Mastodawn

The Bubble Maker
=============

WR134 is a Wolf-Rayet star - one of the rarest and most extreme stellar types in our galaxy. A relentless stellar wind hurling matter into space at thousands of kilometres per second has, over millennia, compressed and shaped the surrounding gas into the spherical emission bubble you see here. It glows in OIII, the light of doubly ionized oxygen, set against the vast red curtain of the Cygnus H-alpha complex. Also in the field: the open cluster NGC 6883 and the double star β² Cygni.

What draws me to Wolf-Rayet objects is the violence made visible. This bubble is not decoration - it is the direct record of a star slowly destroying itself, pushing its own outer layers outward until they pile up and glow. WR134 will likely end as a supernova. For now, it makes bubbles.

Scope: Askar 103APO
Lens: Askar 1.0x Flattener
Camera: ZWO ASI 294MC Pro
Filter: Antlia Tri-Band RGB Ultra
Mount: SkyWatcher AZ-EQ5-GT
Guiding: SkyWatcher Evoguide 50ED with ZWO ASI 224MC
Controller: ZWO ASIAir Pro
Focusser: ZWO EAF

Integration time: 13hrs 15min

Full version and print available at:
https://adfr.io/astro/20260522_wr134

#astrophotography #nebula #wr134 #wolfrayet #cygnus #narrowband #hubblepalette #hos #deepsky #nightsky #space #astronomy #astrophoto #stars #oiii #halpha #ngc6883

Frank Adler Apr 14

The Pacman Nebula
===============

NGC 281, the Pacman Nebula - a return to a familiar target in Cassiopeia. This time with a new setup and considerably more integration time, captured in the Hubble palette (HSO). The result is a view dominated by the warm red glow of ionized hydrogen and sulfur, punctuated by the brighter, subtly blue-grey core where the young star cluster IC 1590 drives the entire nebula's energy.

What fascinates me most about this object are the dark Bok globules - dense dust structures silhouetted against the glowing gas, slowly being eroded by the intense radiation from IC 1590. They look like they are being consumed, and in a sense they are. But deep inside their cold, shielded cores, gravity may be quietly winning - collapsing gas into new stars, born from the same clouds being stripped away around them.

Scope: Askar 103APO
Lens: Askar 1.0x Flattener
Camera: ZWO ASI 294MC Pro
Filter: Antlia Tri-Band RGB Ultra
Mount: SkyWatcher AZ-EQ5-GT
Guiding: SkyWatcher Evoguide 50ED with ZWO ASI 224MC
Controller: ZWO ASIAir Pro
Focusser: ZWO EAF

Integration time: 6hrs 40min

Full version and print available at:
https://adfr.io/astro/20260407_ngc281

#astrophotography #nebula #ngc281 #pacmannebula #cassiopeia #narrowband #hubblepalette #hso #deepsky #nightsky #space #astronomy #astrography #astrophoto #stars #stargazing

Frank Adler Apr 14

NGC 281 - the Pacman Nebula in Cassiopeia. A return to a familiar object, this time with a new setup and considerably more integration time. In the Hubble palette (HSO), the dark Bok globules stand out with particular clarity - dense dust structures being eroded by the radiation pressure of the young cluster IC 1590, while possibly hiding new star formation deep within.

https://adfr.io/astro/20260407_ngc281

#Astrophotography #Narrowband #NGC281 #PacmanNebula #Cassiopeia #HSO #HubblePalette #astrodon

The Pacman Nebula

Hey there, I'm Frank. I create web experiences and capture the beauty of the universe.

Frank Adler :: Astrophotography & Web Engineering

Frank Adler Mar 10

Sh2-171 – The Question Mark Nebula in Cepheus. A two-panel mosaic covering over 100 light-years of active star formation, powered by Berkeley 59 — a cluster just 2 million years old. Its O5V star BD+66 1673 burns at 45,000 Kelvin, sculpting the dark pillars visible throughout the frame. Processed in Hubble Palette (HSO).

https://adfr.io/astro/20260310_sh2-171

#Astrophotography #Narrowband #Sh2171 #NGC7822 #Cepheus #HubblePalette #DeepSky #Nebula #astrodon #astrophoto #deepsky

The Question Mark Nebula

Hey there, I'm Frank. I create web experiences and capture the beauty of the universe.

