) is the brighter part of this complex and most often photographed. It is strong in Ha and OIII emission, this the red with teal colored fringes.

At a distance from earth of 1300 to 1500 light years, the supernova explosion would have had the brighness of a full moon.

August 25, 2008

NGC 7380 and Sh2-142 - Star Forming Region in Cepheus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astrophotogallery.org July Challenge Winner

NGC 7380 is an open cluster associated with the emission nebula Sh2-142. This is a typical star forming region, the likes of which can be found throughout the galaxy.

Another name for this object is the "Wizard Nebula" for it's resemblance to a wizard in a pointed hat.

June 19, 2008

NGC 6888 - Crescent Nebula in Cygnus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astrophotogallery.org July Challenge Winner

5 hours of H alpha light for a deep exposure of the Crescent Nebula in Cygnus. This shows all the surrounding nebulosity in which NGC6888 is embedded, some of it named and catalogued and some not.

The Crescent Nebula was created by the brightest star in its center. A leading hypothesis has the Crescent Nebula beginning to form about 250,000 years ago. At that time, the massive central star had evolved to become a Wolf-Rayet star (WR 136), shedding its outer envelope in a strong stellar wind, ejecting the equivalent of our Sun's mass every 10,000 years. This wind impacted surrounding gas left over from a previous phase, compacting it into a series of complex shells, and lighting it up. The Crescent Nebula, also known as NGC 6888, lies about 4,700 light-years away in the constellation of Cygnus. Star WR 136 will probably undergo a supernova explosion sometime in the next million years. (APOD)

The small open cluster towards the lower left corner is 7th magnitude NGC4996.

June 14, 2008

Heart and Soul with Perseid Meteor

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Spaceweather.com Perseid 2008 Gallery
or Here

Cover Photo Spaceweather.com August 14, 2008
or Here

Same image as before, but without the omission of the frame containing the Perseid meteor. Stacked by 'average' method using the meteor frame as the reference frame instead of kappa sigma clipping, so the meteor would show up in the final stack.

This image was taken in the early morning hours of 8-12-08, at the peak of the shower.

I think it must have been a very bright meteor to register this big through an Ha filter.

August 11, 2008

M92 in Hercules

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day July 25, 2008

This globular is so tightly packed, that I had to use a second set of data at shorter exposures to keep the core from oversaturating.

M92 is one of the brighter globular clusters in the northern hemisphere, but it is often overlooked by amateur astronomers because of its proximity to the even more spectacular Messier 13. It may be a bit younger than M13 as its turnoff point is shifted to the brighter and bluer end.

M92, or NGC 6341, is about 26,000 light years distant, only little more than its brighter apparent neighbor M13, and is approaching earth at a speed of 112 km/sec.

May 28. 2008

Albireo - Double Star in Cygnus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery July 15, 2008

While not a cluster, Albireo (Beta Cygni) is one of the true showpieces of the night sky. It's contrasting golden-red and blue colors are a beautiful site in the amateur telescope.

Star colors are usually subtle, ranging from a warm orange red to a hint of blue on white depending on the viewer's eyes. But put a star of one color next to one of another, and the eye seems to exaggerate both, delighting the follower of double-star astronomy. Waxing romantic, astronomers have called the pair topaz and sapphire. With a separation of 34 seconds of arc, the pair is easily seen at low telescopic power.

Albireo beautifully shows how an apparently single star as viewed through the telescope can actually be double, such "binary" stars appearing all over the sky. Somewhere around half, or even more, of the local stars are actually members of some kind of double or multiple system, the stars in orbit about each other. The stars that make Albireo, about 380 light years away, are quite far apart however, and if actually attached gravitationally have an extremely long orbit with a period of at least 75,000 years. Albireo is actually triple. The brighter yellow-colored member, Albireo A, is a much closer double made of a third magnitude (3.3) class K (K3) stable helium-fusing bright giant and a hotter but dimmer (magnitude 5.5) class B (B9) hydrogen-fusing dwarf, the two stars not readily separable in the telescope. The K giant has a temperature of around 4400 Kelvin, a luminosity 950 times that of the Sun, a radius 50 times solar, and a hefty mass of about 5 solar, while the close companion comes in at 11,000 Kelvin, 100 solar luminosities, and 3.2 solar masses. On average separated by about 40 Astronomical Units, they take almost 100 years to go about each other on a highly eccentric orbit. The visually-seen blue star, Albireo B, is similar to Albireo A's companion, and is a class B (B8) dwarf with a temperature of 12,100 Kelvin, a luminosity of 190 Suns, and a mass of 3.3 solar. It distinguishes itself by being a very rapid rotator with an equatorial velocity of at least 250 kilometers per second and a rotation period less than 0.6 days. As is so often the case among such fast-spinning stars, Albireo B is a "B-emission star" that is losing matter and is surrounded by a disk of gas of its own making. From Albireo B, Albireo A would appear as brilliant orbiting orange and blue points about half a degree apart, the K giant shining with the light of 35 full Moons, the close class B companion at about half of that. (Jim Kaler - STARS)

July 1, 2008

M14 in Ophiuchus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery May 23, 2008

Messier 14 (also known as M14 or NGC 6402) is a globular cluster in the constellation Ophiuchus. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764.

At a distance of about 30,000 light-years (twice the distance of M10 and M12), M14 contains several hundred thousand stars. At a brightness of magnitude 7.6 it can be easily observed with binoculars and medium sized telescopes begin to show some hint of the individual stars of which the brightest is of magnitude +14.

The total luminosity of M14 is in the order of 400,000 times that of the Sun corresponding to an absolute magnitude of -9.12. The shape of the cluster is decidedly elongated or ovoid. M14 spans about 100 light-years across.

