IC5146,Barnard168
Cocoon Nebula Wide Field

For a full size image click here.

Distance: 3,300 Light Years
Magnitude: 7.2
Size: 12 Arc-minutes
Age: Approx. 1 million years
Telescope: Borg71FL
Camera: QSI 683
Mount: AP 1100
Exposures: L 30×300 Bin 1, RGB 30×150 Bin 2, Ha 12×600 Bin 1

IC 5146, better known as the Cocoon Nebula, is an open star cluster surrounded by a combination of emission and reflection nebula in the constellation Cygnus. The source of illumination for this nebula is a young type BO star listed as GSC 3608:1446 and is at the center of the nebula. Most sources state an age of 100,000 years for this star. There are several hundred young stars in this cluster that are about 1,000,000 years old. The difference in age would indicate different stages of star development continuing to the present day.

The red regions are emission nebula illuminated primarily by the central star and consists of LBN 424, LDN 1055, and VdB 147. The darker regions around the nebula and extending away from the nebula are separate dark nebula named Barnard 168. Barnard 168 is the home to many star forming regions. Many of these regions are in various states of development and as of 2008 there were approximately 200 YSO (Young Stellar Objects) candidates. This count was taken from a paper called “The Spitzer Survey of Interstellar Clouds in the Gould Belt. I. IC 5146 Observed with IRAC and MIPS”. Barnard 168 contains several objects from the Lynd’s Dark Nebula catalog. These are listed as LDN 1020, LDN 1024, LDN 1030, LDN 1031, LDN 1035, LDN 1040, LDN 1042, LDN 1045, and LDN 1052. These all form the long tail seen trailing away from the nebula.

As a side note, this image was taken from my house in an orange zone. I captured this object on September 13, 2015 and September 14, 2015 and the conditions were clear and dry. I managed to collect some nebulous regions to the bottom right of the frame but I am not sure what they are. There is also a faint nebulous region just above the Cocoon Nebula but I could not identify what it is called.

IC 348,LDN1468,LDN1470,LDN1471,LDN1472,LBN601
IC 348

For a full size image click here.

Distance: 970 Light Years

Magnitude: 7.3

Size: 8 Arc Minutes

Age: 1.5 Million Years

Telescope: Borg 71

Camera: QSI 683

Mount: AP 900

Exposure: L 19×420 Bin 1, RGB 30×210 Bin2

IC 348 is an open star cluster surrounded by two small reflection nebula LBN 758 and LBN 601. It is set in a region of both emission and dark nebula that makes for an interesting wide field image. Between us and IC 348 are the Taurus and Perseus dark clouds and this provides some reddening of the field. The star cluster contains about 400 stars at an estimated age of 1.5 million years. The distance of 970 light years is based on three separate studies all results within a few light years of each other.

My field of view shows several other objects in addition to IC 348. Several dark nebula are shown and they are listed in Lynd’s Catalog of Dark Nebula (LDN). LDN 1471 is in the upper left of my image. LDN 1468, LDN 1470, and LDN 1472 are just to the lower right of IC 348. B.T. Lynd’s also created a catalog of bright nebula called Lynd’s catalog of Bright Nebula (LBN). Also in my field of view is LBN 749 and it appears as the reddish emission nebula to the right of IC 348.

This image was captured from a dark site on October 9, 2015. The conditions were clear and dry but there were passing high clouds all night. The field of view for this image is 3.6 x 2.8 degrees.

IC 4603,IC4604,IC4605,IC4606,
Rho Ophiuchus 4 Panel Mosaic

For a full size image click here.

Distance: 400 Light Years
Magnitude: Not Known
Size: 5 Degrees x 7 Degrees
Age: Not Known
Telescope: Borg 71
Camera: QSI 683
Mount: AP 900
Exposure: 4 panel mosaic each consisting of: L 8×300 Bin 1, RGB 10×150 Bin2

The Rho Ophiuchi cloud is a very large region in the constellation Ophiuchus. This region contains dark nebula, emission nebula, reflection nebula, and star clusters all set against a rich star field. Below is a partial listing of the objects in my image:
IC 4603 (LBN 1109) (VdB 105) is a reflection nebula that also shows partially as an emission nebula. The central star is SAO 184376 which is the illumination source of the area.
IC 4604 (LBN 1111) (VdB 106) is a reflection nebula with three stars at its center.
IC 4605 (LBN 1110) is a reflection nebula. It is illuminated by the star 22 Scorpii (SAO 184429)
IC 4606 (LBN 1107) is an emission nebula partially illuminated by Antares. It is yellow in color and really stands out from the much bluer IC 4603, IC 4604, and IC 4605.
Messier 4 (NGC 6121) is a class IX globular cluster and at a distance of 7000 light years it is one of the closest globular clusters. It contains several thousand stars and to date 43 are variable stars. Estimated age is 12 billion years.
NGC 6144 is a class XI globular cluster at a distance of 29,000 light years.
SH-9 is an emission nebula that is illuminated by the star Sigma Scorpii.
B42 and B45 separate the reflection nebula IC4603 and IC 4604.
B44 is a large dark nebula that spans 10 degrees from the Rho Ophiuchi complex t the Pipe Nebula.

