2024
The Crab Nebula
M1, the Crab Nebula, is the debris left by the death of a massive star when it exploded in a brilliant flash of light and energy nearly a thousand years ago. We can see many intricate details in the remains left by that supernova – wispy tendrils of gas and dust intertwine illuminated by the intense radiation emitted by the pulsar at its core.
The Skull Nebula
The Skull Nebula is another example of the remains left by a dying Sun-like star that has cast away its outer layers in a cosmic farewell, leaving behind hot, glowing complex shells of ionized gas. I’ve shared examples before of these so-called planetary nebulae, but the Skull is a particularly appropriate nickname for such an object!
The Jellyfish Nebula
The Jellyfish Nebula gets its name from its striking resemblance to the graceful tendrils of a jellyfish swimming through the cosmic sea. It is a testament to the dynamic and chaotic nature of the universe, where destruction begets creation on a mind boggling scale.
The Fossil Footprint Nebula
Here’s an image of NGC 1491 (also designated Sharpless Sh2-206), a faint emission nebula that has an interesting shape. Some sources give it the name Fossil Footprint nebula.
The Andromeda Galaxy
The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is the closest spiral galaxy to our own Milky Way. It is visible to the naked eye as a faint smudge on a dark moonless night; it is impressive in a small telescope; but it takes a long exposure photograph to reveal its full extent and structure.
The Helix Nebula
The Helix Nebula is a stunning example of a planetary nebula -— a glowing shell of ionized gas expelled by a dying star. The star expels its outer layers of gas, leaving only its small, hot core. Radiation from the core energizes that gas, causing it to glow in a rainbow of colors. About 650 light-years away, the Helix is one of the closest and brightest such nebulae.
2023
The Heart and Soul of the Night Sky
Is the heart and soul of our Galaxy located in the northern constellation Cassiopeia? Possibly not, but that is where two bright emission nebulas nicknamed Heart and Soul can be found – soulmates you could say. (Groan)
The Omega Nebula
M17, another vast region of interstellar gas and dust, is most commonly known as the Omega Nebula or the Swan Nebula. The complex measures 15 light-years across and is about 5,000 light-years from Earth.
The Wizard Nebula
The Wizard Nebula is a cosmic cloud surrounding open star cluster NGC 7380. Over the years it has earned its sorcerous nickname because of its similarity in appearance to a medieval magician in a pointed hat. (It does take a little imagination!)
The Tulip Nebula
The Tulip Nebula is a glowing cloud of interstellar gas and dust and gets its name from the flower it appears to resemble in photographs. While a pretty sight itself, the Tulip has an interesting neighbor.
The Trifid Nebula
The Trifid Nebula, M20, is a beautiful gaseous cloud within which new stars are being born. It is one of several spectacular telescopic sights embedded in the summer and autumn Milky Way.
The Eagle Nebula
The Eagle Nebula M16, one of the brightest night sky nebulae, is an area where stars are actively forming. It is filled with dark regions and globules, including a peculiar dark column named the “Stellar Spire”. Of special note are the “Pillars of Creation” made famous by an early (1995) picture from the Hubble Space Telescope. The pillars and spire are collapsing clouds of dust and gas being sculpted by intense starlight from newly formed hot stars.
The Rosette Nebula
The Rosette Nebula is one of the more spectacular nebulae in the night sky. It is a huge cloud of glowing gas heated and ionized by stars created only about five million years ago when a giant molecular cloud collapsed to form a new cluster of stars.
The Odd Couple - Galaxies M82 and M81
These two spectacular galaxies are neighbors, located near the bowl of the big dipper. M82 is an irregular edge-on galaxy that shows red gas and dark clouds. Its neighbor M81 is face-on, and displays stately grand spiral arms.
Thor’s Helmet
I never cease to be amazed at the imagination shown by astronomers over the years in coming up with names to attach to celestial nebulae. Here is a look from last week at Thor’s Helmet, a hat shaped emission nebula with wing-like appendages, more formally known as NGC 2359.
2022
The Triangulum Galaxy
The Triangulum Galaxy (also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy or M33) is the third largest galaxy in our Local Group of galaxies (after the Milky Way and Andromeda). It is about three million lightyears away from us. Hence we enjoy a better view of it than any other galaxy except Andromeda.
The Pelican Nebula
The Pelican Nebula is an emission nebula whose outlines somewhat resemble the namesake bird. The nebula’s appearance is defined by dark dust clouds that outline the pelican’s long bill and eye, and by bright clouds of ionized gas that form the curved shape of the pelican’s head and neck. The pelican’s body and wing are formed by a complex mixture of bright nebulosity intermixed with dark dust clouds, as is the pouch hanging down from the bill.