M14 contains the considerably large number of over 70 variables, many of them W Virginis stars.

Globular cluster M14 was the first CCD image taken, according to TheSky advertising.

May 12, 2008

Barnard 72 - "Snake Nebula" in Ophiuchus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Small Wonders: Ophiuchus June, 2009 (Tom Trusock)

Sky and Telescope Online Gallery July 15, 2008

Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day June 30, 2008

Astronomy Magazine Weekly Newsletter July 4, 2008

Barnard 72, the "Snake Nebula" is a dark absorbtion nebula situated in a neighborhood in Ophiuchus, Scorpius, and Sagittarius that is rich in dust and gas comprising many areas of dark nebulosity.

The Barnard catalogue was the work of Edward Emerson Barnard, an american astronomer who is best known for his discovery of Barnard's star in 1916, which is named in his honor.

B72 is part of the much larger Dark Horse Nebula.
To the right and below the Snake Nebula is the distinct patch of black, Barnard 68 which blots out all background stars. Below it are found Barnard 69 and Barnard 70. Below those is the larger Barnard 74.

June 29, 2008

Sh2-101 - "Tulip Nebula"

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astrophotogallery.org June Challenge Winner

Listed in the 1959 catalog by astronomer Stewart Sharpless as Sh2-101. About 8,000 light-years distant the nebula is popularly known as the Tulip Nebula.

Complex and beautiful in visible light, the area also includes one of the brightest, most famous sources in the x-ray sky, Cygnus X-1. Discovered in the early 1970s, Cygnus X-1 is a bizarre binary system consisting of a massive, hot, supergiant star (seen here) in close orbit with a stellar mass black hole. The Cygnus X-1 system is also estimated to lie a comfortable 8,000 light-years away. (APOD)

June 19, 2008

M12 in Ophiuchus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery May 23, 2008

Messier 12 (also known as NGC 6218) is a globular cluster in the constellation Ophiuchus. It was discovered by Charles Messier on May 30, 1764.

Located roughly 3° from the cluster M10, M12 is about 16,000 light-years distant and has a spatial diameter of ~75 light-years. The brightest stars of M12 are of 12th magnitude. It is rather loosely packed for a globular and M12 was once thought to be a tightly concentrated open cluster. Thirteen variable stars have been recorded in this cluster.

A study published in 2006 concluded that this cluster lost about one million stars of low mass, and therefore has an unusually low number of such stars. The authors surmise that they were stripped from the cluster by the gravitational influence of the Milky Way.

May 12, 2008

M10 in Ophiuchus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery May 23, 2008

Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day May 16, 2008

Astronomy Magazine Weekly Newsletter May 16, 2008

Messier 10 (also known as NGC 6254) is a globular cluster in the constellation Ophiuchus. It was discovered by Charles Messier on May 29, 1764, cataloged as number 10 in his list, and described as a "Nebula without stars".

This 7th magnitude globular cluster appears at about 8 or 9 arc minutes diameter when observed visually in smaller instruments. Average photos show it at about 15.1 arc minutes diameter, and deep photos show it to reach out to about 20 arc minutes, or 2/3 of the diameter of the Full Moon. At its distance of 14,300 light years, this corresponds to a linear diameter of 83 light years. Its brighter core which can be seen visually is only less than half as large, about 35 light-years. It is receding from us at 69 km/sec.

Only 4 variable stars have been discovered in this cluster.

May 12, 2008

M53 and NGC 5053 in Coma Bereneces

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery May 23, 2008

Yahoo Digital Astro Group April, 2008 Monthly Challenge Runner Up

Astroimaging Challenge Yahoo Group Winner April, 2008

Globular star cluster M53 is one of the more outlying globulars, being about 60,000 light years away from the Galactic center, and almost the same distance (about 58,000 light years) from our Solar system. It's diameter is roughly 220 light years and it is rapidly approaching us at a velocity between 79 km/s and 112 km/s.

M53 has a bright compact central nucleus of about 2' in diameter, although its stars are not very concentrated toward the center when compared to other globulars. Its discoverer, Johann Elert Bode, who found it on February 3, 1775, described it as a "rather vivid and round" nebula. Charles Messier, who independently rediscovered and cataloged it two years later, on February 26, 1777, found it "round and conspicuous" and that it resembles M79. William Herschel was the first to resolve it into stars, and found it similar to M10.

As in all globular clusters, the stars of M53 are apparently "metal-poor", which means that they contain only little quantities of elements heavier than helium (actually mainly elements like carbon and oxygen); those of M53 are even below the average globular cluster members in "metallicity". It contains the considerably respectable number of 47 known RR Lyrae variables, some of them were reported to have changed their periods irreversibly with time (Kenneth Glyn-Jones).

At only about 1 degree separation to the east, the faint and quite loose globular cluster NGC 5053 comes into the field of view. NGC 5053 was discovered by William Herschel on March 14, 1784. NGC 5053 is at roughly the same distance as M53 (53,500 light years), indicating that these clusters are also physically rather close together. NGC 5053 is of a much lesser stellar density than its prominent neighbor, and particularly lacks a concentrated bright nucleus.
At a distance of about 53,500 light-years from us, NGC 5053's diameter is about 160 light-years. The cluster shines at a visual brightness of about 9.5 magnitudes. It is receding from us at about 44 km/s.

Because of its moderate stellar content, the nature of this cluster as a globular has been doubted in the past, but spectroscopic investigations have now firmly re-established this classification.

