Tag Archives: Cepheus

NGC 6946, Fireworks Galaxy

NGC 6946, (also known as the Fireworks Galaxy, Arp 29, and Caldwell 12), is an intermediate spiral galaxy about 22.5 million light-years away, in the constellations Cepheus and Cygnus. It was discovered by William Herschel on September 9, 1798. NGC 6946 is highly obscured by interstellar matter of the Milky Way galaxy, as it is quite close to the galactic plane. Ninesupernovae (SN 1917A, SN 1939C, SN 1948B, SN 1968D, SN 1969P, SN 1980K, SN 2002hh, SN 2004et, and SN 2008S) in the last 60 years or so, have been observed in NGC 6946.
There are polarisation data within ranges 0.17-0.18 m and 0.21-0.23 m, observed in 2003 by WSRT.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Ian King Ikharos 8″ RC
Imaging cameras: Atik 460 EX
Mounts: Software Bisque Paramount MX
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Ian King Ikharos 8″ RC
Guiding cameras: Atik 314L+
Software: PixInsight, Software Bisque CCDSoft 5, Software Bisque TheSkyX, iLanga AstroPlanner, Matt Thomas’s CCDCommander
Filters: Baader Luminance 36mm, Baader Red, Green, Blue 36mm
Accessories: Atik EFW2, Innovations Foresight On-axis guider
Dates: June 29, 2014
Frames: 74×600″
Integration: 12.3 hours

Author: Colin McGill
AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI 25 Sep 2014

NGC 7023

The Iris Nebula, also NGC 7023 and Caldwell 4, is a bright reflection nebula and Caldwell object in the constellation Cepheus. NGC 7023 is actually the cluster within the nebula, LBN 487, and the nebula is lit by a magnitude +7 star, SAO 19158. It shines at magnitude +6.8. It is located near the Mira-type variable star T Cephei, and near the bright magnitude +3.23 variable star Beta Cephei (Alphirk). It lies 1,300 light-years away and is six light-years across.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: TPO 8″ Ritchey–Chrétien
Imaging cameras: SBIG ST-8300M
Mounts: Orion Atlas EQ-G
Guiding cameras: SBIG ST-i Planetary and Guide Camera Mono
Focal reducers: CCDT67
Filters: Astrodon Tru-Balance Generation 2 E-Series – LRGB 36mm Round Fil
Accessories: SBIG OAG-8300
Dates: Aug. 26, 2014
Frames:
Astrodon Tru-Balance Generation 2 E-Series – LRGB 36mm Round Fil: 12×600″ -10C bin 1×1
Astrodon Tru-Balance Generation 2 E-Series – LRGB 36mm Round Fil: 18×600″ -10C bin 2×2
Integration: 5.0 hours

Author: Mike Carroll
AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI 05 Sep 2014

The Wizard Nebula

Image Credit & Copyright: Michael Miller

Open star cluster NGC 7380 is still embedded in its natal cloud of interstellar gas and dust popularly known as the Wizard Nebula. Seen with foreground and background stars along the plane of our Milky Way galaxy it lies some 8,000 light-years distant, toward the constellation Cepheus. A full moon would easily fit inside this telescopic view of the 4 million year young cluster and associated nebula, normally much too faint to be seen by eye. Made with telescope and camera firmly planted on Earth, the image reveals multi light-year sized shapes and structures within the Wizard in a color palette made popular in Hubble Space Telescope images. Recorded with narrowband filters, the visible wavelength light from the nebula’s hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur atoms is transformed into green, blue, and red colors in the final digital composite.

APOD NASA 29-Aug-14

Wizard Nebula

NGC 7380 (also known as the Wizard Nebula) is an open cluster discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1787. William Herschel included his sister’s discovery in his catalog, and labelled it H VIII.77. It is also known as 142 in the 1959 Sharpless catalog (Sh2-142). This reasonably large nebula is located in Cepheus. It is extremely difficult to observe visually, usually requiring very dark skies and an O-III filter.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Sky-Watcher ED80 Pro Black-Diamond
Imaging cameras: Canon EOS 1000D / Rebel XS
Mounts: Sky-Watcher HEQ5
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Lunatico EZG60
Guiding cameras: QHYCCD QHY5
Focal reducers: Orion 0.85x Reducer/Corrector
Software: PHD guiding, PixInsight, BinaryRivers BackyardEOS, Bahtinov Grabber
Filters: Astronomik CLS CCD clip in
Accessories: Xap Refrigeración Canon
Dates: Aug. 11, 2013
Frames: Astronomik CLS CCD clip in: 20×600″ ISO800 6C
Integration: 3.3 hours
Darks: ~20
Bias: ~20

Author: Alberto Pisabarro
AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI 17 Aug 2014

NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula

Image Credit & Copyright: Jimmy Walker

These clouds of interstellar dust and gas have blossomed 1,300 light-years away in the fertile star fields of the constellation Cepheus. Sometimes called the Iris Nebula, NGC 7023 is not the only nebula in the sky to evoke the imagery of flowers, though. Still, this deep telescopic view shows off the Iris Nebula’s range of colors and symmetries in impressive detail. Within the Iris, dusty nebular material surrounds a hot, young star. The dominant color of the brighter reflection nebula is blue, characteristic of dust grains reflecting starlight. Central filaments of the dusty clouds glow with a faint reddish photoluminesence as some dust grains effectively convert the star’s invisible ultraviolet radiation to visible red light. Infrared observations indicate that this nebula may contain complex carbon molecules known as PAHs. The pretty blue petals of the Iris Nebula span about six light-years.

