Nebulae: Hunter Wilson

NGC6888 "Crescent Nebula" In Cygnus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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NGC6888, or the Crescent Nebula, is a shell of gas that is being energized by the strong stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136, the bright star at the center of the nebula. Wolf-Rayet stars are very hot, massive stars that are blowing off their outer layers.

Not nearly enough subs to make a good image of such a diffuse and dim object, however, when the clouds come.....

June 9, 2007

M8 "Lagoon Nebula" in Sagittarius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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The Lagoon Nebula is a distance of 4,100 light years from earth, and measures 110 by 50 light years. The nebula contains a number of globules, dark, collapsing clouds of protostellar material, the most prominent of which are Barnard 88, 89, and 296
It also contains the so-called "Hourglass Nebula", the bright part at it's center.

In the lower left corner of the frame, find the small 8th magnitude globular cluster NGC6544.

Also, in the upper left corner of the image is NGC6559 - part of the same cloud of nebulosity making up M8.
While not well represented here, it contains patches of red emission nebulae as well as blue reflection nebulae and dark opaque nebulae, one of which can be seen just below and to the left of the brightest star in that nebula.

In M8 itself, find open cluster NGC6530

June 10, 2007

M8 "Lagoon Nebula" in Sagittarius Closeup View

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Notice especially the collections of protostellar dark material that includes Barnard 88, 89, and 296, much the same as seen in M16's 'pillars of creation'.

June 10, 2007

"Stellar Nursery" in M8

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Nature's Lava Lamp.

Dark globules of coalescing material are the stellar nurseries of M8.

Barnard 88, 89, and 296. Also a structure called "Burnhams's Dark Comet" is visible as an uprising dark comet-like object at upper left center.

M20 "Trifid Nebula" in Sagittarius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

]]>Canon 30D Unmodified, Astronomik CLS filter
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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

M27 "Dumbell Nebula" in Vulpecula

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M27, the "Dumbell Nebula" in Vulpecula is a great example of a gaseous emission nebula that forms when a star begins to run out of fuel and expels it's outer layers (planetary nebula). The glow is from the intense emission of ultraviolet radiation exciting the surrounding gas.

5-12-2007

M27 - Closeup View

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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5-12-2007

M27 Dumbell in Vulpecula

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M27 (NGC6853), the "Dumbell Nebula" in Vulpecula is a great example of a gaseous emission nebula that forms when a star begins to run out of fuel and expels it's outer layers (planetary nebula). The glow is from the intense emission of ultraviolet radiation from the central star exciting the surrounding gas. The central star, a white dwarf, is estimated to have a radius which is 0.055 solar radii which gives it a size larger than any other known white dwarf. The central star mass is estimated to be 0.56 solar mass, is quite bright at mag 13.5, and extremely hot at about 85,000 K (so the spectral type is given as O7 in the Sky Catalog 2000). K.M. Cudworth of the Yerkes Observatory found that it probably has a faint (mag 17) yellow companion at 6.5" separation.

M27 is 1,200 light-years distant and is only about 3000-4000 years old.

September 4, 2007

IC 5146 "Cocoon Nebula" in Cygnus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astroimaging Challenge Yahoo Group July, 2007 Winner

June 23, 2007

IC 2118 - "Witch Head Nebula" in Eridanus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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This image was processed in a desperate mood after I was unable to image for five long weeks.

It is the product of only 2 light frames that were taken almost 3 months prior.

Photographically, IC 2118 is a very difficult subject as this nebula has one of the lowest surface brightness levels of any in the northern hemisphere.

This suggestively shaped reflection nebula is associated with the bright star Rigel in the constellation Orion. More formally known as IC 2118, the Witch Head Nebula glows primarily by light reflected from Rigel, that is situated about 40 light years from the nebula. Fine dust in the nebula reflects the light. The blue color is caused not only by Rigel's blue color but because the dust grains reflect blue light more efficiently than red. The same physical process causes Earth's daytime sky to appear blue, although the scatterers in Earth's atmosphere are molecules of nitrogen and oxygen. The nebula lies about 1000 light-years away.

September 18, 2007

M42

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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This image is from only ONE light frame taken in September and processed out of boredom during a 5 week period of no imaging. For one frame, it is astonishing how well it represents the object. Not an exemplary image, but it will do until I can get out and get a proper set of exposures on this magnificent object.

The Great Orion Nebula - M42, M43, and NGC 1977 (Running Man Nebula) in Orion.

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.

The Orion Nebula contains a very young open cluster, known as the Trapezium due to the asterism of its primary four stars. Two of these can be resolved into their component binary systems on nights with good seeing, giving a total of six stars. The stars of the Trapezium, along with many other stars, are still in their early years. The Trapezium may be a component of the much-larger Orion Nebula Cluster, an association of about 2,000 stars within a diameter of 20 light years. Two million years ago this cluster may have been the home of the runaway stars AE Aurigae, 53 Arietis, and Mu Columbae, which are currently moving away from the nebula at velocities greater than 100 km/s.

September 18, 2007

Merope showing IC 349

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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The small and usually hidden reflection nebula IC 349 under Merope is seen in this specially proccessed image. It's proximity to Merope makes it difficult to image.

In 1890, American astronomer E. E. Barnard, observing visually with the Lick Observatory 36-inch telescope in California, discovered the exceptionally bright nebulosity adjacent to the bright Pleiades star Merope. It is now cataloged as IC 349, or "Barnard's Merope Nebula." IC 349 is so bright because it lies extremely close to Merope -- only about 3,500 times the separation of the Earth from the Sun, or about 0.06 light-year -- and thus is strongly illuminated by the star's light.

The Hubble Space Telescope image of this nebula can be seen here.

September 18, 2007

Horsehead Nebula

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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The region of the Horsehead Nebula is actually a mixture of many types of nebulae.