March 28, 2008

M51 "Whirlpool Galaxy" in Canes Venatici

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Yahoo Digital Astro Group April, 2008 Monthly Challenge Winner

Astroimaging Challenge Yahoo Group Winner April, 2008

The Whirlpool Galaxy was discovered by Charles Messier on October 13, 1773. Its companion galaxy, NGC 5195, was discovered in 1781 by Pierre Méchain. It was however not until 1845 that the Whirlpool became the first galaxy to be recognized as a spiral. This was achieved by Lord Rosse employing a 72-inch reflecting telescope which he constructed at Birr Castle, Ireland.

With the recent SN 2005cs derived estimate of 23 Mly distance, and an angular diameter of roughly 11.2′, we can infer that M51's bright circular disk has a radius of about ~38,000 light-years. Its mass is estimated to be 160 billion solar masses. Compared to 100 kly diameter of the Milky Way, M51 has about half its size and mass.

Decades ago, it wasn't known for certain if the companion galaxy NGC 5195 was actually a true companion or rather some other galaxy passing at a distance. The advent of radio astronomy and subsequent radio images of M51 unequivocally demonstrated the reality of the interaction.
Recent simulations bear out that M51's spiral structure was caused by NGC 5195 passing through the main disk of M51 about 500 to 600 million years ago.

April 23, 2008

Supernova 2008ax in NGC 4490

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astrophotogallery.org May 2008 Challenge Winner

Supernova 2008ax in NGC 4490

Listed on Supernovae.net

Discovered independently by Lick Observatory Supernova Search (USA) and Koichi Itagaki (Japan).

The spectrum of this one has been an interesting development. Initially it was suspected to be a blue variable (not a supernova), then it went to a young type II, and is now reported as a type Ib. This one was found very early on in it's development in the Cocoon galaxy.
(Rochester's Astronomy Club)

May 4, 2008

M63 - "Sunflower Galaxy" in Canes Venatici

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Imaged in what I would call poor conditions with high clouds and high humidity. I don't think the sky was completely clear all night.

Messier 63 is about 25 million light-years distant in the constellation Canes Venatici. Also known as NGC 5055, M63 is nearly 100,000 light-years across, about the size of our own Milky Way. It is a major member of the M101 galaxy group as classified by some - but sometimes grouped separately in the M51 galaxy group.

M63 was the very first discovery of a Deep Sky Object by Charles Messier's friend, Pierre Méchain, who described it on June 14, 1779. On the same day, Charles Messier included it in his catalog.

May 24, 2008

NGC 5921 in Serpens Caput

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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NGC 5921 is a pretty barred spiral in Serpens Caput.

According to the Wray Atlas, this is a good example of a barred spiral with a blue ring. Classified SBb.

One supernova (SN 2001X) was observed in NGC 5921

May 4, 2008

NGC 4565 in Coma Berenices

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Image of the Day May 3, 2008

As one of the most famous edge-on galaxies NGC 4565, also named Needle Galaxy because of it's narrow appearance, is a showpiece in the constellation Coma Berenices.

This view is displaying a classic feature of spiral galaxies, the bulge of stars near the center of the disk glowing in the yellow light of older stars. Massive dust lanes within the plain pf the galaxy shows very fine details and blueish areas of star formation. Recent observations at X-ray wavelengths have revealed powerful x-ray sources arising from the core region of NGC 4565. The major source is consistent with a low luminosity active galactic nucleus (AGN). AGNs are producing x-rays and other forms of high energy radiation through accreted mass by a supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. The galaxy spans 100 000 light years in diameter and is situated at a distance of 30 million light years.

April 26, 2008

M3 in Canes Venatici

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery April 8, 2008

Astroimaging Challenge Yahoo Group Winner March, 2008

Messier 3 (also known as M3 or NGC 5272) is a globular cluster in the constellation Canes Venatici. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764, and resolved into stars by William Herschel around 1784. This cluster is one of the largest and brightest, and is made up of around 500,000 stars. It is located at a distance of about 33,900 light-years away from Earth.

Situated in the Galactic halo, out about 40,000 light-years from the Galactic Center, M3 is moving on a box-type orbit of approximate excentricity 0.55, which takes it out up to 66,000 light-years apogalactic distance and up to 49,000 light-years above and below the Galactic plane (currently it is about 33,000 light-years above - i.e., north of - that plane). On the other hand, its perigalactic distance is only 22,000 light-years - at that distance, the tidal radius of M3 will go down to below 200 light-years, so that the outermost stars may easily escape from this globular cluster.

April 5, 2008

M65, M66, and NGC 3628 - The Leo Trio

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Yahoo Digital Astro Group March, 2008 Monthly Challenge Runner Up

Sky and Telescope Online Gallery April 7, 2008

Astroimaging Challenge Yahoo Group Winner March, 2008

First light with my new AP Mach1GTO mount

This popular group is famous as the Leo Triplet - a gathering of three magnificent galaxies in one field of view. Crowd pleasers when imaged with even modest telescopes, these galaxies can be introduced individually as NGC 3628 (left), M65 (top right), and M66 (bottom right). All three are large spiral galaxies. They tend to look dissimilar because their galactic disks are tilted at different angles to our line of sight. NGC 3628 is seen edge-on, with obscuring dust lanes cutting across the plane of the galaxy, while the disks of M66 and M65 are both inclined enough to show off their spiral structure. Gravitational interactions between galaxies in the group have also left telltale signs, including the warped and inflated disk of NGC 3628 and the drawn out spiral arms of M66. The trio's estimated distance of 30 million light-years. (APOD)

March 28, 2008

M104 in Virgo

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astroimaging Challenge Yahoo Group Winner April, 2008

I really like the "oil painting" appearance that happened to come out of the processing of this image. I think it adds to the mystery of a very enigmatic object.

The "Sombrero" is located in the constellation Virgo, at a distance of about 50 million light-years. This galaxy is notable for its dominant nuclear bulge, composed primarily of mature stars, and its nearly edge-on disk composed of stars, gas, and intricately structured dust. The complexity of this dust, and the high resolution of this image, is most apparent directly in front of the bright nucleus, but is also very evident as dark absorbing lanes throughout the disk.

M104's most striking feature is the dust lane that crosses in front of the bulge of the galaxy. This dust lane is actually a symmetric ring that encloses the bulge of the galaxy. Most of the cold atomic hydrogen gas and the dust lies within this ring. The ring might also contain most of the Sombrero Galaxy's cold molecular gas, although this is an inference based on observations with low resolution and weak detections. Additional observations are needed to confirm that the Sombrero galaxy's molecular gas is constrained to the ring. Based on infrared spectroscopy, the dust ring is the primary site of star formation within this galaxy.

In the 1990s, research demonstrated that a supermassive black hole is present within the Sombrero Galaxy. Using spectroscopy data from both the CFHT and the Hubble Space Telescope, the group showed that the speed of rotation of the stars within the center of the galaxy could not be maintained unless a mass 1 billion times the mass of the Sun is present in the center. This is among the most massive black holes measured in any nearby galaxies.

The Sombrero Galaxy lies within a complex, filament-like cloud of galaxies that extends to the south of the Virgo Cluster. However, it is unclear as to whether the Sombrero Galaxy is part of a formal galaxy group. Hierarchical methods for identifying groups, which determine group membership by considering whether individual galaxies belong to a larger aggregate of galaxies, typically produce results showing that the Sombrero Galaxy is part of a group that includes NGC 4487, NGC 4504, NGC 4802,

Markarian's Chain in Virgo

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Yahoo Digital Astro Group May, 2008 Monthly Challenge Winner

Astroimaging Challenge Yahoo Group Winner March, 2008

Markarian's Chain is a group of galaxies that lies at the heart of the Virgo cluster. Named after the Armenian astronomer who first postulated that the group is an interacting structure, rather than a chance arrangement.

In December 1961, a three-page conference report titled "Physical Chain of Galaxies in the Virgo Cluster and It's Dynamic Instability" was published in volume 66 of The Astronomical Journal. The author, B. E. Markarian, used statistical analysis to support his conclusion that a chain of eight galaxies "in the Virgo cluster is not a chance grouping but a real physical system." Markarian's Chain, as it has come to be known, consists of NGC 4374 (M84), NGC 4406 (M86), NGC 4435, NGC 4438, NGC 4458, NGC 4461, NGC 4473 and NGC 4477. This meandering chain of galaxies extends about 1.5 degrees from M84, in Virgo, to NGC 4477, in Coma Berenices.

The group is a favorite of visual and imaging astronomers alike.

April 25, 2008

Barnard 33 and Surroundings - Horsehead Nebula in Orion

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day March 26, 2008

Taken with the moon rising and Orion setting.

The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33 in bright nebula IC 434) is a dark nebula in the Orion constellation. The nebula is located just below Alnitak, the star furthest left on Orion's Belt, and is part of the much larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. It is approximately 1,500 light years from Earth, and is approximately 3.5 light years wide.

The Horsehead Nebula is one of the most recognizeable objects in the sky, with it's distinct equine profile. Also known as Barnard 33, the unusual shape was first discovered in 1888 by Williamina Fleming on photographic plate B2312 taken at the Harvard College Observatory.

March 24, 2008

Rosette Nebula in Monoceros

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Editor's Choice March 23, 2008

Astrophotogallery.org Image of the Week 3-30-08

My first narrowband image taken on the night of a full moon when I was incredulous that anything could be imaged at all.

The Rosette Nebula is a monstrous cloud of dust and gas, extending over an area of more than 1 degree across, or about 5 times the area covered by the full moon.

The complex has the following NGC designations:

NGC 2237 - Part of the nebulous region (Usually used to denote whole nebula)
NGC 2238 - Part of the nebulous region
NGC 2239 - Part of the nebulous region (Discovered by John Herschel)
NGC 2244 - The open cluster within the nebula (Discovered by John Flamsteed in 1690)
NGC 2246 - Part of the nebulous region

Within the nebula, open star cluster NGC 2244 is situated, consisted of the young stars which recently formed from the nebula's material, and the brightest of which make the nebula shine by exciting its atoms to emit radiation. Star formation is still in progress here.

The cluster and nebula lie at a distance of some 5,200 light years from Earth (although estimates of the distance vary considerably) and measure roughly 130 light years in diameter. The radiation from the young stars excite the atoms in the nebula, causing them to emit radiation themselves producing the emission nebula we see. The mass of the nebula is estimated to be around 10,000 solar masses.

March 20, 2008

M 109 in Ursa Major

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astroimaging Challenge Yahoo Group Winner February 2008

M109 in Ursa Major and neighbors UGC 6969, UGC 6940, and UGC 6923

Distance from earth 55 million light years

5-8-2007

Total Eclipse

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery February 23, 2008

"The Spectrogram" March 2008

February 20, 2008

POD Dome

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

]]>POD Raw Owner's Gallery - Fourth Row Down, Third From Left

February 20, 2008

IC 1805 - "Heart Nebula" in Cassiopeia

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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The Heart Nebula, IC 1805, lies some 7500 light years away from Earth. It is located in the Perseus arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. This is an emission nebula showing glowing gas and darker dust lanes. This nebula is formed by plasma of ionized hydrogen and free electrons.

