The Iris Nebula (NGC 7023), a bright reflection nebula set amid clouds of dark yellow-brown dust in Cepheus. The bright red star at left is T Cephei. The smaller reflection nebula at far left is vdB 14. North is up in this framing. This is a stack of 18 x 12-minute exposures with the SharpStar 94mm EDPH refractor at f/4.5 and with the Canon Ra at ISO 800, and through an Optolong L-Pro broadband filter. A generous application of luminosity mask curves in Photoshop generated with the Lumenzia panel brought out the faint dusty tendrils from the background sky. An application of Star XTerminator filter reduced the stars to also help accentuate the dusty clouds. Autoguided with the MGEN3 with dithering; no LENR or dark frames employed. Taken from home Nov. 2/3, 2021.
Jupiter in Taurus above Aldebaran and the Hyades and below the Pleiades, on January 4, 2013. Taken from home from the front yard, with the Sigma 50mm lens at f/2.8 and Canon 60Da camera at ISO 800 for 4 x 4 minutes + 2 x 3 minutes with the Kenko Softon filter for the star glows. Taken on the Kenko SkyMemo tracker. NGC 1647 and NGC 1746 clusters are also in the field, at left.
This is the asterism of stars known as Kemble's Cascade, named by Walter Scott Houston for Canadian amateur astronomer and Franciscan friar Father Lucien Kemble who popularized the stellar star chain. It is an obvious sight in binoculars or a telescope at low power but is off the beaten track in Camelopardalis. The star cluster NGC 1502 lies at the south end of the star chain. Below 1502 is a tiny vivid green dot, the planetary nebula NGC 1501. The field of view here is similar to that of binoculars. This is a stack of 8 x 5-minute exposures with the SharpStar 61mm refractor at f/4.5 and Canon R6 at ISO 1600. Diffraction spikes added for artistuc effect with AstronomyTools actions.
