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The Lagoon Nebula, Messier 8 The Lagoon Nebula, also known as Messier 8 or NGC 6523, is a large emission nebula located about 4,000-6,000 light years away in the constellation of Sagittarius. It is one of only a few such nebulae to be visible to the naked eye.This enormous interstellar cloud is some 110 light years across and is home to numerous dark Bok globules. These are dense collapsing patches of gas and dust where new stars are born. These young stars are not visible until their radiation pressure blows off the surrounding cloud. Bright young O type stars that have already emerged from their cocoons cause the nebula's gas to glow with a distinct magenta colour arising from ionized Hydrogen atoms. In the middle of the brightest portion of Messier 8 lies the bright Hourglass Nebula which is a distinctly shaped patch of nebulosity framed by tornado-like structures half a light-year in length. The star immediately to the left of the Hourglass is Herschel 36 which is thought to be responsible for most of the illumination in the area. The strong stellar winds are tearing the molecular clouds apart and is it believed that the difference in temperature between the hot surface of the clouds and their cold interior, combined with the pressure from the stellar winds is producing strong horizontal shear which twists the clouds into tornado-like shapes. Here is a link to my previous high resolution image of the Hourglass, with Hubble comparison Click here to see the same image in infrared: Lagoon Nebula in Infrared light Image details: Date: 8th and 9th April 2013 Exposure: LRGB: 60:95:56:61m, total Xhrs Xmins @ -29C Telescope: 10" Serrurier Truss Newtonian f/5 Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2 Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand
Hidden Treasures of the Carina Nebula The Carina Nebula (NGC 3372) in Optical Light This image shows the Great Nebula in Carina (NGC 3372) in optical light. This majestic nebula is one of the largest nebulae in the sky and lies about 7,500 light years distant in the Southern constellation of Carina, The Keel. Several star clusters containing some of the brightest and most massive stars known are found here, including the extremely luminous hypergiant star Eta Carinae - one of the prime candidates for the next supernova explosion in our galaxy. Images of the Carina Nebula taken in visible light primarily display the striking magenta colour from glowing Hydrogen gas, as well as large dark obscuring clouds of dust. Some notable features are visible in this high resolution view of the central part of the nebula: Trumpler 14 is one of the youngest and most luminous star clusters in our galaxy. The fierce ultraviolet radiation from its blue giant stars is slowly eroding the surrounding gas and dust away and sculpting huge dark pillars in the process. At the core of the nebula lies the famous Keyhole (upside-down in this view), a constellation of dark clouds and glowing gas that resembles a giant keyhole. Also visible throughout the image are numerous Bok globules, which are small dark clouds where new stars are likely forming. These often appear as small dark specks floating in front of the glowing background gas. The most prominent feature is the unstable hypergiant star Eta Carinae. This, the most luminous star known in our Galaxy, is 100 times more massive than our Sun and 5 million times as bright. The star has entered the final stage of its life and is highly unstable. It is a likely candidate for the next supernova explosion in our galaxy. Eta Carinae produces giant outbursts from time to time, with the small hourglass shaped Homunculus Nebula being the result of the most recent event in 1841. At that time, and despite its large distance of 7,500 light-years, Eta Carinae briefly became the second brightest star in the night sky, surpassed only by Sirius. Image details: Date: 8th, 10th and 11th February 2013 Exposure: LRGB: 24:51:51:51m, total 2hrs 57mins @ -27C Telescope: 10" Serrurier Truss Newtonian f/5 Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2 Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand
Comet C/2012 F6 (Lemmon) This image shows Comet C/2012 F6 (Lemmon) as it appeared on 28th January 2013. Although not a naked-eye object the comet was easily visible in my 12x80 finderscope under a full Moon. I also imaged this comet on 26th and 27th January and it became noticeably brighter during these three days alone. This image was made with the data from 28th January as it showed the faint tail best. Clearly visible are both the thin straight gas tail and the more diffuse dust tail that is curving down towards the left below the gas tail. The comet was moving quite rapidly against the background sky. I measured the movement to be roughly 5 arcseconds per minute. This causes a problem when stacking the data, because either the stars or the comet itself will appear trailed in the final image. To avoid this I had to combine four different stacks of the data. First I used SD