The very brightest part of this nebula (the knot at the right) is separately classified as NGC 896, because it was the first part of this nebula to be discovered.

The red glow and the larger shape are all created by a small group of stars near the nebula's center. This open cluster of stars known as Melotte 15 contains a few bright stars nearly 50 times the mass of our Sun, many dim stars only a fraction of the mass of our Sun, and an absent microquasar that was expelled millions of years ago.

September 12, 2007

M31 - "The Great Galaxy" in Andromeda

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astrophotogallery.org Image of the Week 2-2-08

M32 is behind on the edge of M31 and M110 is in the foreground.

The Great Andromeda Galaxy is approximately 2.52 million light years from earth and is 125 thousand light years across from front to back as seen from earth. It is likely that the ancestors of the human species were still on all fours when the light left the back side of Andromeda, but were walking upright and using stone tools by the time it reached the front edge of the galaxy. In any event, if you see Andromeda, keep in mind that you are seeing the light from when Humanity was just starting to gain a foothold on planet Earth.

M31 in Andromeda is the nearest major galaxy to our own Milky Way Galaxy and the two galaxies are on a collision course, approaching each other at the rate of 100 to 140 kilometers per second (300,000 MPH). This catastrophic wreck will begin to happen in approximately the year 1,000,000,000 AD.

Our Galaxy is thought to look much like Andromeda and together these two dominate the Local Group of galaxies. The several distinct stars that surround Andromeda's image are actually stars in our Galaxy that are well in front of the background object. Much about M31 remains unknown, including why the center contains two nuclei.

M31 is large enough and close enough that scientists are able to study smaller structures within the galaxy, like the structures within our own galaxy. One of these, star cluster NGC 206 has it's own designation.

Here's an interesting article by Tom Trusok concering all the different objects within the Andromeda Galaxy.

September 13, 2007

NGC 1499 - "California Nebula" in Perseus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astroimaging Challenge Yahoo Group Winner December 2007

Astrophotogallery.org Image of the Week 1-12-08

Our own Sun also lies within the Milky Way's Orion Arm, only about 1,500 light-years from the California Nebula. Also known as NGC 1499, the classic emission nebula is around 100 light-years long. It glows with the red light characteristic of hydrogen atoms recombining with long lost electrons, stripped away (ionized) by energetic starlight. In this case, the star most likely providing the energetic starlight is the bright, hot, bluish Xi Persei, just below the nebula in the image.

The California Nebula (NGC 1499) is an emission nebula located in the constellation Perseus. It is so named because it appears to resemble the outline of the State of California on long exposure photographs. It is almost 2.5° long on the sky and, because of its very low surface brightness, it is extremely difficult to observe visually. It can be observed with a H-Beta filter (isolates the H-Beta line at 486 nm) in a rich-field telescope under dark skies.

The California Nebula was discovered by E. E. Barnard in 1884.

September 13, 2007

Animated 8P/Tuttle - Observer's Perspective

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

]]>A quick animation of 17 JPEGS showing the motion of 8P/Tuttle across the field of the 130/780 refractor over a 48 minute period. From the Observer's Perspective.

Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day January 3, 2008

Astronomy Magazine weekly newsletter 1/4/08

In order to view this animation, you must right-click the image and then select "download original file" and then click "open" or download the original image and double click it to start it running.

The field of this refractor is 99x66 arcmin, so you can see how fast this object was moving. I calculate this motion to be 8.7 arcsec/minute or 7.0 arcmin over the 48 minute span.

December 26, 2007

Comet 8P/Tuttle

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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SETI Institute Comet Tuttle Page - Image

Sky and Telescope Online Gallery December 27, 2007

First light with the APM refractor. Guided on the comet nucleus with PHD guiding and imaged past the meridian with EQMOD control.

At the time of this image, it was located at:

RA: 01h16m37s DE:+44°50'30" in the constellation Andromeda and was magnitude 6.2

The comet was moving rapidly in the SSE direction at the rate of 8.702 arcsec/minute, or about 3.5 degrees per day.

The green hue is a sign of cyanogen and diatomic carbon in the comet's atmosphere; both substances glow green when exposed to solar radiation.

8P/Tuttle is a periodic comet in our solar system with a 13.6 year orbital period. On January 2, 2008 it will pass Earth at a distance of only 0.25 AU. Later that month it will become favorable to Southern hemisphere observers.

Comet 8P/Tuttle is responsible for the Ursid meteor shower in late December.

December 26, 2007

M76 in Perseus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day December 19, 2007

Astronomy Magazine weekly newsletter 12-21-07

Planetary Nebula Messier 76 (M76, NGC 650/651) is one of the faintest Messier Objects, and one of only four planetary nebulae in Messier's catalog, situated in the Eastern part of constellation Perseus.

M76's distance is not well known and estimates range from 1,700 to 15,000 light years and consequently its dimensions are also not well known. The nebula shines at an apparent magnitude of +10.1 with a central star of magnitude +16.6. This star, whose expanding outer layers form the present nebula, has a surface temperature of 60,000 kelvins.

The little Dumbbell Nebula got its name from its resemblance to the Dumbbell Nebula (M27) in Vulpecula. It was originally thought to consist of two separate nebulae and was thus given two catalog numbers in the NGC, 650 and 651. It is one of the faintest and hardest to see objects in Messier's list.

It also is known under the names Cork Nebula, Butterfly Nebula, and Barbell Nebula.

