The field of clusters and nebulosity in Gemini, with Messier 35 the main open star clusters here. Below M35 is NGC 2158. The nebulosity at left between Mu and Eta Geminorum is IC 443, a supernova remnant, aka the Jellyfish Nebula. The nebula at bottom is IC 2174, just over the border in Orion and aka the Monkeyhead Nebula. The field is similar to that of binoculars. This is a stack of 10 x 3-minute exposures with the filter-modified Canon 5D MkII at ISO 800 and 200mm Canon L-Series lens at f/2.8. Some light haze passing through in some exposures added the natural star glows. I left those in as part of the stack to add the glows. Taken with the Fornax Lightrack tracker as part of testing. Taken from home on a rare fine and mild winter night, January 4, 2019. Diffraction spikes added with Astronomy Tools.
This is a two-panel mosaic of nebulas and clusters in southern Gemini and northern Orion. The Messier 35 star cluster is at top accompanied by the smaller cluster NGC 2158. At left near the orange star Eta Geminorum is the crescent-shaped Jellyfish Nebula, IC 443, a supernova remnant. The fainter, diffuse nebula at far left is IC 444. At bottom and over the border in Orion is the Monkeyhead Nebula, NGC 2174. The little round nebula above NGC 2174 is Sharpless 2-247. This is a mosaic of two segments for the northern and southern halves of the scene, with each half being a stack of 6 x 8-minute exposures at ISO 800 with no filter, plus a stack layered in of 6 x 8-minute exposures at ISO 3200 with an Optolong L-Enhance filter to bring out the faint red nebulosity. So this is a stack and blend of a total of 24 exposures. Alll were with the Canon EOS Ra camera on the SharpStar HNT150 Hyperbolic Newtonian astrograph at f/2.8.
A framing of the core of the great Coma-Virgo Galaxy Cluster, with the bright pair of elliptical Messier-catalogue galaxies M84 (right) and M86 (on the left) at upper right anchoring the arc of galaxies called Markarian's Chain. At centre is the giant elliptical M87, famous for its monster black hole. M89, a smaller elliptical, is to the left, and M90, a spiral galaxy, is above it. M58 is at lower left, and the pair of interacting galaxies called the Siamese Twins, NGC 4568, are at bottom left. Dozens of other NGC, IC and PGC galaxies down to 15th magnitude dot the field. This is a stack of 20 x 6-minute exposures with the Astro-Tech 90CFT refractor and its Reducer for f/4.8 and only 480mm focal length, and the filter-modified Canon R at ISO 800, on the Astro-Physics Mach 1 mount autoguided with the MGENIII autoguider. Galaxies enhanced by a starless layer created with RC-Astro StarXTerminator, and with Detail Extractor filter in Nik Collection 6 Color EFX. Taken from home May 14-15, 2023.
