October 19, 2009

IC 410

This is an emission nebula in the constellation Auriga appearing close to IC 405 (see below). IC 410 contains an open cluster (NGC 1893) embedded near its center. The cluster is easily spotted with a small telescope, but only long exposure images will reveal the nebula surrounding it.

The above image is comprised of 14, 300-second sub-exposures for a total exposure time of one hour and ten minutes.

M42 - The Great Orion Nebula

M42 is one of the night's sky's most spectacular sights. Easily visible to even the naked eye as a fuzzy star in Orion's sword, M42 is an enormous emission nebula and star-producing region. The nebula is about 25 light years in diameter and is located about 1,350 light years away. It is part of the Orion Molecular Cloud, an extended region of excited hydrogren gas the extends for thousands of light years across the entire area of Orion and Monoceros.

This image is composed of seven, 300-second sub-exposures. M42 appears near the center of the image. Toward the upper right of the image is NGC 1977, sometimes called the Running Man Nebula, a reflection nebula.

Below is a closeup crop of M42 itself.

And a closeup crop of NGC 1977, the Running Man Nebula, named because of the outline of a man discerned by some observers amid the blue and purple clouds of the nebula.

M78

A diffuse reflection nebula, located about 1,600 light years away in the direction of Orion. M78 is easily detected as a fuzzy blob with even small telescopes.

This image is composed of eight, 300-second sub-exposures, for a total exposure of 40 minutes.