NGC 7635 The Bubble Nebula in Narrowband

This image is the new version of the nebula obtained with data remotely taken between September and November 2024, with Hydrogen alpha, Oxygen III and Sulphur II filters…Read more

NGC 7635 The Bubble Nebula (RGB data from 2012)

NGC7635 also called "Bubble Nebula" (Sharpless 162, Caldwell 11) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia with a very particular "bubble" shape. It is 6 to 10 light years in size, and it was, created by the stellar wind from a central star (SAO 20575, BD+60 2522)…lRead more

IC 5146: The Cocoon nebula

IC 5146 The Cocoon nebula (also known as Caldwell 19, Sh2-125 and Barnard 168) is a nebula in the constellation Cygnus. 

Its distance from us varies according to the sources consulted, ranging from 2500 to 4000 light-years. This beautiful nebula is nearly 15 light-years wide…Read more

M 76 the Little Dumbbell Nebula

Messier 76  (also known as M76, the Little Dumbbell Nebula or NGC650/651) is a planetary nebula in the constellation Perseus. 

This nebula was discovered by the French astronomer Pierre Méchain in 1780, and was included in the Charles Messier's catalogue of comet-like objects as number 76 as a double nebula without stars (for this reason, it was also catalogued as ,…Read more

LBN 251

This image shows a very crowded area in Cygnus. At the centre of the image is LBN 251, whose core is bluish due to a high concentration of ionized oxygen. 

The field shown in the first image (North is up) reveals many other nebulae such as LDN 892, LDN 891, LDN 894,…Read more

Sh2-174 Planetary Nebula

This nebula, popularly known as Valentine Rose Nebula, has both Sh2-174 and PK 120+18.1 as catalogue designations. 

It is therefore an unusual object: the fact that an object shares…Read more

Elephant's Trunk Nebula

IC 1396 is a large and fascinating gas ionized region in constellation Cepheus, 3000 light years from Earth. Among the intriguing dark structures in the interior of IC1396, the Elephant's Trunk Nebula certainly stands out.

The nebula is so named because of …Read more

M16 the Eagle Nebula and the Pillars...

It is a bit unclear for me why, in so many years of imaging, never tried M16 the Eagle Nebula. Maybe the only reason is that there are so many interesting targets and the limitation of time...

Anyway, this season I decided to image it and I devoted three nights to gather data…Read more,

Van den Bergh 152: Halpha added

Widefield image of a region of Cepheus with special interest in van den Bergh 152 (vdB 152, also known as Cederblad 201, or the Wolf's Cave Nebula), the blue reflection nebula on the right-center and Dengel-Hartl 5 (DeHt5, PK 111 +11.1) the planetary nebula on the bottom (a bit on the left), but including also many other interesting objects: LDN1217, LDN1219, B175…Read more,

Van den Bergh 141: The Ghost Nebula

Van den Bergh 141 (VdB141, also designated as Sh2-136) The Ghost Nebula, is a reflection nebula located in the constellation Cepheus. I really like this region of Cepheus and the image I took of it in 2010 has been my desktop wallpaper all these years ... Read more,

Sh2 - 224

Sharpless 2-224 (Sh2-224) is a supernova remnant in the constellation Auriga. Other designations for this object are SNR G166.0+4.3 and LBN 769 (The Sharpless and Lynds designations actually refer to the Ha regions within the remnant)... Read more,

NGC 1788 The Cosmic Bat

NGC 1788 is a reflection nebula located in a corner of the constellation Orion and was first described by William Herschel, who included it in the New General Catalogue (NGC). 

As a reflection nebula, it is illuminated by young stars nesting in its core... Read more,

Sh2-200 (HDW 2)

Sharpless 200 (Sh2-200) is a planetary nebula visible in the constellation Cassiopeia. 

This nebula was first discovered by the American astronomer Stewart Sharpless, who included it in the second edition of his catalogue of H II regions (1959) as Sh2-200... Read more,

Sh2-129 and Ou4 the Squid Nebula.

Since 2011, when the French amateur astrophotographer Nicolas Outters discovered Ou4, the Squid Nebula, I have wanted to photograph it, but until this summer I had not had the chance to do so. 

The image covers a field of almost two degrees... Read more,

Cefeus widefield with Sh2-129 and Ou4

This image started out as an auxiliary image to be taken with my FSQ-106 N to get just some RGB data for the stars for my narrowband image of Sh2-129 and Ou4... 

But, as stated in my previous image, the FSQ is such a nice instrument that I quickly saw that this field deserved an image of its own... Read more

Wolf - Rayet 134 (and WR 135...)

The so-called Wolf-Rayet stars are a rare set of stars that exhibit very uncommon spectra showing outstanding broad emission lines of ionized helium, nitrogen or carbon. Their surface temperatures are between 20.000 K and 200.000 K higher than most other types of stars... Read more

Widefield in Cygnus with Crescent nebula and Wolf-Rayet 134

This image started out as an auxiliary image to be taken with my FSQ-106 N to get just some RGB data for the stars for my narrowband image of WR 134....

But the FSQ is such a nice instrument that I quickly saw that this field deserved an image of its own.

Total exposure time is about 12 hours in 5 minutes sub-exposures... Read more

M 78

M78, also known as NGC2068, is a bright reflection nebula within the Orion molecular cloud complex. This wide-field image also includes the bright nebulae NGC7129, NGC2067 and NGC2064. This group of nebulae is located about 1500 light-years from Earth and many Herbig-Haro objects (energetic jets of forming stars) ... Read more

Iris Nebula (NGC 7023)

NGC7023 (also known as the Iris nebula and Caldwell 4) is a bright reflection nebula located in the constellation Cepheus. Its unusual structure of interstellar gas and dust clouds evokes the image of an iris flower. The dusty blue petals of the Iris nebula spread out over six light-years… Read more

NGC1333 reflection nebula in Perseus molecular cloud

Although NGC 1333 is catalogued as a reflection nebula located in constellation Perseus, it is in fact a more complex object that it is part of the Perseus molecular cloud. It lies approximately 1000 light years away from us and is about 15 light years across… Read more