Mask in Maxim DL to combine the luminance data aligned om the comet nucleus. This allows for an image of the comet alone and the stars are ignored due to their shifting positions from frame to frame. This was repeated for the RGB data. Then I did another stack aligned on the stars, both for L and RGB. So I ended up with an LRGB of the comet alone and an LRGB of the stars with a smudge from the trailed/blurred comet. In short, I then combined these in Photoshop and selected the stars as a layer over the comet image in order to produce this final image where both the stars and the comet are aligned properly. Click here to see a video showing the comet's movement across the sky: http://www.rolfolsenastrophotography.com/Astrophotography/Solar-System/25329730_h9t78k#!i=2351804678&k=qKsk6BK Image details: Date: 28th January 2013 Exposure: LRGB: 59:6:6:6m, total 1hrs 17mins @ -26C Telescope: 10" Serrurier Truss Newtonian f/5 Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2 Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand
Messier 46 and Planetary Nebula NGC2438 Messier 46 is an open star cluster located approximately 5,500 light years away in the constellation of Puppis. The cluster is around 300 million years old and contains up to 500 member stars within its diameter of 30 light years. The cluster was discovered by Charles Messier on 19th February 1771. It is notable because of the planetary nebula NGC2438 that was discovered by John Herschel in 1833 and seems to lie within its boundaries near the bottom in this image. This is the remains of a very old star that has shedded its outer layers and become a faint white dwarf visible as the small blue point in the very centre of the nebula. The planetary nebula has a different velocity through space than the cluster and is also closer to us at a distance of 3,000 light years, so it is not a true member of the cluster but just happens to lie in the same direction. Image details: Date: 1st January 2013 Exposure: LRGB: 44:12:10:10m, total 1hr 16mins @ -27C Telescope: 10" Serrurier Truss Newtonian f/5 Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2 Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand
Thor's Helmet - NGC 2359 This delicate emission nebula is located in the constellation of Canis Major at a distance of about 15,000 light years. The nebula is illuminated by a central star in its last stage of life. This is a massive so called Wolf-Rayet star which is shedding its outer layers of gas at an extremely high rate due to intense radiation pressure. Wolf-Rayet stars are thought to represent a brief stage of evolution near the end of life for giant super massive stars - the last unstable phase before the star explodes as a brilliant supernova. In the case of Thor's Helmet a large expanding bubble has formed around the bright central star. Interaction with giant molecular clouds in the area have contributed to the overall intricate shape of the nebula and large bow shock structures radiate out from the bubble in several directions. The nebula is some 30 light years in diameter and the strong blue-green colour is due to OIII emission near the star. This entire spectacle lies embedded in a dense star field consisting of thousands of coloured jewels each casting their own contrasting light onto this dramatic interstellar scenery. Image details: Date: 8th, 14th, 19th December 2012 and 5th, 6th, 9th January 2013 Exposure: LRGB: 530:44:33:33m, total 10hrs 40mins @ -28C Telescope: 10" Serrurier Truss Newtonian f/5 Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2 Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand Click here to view a closer crop of the nebula itself
Thor's Helmet - NGC 2359 This delicate emission nebula is located in the constellation of Canis Major at a distance of about 15,000 light years. The nebula is illuminated by a central star in its last stage of life. This is a massive so called Wolf-Rayet star which is shedding its outer layers of gas at an extremely high rate due to intense radiation pressure. Wolf-Rayet stars are thought to represent a brief stage of evolution near the end of life for giant super massive stars - the last unstable phase before the star explodes as a brilliant supernova. In the case of Thor's Helmet a large expanding bubble has formed around the bright central star. Interaction with giant molecular clouds in the area have contributed to the overall intricate shape of the nebula and large bow shock structures radiate out from the bubble in several directions. The nebula is some 30 light years in diameter and the strong blue-green colour is due to OIII emission near the star. This entire spectacle lies embedded in a dense star field consisting of thousands of coloured jewels each casting their own contrasting light onto this dramatic interstellar scenery. Image details: Date: 8th, 14th, 19th December 2012 and 5th, 6th, 9th January 2013 Exposure: LRGB: 530:44:33:33m, total 10hrs 40mins @ -28C Telescope: 10" Serrurier Truss Newtonian f/5 Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2 Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand Click here to view a larger zoomed out image of the area
