High in the sky at this time of year is the constellation Cygnus - the Swan. Lying within Cygnus is the gorgeous Veil Nebula that is so large it has been broken into Western and Eastern components. The picture above constitutes most of the Western Veil (NGC 6960). What we see is a cloud of ionized and superheated gas that is left over from a star that went supernova (stellar explosion) around 5,000 to 8,000 years ago. It's easy to see why some refer to this as the Witch's Broom nebula and if you look closely, you can see a lot of structure that resembles filaments of light that even appear to be intertwined. It's amazing to see the resemblance of this structure to that of DNA.
Photo Details
September 22, 2014
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
Nikon D3100 Camera - ISO 1600
Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector
Skyglow filter
Autoguider
35 sub-frames at 3.0 minutes/frame
Total Exposure Time = 1 hour 45 minutes
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop
Messier 23
Messier 25
Messier 26
The close proximity of these three objects in the night sky, located in the heart of the Milky Way in the constellation Sagittarius, enabled Messier to observe them for the first time in a single night (June 20, 1764). It took me a bit longer to photograph them over the course of two nights last week. The objects themselves are simply overwhelmed by the glorious backdrop of thousands of stars. It's remarkable that Messier was able to discern these clusters given the rest of the view! At first glance, they look quite similar. But, if you focus your attention toward the center of each, you will see distinctly different clusters. I find it simply amazing that there really are no complete duplicates of anything in the universe. Each creation has its own distinct characteristics though governed by the same basic laws of physics.
Messier 23
August 26, 2014
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
Nikon D3100 Camera - ISO 1600
Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector
Skyglow filter
Autoguider
19 sub-frames at 3.0 minutes/frame
Total Exposure Time = 57 minutes
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop
Messier 25
August 27, 2014
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
Nikon D3100 Camera - ISO 1600
Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector
Skyglow filter
Autoguider
22 sub-frames at 3.0 minutes/frame
Total Exposure Time = 1 hour 6 minutes
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop
Messier 26
August 26, 2014
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
Nikon D3100 Camera - ISO 1600
Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector
Skyglow filter
Autoguider
13 sub-frames at 3.0 minutes/frame
Total Exposure Time = 39 minutes
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop
