M16- The Eagle Nebula - NGC 6611

The Eagle Nebula (catalogued as Messier 16 or M16, and as NGC 6611, and also known as the Star Queen Nebula) is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens, discovered by Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux in 1745–46. Both the "Eagle" and the "Star Queen" refer to visual impressions of the dark silhouette near the center of the nebula,^[4][5] an area made famous as the "Pillars of Creation" imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. The nebula contains several active star-forming gas and dust regions, including the aforementioned Pillars of Creation. The Eagle Nebula lies in the Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way.

 

 M16 was imaged June 6, 2025 at the Star Ranch Observatory (SRO) near Paducah, Texas. The photo is a composite image totaling 2 hours of data.  The images were taken using an Astro-Tech AT6RC scope with a ZWO ASI533MC camera mounted on an AP900.  The images were captured with Astro Art 8 imaging software. The mount was auto guided using an 80mm refractor and a ZWO ASI120MM-S camera with PHD2 guide software. Pre and Post processing was with Astro Art 8 and denoised using Topaz DeNoise AI.

Note in the approximate center if the image are the "Pillars of Creation".

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NGC7380 & Sh2-142 - Wizard Nebula

 NGC 7380 is a young open cluster of stars in the northern circumpolar constellation of Cepheus, discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1787. The surrounding emission nebulosity is known colloquially as the Wizard Nebula, which spans an angle of 25′. German-born astronomer William Herschel included his sister's discovery in his catalog, and labelled it H VIII.77. The nebula is known as S 142 in the 1959 Sharpless catalog (Sh2-142). It is extremely difficult to observe visually, usually requiring very dark skies and an O-III filter. The NGC 7380 complex is located at a distance of approximately 8.5 kilolight-years from the Sun, in the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way.

The cluster spans ~20 light-years (6 pc) with an elongated shape and an extended tail. Age estimates range from 4 to 11.9 million years. At the center of the cluster lies DH Cephei, a close, double-lined spectroscopic binary system consisting of two massive O-type stars. This pair are the primary ionizing source for the surrounding H II region, and are driving out the surrounding gas and dust while triggering star formation in the neighboring region.  Of the variable stars that have been identified in the cluster, 14 have been identified as pre-main sequence stars while 17 are main sequence stars that are primarily B-type variables.

The NGC7380 image is made from 260 x 2 - minute subframes captured, pre and post process using AstroArt 8sp4.  The imaging camera was a ZWO ASI533 OSC mounted on an AT6RC scope.  The AT6RC was mounted on an AP900.  An 80mm refractor was piggyback on the AT6RC for auto-guiding using a ZWO ASI120 camera.  Auto-guiding was preformed using PHD2 guiding software.  AstroArt 8 and PHD2 ran on a HP minicomputer at the AP900 mount.    Remote imaging control was over a 100 Mb Ethernet connection to a Dell laptop.  Noise reduction was preformed using Topaz DeNoise AI.

NGC891 - Edge-on Unbarred Spiral Galaxy

 NGC 891 (also known as Caldwell 23, the Silver Sliver Galaxy, and the Outer Limits Galaxy) is an edge-on unbarred spiral galaxy about 30 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. It was discovered by William Herschel on October 6, 1784. The galaxy is a member of the NGC 1023 group of galaxies in the Local Supercluster. It has an H II nucleus.

The NC891 image is made from 30x4 - minute subframes captured, pre and post process using AstroArt 8sp4.  The imaging camera was a ZWO ASI533 OSC mounted on an AT6RC scope.  The AT6RC was mounted on an AP900.  An 80mm refractor was piggyback on the AT6RC for auto-guiding using a ZWO ASI120 camera.  Auto-guiding was preformed using PHD2 guiding software.  AstroArt 8 and PHD2 ran on a HP minicomputer at the AP900 mount.    Remote imaging control was over a 100 Mb Ethernet connection to a Dell laptop.  Noise reduction was preformed using Topaz DeNoise AI.