November 1, 2007

M33 - "Pinwheel Galaxy" in Triangulum

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Yahoo Digital Astro Group November 2007 Monthly Challenge Runner Up

September 16, 2007

M74 in Pisces

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astroimaging Challenge Yahoo Group Runner-Up November, 2007

Discovered 1780 by Pierre Méchain, Messier 74 (M74, NGC 628) is one of the nicest examples of so-called "grand-design" spiral galaxies seen face-on, so that its spiral structure stands out conspicuously. With its comparatively low surface brightness, it is one of the more difficult objects in Messier's catalog, situated in constellation Pisces.

Its distance may be about 30 to 40 million light years, as it recedes with 793 km/sec. Its spiral arms are about 1000 light years broad. They are traced with clusters of blue young stars and pinkish colored diffuse gaseous nebulae (H II regions) in color photos, and reach out to cover a region of more than 10 minutes of arc in diameter, corresponding to roughly 95,000 light years, or about the same size as our Milky Way galaxy. The Webb Society deep sky observer's handbook gives a number of 193 known H II regions.

Two supernovae have been discovered in M74:

Supernova 2002ap was discovered in M74 on January 29, 2002 by Japanese amateur Yoji Hirose when it was at mag 13.7. This type Ib/c supernova brightened up to mag 12.3 between February 5 and 12, 2002, and was classified as a "hypernova," occurring when progenitor stars of at least 40 solar masses explode.
Supernova 2003gd was found visually in M74 by Bob Evans on June 12.82 UT, in the morning twilight at Australia as it was 13.2 mag bright, and already fading. This supernova was of type II.

October 7, 2007

Comet 17P/Holmes

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day November 12, 2007

Astronomy Magazine Weekly Newsletter November 17, 2007

Comet 17P/Holmes underwent a massive outburst of 12 magnitudes from a very dim magnitude 17 to about magnitude 2½. By November 1, 2007 the comet's diameter was 7 times that of the planet Jupiter and expanding.
On November 9th, a team of Hawaii astronomers led by Rachel Stevenson measured the diameter of the comet's expanding debris cloud: 1.4 million kilometers, slightly larger than the sun itself.
Speculation is that 17P exploded because there are sinkholes in its nucleus, giving it a honeycomb-like structure. The collapse exposed comet ice to the sun, which transformed the ice into gas.
Its startling outburst, however, has a precedent. The comet was also in a major eruption 115 years ago, in November 1892, when English amateur Edwin Holmes was the first to spot it. It reached 4th or 5th magnitude, faded in the following weeks, and then underwent a second eruption 2½ months after the first.
The Outburst - The first person to notice something happening, according to IAU Circular 8886 (issued October 24th by the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams) was A. Henriquez Santana at Tenerife, Canary Islands, shortly after midnight on the morning of the 24th local time. The comet was then about 8th magnitude, but within minutes Ramon Naves and colleagues in Barcelona, Spain, caught it at magnitude 7.3.
Internet discussion groups came alive with the news. "To my amazement, 17P had brightened to naked-eye visibility," exclaimed Bob King when he spotted Comet Holmes shortly before dawn in Duluth, Minnesota. "What a sight!" he posted to the Comets Mailing List. Alan Hale of Cloudcroft, New Mexico, concurred. To Hale (well-known codiscoverer of Comet Hale-Bopp) it appeared essentially starlike in a telescope until he switched to high power.

LBN 667 - "Soul" or "Embryo" Nebula in Cassiopeia

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery Editor's Choice October 18, 2007

Astrophotogallery.org Image of the Week 1-19-08

LBN 667 is the designation of the nebula, also known as Sharpless 2-199. Open clusters CR 34, 632, and 634 (in the head) and IC 1848 (in the body) are embedded in the nebula. The object is more commonly called by the cluster designation IC 1848.

Small emission nebula IC 1871 is present just left of the top of the head, and small emission nebulae 670 and 669 are just below the lower back area.

This complex is the eastern neighbor of IC 1805 (Heart Nebula) and the two are often mentioned together as the "Heart and Soul".

September 15, 2007

NGC 891 in Andromeda

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day October 14, 2007

Discovered by William Herschel in 1784, NGC 891 at a distance of 30 million light years is a fine edge-on spiral with a faint dust lane along its equator. It was discovered by William Herschel on October 6, 1784, and cataloged as H V.19. However, in the appendix to his first catalog, he confused it with his H V.18 (M110, NGC 205) when discussing the discoveries of his sister Caroline Herschel; this remark was picked up by Admiral Smyth and later authors so that it was wrongly attributed to Caroline for a long time.

NGC 891 is contained in the SAC 110 best NGC object list. It is also Caldwell 23 in Patrick Moore's List. In the RASC's Finest N.G.C. Objects Objects list.

Edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 891 was featured in Jeff Bondono's Masterpieces Messier Missed for December, 1995

October 7, 2007

NGC 281 - "Pacman Nebula" in Cassiopeia

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astroimaging Challenge Yahoo Group Winner September 2007

NGC 281 is a busy workshop of star formation. Prominent features include a small open cluster of stars, a diffuse red-glowing emission nebula, large lanes of obscuring gas and dust, and dense knots of dust and gas in which stars may still be forming. The open cluster of stars IC 1590 visible around the center has formed only in the last few million years. The brightest member of this cluster is actually a multiple-star system shining light that helps ionize the nebula's gas, causing the red glow visible throughout. The lanes of dust visible left of center are likely homes of future star formation. Particularly striking are the dark Bok globules visible against the bright nebula. The NGC 281 system, dubbed the Pacman nebula for its overall shape, lies about 10 thousand light years distant. (from APOD)

September 18, 2007

Jupiter With Io Transit and Ganymede in Attendance

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

]]>Jupiter at about 10:45pm EDT on June 26, 2007

Io is making a transit from right to left and Ganymede is just off the lower left in all images.