This image was captured in two nights from a dark site. The conditions were very good with no wind and a humidity of 50%. The target is low from 34 degrees latitude so I was imaging through lots of atmosphere. There were some extreme gradients to deal with due to the altitude of the target and also the large area of the area of the sky involved. I was very pleased to capture this object as it has been on my target list for a couple years. I used a total of four images to create this mosaic. Each image is 3.67 x 2.87 degrees so the mosaic covers about 7 x 5 degrees it total.

Here is a two panel image:

Rho Ophiuchus 2 Panel Mosaic
Rho Ophiuchus 2 Panel Mosaic

Here is another two panel image:

IC4603,IC4604,IC4605,IC4606,M4
Rho Ophiuchus 2 Panel Mosaic

Here is panel one:

IC4603,IC4604,IC4605,IC4606
Rho Ophiuchus Panel 1

Here is panel 2:

IC4603,IC4604,IC4605,IC4606,M4
Rho Ophiuchus Panel 2
M8,M20,M21,IC1274,IC1275
M8 and M20 Region

For a full size image click here.

Distance: 5,000 to 6,000 Light Years
Size: 3.67 x 2.87 Degree FOV
Telescope: Borg 71
Camera: QSI 683
Mount: AP 900
Exposure: L 20×300 Bin 1, RGB 20×150 Bin2

This is my image of the area around Messier 8 and Messier 20 located in the constellation Sagittarius. While M8 and M20 are the primary objects in this field there are also several IC and NGC catalog objects plus Messier 21 that are shown in this field of view.


Messier 8, also listed as NGC 6523, is a large emission nebula. It is an active star forming region about 5,000 light years away. The size of the nebula is about 90 x 40 arc minutes or about 140 x 60 light years across. There are several Bok globules in the nebula and three are listed in Barnard’s catalog. Barnard 88 is the comet shaped globule that runs from North to south. Barnard 89 is the globule that is in the center of M8 next to the open cluster NGC 6530. B296 is a long thin globule to the left of the center star cluster. NGC 6530 is the open cluster that is at the core of Messier 8. This is a young star cluster with an age of about 2 million years and is populated by very hot young stars. This cluster is thought to be in front of M8 as there is not a lot of reddening from the gas and dust of M8.


Messier 20, also listed as NGC 6514, is a combination of emission, reflection, and dark nebula. It is about 5,000 light years away and contains regions of active star formation. M20 is about 28 arc minutes in diameter or about 42 light years across. M20 basically consists of three separate sections divided by a dark nebula cataloged as Barnard 85.


Messier 21 is an open star cluster at the top of my image. It is about 4,250 light years away and it is about 13 arc minutes across. The age of the cluster is about 4.6 million years and contains less than 100 stars.


IC 1274 is a faint circular nebula and contains a small star cluster at its center. This cluster is the source of illumination for the nebula. The cluster is about a million years old.


IC 1275 is another faint circular nebula just below IC 1274. It has less structure that IC1274.


IC 4678 is a very dim nebula and it is located just above and to the left of Messier 8. It appears as a white smudge with some small reddish filaments.


IC 4681 is a very small reflection nebula just above IC 1274/1275. It appears as a bluish smudge surrounding a small star.


IC 4684 is located very close to IC 4681 and it appears as a bluish smudge surrounding a small star.


IC 4685 is a small emission nebula just below IC 1274/1275.

This image was captured from a dark site in one night. The conditions were excellent with 30% humidity and no wind. I framed the image to get all of the above objects in one frame. I went back and forth on whether to rotate the camera 90 degrees to get a different field. The area is so rich in targets I don’t think I could have gone wrong either way.

Pipe Nebula,Barnard 59,Barnard 78,LDN 1773
The Pipe Nebula

For a full size image click here.