IC5146 - CoCoon Nebula

 

IC 5146 (also Caldwell 19, Sh 2-125, Barnard 168, and the Cocoon Nebula) is a reflection/emission nebula and Caldwell object in the constellation Cygnus. The NGC description refers to IC 5146 as a cluster of 9.5 mag stars involved in a bright and dark nebula. The cluster is also known as Collinder 470. It shines at magnitude +10.0 +9.3 +7.2. Its celestial coordinates are RA 21^h 53.5^m , dec +47° 16′. It is located near the naked-eye star Pi Cygni, the open cluster NGC 7209 in Lacerta, and the bright open cluster M39. The cluster is about 4,000 ly away, and the central star that lights it formed about 100,000 years ago; the nebula is about 12 arcmins across, which is equivalent to a span of 15 light years.

When viewing IC 5146, dark nebula Barnard 168 (B168) is an inseparable part of the experience, forming a dark lane that surrounds the cluster and projects westward forming the appearance of a trail behind the Cocoon. From Wikipedia.

The above image is made up 0f 60 four minute (totaling 240 minutes) using a ZWO ASI533 mounted to an AT6RC scope attached to an AP900 mount.  Auto guiding was accomplished using an 80mm refractor piggybacked on the AT6RC with a ZWO ASI120 camera.  Imagine capture and processing was accomplished using AstroArt 8.

M76 - Little Dumbbell Nebula

 

The Little Dumbbell Nebula, also known as Messier 76, NGC 650/651, the Barbell Nebula, or the Cork Nebula,^[is a planetary nebula in northern constellation Perseus. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780 and included in Charles Messier's catalog of comet-like objects as number 76. It was first recognised as a planetary nebula in 1918 by the astronomer Heber Doust Curtis. However, there is some contention to this claim, as Isaac Roberts in 1891 did suggest that M76 might be similar to the Ring Nebula (M57), being instead as seen from the side view. The structure is now classed as a bipolar planetary nebula (BPNe), denoting two stars which have burst, leaving neutron star or white dwarf remnants and luminous envelopes. From Wikipedia.

The M76 images were captured at the 2022 Okie-Tex Star party near Kenton, OK.  A ZWO ASI533 mounted on to an AT6RC was used to capture the images.  The above image is made up of 45 five minutes exposures (total of 225 minutes).  Processing was preformed using AstroArt 8 sp1.  The AT6RC was mounted on a AP900 mount and auto guided using an 80mm refractor and a ZWO ASI 120 piggybacked on the AT6RC using PHD2 guide software.

NGC 6960, NGC 6992 and Pickering's Triangle

 

The Veil Nebula is a cloud of heated and ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus.^[4]

It constitutes the visible portions of the Cygnus Loop,^[5] a supernova remnant, many portions of which have acquired their own individual names and catalogue identifiers. The source supernova was a star 20 times more massive than the Sun which exploded between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago.^[2] At the time of explosion, the supernova would have appeared brighter than Venus in the sky, and visible in daytime.^[6] The remnants have since expanded to cover an area of the sky roughly 3 degrees in diameter (about 6 times the diameter, and 36 times the area, of the full Moon).^[4] While previous distance estimates have ranged from 1200 to 5800 light-years, a recent determination of 2400 light-years is based on direct astrometric measurements.^[2] (The distance estimates affect also the estimates of size and age.)

·         The Western Veil (also known as Caldwell 34), consisting of NGC 6960 (the "Witch's Broom",^[12] Lacework Nebula,^[8] "Filamentary Nebula"^[12]) near the foreground star 52 Cygni;

·         The Eastern Veil (also known as Caldwell 33), whose brightest area is NGC 6992, trailing off farther south into NGC 6995 (together with NGC 6992 also known as "Network Nebula"^[13]) and IC 1340; and

·         Pickering's Triangle (or Pickering's Triangular Wisp), brightest at the north central edge of the loop, but visible in photographs continuing toward the central area of the loop.

