The Great Orion Nebula can be seen with the naked eye as the middle “star” in Orion’s sword. It is one of the nearest stellar nurseries to Earth, lying at a distance of about 1,300 light-years. The nebula spans 24light-years. The group of four stars at its core is known as the Trapezium. This nebula is one of the most photographed objects in the sky, but imaging processing is challenging because the core is thousands of times brighter than the faint outer regions. This image is a composite of long exposures to show the faint outer regions and short exposures to reveal details in the core.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14

Camera: SBIG STL 11000 with Baader Planetarium LRGB filters.

Dynamic image with multiple exposures combined.

This object is formally known as Pickering’s Triangle, named after Edward Pickering, director of the Harvard College Observatory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is part of the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant lying between the Veil and Witch’s Broom Nebulae. Edward Pickering was a progressive visionary for his time, employing over 80 women at the observatory, including several who made substantial contributions to astronomy, like Annie Jump Cannon, Antonia Maury, Celia Payne, and Willamina Fleming. This part of the supernova was actually discovered on a photographic plate by Willamina Fleming but, as was the custom of the time, the credit went to Pickering. Hence, I like to call it Picker-Flem-ing’s Triangle.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14

Exposures: Ha:R:G:B=690:210:190:225 minutes=21 hours, 55 minutes total exposure at f/7.2.

This image was published in the June, 2020 issue of Astronomy magazine.

Messier 17 is an emission nebula and star forming region lying about 5,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius. It may have more nicknames than any other nebula. It is known as The Swan Nebula because the bright central portion looks like a swan swimming on water with neck and head arching around the dark nebula near the center, with wings and tail behind, and a water line below. The neck and body of the swan look like a check mark, particularly through telescopes, so it is also known as The Check Mark Nebula. The bright portion wrapped around the dark nebula resembles a capital Greek letter omega, giving it the name The Omega Nebula. Similarly, a capital omega looks like a horseshoe, which lends the name The Horseshoe Nebula.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14

Exposures: Ha:R:G:B = 450;20:30:30= 9 hours, 10 minutes total exposure at f/7.5.

This image was published in the January, 2022 issue of Astronomy magazine.

M16, the Eagle Nebula, is very difficult to photograph from Pommier Observatory, as it is low on the southern horizon requiring it to be imaged through a great deal of atmosphere and then only intermittently when it appears between tall trees. The hydrogen-alpha filter and the adaptive optics were used to try to mitigate the atmospheric effects as much as possible. For a description of this object, please see the LRGB image of M16 in Nebulae.

Exposures: Ha:R:G:B=270:60:50:50 minutes=7 hours, 10 minutes total exposure at f/7.5.

Sh2-173 is an emission nebula lying 8,800 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia. It is part of the Perseus arm of our Milky Way Galaxy. Its shape and dark dust clouds bear a resemblance to the mask worn by the Phantom of the Opera in the Broadway musical or the film starring Lon Chaney. Hence it is commonly referred to as the Phantom of the Opera Nebula.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14

Exposures: Ha:R:G:B=1020:45:145:145 minutes = 24 hours, 15 minutes total exposure at f/7.5.

Barnard 347 is a dark nebula near the star Sadr (gamma Cygni), the center star in the Northern Coss. B347 is backlit by the red emission nebula IC 1318, which is also known as The Butterfly Nebula. B347 is superimposed on the southern wing of the butterfly. The dark lane at lower left is a portion of LDN 889, which forms the body of the butterfly. The distance to IC 1318 is 3,800 light years, so the distances to B347 and LDN 889 must be somewhat less than that.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14

Exposures: Ha:R:G:B = 480:120:100:90 minutes = 13 hours, 10 minutes total exposure at f/8.3.

This image was published in the July, 2023 issue of Astronomy magazine.