Distance: 470 Light Years
Magnitude: Not Known
Size: 420 x 120 arc minutes
Age: Not Known
Telescope: Borg 71
Camera: QSI 683
Mount: AP 900
Exposure: L 20×90 Bin 1, RGB 20×45 Bin2

Barnard 59, commonly called the Pipe Nebula, is a large dusty region in the constellation Ophiuchus. The Pipe Nebula consists of three main parts; Barnard 59, Barnard 65-67 (the stem), and LDN 1773 with Barnard 78 (the pipe bowl). In addition to the Pipe nebula, there are Barnard 72, 77, 262, and 272 which form the “smoke” of the pipe nebula. Most of the Pipe Nebula consists of very cold dust with no star formation. This is unusual when compared to other dusty regions of the Gould Belt. Barnard 59 is the only part of the nebula that shows any star formation. Gravitational interactions and magnetic interactions are two theories behind the filament formation that houses the star formation in Barnard 59. My image only contains the pipe bowl section which consists of LDN 1773 and Barnard 78. My field of view in this image is 3.67 x 2.87 degrees which is large but not large enough to capture the entire Pipe Nebula.

This image was captured at a dark site but with very poor conditions. I began imaging just after 9:00PM but the fog rolled in around 11:00PM. The humidity was very high and condensation quickly formed on my laptop table.

Barnard 72,Snake Nebula
Barnard 72 The Snake Nebula

For a full size image click here.

Distance: 650 Light Years
Magnitude: Not Known
Size: 37’ x 16’ Arc Minutes
Age: Not Known
Telescope: Borg 71
Camera: QSI 683
Mount: AP 900
Exposure: L 24×60 Bin 1, RGB 24×30 Bin2

Barnard 72, commonly known as the Snake Nebula, is a dusty region in the constellation Ophiuchus. This dark nebula is set against the bright and colorful star field of our Milky Way galaxy. Dark nebula often house regions of star formation and Barnard 72 is one of these regions. The Spitzer and Herschel space telescopes have identified two regions noted as P1 and P6 that contain 23 cosmic seeds that will eventually form in to stars. These seeds have been measured and their masses vary between 5-25 times the mass of our Sun. To attach a diameter to this mass, these seeds span a distance of several hundred billion kilometers. For comparison the distance from the Sun to Earth is 150 million kilometers.

There are several other dark nebula in my field of view with Barnard 68, 69, 70, 74 to the bottom right. The Snake Nebula is part of a larger dusty region called the Dark Horse Nebula. I could not find any other sources to identify the other dark regions in this field of view. On the right side of my image is globular cluster NGC 6325.

This image was captured from a dark site under very poor conditions. I started imaging at 9:15PM and it completely fogged over at 11:15PM. The humidity was very high and my small laptop table was very wet. However, I thought this image was a keeper.

NGC 6357, Lobster Nebula, War and Peace Nebula
NGC 6357 The Lobster Nebula

For a full size image click here.

Distance: 8,000 Light Years
Magnitude:
Size: 50 Arc Minutes
Age: Not Known
Telescope: Takahashi TOA-130
Camera: QSI 683
Mount: AP 900
Exposure: L 14×480 Bin 1, RGB 20×240 Bin2

NGC 6357, also known as the War and Peace nebula, is an emission nebula in the constellation Scorpius. It is also known as the Lobster nebula and I personally think this is the best description. As with all emission nebula NGC 6357 is home to many young hot stars. It is also home to three large star clusters with Pismis 24 being the largest containing about 800 stars at an age of 1-3 million years. NGC 6357 is illuminated by several large young stars. These stars are also responsible for carving out the many shapes seen throughout the nebula. Most of these shapes appear as knotty or wispy structures but there are also a few elephant trunk structures in the nebula which are thought to contain star forming regions.

This image was captured in one night under good conditions with no wind and about 50% humidity. I am at 34 degrees latitude so this target was really low in the South and I was very excited to be able to capture it. I have had it on my to-do list for three years now and I can finally mark it as done.

M101, Messier 101, Pinwheel Galaxy
Messier 101 The Pinwheel Galaxy

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Distance: 23 Million Light Years
Magnitude: 7.9
Size: 22 Arc Minutes
Type: Spiral Type Sc
Telescope: Takahashi TOA-130
Camera: QSI 683
Mount: AP 900
Exposure: L 12×900 Bin 1, R 17×450 Bin 2, G 20×450 Bin2, B 30×450 Bin 2

Messier 101, also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy, is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major. It is about 70% larger than our own galaxy with a diameter of 170,000 light years. It is estimated to contain about one trillion stars with about 100 billion of them similar to our Sun. M101 is a face on spiral galaxy, however the shape of the galaxy is asymmetrical due to gravitational interactions with other galaxies. This is apparent by the offset of the core from the center of the galaxy. M101 also contains over 3,000 HII regions which are gaseous areas illuminated by young bright stars. Most of the HII regions appear on one side of the galaxy and it is thought that the interaction with a neighboring galaxy is the reason. Messier 101 also contains many young star clusters that contain very hot blue stars. This is very apparent in the arms giving the galaxy its bluish color.

