Tech Specs: Williams Optics Redcat 51 APO, Celestron CGEM-DX mount (pier mounted), ZWO ASI071MC-Pro, Optolong L-eNhance 2” filter, each panel was 60 x 60 second exposures at a GAIN of 200, one hour total exposure with dark/bias frames, guided using a ZWO ASI290MC and Orion 60mm guide scope. Captured using Sequence Generator Pro (SGP) v3.03. Image date: November 25, 2019. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA.

Thor’s Helmet (NGC 2539, Sh2-298, Gum 4) is an emission nebula in Canis Major. The powerful Wolf-Rayet star WR7 near the centre of the nebula is causing the gases to glow. That star is thought to be in a brief pre-supernova stage, and could explode in the cosmically-not-too-distant future. This object is thought to be similar to the Bubble Nebula, but the energy from WR7 has blown the gas in Thor’s Helmet into more complex shapes.  Thor’s Helmet also contains much more oxygen structures than the Bubble Nebula. Oxygen gives the teal-coloured structure; hydrogen provides the reds. This nebula contains hundreds of solar masses of ionized gases (the gases that are glowing), along with hundreds of thousands of solar masses of unionized material. The age of the nebula is uncertain, with estimates ranging from 78,500 to 236,000.

This data used to create this image was acquired from Yass, New South Wales, Australia by my friend, expert astrophotographer Martin Pugh. Thank you Martin!

Tekkies: 

SBIG STXL-11002 camera, Astrodon Ha, O3, R, G and B filters, Planewave 17″ CDK, Paramount ME. Equipment control with the SkyX, scripted with CCDAutopilot. All pre-processing and processing in PixInsight, except that master calibration frames were made using CCDStack. Data Acquired by Martin Pugh, from Yass, NSW, Australia. 

3x10m R and B, 4x10m B, 18x20m Ha and 13x30m O3 unbinned frames (total=14hr10m). 
Image scale is 0.63 arcsec per pixel for this camera / telescope combination.

Copyright: Ron Brecher

Lobster Claw (Sh2-157), Bubble Nebula, and More

Scope: Takahashi FSQ-106EDX IV
Camera: QSI 683wsg-8
Mount: Software Bisque Paramount MX+
Ha: 35x900" -20C bin 1x1
Astrodon OIII: 22x900" -20C bin 1x1
Astrodon SII: 20x900" -20C bin 1x1
Integration: 19.2 hours

Copyright: Craig Patterson

In this capture you can find the emission nebula (M42), a combination of emission and reflection nebula (IC434) and the reflection nebula (M78). Other objects can be found in addition to the three main actors in the photograph. Down under the capture details I named all objects in the field I am familiar with.

This picture shows emission nebula (M42), a combination of emission and reflection nebula (ic434) and a pure reflection nebula (M 78).

List of objects:
M42, NGC1975 (Running Man), NGC1981, NGC1999, IC430, Orion AD N Complex, IC434, NGC2024, NGC2023, IC432, NGC1990, CR70, M78, NGC2071

Stars:
Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka

Tech.Details:

Scope: William Optics Spacecat 51
Cam: Nikon D810 Astrocool
Filter: Hutechidas Lps D1
Exif.: 55 x300" ISO 1600

Image Copyright: JN-Astrophotography

The Blinking Nebula, NGC 6826 (Caldwell 15, PK 83+12.1) is a planetary nebula located in the constellation Cygnus.

The nebula is located at a distance of about 2000 light years, the central part has a visible size of 27″x 24″ and a visual magnitude of 8.8m.

Date taken in August 2019.

R-channel - 158 x 5 sec. bin 1x1;
G-channel - 158 x 5 sec. bin 1x1;
B-channel - 158 x 5 sec. bin 1x1;
Ha- 38 x 600 sec. bin 1x1;
OIII- 36 x 600 sec. bin 1x1.

Total integration time about 13 hours.

Setup: Telescope 8" Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain (SCT) CPC800 GPS (XLT) on the equatorial wedge, focal reducer Starizona 0.75x, Feq.= 1626mm, camera Starlight Xpress Trius SX694, SX mini filter wheel, filters Astrodon LRGB E-series gen.2, Astrodon Ha 5nm, Astrodon OIII 3nm.

Capture and processing software: MaxIm DL6, PHD2, PixInsight, StarTools, Photoshop CC, Zoner photo studio 14.

North at the top.

Copyright : Boris Vladimirovich

This image is a small part of the Taurus Molecular Cloud centered near the variable star 44 Tauri.
Below star 44 Tau extends through center of field the large faint nebula called IC 360. Lower center and left are bright dusty nebulas Barnard 208 and B 210. Center right is located LBN 777 also known as the Baby Eagle nebula. In the upper left are B 209, B 211 and B 10.

• Object:    IC 360, LBN 777, B 208, B 209, B 210, B 211.

• Exposure:   22 x 300s (L) + 12 x 300s (R) + 12 x 300s (G) + 12 x 300s (B).

• Processing:    PixInsight Core 1.8.

• Telescope:    Takahashi FSQ-106EDX3 on EM-200Temma2M. Seletek Armadillo / Focusmax.

• Camera:    Andor Apogee U16M / AFW-50-7S ( - 20ºC ). Astrodon E-Series genII filters.

• Guiding:    FS-60CSV, QHY-5, PHDguiding.

• Date:    2ndof December 2019

• Copyright: Iñaki Lizaso