APOD NASA 02-Aug-2014

Ou4: A Giant Squid Nebula

Image Credit: Romano Corradi (IAC),
Nicolas Grosso, Agnès Acker, Robert Greimel, Patrick Guillout

A mysterious, squid-like apparition, this nebula is very faint, but also very large in planet Earth’s sky. In the mosaic image, composed with narrowband data from the 2.5 meter Isaac Newton Telescope, it spans some 2.5 full moons toward the constellation Cepheus. Recently discovered by French astro-imager Nicolas Outters, the remarkable nebula’s bipolar shape and emission are consistent with it being a planetary nebula, the gaseous shroud of a dying sun-like star, but its actual distance and origin are unknown. A new investigation suggests Ou4 really lies within the emission region SH2-129 some 2,300 light-years away. Consistent with that scenario, the cosmic squid would represent a spectacular outflow of material driven by a triple system of hot, massive stars, cataloged as HR8119, seen near the center of the nebula. If so, this truly giant squid nebula would physically be nearly 50 light-years across.

APOD NASA 18-Jul-14

NGC 7023 Iris Nebula

Author: Colin McGill

AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI 01 July 2014

The Iris Nebula in a Field of Dust

Image Credit & Copyright: Mikel Martínez

What flowers in this field of dark star dust? The Iris Nebula. The striking blue color of the Iris Nebula is created by light from the bright star SAO 19158 reflecting off of a dense patch of normally dark dust. Not only is the star itself mostly blue, but blue light from the star is preferentially reflected by the dust — the same affect that makes Earth’s sky blue. The brown tint of the pervasive dust comes partly fromphotoluminescence — dust converting ultraviolet radiation to red light. Cataloged as NGC 7023, the Iris Nebula is studied frequently because of the unusual prevalence there of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), complex molecules that are also released on Earth during the incomplete combustion of wood fires. The bright blue portion of the Iris Nebula spans about six light years. The Iris Nebula, pictured above, lies about 1300 light years distant and can be found with a small telescope toward the constellation of Cepheus.

APOD NASA 24-Jun-14

Wizard nebula in Cepheus

Located only 8,000 light years away, the Wizard nebula surrounds developing open star cluster NGC 7380. Visually, the interplay of stars, gas, and dust has created a shape that appears to some like a fictional medieval sorcerer. The active star forming region spans 100 about light years, making it appear larger than the angular extent of the Moon. The Wizard Nebula can be located with a small telescope toward the constellation of Cepheus. Although the nebula may last only a few million years, some of the stars being formed may outlive our Sun.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Takahashi TOA-150
Imaging cameras: QHYCCD QHY 11
Mounts: Software Bisque Paramount MX
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Astro-Tech TSAPO65Q
Software: Maxim DL, PixInsight LE, CCDStack2
Filters: Baader LRGB Ha SII OIII 2″
Accessories: SBIG STI
Dates: Aug. 5, 2013
Frames: 32×1200″
Integration: 10.7 hours

Author: Steve Yan

AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI
05 May 2014

NGC 7822 in Cepheus

NGC 7822 is a young star forming complex in the constellation of Cepheus. The complex encompasses the emission region designated Sharpless 171, and the young cluster of stars named Berkeley 59. The complex is believed to be some 800-1000 pc distant, with the younger components aged no more than a few million years. The complex also includes one of the hottest stars discovered within 1 kpc of the Sun, namely BD+66 1673, which is an eclipsing binary system consisting of an O5V that exhibits a surface temperature of nearly 45000 K and a luminosity ~100000 times that of the Sun. The star is one of the primary sources illuminating the nebula and shaping the complex’s famed pillars of creation-type formations, the elephant trunks.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Williams Optics Megrez 72
Imaging cameras: Starlight Xpress SXVR-H9
Mounts: Sky-Watcher HEQ5 PRO
Guiding cameras: Starlight Xpress CoStar
Focal reducers: William Optics FF/FR VI
Software: PixInsight 1.8, StarTools, PHD guiding, Nebulosity 3, EQMac
Filters: Baader OIII 8.5nm 2″, Baader Ha 7nm 2″
Frames:
Baader Ha 7nm 2″: 19×1200″ -15C
Baader OIII 8.5nm 2″: 37×1200″ -15C
Integration: 18.7 hours

Author: Epicycle

AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI
29 April 2014

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