Messier 33. Originally Posted on December 6, 2021

 Messier 33 (AKA the Triangulum Galaxy) is 2.72 million light years away. It was one of the first "spiral nebulae" discovered by Lord Rosse in 1850. For decades, there was debate as to whether these objects were nebulae in our own galaxy, or were independent of it. In 1922-23, variable stars were discovered in the nebula, and in 1926, Edwin Hubble found that a number of these were Cepheid variables. Cepheids are "standard candles" in astronomy--their true brightness is a function of the periodicity of their variability. Cepheids can therefore allow us to estimate distances. Hubble was able to demonstrate that M 33 was not nebulosity in our own galaxy, but was a separate galaxy (or "island universe" as they were then called) of stars, gas, and dust.

This image was taken through high cloud and haze with the RASA. It is a stack of 60 x 90s integrations.

Messier 31. Originally Posted December 4, 2021

 At 2.25 million light years away, Messier 31 (the Andromeda Galaxy) is usually regarded as the furthest object visible to the unaided human eye. However, some people have reported seeing Bode's Galaxy (12 million light years away) under exceptionally dark skies.

M31 is the closest galaxy to ours and, in fact, the two are on a collision course! In 4-5 billion years, they will merge together, eventually forming a large eliiptical or lenticular galaxy. Collisions between stars are very unlikely as the space between them is very large. However, the collision is likely to start a round of intense star birth. Night skies will likely be spectacular, from the right viewing points. M31 is home to about 1 trillion stars and is physically larger (but has about the same mass) as our galaxy. This image was created from 50 x 90s integrations with the RASA 8 telescope.

The Heart Nebula. Originally Posted November 24, 2021

 I found some time to reprocess the Heart Nebula images I took earlier last month. The result is an image that pops a little more with additional subtle detail. I've also included an astrometry identification of image features and a zoom of the "heart of the Heart," the Melotte 15 cluster.

The Soul Nebula. Originally Posted November 24, 2021

 I posted a couple of images of the Soul Nebula earlier (NOTE: These posts were not copied to this blog). Here is a fully reprocessed image, with an astrometry image based on the Hydrogen Alpha channel (a monochrome image). The astrometry image shows a number of other objects associated with the nebula. The Soul is an emission nebula in a huge star-forming region. The stellar winds from young stars energize the nebula and make it glow. In the closeup image, (the heart of the Soul :) you can see dark nodules silhouetted against the nebula; these are Bok Globules and new stars are forming within them. Note also close to the darkest and most prominent globule, trunk-like and pillar-like structures. These are also the birth places of stars. The red coloring of the nebula comes from hydrogen ionized by the young, blue-white stars in the nebula. The faint bluish coloring comes from reflected light.

The Lobster Claw and Other Objects. Originally Posted November 23, 2021.

 The wide field of the RASA scope can produce some spectacular results, as in this image of the Lobster Claw Nebula with several other objects (including the Bubble Nebula) visible. The Bubble is an emission nebula. The "soap bubble" is caused by stellar winds from a massive, hot, young star in its center. The image below it is a "plate solved" image which labels all the prominent objects. (Note: I made some edits to this image using a new tool, which greatly improved it.).

The Cave Nebula. Originally Posted November 11, 2021

 The Cave Nebula (Sh2-155), is a faint nebula in the Constellation of Cepheus. From Wikipedia: Sh2-155 lies at the edge of the Cepheus B cloud (part of the Cepheus molecular cloud), and is ionized by young stars from the Cep OB3 association. It has been suggested that radiation from the hot O-type star HD 217086 is compressing the region, triggering the formation of a new generation of stars.[9] A study of the region's young stellar objects by the Chandra X-ray Observatory and Spitzer Space Telescope shows a progression of stellar ages in front of the cloud, supporting the hypothesis of triggered star-formation. I've also included a "close up" image of the nebula that shows a little more fine detail.

This image is a stack of 62 x 70s exposures at gain 8 on a Mallincam DS10C camera. NBZ filter; RASA 8 astrograph. Captured in NINA and processed in Siril, Affinity Photo and M'soft Photo.

Harry Potter and the Golden Snitch. Originally Posted November 10, 2021

 The Wizard Nebula (aka Harry Potter and the Golden Snitch) is an open cluster of young stars and associated nebulosity. It was discovered by Caroline Herschel, sister of the famous astronomer, William Herschel. At the center of the cluster are two massive O-type stars. These stars are ionizing the region and driving star formation in the nebula. This image is a combination of 80 x 70s images, processed more heavily and cropped than the last image. This process increased noise a little, but brought out significant detail in the nebulosity. Taken with the RASA and NBZ filter.