Messier 78 in Orion Messier 78 is a spectacular reflection nebula in the constellation Orion. It is located just to the north east of Orion's Belt at a distance of about 1500 light years. The area comprises the nebulae NGC 2064, NGC 2067, NGC 2068 and NGC 2071. In the centre of Messier 78 lies two bright stars, HD 38563A and HD 38563B, which cause the illumination of the area's dense clouds of gas and dust. The nebula is mostly blue due to the reflection and scattering of light from the young bright stars, but this light is reddened significantly in places where complex patches of thick dust clouds obscure the scene. Throughout the image several Herbig-Haro objects can also be seen, especially towards the upper left. These are small reddish irregular patches of nebulosity caused by jets shooting out from newborn young stars within the clouds. Also visible in this image is McNeil's Nebula, discovered by amateur astronomer Jay McNeil in 2004. This nebula appears to be illuminated by a variable light source, most likely a young stellar object that is undergoing outbursts from time to time. Previous images of Messier 78 do not show the nebula, except one taken in 1966. The frequency of this objects variability is currently unknown. Messier 78 is part of the large Orion Molecular Cloud Complex which also includes the famous Orion Nebula itself (Messier 42/43), Horsehead Nebula, Flame Nebula, Barnard's Loop and several other objects as well as the Orion OB1 Association of hot giant stars. Despite its overall visual splendour and striking appearance the nebula appears somewhat overlooked though, probably due to Orion's many other prominent objects of interest drawing the attention of astrophotographers. Image details: Date: 9th, 10th, 13th, 14th, 19th December 2012 and 1st, 4th, 5th January 2013 Exposure: LRGB: 525:82:84:75m, total 12hrs 46mins @ -29C Telescope: 10" Serrurier Truss Newtonian f/5 Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2 Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand
The Jewel Box Cluster, NGC 4755 The Jewel Box is an open star cluster visible as a faint smudge with the naked eye under dark skies. It is located 6,440 light years away towards the constellation Crux, The Southern Cross. The first person to recognise it as a cluster of individual stars was Nicolas Louis de Lacaille during his visit to Cape Town in 1752. The name of the cluster originates from John Herschel's later observations in the 1830's, also from Cape Town, and his resulting description of it: "A most vivid and beautiful cluster, though neither a large nor a rich one, is yet an extremely brilliant and beautiful object when viewed through an instrument of sufficient aperture to show distinctly the very different colour of its constituent stars, which give it the effect of a superb piece of fancy jewellery" The bright orange star in the centre of the cluster is known as Kappa Crucis. It provides a striking contrast with the rest of the hot blue cluster members. Although the cluster is a mere 14 million years young this star has already reached the red giant phase of its life and will most likely explode in a brilliant supernova within the next few million years. The cluster has ben photographed by a wide array of professional telescopes, including ESO's VLT and La Silla observatories and the Hubble Space Telescope. Click on the following link to view a beautiful composite image that provides a zoom into the heart of the cluster: Putting the Jewel Box in Perspective Image details: Date: 14th December 2012 Exposure: LRGB: 36:9:9:8m, total 1hr 2mins @ -30C Telescope: 10" Serrurier Truss Newtonian f/5 Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2 Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand
NGC 1365 and Supernova SN2012fr This image shows the large elegant barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365, located in the southern constellation of Fornax at a distance of 56 million light years. The bright and intensely blue star directly below the galaxy core is supernova SN2012fr, which was discovered by Alain Klotz (TAROT La Silla telescope) on 27th October 2012. As of 10th November 2012 the supernova appeared to be nearing its peak, with an R magnitude of 11.90. To get an idea of how bright this event is we can calculate the absolute magnitude M of the supernova using the following formula where m is the apparent magnitude and D the distance in parsecs: M = m - 5(log10(D) - 1) This gives an absolute magnitude of -19.27 for SN2012fr. This means that if the supernova had occurred at a distance to us similar to Betelgeuse (643 light years), then its apparent magnitude would be -12.80, same as the full Moon! Image details: Date: 7th and 9th November 2012 Exposure: LRGB: 205:57:56:51m, total 6hrs 9mins @ -30C Telescope: 10" Serrurier Truss Newtonian f/5 Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2 Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand

The Lagoon Nebula, Messier 8

The Lagoon Nebula, also known as Messier 8 or NGC 6523, is a large emission nebula located about 4,000-6,000 light years away in the constellation of Sagittarius. It is one of only a few such nebulae to be visible to the naked eye.This enormous interstellar cloud is some 110 light years across and is home to numerous dark Bok globules. These are dense collapsing patches of gas and dust where new stars are born. These young stars are not visible until their radiation pressure blows off the surrounding cloud. Bright young O type stars that have already emerged from their cocoons cause the nebula's gas to glow with a distinct magenta colour arising from ionized Hydrogen atoms.

In the middle of the brightest portion of Messier 8 lies the bright Hourglass Nebula which is a distinctly shaped patch of nebulosity framed by tornado-like structures half a light-year in length. The star immediately to the left of the Hourglass is Herschel 36 which is thought to be responsible for most of the illumination in the area. The strong stellar winds are tearing the molecular clouds apart and is it believed that the difference in temperature between the hot surface of the clouds and their cold interior, combined with the pressure from the stellar winds is producing strong horizontal shear which twists the clouds into tornado-like shapes.

Here is a link to my previous high resolution image of the Hourglass, with Hubble comparison

Click here to see the same image in infrared: Lagoon Nebula in Infrared light

Image details:
Date: 8th and 9th April 2013
Exposure: LRGB: 60:95:56:61m, total Xhrs Xmins @ -29C
Telescope: 10" Serrurier Truss Newtonian f/5
Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider
Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2
Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand
high resolution image of the Hourglass, with Hubble comparison

Click here to see the same image in infrared: Lagoon Nebula in Infrared light

Image details:
Date: 8th and 9th April 2013
Exposure: LRGB: 60:95:56:61m, total Xhrs Xmins @ -29C
Telescope: 10" Serrurier Truss Newtonian f/5
Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider
Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2
Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand
" href="javascript:openLB(2491789291,'',XLarge,'',1024,765);"> The Lagoon Nebula, Messier 8 The Lagoon Nebula, also known as Messier 8 or NGC 6523, is a large emission nebula located about 4,000-6,000 light years away in the constellation of Sagittarius. It is one of only a few such nebulae to be visible to the naked eye.This enormous interstellar cloud is some 110 light years across and is home to numerous dark Bok globules. These are dense collapsing patches of gas and dust where new stars are born. These young stars are not visible until their radiation pressure blows off the surrounding cloud. Bright young O type stars that have already emerged from their cocoons cause the nebula's gas to glow with a distinct magenta colour arising from ionized Hydrogen atoms. In the middle of the brightest portion of Messier 8 lies the bright Hourglass Nebula which is a distinctly shaped patch of nebulosity framed by tornado-like structures half a light-year in length. The star immediately to the left of the Hourglass is Herschel 36 which is thought to be responsible for most of the illumination in the area. The strong stellar winds are tearing the molecular clouds apart and is it believed that the difference in temperature between the hot surface of the clouds and their cold interior, combined with the pressure from the stellar winds is producing strong horizontal shear which twists the clouds into tornado-like shapes. Here is a link to my previous high resolution image of the Hourglass, with Hubble comparison Click here to see the same image in infrared: Lagoon Nebula in Infrared light Image details: Date: 8th and 9th April 2013 Exposure: LRGB: 60:95:56:61m, total Xhrs Xmins @ -29C Telescope: 10" Serrurier Truss Newtonian f/5 Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2 Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand

The Lagoon Nebula, Messier 8

The Lagoon Nebula, also known as Messier 8 or NGC 6523, is a large emission nebula located about 4,000-6,000 light years away in the constellation of Sagittarius. It is one of only a few such nebulae to be visible to the naked eye.This enormous interstellar cloud is some 110 light years across and is home to numerous dark Bok globules. These are dense collapsing patches of gas and dust where new stars are born. These young stars are not visible until their radiation pressure blows off the surrounding cloud. Bright young O type stars that have already emerged from their cocoons cause the nebula's gas to glow with a distinct magenta colour arising from ionized Hydrogen atoms.

In the middle of the brightest portion of Messier 8 lies the bright Hourglass Nebula which is a distinctly shaped patch of nebulosity framed by tornado-like structures half a light-year in length. The star immediately to the left of the Hourglass is Herschel 36 which is thought to be responsible for most of the illumination in the area. The strong stellar winds are tearing the molecular clouds apart and is it believed that the difference in temperature between the hot surface of the clouds and their cold interior, combined with the pressure from the stellar winds is producing strong horizontal shear which twists the clouds into tornado-like shapes.

Here is a link to my previous high resolution image of the Hourglass, with Hubble comparison

Click here to see the same image in infrared: Lagoon Nebula in Infrared light

Image details:
Date: 8th and 9th April 2013
Exposure: LRGB: 60:95:56:61m, total Xhrs Xmins @ -29C
Telescope: 10" Serrurier Truss Newtonian f/5
Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider
Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2
Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand
See photo in original gallery.
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