Sharpless2-171 is part of a bigger nebula, NGC 7822, in Cepheus. It is an emission nebula with elephant trunks, or pillars, carved by stellar winds of the hot bright stars within the nebula. However, to me, this nebula looks like a teddy bear staring straight at us from space. The two brightest stars are its eyes, it has large, round red ears, a brown nose, and an inverted V-shaped mouth line. Michael Bakich, photography editor of Astronomy magazine, agreed with me and published this image as “The Teddy Bear Nebula”.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14

Exposures: Ha:R:G:B=630L130:130:115=16 hours, 45 minutes total exposure at f/7.5.

This image was published in the December, 2019 issue of Astronomy magazine.

NGC 7129 is a dim nebula in the constellation Cepheus. It is remarkable in that portions of it are an emission nebula emitting light of the hydrogen-alpha wavelength. But most of it is a blue reflection nebula as a result of dust scattering blue light from stars, much as scattered sunlight in our atmosphere makes the sky blue. Still other portions of it are a dark nebula due to dust clouds obscuring what is behind them. But that is not all. The nebula exhibits several bright red Herbig-Haro objects where very young stars are still in the process of forming. The dark nebula around NGC 7129 is LDN 1181 and the dark nebula trailing off into the lower right corner of the image passing the bright blue star is LDN 1183. NGC 7129 lies 3,300 light years from Earth.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14 .

Exposures=Ha:L:R:G:B=870:460:200:190:190 minutes=28 hours, 40 minutes total exposure at f/7.2.

The Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888, Caldwell 27, Sharpless 105) is an emission nebula that lies 5000 light-years from Earth in a crowded region of the Cygnus Milky Way. The nebula arises from the bright star near the center of the image, which is the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 (HD192163). Wolf-Rayet stars are massive, extremely hot stars which throw off tremendous amounts of mass in the form of stellar winds at high velocities near the end of their lives. The nebula forms because this material is colliding with slower moving stellar winds ejected 400,000 years earlier during the stars red giant phase, creating a shock wave, high temperatures, and spectral emission lines.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14 .

Exposures: Ha:L:R:G:=240:235:130:130:130=14 hours 25 minutes total exposure at f/7.5

Sh2-136 is a reflection nebula also known as The Ghosts of Cepheus because parts of the nebula resemble translucent ghosts rising out of the dust cloud. Also of interest is the brighter V-shaped projection at the right end of the dust cloud. This is part of a bipolar outflow that is being ejected at right angles to the spinning accretion disk of a protostar forming within the nebula. Light from the protostar can be seen at the vertex of the V and the opposite bipolar outflow coming out the far side of the cloud can just be seen as a projection behind the yellow star. The nebula spans about 2.5 light-years and lies about 2,500 light-years from Earth. The ghosts are incredibly faint, barely brighter than the background sky in Portland, so this image required more than a day of total exposure to make them visible.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14, SBIG AO-L adaptive optics at 8 Hz.

Exposures: L:R:G:B =910:220:220:220 =26 hours 15 minutes total exposure at f/7.2. This image was published in the October, 2019 issue of Astronomy Magazine.

NGC 6820 is a star forming region in the constellation Vulpecula, the fox. It is one of the rare regions in the sky that shows all three types of nebulae, red emission, blue reflection, and dark, within a single frame. The nebula has already spawned the bright cluster of hot blue stars, NGC 6823 in the center of the image. Stellar winds from this cluster are sculpting various pillars of gas and dust within the cloud, including one long, large dark elephant trunk of dust to lower left of center. This is one of the largest such structures visible from Earth and appears much larger than the famous “Pillars of Creation” in M16, the Eagle Nebula, yet hardly anyone is aware of this much better example. The nebula and cluster lie 6,000 light-years from Earth.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14

Ha:R:G:B = 600:170:170:170 = 18 hours 30 minutes total exposure at f/7.5.

This dark nebula lies about one -third the distance from Sadr (gamma Cygni) to the Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888). I christened it The Dementor Nebula because its dark, tattered, veil like appearance reminded me of the characters in the Harry Potter films. The photography editor of Astronomy magazine, Michael Bakich, liked the name and published it along with the expected byline, “Expecto Patronum”. Its official designation is LDN 881.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: Ha:R:G:B = 510:90:80:70 = 12 hours 30 minutes total exposure at f/7.5.

