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NGC 404 - This is a small, face on lenticular galaxy about 10 million light-years away in Andromeda. It is just 7 arc-minutes from the 2nd magnitude star, Gamma Andromedae, making it difficult to view and image.
Telescope: Meade 8” LX200R @ f/7.2 Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro Autoguiding: Starlight Xpress OAG with Lodestar II using PHD2 Exposure: 63 X 1 minute = 1 hr 3 sec |
IC 63 - Also called the Ghost of Cassiopeia it is a nebula 550 light-years away composed of gas and dust that is being bombarded by radiation from gamma Cassiopeia, a magnitude 2.5 star just of the bottom right of this frame. That radiation is ionizing hydrogen, which then glows red, and it is reflecting from the dust, which gives the blue cast.
Telescope: Meade 8” LX200R @ f/7.2 Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro Autoguiding: Starlight Xpress OAG with Lodestar II using PHD2 Exposure: 36 X 5 minutes = 3 hr |
van den Bergh 137 - This is a nice reflection nebula in Cygnus. It about 2° north of Deneb and is illuminated by the magnitude 5.7 star in the center of the image. It is in a very colorful star field and there is a faint brown dust cloud on its outer edge.
Telescope: Meade 8” LX200R @ f/7.2 Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro Autoguiding: Starlight Xpress OAG with Lodestar II using PHD2 Exposure: 37 X 5 minutes = 3hr 5 min |
V1982CYG - This is a region in Cygnus just north of Deneb. There is a dark interstellar cloud on the right half of this image. My targets are the small reflection nebula at the center of the field and the star at the upper right corner of that nebula. That star is V1982CYG which is an example of a Herbig Ae/Be star. These stars are very young and are still in gravitational collapse. They are not yet fusing hydrogen. Also they are still surrounded by the gas and dust from which they are being formed as evidenced by the reflection nebula. You can get a full discussion of Herbig Ae/Be stars here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbig_Ae/Be_star .
The reflection nebula near V1982CYG is Gyulbudaghian 98-171. In addition to Gyulbudaghian 98-171 there are 2 other small reflection nebulae in this field. They are cataloged in the Merged Reflection Nebula Catalog (MCRN) as indicated. Telescope: Meade 8” LX200R @ f/7.2 Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro Autoguiding: Starlight Xpress OAG with Lodestar II using PHD2 Exposure: 30 X 5 minutes = 2 hr 30 min |
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NGC 5905 and 5908 - NGC 5905, upper right, and 5908, lower left, are about 140 million light years away in Draco and are about 0.5 million light years apart. No gravitational interactions are evident. They nicely show two orthogonal views of spiral galaxies.
Telescope: Meade 8” LX200R @ f/7.2 Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro Autoguiding: Starlight Xpress OAG with Lodestar II using PHD2 Exposure: 22 X 5 minutes = 1 hr 50 min |
Arp 261 - This is a pair of colliding galaxies in Libra. As they rip at each other apart they are moving away from us at over 1800 km/sec. The small galaxy above Arp 261 is PGC 52943. The ESO VLT (Very Large Telescope) has an 8.2 meter mirror. I have a 0.2 meter mirror.
Telescope: Meade 8” LX200R @ f/7.2 Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro Autoguiding: Starlight Xpress OAG with Lodestar II using PHD2 Exposure: 20 X 5 minutes = 1 hr 40 min |
Hanny’s Voorwerp (IC 2497) in Leo Minor - This unusual patch of green gas near galaxy IC 2497 is named to honor Hanny van Arkel, the Dutch school teacher who discovered it. It is thought that it is a quasar ionization echo in which a violent outburst from a quasar in the galaxy ionizes oxygen in the gas which then glows green as it recombines. Several others have been found.
Telescope: Meade 14” LX200R @ f/7 Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro Autoguiding: Starlight Xpress OAG with Lodestar II using PHD2 Exposure: 13X 10 minutes = 2 hrs 10 min |
IRAS 20324+4057 - This small region of gas and dust is in the early stages of star formation. Strong winds of ultraviolet radiation from nearby hot stars are shaping it into a cosmic worm and causing it to glow.
Telescope: Meade 8” LX200R @ f/7.2 Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro Autoguiding: Starlight Xpress OAG with Lodestar II using PHD2 Exposure: 31X 5 minutes = 2 hrs 35 min |