Frank Adler :: Astrophotography & Web Engineering

Frank Adler Mar 10

The Question Mark Nebula
====================

2,600 light-years away in Cepheus, a cosmic question mark is being written in gas and dust. Sharpless 171 (NGC 7822) is an active stellar nursery spanning over 100 light-years, powered by Berkeley 59 — a star cluster just two million years old. Its brightest member, BD+66 1673, burns at nearly 45,000 Kelvin, sculpting the surrounding cloud into the elephant trunks and dark pillars you see here. A two-million-year-old star carving a hundred-light-year nebula. The universe doesn't do things small.

The foreground scatter of stars in the upper part of the frame belongs to NGC 7762 — an unrelated open cluster that is 2.5 billion years old and just happens to share the same patch of sky. Ancient stars looking on as new ones are born.

Two-panel mosaic captured over two nights from Chemnitz, processed in Hubble Palette (HSO). 🔭

Scope: Askar 103APO
Lens: Askar 0.6x Reducer
Camera: ZWO ASI 294MC Pro
Filter: Antlia Tri-Band RGB Ultra
Mount: SkyWatcher AZ-EQ5-GT
Guiding: SkyWatcher Evoguide 50ED with ZWO ASI 224MC
Controller: ZWO ASIAir Pro
Focusser: ZWO EAF

Integration time: 16hrs 50min

Full version and print available at:
https://adfr.io/astro/20260310_sh2-171

#astrophotography #deepskyobject #narrowband #hubblepalette #emissionnebula #sh2171 #ngc7822 #questionmarknebula #cepheus #starforming #stellarnursery #berkeleycluster #hso #pixinsight #astronomyphotography #spacephotography #nightsky #cosmiclandscape #astrophoto #nebula #Sternenfotografie #Astrofotografie #deepsky #mosaic #longexposure #fromchemnitz

Frank Adler Dec 29

The Cave Nebula
=============

Hidden in the constellation Cepheus, about 2,400 light-years away, lies this subtle but fascinating stellar nursery. The iconic “cave” shape is created by dense cosmic dust pushing into glowing hydrogen gas, sculpted by intense ultraviolet radiation from young, massive stars.

What looks calm and quiet is in fact a region of ongoing star formation. Fine dust filaments, dark nebulae and faint reflection regions reveal the complex interaction between gas, dust and radiation. Objects like Sh2-155 are challenging to capture, but they reward long integrations with incredible depth and structure.

A silent reminder that even the darkest regions of space are full of creation.

Scope: Askar 103APO
Lens: Askar 0.6x Reducer
Camera: ZWO ASI 294MC Pro
Filter: Antlia Tri-Band RGB Ultra
Mount: SkyWatcher AZ-EQ5-GT
Guiding: SkyWatcher Evoguide 50ED with ZWO ASI 224MC
Controller: ZWO ASIAir Pro
Focusser: ZWO EAF

Integration time: 9hrs 45min

Full version and print available at:
https://adfr.io/astro/20251228_sh2-155/

#astrophotography #deepsky #nebula #cavenebula #sh2155 #space #cosmos #universe #stars #nightphotography
#longexposure #spacephotography #astronomy #astrophoto #stargazing #science #nightsky #celestial #hydrogenalpha #hubblepalette

rdm Aug 7, 2024

Here is a lesser-known nebula: #NGC6820, and the open cluster #NGC6823 .

This shot covers about 1 degree by 1.5 degrees, and is the result of about five hours of data collection over the course of three nights, using two #DwarfII smart telescopes.

1 hour's worth is without any filters, 1 hour is with a Svbony CLS light pollution filter, and 3 hours with a OIII/HII filter.

Then I fed the 1237 frames into #Siril and started crunching numbers. 72 frames were not usable, leaving me with 1165. These I stacked, and then ran through the "Hubblematic" #HubblePalette emulator and DSA Star Reduction scripts. Finally I did some additional reprocessing and smoothing with #GooglePhotos.

Most images of the area cover the cluster, rather than the rather large area of nebulosity that surrounds it, and just concentrate on the (admittedly very pretty) nebula around the cluster. This shot covers a much wider field, and even it does not show the true extent of this faint but magnificent region.

#Astrometry by Astrometry.net .

#astronomy #Astrodon #Astrophotography