This image was published in the August, 2018 and the July, 2023 issues of Astronomy magazine.

NGC 281 is an HII emission nebula in Cassiopeia also known as the Pacman Nebula due to its resemblance to the video game character. The central star cluster is IC 1590 which is an OB association of hot, young blue supergiant stars. The brightest stars are part of a 5-star system. Fierce stellar winds from these stars are sculpting numerous elephant trunk projections along the periphery of the visible nebula, analogous to the pillars of creation in the Eagle Nebula. The trunks all point toward the central star cluster. Numerous Bok globules are seen in silhouette against the nebula as well as a large dust cloud, also eroded by stellar winds, that represents the Pacman's mouth. The nebula lies 10,000 light-years from Earth.  Ha:R:G:B=660:180:180:180=20 hours total exposure at f/8.3.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

This image was published in the August 2016 issue of Astronomy Magazine. 

The Iris Nebula (Caldwell 4) is a reflection nebula in Cepheus 1300 light-years from Earth. Within, we see a hot newborn star, HD2000775, of 10 solar masses emerging from a massive dust cloud. It's solar winds have cleared a surrounding bi-lobed zone measuring 5 x 2.5 light years. The surrounding dust scatters the star's visible light, just as our atmosphere scatters sunlight in the sky, rendering the nebula sky blue. In filaments above the star, dust is converting invisible ultraviolet light into visible red light by photoluminescence. The blue nebula is surrounded by dark obscuring clouds of dust. While the Iris nebula is often referred to as NGC 7023, this is not strictly correct. NGC 7023 refers to the associated open star cluster to the west. The correct designation for the nebula itself is LBN 487.  The dust cloud surrounding the nebula is LDN 1174.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: L:R:G:B=360:35:35:35=7 hours and 45 minutes total exposure at f/8.3.

This image was published in the August, 2016 issue of Astronomy Magazine.  It was also selected as an Astronomy Picture of the Day on Astronomy.com. 

The Bubble Nebula lies not far from the open cluster M52 in Cassiopeia. The bubble is formed by stellar winds from the hot magnitude 8.7 central star pushing out material in the large molecular cloud within which the star formed. The star appears off center within the bubble because the nebula is denser on one side than the other, resulting in asymmetric expansion. Intense UV radiation from the star causes the surrounding nebula to glow, particularly at the hydrogen-alpha wavelength. 

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: Ha:L:R:G:B=240:335:60:60:60 = 12 hours 35 minutes total exposure at f/8.3.

This image was published in the October, 2013 and the August, 2016 issues of Astronomy Magazine. It was also selected as Editor's Choice on SkyandTelescope.org. 

The Elephant's Trunk Nebula, IC 1396a, is a small part of the enormous nebula and star cluster IC 1396 in Cepheus. IC 1396 is an HII region in the Milky Way lying 2,400 light years from Earth. The Elephant Trunk itself is a dense, dark globule within IC 1396 that is being illuminated and eroded away by a very massive star off the left side of the image. The massive star is also ionizing and compressing the rim of the Elephant's Trunk, causing it to glow brightly. Star formation is also occurring within the Elephant's Trunk. Solar winds from visible new born stars have cleared a circular region in the center of the globule on the left side of the image, creating the appearance of a curled elephant's trunk. Reflection nebulae are also present, creating colorful contrast.  

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: Ha:L:R:G:B=600:80:160:160:160 minutes =19 hours 20 minutes total exposure at f/8.3. 

This image was published in the October, 2013 and the August, 2016 issues of Astronomy Magazine. 