The image data was taken at Okie-Tex 2021 near Kenton, Oklahoma.  The above image has NGC 6960 upper left, NGC6992 lower left, upper right, and Pickering's Triangle, lower center, captured with a one shot color camera a StarLight Xpress SXVR M 25C.  The image is made of 30 ten-minute exposures using AstroArt 7 then calibrated, combined and processed using AstroArt8.  The camera was mounted to a AstroTech AT72ED refractor.  The guiding setup was a ZWO ASI120 attached to a SVBONY SV106 guide scope piggybacked on the AT72ED.  The imaging setup was mounted on an Astro Physics AP900.  Guiding software was PHD2.  

NGC 7000 and IC 5070 - North American Nebula and Pelican Nebula

 

The North America Nebula (NGC 7000 or Caldwell 20) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, close to Deneb (the tail of the swan and its brightest star). The shape of the nebula resembles that of the continent of North America, complete with a prominent Gulf of Mexico.

On October 24, 1786, William Herschel observing from Slough, England, noted a “faint milky nebulosity scattered over this space, in some places pretty bright.” ^[4] The most prominent region was catalogued by his son John Herschel on August 21, 1829. It was listed in the New General Catalogue as NGC 7000, where it is described as a "faint, most extremely large, diffuse nebulosity.” ^[5]

In 1890, the pioneering German astrophotographer Max Wolf noticed this nebula's characteristic shape on a long-exposure photograph, and dubbed it the North America Nebula.^[6]

In his study of nebulae on the Palomar Sky Survey plates in 1959, American astronomer Stewart Sharpless realised that the North America Nebula is part of the same interstellar cloud of ionized hydrogen (H II region) as the Pelican Nebula, separated by a dark band of dust, and listed the two nebulae together in his second list of 313 bright nebulae as Sh2-117. American astronomer Beverly T. Lynds catalogued the obscuring dust cloud as L935 in her 1962 compilation of dark nebulae. Dutch radio astronomer Gart Westerhout detected the HII region Sh2-117 as a strong radio emitter, 3° across, and it appears as W80 in his 1958 catalogue of radio sources in the band of the Milky Way.^[7]

The Pelican Nebula (also known as IC 5070 and IC 5067^[1]) is an H II region associated with the North America Nebula in the constellation Cygnus. The gaseous contortions of this emission nebula bear a resemblance to a pelican, giving rise to its name.^[1] The Pelican Nebula is located nearby first magnitude star Deneb, and is divided from its more prominent neighbour, the North America Nebula, by a foreground molecular cloud filled with dark dust.^[2] Both are part of the larger H II region of Westerhout 40.^[2]

The Pelican is much studied because it has a particularly active mix of star formation and evolving gas clouds. The light from young energetic stars is slowly transforming cold gas to hot and causing an ionization front gradually to advance outward. Particularly dense filaments of cold gas are seen to still remain, and among these are found two jets emitted from the Herbig–Haro object 555.^[1] Millions of years from now this nebula might no longer be known as the Pelican, as the balance and placement of stars and gas will leave something that appears completely different.

  The image data was taken at Okie-Tex 2021 near Kenton, Oklahoma.  The above image has NGC 7000, center, and IC5070 upper right, captured with a one shot color camera a StarLight Xpress SXVR M 25C.  The image is made of 48 five-minute exposures using AstroArt 7 then calibrated, combined and processed using AstroArt8.  The camera was mounted to a AstroTech AT72ED refractor.  The guiding setup was a ZWO ASI120 attached to a SVBONY SV106 guide scope piggybacked on the AT72ED.  The imaging setup was mounted on an Astro Physics AP900.  Guiding software was PHD2.  

IC 1805 and NGC 896 - Heart Nebula

The Heart Nebula, IC 1805, Sharpless 2-190, is some 7500 light years away from Earth and is located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was discovered by William Herschel on 3 November 1787. It is an emission nebula showing glowing ionized hydrogen gas and darker dust lanes. The brightest part of the nebula (a knot at its western edge) is separately classified as NGC 896, because it was the first part of the nebula to be discovered. The nebula's intense red output and its morphology are driven by the radiation emanating from a small group of stars near the nebula's center. This open cluster of stars, known as Collinder 26 or Melotte 15, contains a few bright stars nearly 50 times the mass of our Sun, and many more dim stars that are only a fraction of our Sun's mass.

The Heart Nebula is also made up of ionised Oxygen and Sulfur gasses, responsible for the rich blue and orange colours seen in narrowband images. The shape of the nebula is driven by stellar winds from the hot stars in its core. The nebula also spans almost 2 degrees in the sky, covering an area four times that of the diameter of the full moon.

The image data was taken at Okie-Tex 2021 near Kenton, Oklahoma.  The above image has IC1805, center, and NGC896, upper right, captured with a one shot color camera a StarLight Xpress SXVR M 25C.  The image is made of 24 ten-minute exposures using AstroArt 7 then calibrated, combined and processed using AstroArt8.  The camera was mounted to a AstroTech AT72ED refractor.  The guiding setup was a ZWO ASI120 attached to a SVBONY SV106 guide scope piggybacked on the AT72ED.  The imaging setup was mounted on an Astro Physics AP900.  Guiding software was PHD2.  

 

Astro-Physics AP900 Set Up

 

 

The AP900 was purchased in March of 2020 and picked up in Arizona.  The AP900 came with a CP4 controller but no pedestal.  The pedestal was purchased from Washington state with 2 pipes.  This is the short one.  The imaging scope is an Astro Tech AT6RC with a StarLight Express SXVR-M25C camera.  The guide scope is a 80mm f7 refractor of unknown origin with a Meade DSI Pro camera.  The location is Rusty's RV Park in Rodeo, NM.
 

Horse Head Nebula (B33) and Flame Nebula (NGC2024)

 

The Flame Nebula, designated as NGC 2024 and Sh2-277, is an emission nebula in the constellation Orion. It is about 900 to 1,500 light-years away. The bright star Alnitak (ζ Ori), the easternmost star in the Belt of Orion, shines energetic ultraviolet light into the Flame and this knocks electrons away from the great clouds of hydrogen gas that reside there. Much of the glow results when the electrons and ionized hydrogen recombine. Additional dark gas and dust lies in front of the bright part of the nebula and this is what causes the dark network that appears in the center of the glowing gas. The Flame Nebula is part of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, a star-forming region that includes the famous Horsehead Nebula. At the center of the Flame Nebula is a cluster of newly formed stars, 86% of which have circumstellar disks. X-ray observations by the Chandra X-ray Observatory show several hundred young stars, out of an estimated population of 800 stars. X-ray and infrared images indicate that the youngest stars are concentrated near the center of the cluster.

The Horsehead Nebula, B33, is the dark nebula in front of the bright red emission nebula IC 434. Along with the Orion Nebula, these nebulae near the Horsehead are part of a very large complex that is a stellar nursery where stars are forming out of the dust and gas.

The image was shot during the week at the Okie-Tex Star Party near Kenton, OK in October 2021.  The image is made from100 minutes of subframes taken with a StarLight Express SVXR-M25C through an AT72ED.  The scope camera assembly was mounted on a AP900.  Autoguiding was accomplished using an ASI20 camera and a 60mm refractor using PHD2 guiding software.  Images were captured and processed in AstroArt 7 and Topaz Denoise software.

IC 5146 - Cocoon Nebula

 

IC 5146 (also Caldwell 19, Sh 2-125, and the Cocoon Nebula) is a reflection/emission nebula and Caldwell object in the constellation Cygnus. The NGC description refers to IC 5146 as a cluster of 9.5 mag stars involved in a bright and dark nebula. The cluster is also known as Collinder 470.  It shines at magnitude +10.0/+9.3/+7.2.  Its celestial coordinates are RA 21^h 53.5^m , dec +47° 16′. It is located near the naked-eye star Pi Cygni, the open cluster NGC 7209 in Lacerta, and the bright open cluster M39. The cluster is about 4,000 ly away, and the central star that lights it formed about 100,000 years ago; the nebula is about 12 arcmins across, which is equivalent to a span of 15 light years.