Astroimaging Challenge Yahoo Group Winner Third Quarter, 2007

I Made the Paper

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

]]>I'm not sure how this happened, but here I am on the front page of the local paper - "The Mansfield News Journal".

Jami Kenton, the reporter involved, contacted me and said that someone - a patient of mine - tipped her off that this might make a good story. Before I knew it, I was on the front page. The story is very nice with only one possible error - I told her my favorite image so far is the "Heart Nebula" and she wrote "Love Nebula". No biggie.

None of my images made the paper - just my ugly mug. My Trifid Nebula (M20) did make the internet version of the paper.

October 9, 2007

M45 - "Pleiades" in Taurus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Image of the Day September 24, 2007

Astroimaging Challenge Yahoo Group Winner October 2007

Perhaps the most famous star cluster on the sky, the Pleiades can be seen without binoculars from even the depths of a light-polluted city. Also known as the Seven Sisters and M45, the Pleiades is one of the brightest and closest open clusters. The Pleiades contains over 3000 stars, is about 400 light years away (among the closest open clusters to earth), and only 13 light years across. Quite evident in the image are the blue reflection nebulae that surround the brighter cluster stars. Low mass, faint, brown dwarfs have also been found in the Pleiades. (APOD)

The cluster is dominated by hot blue stars, which have formed within the last 100 million years. Dust that forms faint reflection nebulosity around the brightest stars was thought at first to be left over from the formation of the cluster but is now known to be an unrelated dust cloud that the stars are currently passing through. Astronomers estimate that the cluster will survive for about another 250 million years, when it will have dispersed due to gravitational interactions with the spiral arms of the galaxy and giant molecular clouds.

September 18, 2007

NGC 6939 and NGC 6946 in Cepheus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Orion ED80 with WO 0.8 reducer/flattener

Chagrin Valley Astronomical Society Picture of the Day

Open Cluster NGC 6939 and spiral galaxy NGC 6946.

NGC 6946 is a spectacular galaxy, but unfortunately dim because of it's proximity to our galactic plane - this interferes with the light coming from NGC 6946. At a distance of 10 million light years, this galaxy is one of about a dozen nearby neighbors to the Milky Way - although this recently in dispute.

Together with M83, NGC 6946 shares the record number of observed supernovae.

July 20, 2007

NGC 7635 - "Bubble Nebula" in Cassiopeia

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Celestron 9.25 with 0.63 reducer

Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day September 14, 2007

The Bubble Nebula is actually the smallest of three bubbles surrounding massive star BD+602522, and part of gigantic bubble network S162 created with the help of other massive stars. As fast moving gas expands off BD+602522, it pushes surrounding sparse gas into a shell. The energetic starlight then ionizes the shell, causing it to glow.

At the heart of the Bubble Nebula is a star that is forty times more massive than our Sun. Located in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia, this spherical nebula requires a large telescope, dark skies and contrast enhancing filters before it can be seen visually due to its low surface brightness.
The bubble itself is actually quite large, spanning six light years across and is expanding at an incredible four million miles per hour. The bubble was formed by the bright star that is positioned above and to left of its center. The radiation released from inside that star is so intense that it literally blows its outer surface off into space. The bubble marks the leading edge of the gust from these powerful stellar winds as it plows into denser surrounding material. This object is approximately 7100 light years from Earth.
(From Universe Today)

September 5, 2007

M13 in Hercules

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Celestron 9.25 reduced 0.63

Sky and Telescope Online Gallery September 10, 2007

Astrophotogallery.org Image of the Week 2-23-08

Working with EQMOD long focal length beta version trying to round out the stars on the C9.25

At 25,000 light years distance, this is one of the premier globular clusters. It contains perhaps 1 million stars and has an age of about 14 billion years

Above the cluster and left of center is IC 4617, a small magnitude 15.5 galaxy. This dim galaxy should not be confused with the much better known (and brighter) NGC 6207, not included in this image. This galaxy contained supernova SN2005ab.

9-3-2007

M17 "Omega Nebula" in Sagittarius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

]]>Canon 30D Unmodified, Astronomik CLS filter
Celestron 8 with 0.63 reducer
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Yahoo Digital Astro Group August, 2007 Monthly Challenge Winner

Astroimaging Challenge Yahoo Group July, 2007 Second Place

The Omega Nebula M17, also called the Swan Nebula, is a region of star formation and shines by excited emission, caused by the higher energy radiation of young stars. Unlike in many other emission nebulae, however, these stars are not obvious in optical images, but hidden in the nebula. Star formation is either still active in this nebula, or ceased very recently. A small cluster of about 35 bright but obscurred stars seems to be imbedded in the nebulosity.

The color of the Omega Nebula is reddish, with some graduation to pink. This color comes from the hot hydrogen gas which is excited to shine by the hottest stars which have just formed within the nebula. However, the brightest region is actually of white color, not overexposed as one might think. This phenomenon is apparently a result of a mixture of emission light from the hottest gas, together with reflections of the bright star light from the dust in this region. The nebula contains a large amount of dark obscuring material, which is obvious in its remarkable features. This matter has been heated by the hidden young stars, and shines brightly in infrared light.

The mass of the gas has been estimated to amount about 800 times that of the Sun, enough for forming a conspicuous cluster, and a good deal more than that of the Orion nebula M42. While the bright nebula seems to be roughly 15 light years in extension, the total gaseous cloud, including low-luminosity material, seems to extend to at least 40 light years. Distance estimates are spread over a wide range, but modern values are between 5,000 and 6,000 light years, thus little less than that of its apparent neighbor, M16 with the Eagle nebula - apparently, these two star forming regions are indeed close together, in the same spiral arm (the Sagittarius or Sagittarius-Carina arm) of the Milky Way galaxy, and perhaps part of the same giant complex of cosmic clouds of interstellar matter.