The Cave Nebula (Sh2-155) lies at distance of 2,400 light-years in the constellation Cepheus. It is a large star-forming cloud of molecular hydrogen spanning approximately 10 light-years. Hot class O and B blue supergiant stars to the upper right of the image are ionizing the cloud's hydrogen gas, causing it to glow at the hydrogen-alpha wavelength of 656.28 nanometers. As their intense light evaporates gas from the cloud surface, it becomes ionized and the fierce stellar winds emitted by those stars blow it back against the cloud, forming a glowing, compressed rim. This pressure also triggers formation of more stars within the cloud. Residual dust within the cloud reflects and scatters the star light, causing portions to appear blue, just as air molecules in our atmosphere scatter sunlight causing a blue sky. This is one of the rare areas in the sky in which all three types of nebulae, red emission, blue reflection, and dark, can be seen within a small area.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: Ha:R:G:B=900:95:95:95 minutes = 19 hours 45 minutes total exposure at f/7.5.

This image was published in the July, 2019 issue of Astronomy magazine.

NGC 6960, also known as the Western Veil Nebula, the Witch's Broom Nebula, and Sharpless 103, is the remnant from a supernova which occurred about 10,000 years ago. It is the counterpart to the Eastern Veil Nebula, NGC 6992. Its amazing filamentary structure is thought to be due to compression of expanding shells of gas as they meet the resistance of the interstellar medium. However, the shells are so thin that, with few exceptions, we see them only where viewed exactly edge-on. The fact that much of what we see as "empty" space is filled with dark dust is evidenced by the fact that more background stars are visible below the nebula than above it. This is because the shock wave has swept the area below the nebula clear of the dust, allowing more background stars to shine through. The bright star, 52 Cygni, is a type K star and is actually a foreground object with no physically association with the nebula.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures:Ha:L:R:G:B=420:205:35:35:35=12 hours 10 minutes total exposure at f/8.3.

NGC 6992, the brightest portion of The Veil Nebula, is the remnant of a supernova that occurred 10-15,000 years ago. Its amazing filamentary structure may be due to compression of expanding shells of gas as they meet the resistance of the interstellar medium. The fact that the nebula is sweeping up interstellar dust as it expands is evidenced by the visibility of more faint stars on the lower right side of the nebula than on the upper left side. 

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

NGC 6914 lies 6,000 light-years away in Cygnus and is a very rare region in which one can see all three classes of nebulae, red emission, blue reflection, and dark obscuring, within a very small expanse of sky. The broad expanse of hydrogen gas is re-emitting red hydrogen alpha light as a result of ionization from the ultraviolet light from several hot stars of the Cygnus OB2 association. These stars also illuminate the blue reflection nebulae of residual dust from their formation. The entire tableau silhouettes numerous dark nebulae also being sculpted by the stellar winds emitted by these stars.  

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: Ha:L:R:G:B=630:90:120:120:120=18 hours 10 minutes total exposure at f/8.3.

NGC 7380, The Wizard Nebula, also known as Sh2-142, lies 7,200 light-years from Earth. The intense ultraviolet light from the cluster of hot, blue, type O and B stars born of this molecular cloud, are ionizing the surrounding hydrogen, which then re-emits light at the hydrogen-alpha wavelength of 656.28 nanometers, in the red part of the spectrum. Fierce stellar winds from the stars are also sculpting the gas and dust in the nebula into numerous bizarre shapes. Also, one of the stars above the center has evolved into a Wolf-Rayet star, which has even stronger stellar winds capable of blowing a bubble in the surrounding nebula.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: Ha:L:R:G:B=360:100:50:50:50=10 hours 10 minutes total exposure at f/8.3.

This image was published in the August, 2016 issue of Astronomy Magazine.

IC 5146, The Cocoon Nebula (Sharpless 2-125, Caldwell 19) in Cygnus, is a star-forming nebula that lies about 4000 light-years from Earth. The central star formed about 100,000 years ago. The emission nebula is surrounded by the dark nebula, Barnard 168.  The dark nebula in front of the emission nebula is LDN 1055.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: LRGB=390:60:50:50minutes=9hrs 10minutes total exposure at f/8.3.

This image was selected as an Astronomy Picture of the Day on Astronomy.com. 