The Horsehead itself is known as Barnard 33 (B 33). The red background is the emission nebula IC 434, the reflection nebula NGC 2023 and the emission nebula are NGC 2024 also visible.

This image is not great, but was taken while I was learning to autoguide and do astrophotography. I think I'll keep it here for historical reference.

3-30-2007

NGC 6820/NGC 6823 in Vulpecula

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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This object, or at least the nebulosity, was very challenging to image, but it was so interesting that I had to try it. I should have suspected it to be a tough target when Robert Gendler could only get this out of it with a 20 inch RCOS and an SBIG STL-11000XM on a Paramount ME.

NGC 6820 is an emission nebula that surrounds open cluster NGC 6823 in Vulpecula, near M27, the Dumbbell nebula. The center of the open cluster formed only about two million years ago and is dominated in brightness by a host of bright young blue stars. Outer parts of the cluster intimately involving pillars of emission nebula NGC 6820, contain even younger stars. The huge pillars of gas and dust likely get their elongated shape by erosion from hot radiation emitted from the brightest cluster stars. Striking dark globules of gas and dust are also visible in the nebula. Open star cluster NGC 6823 spans about 50 light years and lies about 6000 light years away

July 1, 2008

M57 Closeup

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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May 21, 2007

M57 in Lyra

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M57 in Lyra, located 2300 light years from earth is the prototype planetary nebula. Evidence indicates that it is actually a ring and not a shell or sphere viewed on an angle. The nebula has been expanding for only an estimated 1600 years.

The central star is a planet-sized white dwarf star, of about 15th magnitude. It is the remainder of a sunlike star, which has blown away its outer envelopes. Now over 100,000 K hot, it will soon start to cool down, shine as a white dwarf star for several billions of years, and then eventually end as a cold Black Dwarf.

May 21, 2007

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

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Named for it's resemblance to the beautiful blue/purple Iris flower, LBN487 is a pure reflection nebula, caused by light from the central magnitude 7 star, SAO 19158, being reflected off dust particles left over from when the star was formed. NGC 7023 refers to the open cluster in the triangular gap in the nebulous region.

Infrared observations indicate that this nebula may contain complex carbon molecules known as PAHs. The Iris nebula is about 6 light-years across.

July 15, 2007

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

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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July 15, 2007

M27 Dumbell in Vulpecula

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M27 (NGC 6853), the "Dumbell Nebula" in Vulpecula is a great example of a gaseous emission nebula that forms when a star begins to run out of fuel and expels it's outer layers (planetary nebula). The glow is from the intense emission of ultraviolet radiation from the central star exciting the surrounding gas. The central star, a white dwarf, is estimated to have a radius which is 0.055 solar radii which gives it a size larger than any other known white dwarf. The central star mass is estimated to be 0.56 solar mass, is quite bright at mag 13.5, and extremely hot at about 85,000 K (so the spectral type is given as O7 in the Sky Catalog 2000). K.M. Cudworth of the Yerkes Observatory found that it probably has a faint (mag 17) yellow companion at 6.5" separation.

M27 is 1,200 light-years distant and is only about 3000-4000 years old.

July 5, 2008

M20 "Trifid Nebula" in Sagittarius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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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.

June 1, 2008

M8 - "Lagoon Nebula" in Sagittarius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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The Lagoon Nebula is a distance of 4,100 light years from earth, and measures 110 by 50 light years. The nebula contains a number of globules, dark, collapsing clouds of protostellar material, the most prominent of which are Barnard 88, 89, and 296
It also contains the so-called "Hourglass Nebula", the bright part at it's center.

In M8 itself, find open cluster NGC 6530

June 1, 2008

DWB111 - Propeller Nebula in Cygnus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Imaged during poor conditions with thin clouds and high humidity all night.

May 24, 2008

IC 5070 - "Pelican Nebula" in Cygnus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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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

IC 5070 Closeup View

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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August 14, 2007

NGC 7293 - The Helix Nebula in Aquarius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Very low on the horizon for me, through the haze and fog made for a difficult image.

The Helix Nebula (also known as 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.

September 5, 2007

NGC 7635 - "Bubble Nebula" in Cassiopeia Widefield

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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A busy field also containing nebula NGC 7538, open clusters M52 (upper left), NGC 7510 (triangular cluster lower right) 1450 (mid right bottom).

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)

IC 1805 - The Central Ionization Zone

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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It is in this central region that the intense radiation from a cluster of hot stars drives the ionization of gas to make the Heart Nebula visible.

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

Smoking part of Flaming Star

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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A closer view of IC 405 showing the part of the "Flaming Star Nebula" that gives it the name.

October 9, 2007

M97 "Owl Nebula" in Ursa Major

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 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

M17 "Omega Nebula" in Sagittarius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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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 5146 "Cocoon Nebula" in Cygnus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 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 59 and IC 63 (Sh2-185) - Gamma Cassiopeia Nebula

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 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

M78 in Orion

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day February 4, 2008

This image also made Astronomy Magazine's weekly email newsletter for the week ending 2-08-2008.

This image actually is comprised of three seperate reflection nebulae - NGC 2068 [left of center], NGC 2064 [right of center], and NGC 2071 [above and left of center].

Messier 78 (NGC 2068) is the brightest diffuse reflection nebula in the sky. M78 is about five light-years across and belongs to the larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex that contains the Great Nebula in Orion and the Horsehead Nebula.

M78, like M42, is a site of new star formation. There are at least 45 proto-stars involved. However, the gas in M78 is not excited to glow because there are no bright hot stars directly adjacent to it. The B-type stars that provide the light are at least several hundred light years closer to us than M78.

February 2, 2008

LDN 1622 and 1621 in Orion

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 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