Imaging Projects
In this blog, I will share the results of all of my imaging projects. The newest will be at the top and the oldest will be further down the stack. Going back in time here is interesting - some of my early stuff was pretty rough - but I did not see it that way at the time - I was thrilled to get anything back that looked like an image! Hopefully, you will see how my work has progressed with time!
IC 5146 - The Cocoon Nebula - 2019 Version
IC 5146, known as the Cocoon Nebula. This is a small star cluster in the constellation Cygnus enveloped in gas and dust clouds. There are dark areas (non-glowing dust blocking light) and bright areas (gases emitted light due to excitation from local stars). This little fellow is only 4000 light-years away.
This was my first attempt on this target, using the first version of my telescope platform for the William Optics 132.
NGC 6960 - The Witches Broom Nebula -2019 Version
NGC 6960 - a small portion of the "Veil Nebula" - also known as the "Finger of God" and "The Witch's broom". This is a super faint fragment of loops of gas more than 3 degrees across that came from a star 20 times more massive than the sun, which blew its lid 8000 years ago. This giant bubble of expanding gas and dust is near the constellation Cygnus.
Very early and crude image - taken in the first few weeks of imaging.
Messier 27 - The Dumbell Nebula - 2019 Version
Messier 27 - the "Dumbbell Nebula". This is a planetary nebula - basically a star that has thrown off its outer shell and we are seeing that gas still expanding around the remaining star. Located in the constellation Vulpecula, M27 is 1360 light-years from Earth.
One of my very first images.
Messier 57 - The Ring Nebula - First Version (2019)
M57 - The Ring Nebula. This is a tiny planetary nebula in Lyra. Probably too small for my imager scope and image scale. Not all that impressive, but I wanted to put it here to document progress later on...
Very first attempt on M57.