M27 lies about 1200 light-years from Earth and has a diameter of about 2.4 light-years. It's expansion rate indicates that the red giant that spawned it erupted between 3000 and 4000 years ago. The white dwarf remanant of the red giant lies at the center of the nebula. This image shows some of the subtle detail inside the nebula.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: LRGB=102:84:84:84=5hours 54minutes total exposure at f/8.3. 

This image was published in the October, 2013 issue of Astronomy Magazine. 

This image shows the "Mexico" and "Gulf of Mexico" regions of NGC 7000, the North America Nebula in Cygnus. The west coast of "Mexico" is the brightest region, known as the Cygnus Wall. It is a highly ionized shock front caused by strong stellar winds forcing the bright hydrogen cloud into an adjacent colder dark cloud to the left. As the cloud is compressed, the stellar winds continue to erode its edges, forming the billowing shapes along the front. This bright region provides stark contrast with the black "Gulf of Mexico" region, formed by dark gas and dust clouds with globules, filaments and wisps of dust dramatically silhouetted against the glowing nebula behind. Deneb may be the source of ionization and stellar winds, placing the nebula at a distance of 1800 light-years.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: Ha:L:R:G:B=300:240:60:60:60=12 hours total exposure at f/8.3.

This image was published in the October, 2013 issue of Astronomy Magazine. 

IC 1805 is known as the Heart Nebula. It is7,500 light-years from Earth in the Perseus arm of the galaxy. Melotte-15 is the star cluster at the heart of the Heart Nebula. It is an OB association of very young, hot, blue supergiant stars that is only 1.5 million years old. Fierce stellar winds from this cluster have blown the enormous bubble within the parent HII region that is the Heart Nebula. The large triangular dust cloud on the bottom left side of the image is the notch in the top of the heart. The stellar winds from Melottte-15 have also sculpted dust clouds in this region of the nebula into numerous interesting V-shaped ridges and other shapes, within which smaller stars are still forming. 

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: HaRGB=450:100:100:100 minutes=12 hours 30 minutes total exposure at f/8.3. 

This image was selected as an Astronomy Picture of the Day on Astronomy.com .

Sharpless 2-101 is an emission nebula known as the Tulip Nebula because it bears a resemblance to the flower in images. It lies 6,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus, the swan. It is the vicinity of well known nebulae such as the Crescent Nebula and the emission and dark nebulae around Sadr, or gamma Cygni. The bright star in the very upper right corner marks the location of Cygnus X-1, one of the first black hole candidates. The bright star is actually HDE 226868 a blue supergiant variable that is Cygnus X-1's companion star. The star betrays the existence of the black hole because it is being whipped around an object every 5.6 days at a radius of 0.2 au. This indicates a mass of 14.6 solar masses in a compact area that can only be explained as a black hole. The black hole is also consuming the companion star. Material being siphoned off the companion star and accelerated as it whirls around the accretion disk is a source of Cyngus X-1's intense X-ray emissions characteristic of a black hole consuming matter. 

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: Ha:R:G:B=510:90:90:90 minutes=13 hours total exposure at f/8.3. 

This image was an Astronomy Picture of the Day on Astronomy.com

Melotte-15 is the star cluster at the heart of the Heart Nebula. It is an OB association of very young hot blue supergiant stars that is only 1.5 million years old. Fierce stellar winds from this cluster have blown the enormous bubble within the parent HII nebula that is the heart nebula. The winds have also sculpted the dust clouds within which other stars are forming into interesting columns and shapes, analogous to the Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula. 

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: Ha:R:G:B= 540:90:80:80=13 hours 10 minutes total exposure at f/8.3.

M27 lies about 1200 light-years from Earth. It's expansion rate indicates that the red giant that spawned it erupted between 3000 and 4000 years ago. The white dwarf remanant of the red giant lies at the center of the nebula. This image includes H-alpha data that show some of the subtle detail inside the nebula, as well as an additional outer shell of nebulosity that extends beyond the Dumbbell's familiar contours. Compare this image to the one shot without hydrogen-alpha. The outer shell is material shed by the red giant star prior to the formation of the classic planetary nebula.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: Ha:L:R:G:B=180:175:84:84:84minutes=10hours 07minutes total exposure at f/8.3.