The Elephant’s Trunk Nebula
The Elephant’s Trunk Nebula (IC 1396A) is a twisted sinuous structure of interstellar gas and dust that we see back-lit and ionized by intense radiation coming from a nearby massive star. Red light from ionized hydrogen makes it stand out amid the other streams and swirls of dark nebulae.
The Iris Nebula
The Iris Nebula NGC 7023 looks like a celestial blossom. It is a bright reflection nebula whose trademark glowing blue color results from the scattered light of its central star.
Pushing my limits - spotting the James Webb Space Telescope
Ever since NASA launched their new James Webb Space Telescope last December I’ve been interested in seeing if it was possible to spot it using my 8-inch backyard telescope and camera. Spoiler alert: Yes I can!
The Cocoon Nebula
The Cocoon Nebula, IC 5146, is a cluster of stars involved in a bright emission/reflection nebula riddled by filaments of dark nebula.
Holes in the Sky????
And now, for something completely different. . .
The Orion Nebula and the Running Man
Here’s a fresh look at the wonderful Orion Nebula complex (M42 and M43) and the neighboring Running Man. Although I have shown both before, this new view shows how they are related to each other. This is also a longer exposure than before and has been processed to reveal additional subtle detail.
A facelift for our second anniversary
It has been two years since I started this blog. My first post (click here to see it) showed the famous Orion Nebula. It seemed to be about time for a little facelift.
The Horsehead and Flame - the big picture
Here’s a fresh view showing both the Horsehead Nebula and the Flame Nebula, two celestial showpieces that are located quite close to each other in the constellation Orion. This past week we had a night with exceptionally clear and transparent skies. I was able to image a couple of new objects as well as take a fresh look at some old favorites. Among my old favorites, I can’t resist reshowing the Horsehead and the Flame.
2021
The Veil Nebula - the big picture
The entire Veil Nebula (also known as the Cygnus Loop) is BIG - it covers over five times the size of the full Moon. My previous three posts were recent images of the three brightest parts of the complex. Here I have mosaicked together five separate older images so you can see the individual parts in relation to each other.
More Veil Nebula - Pickering’s Triangle
The Veil Nebula is the wispy wreckage of a supernova that exploded some eight thousand years ago. Here we see Pickering’s Triangle, yet another portion of the Veil complex, which is located between the east and west portions that we saw previously.
The Western Veil Nebula
The large and extensive Veil Nebula deserves another look. Here we see another separate portion, the western part of the nebula.
The Eastern Veil Nebula
The Veil Nebula is a portion of the wispy wreckage of a supernova that exploded some eight thousand years ago. Here we see the eastern portion.
The Crescent Nebula
Finally, a new object worth sharing: The Crescent Nebula is a faint, loop-shaped nebula forming a partial squashed circle.
Spiral Galaxies from different angles of view
Here are three different faint spiral galaxies that look quite different since we view them from different angles.
The Running Man Nebula
Following a stretch of poor weather, I got a chance to take the telescope out again the other night and got a good look at a somewhat whimsical space ghost - the Running Man Nebula.
A Celestial Valentine - The Heart Nebula
Although I made this picture back in December, I thought it would be appropriate to wait and post it on Valentine’s Day.
Some Celestial Whimsy
Here are three somewhat whimsical objects.
2020
The Christmas Tree Cluster
Merry Christmas! In keeping with the holiday, here is a fresh look at one of my favorite objects, the Christmas Tree Cluster, NGC 2264.
Three More Spiral Galaxies
Here are three attractive galaxies that I was able to observe in the past week or so. You will notice that even though they are all spiral galaxies, they exhibit strikingly different appearance.
The Pelican Nebula
The Pelican Nebula (also known as IC 5070) is an emission nebula whose outlines bear a resemblance to a pelican, giving rise to its name.
Rings in the Sky - Two More Planetary Nebulae
Here are two of the prettiest nebulae in the sky: the Helix Nebula (NGC7293) and the Ring Nebula (M57).
The North American Nebula
The North American Nebula, also known as NGC 7000, is a large emission nebula in the constellation of Cygnus. The name is obvious because the shape of this nebula looks a lot like the continent it was named after.
