IC 434 - The Horsehead Nebula
This is my second image of the Horsehead. My previous effort had a total exposure time of 50 minutes. The image below is comprised of 19, 300-second subexposures, which were combined for a total exposure time of one hour and thirty-five minutes.
M47
Six, 300-second subexposures were combined to create this 30 minute exposure.
Appearing just 4 degrees south of Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, M41 is a large, bright cluster of about 100 stars, including several red giants. The cluster has been estimated at 240 million years in age and is about 2,300 light years away. It makes an excellent target for small telescopes and binoculars.
Two, 300-second images were combined for a total exposure time of 10 minutes.
NGC 2903
M106
This spiral galaxy appears in Ursa Major and is located about 25 million light years away. It appears in a particularly rich field of galaxies, and has been identified by some astronomers of the Ursa Major Cloud - a large group of galaxies. I have annotated the image below to identify the several dimmer galaxies that appear in the field of view.
This image was composed by combining nine, 300-second images for a total exposure time of 45 minutes.
This is my second image of the Horsehead. My previous effort had a total exposure time of 50 minutes. The image below is comprised of 19, 300-second subexposures, which were combined for a total exposure time of one hour and thirty-five minutes.
M47
This open star cluster appears in the constellation Puppis, close enough to the cluster M46 (see post below) that the two can often be seen together in the same field of view through binoculars. M47 is smaller than M46, containing only about 50 stars and is estimated to be younger as well - about 78 million years old. It is also considerably closer than M46 at a distance of just 1,600 light years.
Six, 300-second subexposures were combined to create this 30 minute exposure.
M41
Appearing just 4 degrees south of Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, M41 is a large, bright cluster of about 100 stars, including several red giants. The cluster has been estimated at 240 million years in age and is about 2,300 light years away. It makes an excellent target for small telescopes and binoculars.
Two, 300-second images were combined for a total exposure time of 10 minutes.
NGC 2903
As dawn approaches, the winter sky begins to give way to the constellations of Spring, now rising just before the sun. NGC 2903 is a fine barred-spiral galaxy, seen at a tilt, in the western part of the constellation Leo. Discovered by William Herschel in 1784 - who thought it to be a nebula - it remains something of a mystery why Charles Messier never included it in his famed catalog. The galaxy is bright enough to have easily been within the capability of his telescopes, and he noted at least four other galaxies in Leo (M65, 66, 95 & 96). Modern astronomers have estimated NGC 2903 to be 20.5 million light years distant.
This image, cropped to enhance the galaxy, is composed of ten, 300-second images, for a total exposure time of 50 minutes.
M106
This spiral galaxy appears in Ursa Major and is located about 25 million light years away. It appears in a particularly rich field of galaxies, and has been identified by some astronomers of the Ursa Major Cloud - a large group of galaxies. I have annotated the image below to identify the several dimmer galaxies that appear in the field of view.
This image was composed by combining nine, 300-second images for a total exposure time of 45 minutes.
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