INTERSTELLAR
CLOUDS
Eye of God, Orion, Horsehead, Pleiades
By Seeta Persaud | February 5, 2023
Between the end of October 2022 and mid-January 2023, I captured six winter targets that have eluded me due to cloudy skies and other winter weather since 2021: the Eye of God or Helix nebula, the Orion nebula, Horsehead nebula, the Pleiades star cluster, Triangulum galaxy, and Stephan’s Quintet.
Stephan’s Quintet is a group of five galaxies (NGC7317, 7318A, 7318B, 7319 and 7320) and lies about 270 million light-years away in the constellation of Pegasus (North-west of the Great Square of Pegasus). The group of galaxies have a starring role as “Clarence,” and other angels, in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The quintet appears at the the lower left corner of image. NGC 7331 is an unbarred spiral galaxy that is located near to Stephan’s Quintet, appearing in the upper right. This image reflects an integration time of 50 minutes comprised of 5 min subexposures with calibration frames. The data was captured on 10/29/2022.
Webb telescope NIRCam and MIRI Composite Image can be found here.
The Eye of God, or Helix Nebula (NGC 7293), can be found in late fall to early November. The Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) is a planetary nebula located 650 light years from Earth in the constellation Aquarius.
Its striking appearance has earned it the nickname the Eye of God Nebula. It lies low in the southern sky in late fall and can be a difficult target. This image reflects an integration time of only 45 minutes comprised of 3 min subexposures with dark and flat calibration frames. Data captured on November 3, 2022.
The Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy 2.73 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. It is catalogued as Messier 33 or NGC 598. This image reflects a total integration time of 45 minutes with 15 frames of 3 minute subexposures and 15 dark and flat calibration frames. Data captured on October 29, 2022.
The Pleiades are a group of more than 800 stars located about 410 light-years from Earth in the constellation Taurus. Also known as the “Seven Sisters” and Messier 45, the Pleiades are an example of an open star cluster — a group of stars that were all born around the same time from a gigantic cloud of gas and dust. This image reflects an integration time of 40 minutes comprised of 2 min sub-exposures with calibration frames. Data captured on October 29, 2022.
And finally, the Horsehead and Orion nebulas in the Orion constellation. The Orion Nebula (also known as M42, or NGC 1976) is a diffuse nebula situated in the Milky Way, south of Orion’s Belt. The nebula is an enormous cloud of dust and gas where vast numbers of new stars are being forged. It can be easily spotted with binoculars in the winter sky. This celestial object is absolutely breathtaking and never disappoints. This image reflects an integration time of 30 minutes comprised of 2 min sub-exposures. Data captured on January 15, 2023.
Even more mysterious and captivating is the Horsehead Nebula, a small dark nebula in the constellation Orion. The nebula is located just to the south of Alnitak, the easternmost star of Orion’s Belt. The Horsehead Nebula lives approximately 1,500 light-years away from Earth. This image reflects a total integration time of 90 minutes, with three minute sub-exposures and calibration frames. Data captured on a bright, clear winter night on January 15, 2023.
Monochrome LRGB and Narrowband (SHO)
Last year I had the chance to enter the world of monochrome imaging with LRGB for broadband targets and SHO (Sulfur II, Hydrogen-alpha, and Oxygen III) filters for narrowband targets. I also finally dove right into the world of Pixinsight in order to process my astro-images.
Galaxy Season 2023
Integration time of 52 minutes comprised of 2 min subexposures with calibration frames. Data captured on 4/13/2022. Second attempt, this time with an autofocuser and processed in Pixinsight.
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF)
The last time comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) approached the Earth was 50,000 years ago – back then, the Neanderthals were still walking our planet. Unfortunately, the comet was very difficult to spot in binoculars in light-polluted skies. I was able to view the comet with the Skywatcher 80ED and a cooled ASI 533MC camera.
M16 Eagle Nebula – Pillars of Creation
I finally captured a successful image of the Eagle Nebula from my Bortle 6 backyard. This image reflects a total integration time of 54 minutes with 3 minute subexposures, dark frames, flat frames and dark flat frames. Gain was set at 100. Photos stacked in Deep Sky Stacker and processed in Photoshop.
Andromeda Galaxy First Attempt
I captured my first successful image of the Andromeda Galaxy from my Bortle 6 backyard sky on October 19 (likely the last warmish night we’ll have for a few months) under a very full moon in the eastern sky.
Eagle Nebula First Attempt
While I am excited by my first capture of the Eagle Nebula and the very visible Pillars of Creation, the image is soft-focused and needs far more focusing fine tuning. I am currently still focusing manually.
Bodes and Cigar Galaxies
First attempt at Bodes and Cigar galaxies during the Spring while configuring the telescope. Total integration time of 40 minutes with 2 min subexposures and calibration frames.
Welcome
My love of astronomy began over 25 years ago when the first images from the Hubble Space Telescope were released. I’ll never forget the first time I saw Pillars of Creation. It still haunts and captivates the imagination. I bought my first telescope 6 years ago, learned the night sky, and began dabbling in wide-angle and planetary DSLR astrophotography only last year.
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