NGC 7380 (The Wizard Nebula)

Sometimes it’s fun to work with bad data because you’re not expecting much and it turns out OK.

The Wizard seems to be my arch-nemesis so far. This is the second time I’ve tried this target with little luck. I had issues with flats and I was able to crop in and salvage some of the data.

I will be trying this again later this month. The third time is the charm.

This is NGC 7360 The Wizard Nebula. This is a star cluster/emission nebula in Cepheus.

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IC1396 (The Elephant Trunk Nebula)

IC1396, also known as The Elephant’s Trunk Nebula, is a region full of installer gas and dust. This isn’t as colorful as my previous images, but it’s a fun target to image. Elephant’s Trunk Nebula is a star-forming region with several young stars.

I took this at Cherry Springs State Park, PA, over the last new moon weekend.

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Messier 33 (The Triangulum Galaxy)

Messier 33 also known as the Triangulum Galaxy is one of the most beautiful face-on galaxies in the night sky. This is part of our local group of galaxies which includes, Andromeda, The Magellanic Clouds, and our own Milkyway.

I took this image at Cherry Springs State Park a truly dark site in Pennsylvania.

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NGC 7635 (The Bubble Nebula)

NGC 7635 also known as the Bubble Nebula is an emission nebula in Cassiopeia. This Bubble is a result of very fast stellar winds from a massive star in the middle.

I took this picture a few days ago. It was almost a full moon at 97% and I used an Optolong L-eNhance 2″ filter to counter light pollution and the moon.

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NGC 6888 (The Crescent Nebula)

NGC 6888 also known as The Crescent Nebula. However, I like to call it the Horseshoe Crab Nebula. This is 50 exposures over two nights. This is an incredibly faint object and I underestimated how much time I would need.

I need to work on processing. If you zoom in, you can see how my star mask affects the final image.

I also used an Optolong L-Pro filter during this image to cut down on light pollution.

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Messier 13 (The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules)

M13 or the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules is a large globular cluster in Hercules. There aren’t exact numbers on how many stars there are in this cluster, but estimates show that there are several hundred thousand to a million stars in this small region

I took this picture in June 2020. It was a half-moon and I used an Optolong L-Pro 2″ filter to cut through the light pollution.

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