Nebulae

M42, Orion Nebula (Ha)

Meade 10" LX 200, f6.3

IC 434, Horsehead Nebula 

Planewave CDK 27", f6.6

NGC 7635, Bubble Neb

Meade 10" LX 200, f6.3

Abell 21, Medusa Nebula

Meade 10" LX200, f6.3

NGC 7023, Iris Nebula 

Meade 10" LX200, f6.3

M1, Crab Nebula

Meade 10" LX200, f6

M1, Crab Nebula

Meade 10" LX200, f6.3

M27, Dumbbell Nebula

Meade 10" LX200, f6.3

NGC 6960, Veil Nebula

Meade 10" LX200, f6.3

The image is a mosaic of 20 separate images each compiled of 3x 120s exposures or a total of 60 individual exposures. 

The image is captured in Hydrogen Alpha light only, 656nm +/- 3nm in the light spectrum. This very narrow filtered wavelength of light captures only the light from ionised hydrogen gas in the nebula which adds definition and detail gained from the as we filter out the light from any other ionised gas. 

5x 300s + 3x 600s Ha filtered images. 

The consellation of Orion holds some the gratest tagets for the amateur astronmer (in my opinion). Of these, the Horsehead Nebula is by far my favorite. 

The nebula you see actually comprises of two, a dark dust cloud in the foreground which rises up in front of a nebula rich in glowing ionised hydrogen gas in the background. 

60 miniutes Ha, 30 minutes each R, G, B

This image of the Bubble Nebula is a near true colour image processed using Ha filtered exposures as the light chanel and then R, G, B filtered exposures for the colour. However, while the R, G, B filters are not considered 'narrow band, each of there band pass is far less than a standard bayer filter matix. 

The Bubble is another of my favorites since it is again, quite hard to capture good images of it, especially in colour. 

text awaited

6x 600s each L, R , G, B

The Iris Nebula is a relfection nebula comprising of a bright central cluster of stars illuminating the dust within the nebula and relfecting the light back to give us the image we see here. 

At some point I would like to take a wide-field image of this nebula with longer exposures as there is much more to the nebula than can be seen here. 

This was my first image of the Vrab Nebula captured using Ha, Oiii, Hb, and Sii filtered images. The filtered exposures where combined using the Hubble palette method to produce this colourful false colour image. 

10x 600s each Ha & L

5x 300s each R, G, B 

This is my second image of the Crab Nebula and a near true colur version of the nebula. In this image the Ha and L filtered images are combined into the light channel for the R,G,B channels. 

The Crab Nebula is a supernova remnant thought to correspond to a bright supernova observed by Chinese astronomers in 1054. What we see now is the resultant nebula nearly 1000 years after the supernova. 

3x300s & 3x600s of each Ha/L

3x300s each R, G, B

Definitely one of those go to targets for summer which I just keep revisiting. I can't tell you how many times I've image this plenatary nebula. 

For this image the L and Ha filtered images are combined for the light channel which is added to the R, G, B channels to finish the image. 

12x 600s Ha

This is just the very tip of the Western Vale Nebula, the nebula is in fact much larger than the telescopes field of view. 

The image is composed of only Ha filted exposures stacked and processed to give this final monochrome image. The use of the Ha (Hydrogen Alpha) filter is to filter out all light except for that at 656 nm (+/- 2nm). This results in an image of only the ionised Hydrogen gas in the nebula and a more detailed image. 

awaiting new image

Meade 10" LX200, f6.3

Awaiting new image

All the images here have been captured and processed by me either using my own equipment, equipment borrowed from my astronomy friends or, on occassion, remote telescopes I am fortunate to have access to. Mostly, the equipment used is listed in the discription boxes at the side of each image. 

In this gallery you will find my images of nebulae.

Simply 'click' on an image to enlarge.