This image was published in the October, 2013 issue of Astronomy Magazine. 

IC 1318 is an emission nebula lying 3,000 light-years from Earth in the Orion arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. It is rich in dust clouds heavily sculpted by stellar winds. IC 1318 is also known as the Butterfly Nebula and this image covers a portion of the right wing of the butterfly. 

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: Ha:L:R:G:B=450:160:140:90:140 minutes=14 hours 50 minutes total exposure at f/8.3. 

This image was published in the July, 2023 issue of Astronomy magazine and selected as an Astronomy Picture of the Day on Astronomy.com. 

IC 1340, otherwise known as The Bat Nebula and Caldwell 33, is a beautiful portion of the Cygnus loop supernova remnant that reveals delicate wisps and filaments of nebulosity. Sadly, it is often overlooked because of the notoriety of three other portions of the Cygnus loop, namely the Veil Nebula, The Witch's Broom Nebula, and Pickering's Triangle. IC 1340 is the continuation of the Veil Nebula. The nebula lies approximately 1,500 light-years from Earth. 

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: Ha:L:R:G:B=240:160:100:100=11 hours 40 minutes total exposure at f/8.3.

This image was an Astronomy Picture of the Day on Astronomy.com.

The Horsehead Nebula, Barnard 33, is a dark nebula in Orion back lit by the emission nebula IC 434, which glows due to ionization from the nearby hot blue star Sigma Orionis. Stellar winds from Sigma Orionis are pushing the emission nebula outward causing both the striations in the nebula and the billowing shock front where the emission nebula is being compressed against a dark molecular cloud, of which the Horsehead is a persistant protrusion. 

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: Ha:R:G:B=420:80:80:80=11 hours total exposure at f/8.3. 

This image was published in the July, 2023 issue of Astronomy magazine.

his image shows the head (facing right), shoulder and arm region of IC 1848, The Soul Nebula, a star-forming region lying 7500 light-years from Earth. Dark molecular clouds form the right "eye" of the Soul's "face". The "mouth" is comprised of a separate IC object, IC 1871, which has an intriguing structure that looks like a whirling tornado extending off the tip of its triangular cloud.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures:  Ha:R:G:B =900:90:90:80 = 19 hours 20 minutes total exposure at f/8.3.

This image shows a region of the "neck" of The Pelican Nebula, IC 5067 in Cygnus. The image shows an elephant trunk carved by stellar winds of a nearby bright star. Compression of the elephant trunk by the stellar winds has also triggered formation of a low mass star within the tip of the trunk. The protostar is still in the process of forming within a spinning accretion disk.Dynamic forces withing the spinning disk cause material to flow out from opposite sides of the center of the disk in directions perpendicular to its plane. The material is highly collimated into jets. These jets can be seen as delicate tendrils projecting from the tip of the elephant trunk. The jets are bowed back along the axis of the trunk by the same stellar wind that carved the trunk. This object is known as Herbig Haro 555. Other bipolar outflow Herbig Haro (HH) objects, such as HH 563, 564, and 565 are visible along the top of the image.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: Ha:R:G:B=220:80:90:90:90. 

This image was published in the August, 2016 issue of Astronomy Magazine.

A close up view of the head and neck region of the Pelican Nebula in Cygnus (IC 5070).  It shows extensive nebulosity silhouetting a vast network of forking wisps and globules of dark dust. The bright region at lower right along the back of the Pelican's neck is a shock front caused by intrusion of a separate hydrogen cloud, IC 5067. The long elephant trunk extending in front of the neck can be seen to have 2 delicate tendrils extending in opposite directions from its tip. This is material being ejected from opposite poles of a newborn star within the tip of the trunk and is known as Herbig-Haro 555. Exposures: H-alpha:R:G:B=300;100:100:100 minutes =10 hours total exposure at f/8.3.