This image was captured in two nights. It is very high in the sky at sunset so I was only able to capture about 5 hours per night. I did luminance and red the first night then blue and green on the second night. The image was captured from a dark site with a SQM of 20.69. The conditions were good with clear skies, an average temperature of 60F, and humidity at 50%.

NGC 5139,Omega Centauri
NGC 5139 Omega Centauri

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Distance: 16,000 Light Years
Magnitude: 3.68
Size: 36.3 Arc Minutes
Age: 12 Billion Years
Telescope: Takahashi TOA-130
Camera: QSI 683
Mount: AP 900
Exposure: L 20×60 Bin 1, RGB 20×30 Bin2

NGC 5139 is a globular cluster in the constellation Centaurus. It is the largest globular cluster in our galaxy at 36.3 arc minutes in size which converts to 150 light years across. It is also the brightest globular cluster in our Milky Way galaxy and contains about 10 million stars. I was trying to visualize what the sky would look like from a star inside of this cluster and I found a link to a NASA pdf that gave this explanation:

“All of the stars in the image are cozy neighbors. The average distance between any two stars in the cluster’s crowded core is roughly 13 times closer than our sun’s nearest stellar neighbor, Alpha Centauri. Although the stars are close together, WFC3 can resolve each of them as individual stars. If anyone lived on this globular cluster, they would behold a star-saturated sky that is roughly 100 times brighter than Earth’s sky.”

NGC 5139 contains many types of stars at varying stages of development. This indicates many levels of star formation occurring over a few billion years. One possible explanation for this is that NGC5139 is a captured system from another dwarf galaxy. This is supported by a retrograde motion of the cluster and all stars in the cluster have the same proper motion, rotation, and average radial velocity. Typical of most globular clusters, the Omega cluster contains blue stragglers and variable stars. In addition, there are stars along the main sequence like our own sun and red giants.

This cluster has been a goal of mine for the 3 years that I have been imaging. It sits very low in the sky from 34 degrees latitude and is only visible here for about a month. I was very pleased when I slewed to the target and there was a cluster in my field of view! The only problem was that there was a pipe I use for a wind screen that ran right through the frame. The pipe is permanent and I did not want to cut it to get the shot. I think this is what caused the strange shapes of some of the brighter stars. This cluster was captured in one sitting at a dark sky site with a SQM of 20.69. The conditions were excellent with a clear sky, a temperature of 65F, and humidity at 50%. I was surprised how much was revealed with 60 second exposures.

NGC 5053
NGC 5053

For a full size image click here.

Distance: 56,700 Light Years
Magnitude: 9.47
Size: 10.5 Arc Minutes
Age: 16 Billion Years
Telescope: RC 10” 2000mm FL
Camera: QSI 683
Mount: AP 1100
Exposure: L 11×180 Bin 1, RGB 20×90 Bin2

NGC 5053 is a globular cluster in the constellation Coma Berenices. NGC 5053 appears like a mix of a globular and open star cluster. It is not densely packed even in the core area so it can be easily resolved by large telescopes. A study in 2001 found that NGC 5053 contains 10 RR Lyrae variable stars. An RR Lyrae variable is a star with a pulsating variation in brightness with a cycle of .2 to 1 day. NGC 5053 also contains 28 blue stragglers at last count in 1995. A blue straggler star is thought to be the result of an interaction with another star that leaves the star stripped of its outer layers. This interaction causes the star to appear hotter than what would be possible in an old globular cluster. Another explanation is that they are binary stars in the process of merging and forming a larger hotter star.

An interesting discovery was made while studying NGC 5053. It was found that the cluster was metal poor and dissimilar to other clusters in the Milky Way. One theory for this was that NGC 5053 did not originate in our galaxy but was captured by an ongoing interaction with the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy. This makes sense given its location in the intermediate halo of our galaxy. NGC 5053 is not the only globular cluster in the Milky Way acquired from the interaction with the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy. Some others are NGC 4147, Palomar 2, Palomar 12, and Whiting 1.

This image was captured from my house in a Bortle 6 zone. It took two nights to capture this image due to the ever present marine layer that is common for May in southern California. The first night I captured all of the RGB data and the second night I was only able to capture 11 frames before the sky fogged over. Conditions were not great with humidity in the 80-90% range.