When viewing IC 5146, dark nebula Barnard 168 (B168) is an inseparable part of the experience, forming a dark lane that surrounds the cluster and projects westward forming the appearance of a trail behind the Cocoon.

The above images is made up of 24 subframes 5 minutes each (2 hours) stacked and processed in AstroArt 7 and tweaked using Photoshop 5.  The subframes were captured using a AT6RC scope mounted on an AP900 mount with a Starlight Express SXVR-M25C.  The AP900 was autoguided using a Meade DSI Pro camera and an 80mm f7 refractor scope.  The image data was captured while at Rusty's RV Ranch near Rodeo, AZ in October of 2020.

IC 1396 - Elephant's Trunk Nebula

 

The Elephant's Trunk Nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust within the much larger ionized gas region IC 1396 located in the constellation Cepheus about 2,400 light years away from Earth. The piece of the nebula shown here is the dark, dense globule IC 1396A; it is commonly called the Elephant's Trunk nebula because of its appearance at visible light wavelengths, where there is a dark patch with a bright, sinuous rim. The bright rim is the surface of the dense cloud that is being illuminated and ionized by a very bright, massive star (HD 206267) that is just to the east of IC 1396A. (In the Spitzer Space Telescope view shown, the massive star is just to the left of the edge of the image.) The entire IC 1396 region is ionized by the massive star, except for dense globules that can protect themselves from the star's harsh ultraviolet rays.

The Elephant's Trunk Nebula is now thought to be a site of star formation, containing several very young (less than 100,000 yr) stars that were discovered in infrared images in 2003. Two older (but still young, a couple of million years, by the standards of stars, which live for billions of years) stars are present in a small, circular cavity in the head of the globule. Winds from these young stars may have emptied the cavity.

The combined action of the light from the massive star ionizing and compressing the rim of the cloud, and the wind from the young stars shifting gas from the center outward lead to very high compression in the Elephant's Trunk Nebula. This pressure has triggered the current generation of protostars.

The above images is made up of 24 subframes 10 minutes each ( 4 hours) stacked and processed in AstroArt 7 and tweaked using Photoshop 5.  The subframes were captured using a AT6RC scope mounted on an AP900 mount with a Starlight Express SXVR-M25C.  The AP900 was autoguided using a Meade DSI Pro camera and an 80mm f7 refractor scope.  The image data was captured while at Rusty's RV Ranch near Rodeo, AZ in October of 2020.

B33 - Horsehead Nebula

 The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33) is 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, and is part of the much larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. It appears within the southern region of the dense dust cloud known as Lynds 1630, along the edge of the much larger, active star-forming H II region called IC 434.

The Horsehead Nebula is approximately 422 parsecs or 1,375 light-years from Earth. It is one of the most identifiable nebulae because of its resemblance to a horse's head. 

The nebula was first recorded in 1888 by Scottish astronomer Williamina Fleming on a photographic plate taken at the Harvard College Observatory. One of the first descriptions was made by E. E. Barnard, describing it as: "Dark mass, diam. 4′, on nebulous strip extending south from ζ Orionis", cataloguing the dark nebula as Barnard 33.

The above images is made up of 6 subframes 5 minutes each (30 minutes) stacked and processed in AstroArt 7 and tweaked using Photoshop 5.  The subframes were captured using a AT6RC scope mounted on an AP900 mount with a Starlight Express SXVR-M25C.  The AP900 was autoguided using a Meade DSI Pro camera and an 80mm f7 refractor scope.  The image data was captured while at Rusty's RV Ranch near Rodeo, AZ in October of 2020.