July 6, 2007

IC 5070 - "Pelican Nebula" in Cygnus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Orion ED80 with WO 0.8 reducer/flattener

Astronomy Magazine Picture of the day August 23, 2007

Sky and Telescope Online Gallery August 21, 2007

This image also made the cover of Astronomy Magazine weekly newsletter August 24, 2007

The first image taken with my new modded 350D. Seeing was VERY poor with 95% humidity and water dripping off the telescopes. A fogbank rolled in at about 3:30 am - imaging continued till about 4:15.

The Pelican Nebula, also known as IC 5070, lies at a distance of 2,000 light-years. Pelican and the North America nebula, located two degrees east, look to be distinct objects separated by a dark lane extending from where the "Caribbean Sea" and "Atlantic Ocean" ought to be located. However, radio wavelength studies have shown that these two nebulae trace the Eastern and Western parts of a single nebula that is over two degrees in extent. The dark lane is a giant molecular cloud seen in silhouette against the background nebula, which hides the massive stars responsible for its creation.

August 14, 2007

M20 "Trifid Nebula" in Sagittarius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Yahoo Digital Astro Group Monthly Challenge July, 2007 Runner Up

The Trifid Nebula M20 is famous for its three-lobed appearance. The red emission nebula with its young star cluster near its center is surrounded by a blue reflection nebula which is particularly conspicuous to the northern end. The nebula's distance is rather uncertain, with values between 2,200 light years and about 7,600 light years.

The dark nebula which is the reason for the Trifid's appearance was cataloged by Barnard as Barnard 85.

June23, 2007

IC 5146 "Cocoon Nebula" in Cygnus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astroimaging Challenge Yahoo Group July, 2007 Winner

June 23, 2007

Veil Complex in Cygnus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Orion ED80 with WO 0.8 reducer/flattener

WEST:
Canon 30D Unmodified with Astronomik CLS filter
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Orion ED80 with WO 0.8 reducer/flattener

Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Image of the Day July 18, 2007

NGC 6992, NGC 6979, and NGC 6960 in their proper orientation by stacking the two veil images together. The corners are missing, but it does place all three main parts of the Veil in perspective.

The hard part of putting these together was getting the colors as close as possible in the two images since they were taken on two different nights and processed seperately.

June 11 and 12, 2007

IC 1396 in Cepheus - Northwest Quadrant of Nebula including "Elephant's Trunk Nebula"

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Orion ED80 with WO 0.8 reducer/flattener

Sky and Telescope Online Gallery July, 2007

This was one TOUGH subject. Very large and diffuse, in truth a purely photographic nebula, and for modified cameras ideally.

My unmodded Canon 30D had fits with this thing, even with a whopping 3.5 hours of integration time. I have to get a modified camera soon.

More than 6 times lunar diameter, IC 1396 is one of the largest emission nebula in the sky. The bright central star cluster (also designated IC1396) actually interferes with the view of nebulosity. There is also prominent dark nebula Van den Bergh 142 (the Elephant Trunk) just West of the central star cluster.

July 7, 2007

NGC 6960 "West Veil Nebula" in Cygnus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Yahoo Digital Astro Group June, 2007 Monthly Challenge Winner

The Veil Nebula, the western part (NGC 6960) also known as the 'witch's broom nebula' shown here is part of a large, faint supernova remnant in the constellation Cygnus. The supernova exploded some 5000 to 8000 years ago, eventually leaving the wispy nebula we see today.

When finely resolved, some parts of the image appear to be rope like filaments. The reason for this is that the shock waves are so thin that the shell is only visible when viewed edge-on, giving it the wispy appearance. Undulations in the surface of the shell lead to the appearance of multiple filaments.

Pickering's Triangular Wisp, NGC 6979, the nebulosity in the lower left corner is the central part of the Veil complex between West and East. Discovered in 1904 by Williamina Fleming of the Harvard Observatory while examining photographic plates of the area, the object was named in honor of her boss, astronomer Edward Charles Pickering, then director of the Observatory. Pickering’s Triangle goes by a number of aliases, including Pickering’s Wedge, Fleming’s Triangular Wisp, and Simeis 3-188.

Distance from earth is about 1,400 to 2,600 light years.

June12, 2007

NGC 6781 Closeup View

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day July 13, 2007

May 23, 2007

Draco Triplet Closeup

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astroimaging Challenge Yahoo Group June 2nd Place

May 18, 2007

M64 Closeup View

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astroimaging Challenge Yahoo Group May 2007 Winner

5-8-2007

M97 "Owl Nebula" in Ursa Major

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Yahoo Digital Astro Group May, 2007 Monthly Challenge Honorable Mention

M97 "Owl Nebula". A hauntingly beautiful planetary nebula in Ursa Major. Regarded as one of the more complex planetary nebula, it is actually a dual shell of 0.15 solar mass surrounding a 16th magnitude star of 0.7 solar mass at it's center.

M97 processed with a post-camera white balance adjustment in DeepSkyStacker in order to compensate for the blue washout from the Astronomik CLS filter. While it would have been best to use a custom white balance at the time of imaging, this is a good compromise. Now I have a custom white balance that I will use with the Astronomik filter from now on.

5-12-2007

NGC 4565 in Coma Berenices

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Yahoo Digital Astro Group April, 2007 Monthly Challenge Honorable Mention

4-20-2007