The Planet Mars at Its Closest and Finest
The planet Mars was closer to earth on October 6 than it will be anytime in the next 15 years. The closer it is, the larger it appears and the more detail can be seen. Close also means bright – if you go out in the evening just after dark these days, you will see Mars as the really bright red object in the southeast, brighter and redder than any other star or planet,
The Planet Jupiter
Now for something completely different! Normally I spend my time observing “faint fuzzies” as amateur astronomers call dim distant objects. But today I decided to share some images of the planet Jupiter, its Great Red Spot and its equatorial belts that I made on Labor Day weekend.
The Dumbbell Nebula
The Dumbbell Nebula M27 (also known as Apple Core Nebula) is a typical planetary nebula about 1300 light-years from us. It was the first such object to be discovered – by Charles Messier in 1764.
The Trifid Nebula
The Trifid Nebula, M20, is a beautiful gaseous cloud within which new stars are being born. It is one of several spectacular telescopic sights embedded in the summertime Milky Way.
The M61 Supernova - postmortem
Last look at Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE
This is a follow-up to my July 29 post. Comet NEOWISE has faded rapidly in the last eight days as it continues to move away from the sun and the earth.
Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE
Now rapidly moving away from both the sun and the earth, Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) was only discovered on March 27 and turned out to be the brightest comet visible from the northern hemisphere since Comet Hale–Bopp in 1997. A week ago it was easily visible to the naked eye, but it has dimmed greatly since then.
The Lagoon Nebula
The Lagoon Nebula, M8, is another remarkable region where new stars are being formed. It is a giant glowing cloud of interstellar gas lit up by nearby stars. It is divided by a dark lane of dust and it also contains an embedded cluster NGC 6530 whose stars have been newly formed from the nebular material.
The Eagle Nebula
M16, the Eagle Nebula, is one of several spectacular objects now coming into view in the summer evening sky. It has been made famous by the Hubble Space Telescope “Pillars of Creation” photograph - easily the most ubiquitous of all Hubble images.
Changes and Improvements
I’d like to call your attention to some changes and improvements to this blog in the past week or so as I try to make the site more enjoyable to browse.
The Pleiades
The Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters and Messier 45, are an open star cluster containing hot middle-aged stars in the constellation Taurus. It is among the star clusters nearest to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky. Most people can see the 6 or 7 brightest stars that form a smallish “dipper” – NOT to be confused with the Little Dipper (Ursa Minor constellation).
The Supernova in Galaxy M61 is Hanging in There
This is an update to my May 16 post. The sky was clear and moonless last Friday night, so I was able to check back in on the M61 supernova. A month later, it has faded only a little bit. I’m happy to report that the “seeing” was better this night, so this image shows somewhat more detail in the galaxy compared to my earlier images.
A field of galaxies near M49
Here is an interesting field of galaxies in the constellation Virgo. The brightest is Messier 49, an elliptical galaxy. It is perhaps five times larger than our Milky Way galaxy and about 60 million light years distant. Since elliptical galaxies have no discernable structure, they just appear as fuzzy blobs.
The Needle Galaxy
NGC 4565, the Needle Galaxy, is one of the most prominent and famous edge-on spiral galaxies in the sky.
The Perseus Double Cluster
Two for the price of one! The Double Cluster consists of two open star clusters, known as H and Chi Persei (also called NGC 884 and 869).
The Andromeda Galaxy
If you’ve ever seen a picture of another galaxy, odds are that it was of this one, the Andromeda galaxy, also known as M31. At a distance of 2.54 million light years from us, it is closer and hence appears larger than any other galaxy (apart from the two Magellanic Clouds in the southern hemisphere that are small satellites of our Milky Way). And it is on a collision course with us and will collide with our Milky Way in about four billion years.
Open Clusters
Scattered mostly along the Milky Way are stellar groupings called open clusters, randomly shaped families of mostly young, hot stars that are all gravitationally bound to each other. Most stars are born in such clusters, containing anything between perhaps twenty to a few thousand stars. All of the stars in a given cluster are about the same age, having formed together from the same nebula.
Globular Clusters
Here are four representative Globular clusters. Globular Clusters are gigantic spherical agglomerations of stars that surround the nucleus of our Milky Way galaxy. Each globular cluster from hundreds of thousands to several million stars, and astronomers believe that the stars is most globular clusters are among the oldest stars in existance, perhaps as much as 10 billion years old.
A New Supernova in Nearby Galaxy M61
This supernova was discovered on May 6. It is expected to continue to brighten for several days before fading away over several weeks.
Two Face-on Spiral Galaxies - A Study in Contrasts
M94 is a face-on spiral galaxy whose spiral arms hug the middle and wind very tightly into the core. It is sometimes called the Cat’s Eye galaxy or the or Croc’s Eye Galaxy. It is about 16 million light years from the Earth. Around the brilliant circular disk is a ring of active star-forming regions, revealed in astrophotography as blue young star clusters. This artifact delineates it from the faded outer ring of an older yellowish stellar population.