This image was published in the October, 2013 issue of Astronomy Magazine and selected as Editors' Choice on SkyandTelescope.com.

Barnard 343 is a dark nebula composed of unionized molecular hydrogen and dust lying near Sadr (gamma Cygni). It part of the immense gamma Cygni complex.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: Ha:R:G:B:=900:90:90:80 minutes=19hours 15minutes total exposure at f/8.3.

This image was published in the March, 2017 and July, 2023 issues of Astronomy Magazine.

Close up images of NGC 2024, the Flame Nebula, alone are uncommon. The few that have been published generally have glare and diffraction spikes from the nearby very bright star Alnitak extending over the Flame Nebula. The glare can overwhelm the western side of the nebula and diffraction spikes can cut intrusively through the image. These features detract from the beauty of the Flame Nebula. In this image, I endeavored to portray the Flame Nebula alone using a variety of techniques. These included placing Alnitak just outside the field of view, imaging it with a Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope to eliminate diffraction spikes, handcrafting an extra-long dew shield to exclude as much of Alnitak's glare as possible, imaging in hydrogen-alpha, and using multiple image processing techniques to eliminate any remaining glare, gradients, and internal reflections. The result is an image of just the dramatic Flame Nebula in all its glory, shining amidst the surrounding dark dust clouds. 

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: Ha:R:G:B=270:60:60:60 minutes = 7 hours 30 minutes total exposure at f/8.3. 

This image was selected as Editors' Choice on Sky&Telescope.com and as Picture of the Day on Astronomy.com. 

IC 410 is an emission nebula in Auriga 12,000 light-years away. The nearby cluster of hot blue type O and B stars, NGC 1893 illuminates the nebula and also emits fierce stellar winds that have sculpted it. What were once two thick, majestic pillars of cold gas, like the Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula, have been so heavily eroded by the stellar winds that they now resemble tadpoles. The leading globules of the pillars still remain and represent the tadpoles’ heads. Intense radiation from the stars evaporates cold gas from the surface of the globules, ionizes it, and the stellar winds blow it back against the globules, forming brightly compressed rims. However, the stellar winds have so heavily eroded the pillars that they now resemble wiggling tadpole tails, like celestial windsocks flapping in the stellar breeze.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: Ha:R:G:B=240:60:60:60 minutes = 6 hours total exposure at f/8.3.

NGC 2264 describes several objects in the constellation Monoceros lying about 2,700 light-years from Earth. One is the Christmas Tree star cluster, here lying on its side with the blazing bright blue star S Monocerotis marking its trunk at center left. There is a diffuse red nebula caused by H-alpha emissions from hydrogen gas stimulated by ultraviolet radiation emitted by S Monocertis and the cluster's other blue stars. There are two special star forming regions in the red nebula. At lower right, off the tip of the Christmas Tree, is the Cone Nebula, named for its apparent shape sculpted by fierce stellar winds emitted from the stars. It is a dark molecular cloud within which other new stars are forming. Numerous other sculpted swirls of nebulosity are nearby. At upper left is the Fox Fur Nebula, Sharpless 273, named for the rich textured appearance sculpted by stellar winds in that region. In contrast, the blue nebula is a reflection nebula caused by scattered blue light reflecting off residual dust in a region where stars have already formed. This is one of the rare areas of the sky that include all three types of nebula: emission, reflection, and dark. 

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: Ha:R:G:B=390:90:80:80=10 hours 40 minutes total exposure at f/8.3. 

This little nebula, situated between the North America (NGC 7000) and Pelican (IC 5070) nebulae, has been called the Skull Nebula by some astrophotographers. I, however, think that its shape and bright stars in the position of eyes is much more suggestive of a storm trooper's helmet from Star Wars. As Michael Bakich, Photo Editor of Astronomy Magazine points out, one argument against this is that it lies in our Milky Way, and not in "a galaxy far, far away."

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: HaRGB=720:110:110:110=15 hours 40 minutes total exposure at f/8.3.