Comet C/2019 Y4 ATLAS
Comet C/2019 Y4 ATLAS has been a big disappointment. It was discovered just four months ago, on December 28, 2019. Initially it brightened much more quickly than expected, and there were hopes that it might reach naked-eye visibility in late May when it will pass closest to the sun and to the earth. However its nucleus was observed to fragment by early April, and as a result it started getting dimmer instead of brighter. You can see pictures of the fragments taken by the Hubble Space Telescope by clicking on this link.
The Sombrero Galaxy
The Sombrero Galaxy (also known as M104) is a lenticular galaxy about 31.1 million light-years) from Earth. The galaxy has a diameter of approximately 30% the size of the Milky Way. It has a bright nucleus, an unusually large central bulge, and a prominent dust lane in its inclined disk. The dark dust lane and the bulge give this galaxy the appearance of a sombrero hat. Its large bulge, its central supermassive black hole, and its dust lane all attract the attention of professional astronomers.
The Leo Triplet - Three Galaxies
The Leo Triplet is an interesting group of three mutually interacting galaxies that are often observed and photographed within a single field of view. The Leo Triplet includes spiral galaxies M65 (lower right), M66 (lower left), and NGC 3628 (upper left). This group of galaxies is found in the constellation Leo, all of them are about 35 million light years from the earth.
Galaxy M83
Here is a face-on view of the barred spiral galaxy Messier 83, the southern pinwheel galaxy. (It is believed that our own Milky Way galaxy would look very much like M83 if we could view it from outside, although the Milky Way is about twice as large as M83 is.) Notice the bright central nucleus, the well-formed spiral arms, the central bar, and the dark dust lanes.
The Horsehead Nebula
The Horsehead Nebula consists of a cloud of ionized gas lit from within by young, hot stars; a dark cloud containing interstellar dust lies immediately in front. The dust absorbs the light from part of the ionized cloud. A portion of this dark cloud has a shape somewhat resembling a horse’s head. The nebula is located 1,300 light-years from the Sun.
The Christmas Tree Star Cluster
The Christmas Tree Cluster was named for its triangular shape, formed by a cluster of very young stars, that looks like a tree in visible light. The bright variable star S Monocerotis (near the bottom) marks the base of the Christmas tree and lights up the nearby nebulosity.
The Flame Nebula
The Flame Nebula, designated as NGC 2024, is an emission nebula in the constellation Orion. It is about 900 to 1,500 light-years away.
The Owl Nebula and Surfboard Galaxy
The Owl Nebula (also known Messier 97) is a planetary nebula located approximately 2,030 light years away in the constellation Ursa Major. When William Parsons observed the nebula in 1848, his hand-drawn illustration resembled an owl’s head. It has been known as the Owl Nebula ever since. The nebula is approximately 8,000 years old. It is approximately circular in cross-section with a little visible internal structure. The nebula is arranged in three concentric shells, with the outermost shell being about 20–30% larger than the inner shell. The owl-like appearance of the nebula is the result of an inner shell that is not circularly symmetric, but instead forms a barrel-like structure aligned at an angle of 45° to the line of sight.
Galaxies M81 and M82
Here are two nearby galaxies taken from my back yard with my new astrograph telescope. M81 is face-on and its neighbor M82 is edge-on. Dust clouds in the latter are especially noticeable.
The Whirlpool Galaxy
M51, better known as the Whirlpool Galaxy, is a magnificent face-on spiral galaxy. The Whirlpool Galaxy is interacting with a smaller companion, NGC 5195, a dwarf galaxy connected to its larger neighbour by a tidal bridge of dust. The bridge is visible in images of the pair silhouetted against the central region of the smaller galaxy. It lies at an approximate distance of 35 million light years from Earth.
The Rosette Nebula
The Rosette Nebula (NGC 2237) is a large spherical H II region (circular in appearance) located near one end of a giant molecular cloud in the Monoceros region of the Milky Way Galaxy. The open cluster NGC 2244 is closely associated with the nebulosity, the stars of the cluster having been formed from the nebula’s matter.
The Crab Nebula
M1, the Crab Nebula, is the remnant of the spectacular supernova of 1054.
The Orion Nebula
The Orion Nebula M42 is the most spectacular deep-sky object visible through almost any telescope. Other than the moon, there is no other object in the night sky that reveals as much detail as M42. It is visible to the naked eye as the fuzzy central star in Orion’s sword.