This image was published in the July, 2017 issue of Astronomy Magazine. 

This nebula, designated DWB 111, is more commonly known as the Propeller Nebula. It is actually only a small part of a much larger emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus. It is also very faint. 

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: HaLRGB=570:130:130:130=16 hours total exposure with Adaptive Optics @4.5 Hz at f/8.

This image was published in the October, 2017 issue of Astronomy Magazine. 

The Medusa Nebula, also known as Abell 21, is a planetary nebula resulting from gas shed by a dying star during its red giant phase. The braided and twisted filaments of magenta gas are reminiscent of the serpents that comprised Medusa's hair. The remnant of the star, a white dwarf, can be seen at the center of the nebula as a small blue star. This nebula is very faint.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: HaRGB=1020:110:100:100=22 hours 10 minutes total exposure at f/8.3. 

This image was published as a Picture of the Day on Astronomy.com.

IC 1795, often called the Fish Head Nebula, is a star forming region 6,000 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. It is found just off the tip of the Heart Nebula. The bright portion of this nebula also carries the designation NGC 896. The dark nebula in the upper right of the image is LDN 1359.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: Ha:R:G:B=630:190:190:190=20 hours total exposure at f/7.5.

This image was published in the October, 2018 issue of Astronomy magazine.

The Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888, Caldwell 27, Sharpless 105) is an emission nebula that lies 5000 light-years from Earth in a crowded region of the Cygnus Milky Way. The nebula arises from the bright star near the center of the image, which is the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 (HD192163). Wolf-Rayet stars are massive, extremely hot stars which throw off tremendous amounts of mass in the form of stellar winds at high velocities near the end of their lives. The nebula forms because this material is colliding with slower moving stellar winds ejected 400,000 years earlier during the stars red giant phase, creating a shock wave, high temperatures, and spectral emission lines.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures: Ha:L:R:G:=240:235:130:130:130=14 hours 25 minutes total exposure at f/8.3.

This image was published in the October, 2013 and August, 2016 issues of Astronomy Magazine. 

M16, the Eagle Nebula, lies 7000 light-years from Earth, which places it in the Sagittarius arm of the Milky Way galaxy. It is a nebula with notable star forming regions, including the "Pillars of Creation" seen at the center and made famous by the Hubble Space Telescope image. The longest pillar is about 6 light-years long. Another star forming region is "The Spire", which looks like its poised on a pedestal and is oriented horizontally to the upper left of the Pillars of Creation. The Spire is 9 light-years long. 

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14.

Exposures:L:R:G:B=78:36:36:36 minutes=3 hours 06 minutes total exposure.

his image shows dark nebulae and Bok globules silhouetted against NGC 2244, the Rosette Nebula in Monoceros. The Rosette Nebula is a star forming region and blue supergiant stars born out of this nebula, like those seen at top center, are emitting intense ultraviolet radiation that ionizes the remaining hydrogen in cloud, causing it to emit red light at the hydrogen-alpha wavelength of 656.28 nm and blue light at the hydrogen beta wavelength of 486.1 nm. That light also silhouettes remaining dark dust and hydrogen clouds in the nebula. The blue supergiant stars also emit fierce stellar winds that compress the remaining dark clouds and cause them to collapse and form additional new stars. When fragments of these dark nebulae break away and begin to form star systems, they are known as Bok Globules, named after the Dutch American astronomer Bart Bok, who described them in 1947. This images centers on the many dark nebulae and Bok globules visible in this region. The dark feature to the right of center is known as "The Crescent Wrench" and the dark feature below center is known as "The Bug". The latter was imaged by Bok during his research using the 90-inch reflector at Kitt Peak Observatory with long exposures on film amplified by a photomultiplier tube to yield a faint outline of the feature. Happily, we amateurs can now produce highly detailed images of this feature using backyard telescopes and CCD cameras.

Telescope/Mount: Celestron Compustar C14 at f/7.5.

Exposures: Ha_R:G:B = 360:70:70:70 minutes = 9 hours, 30 minutes total exposure.