The Belt of Orion with the Horsehead Nebula at botton, the dark nebula set in the bright emission nebula IC 434. The nebula at left of the Zeta Orionis (aka Alnitak) is the Flame Nebula, NGC 2024. The reflection nebula at upper left is the M78 complex with NGC 2071. The other Belt stars are Alnilan (centre) and Mintaka (upper right). The field contains a wealth of other blue reflection and red emission nebulas. Taken from Australia, March 2014 with the Borg 77mm astrographic apo refractor (330mm focal length) at f/4.3 for a stack of 5 x 10 minute exposures with the filter-modified Canon 5D Mark II at ISO 800.
A mosaic of the region in Cassiopeia and Cepheus containing the main nebulas: the Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635) at lower left, and the Cave Nebula (Sh 2-155) at upper right. At left is also the bright Messier open cluster M52. The small yellowish cluster at right is NGC 7419. The small cluster at lower centre is NGC 7510. The small nebula just left of centre is NGC 7538. This is a mosaic of 4 panels, each segment being a stack of 10 x 6-minute exposures taken over two nights with the TMB 92mm apo refractor at f/4.4 with the Borg 0.85x field flattener/reducer and the filter-modified Canon 5D MkII at ISO 800. Images stacked and merged in Photoshop. Shot from New Mexico.
This is a wide-field portrait of a set of nebulas with colourful names but rendered here in monochrome: The Bubble Nebula at upper left; the Lobster Claw Nebula below it (somewhat obvious for its shape); the Cave Nebula at upper right; and the Wizard Nebula at bottom. The small round nebula above the Wizard is Sharpless 2-152. Just below it and very small is Sh2-148. The star cluster right of centre is NGC 7419. The Bubble Nebula's spherical bubble is a little lost at this scale. It lies below the star cluster Messier 52. The Bubble is also NGC 7635. The Lobster Claw is Sharpless 2-157 and is sometimes called the Californietto. The Cave Nebula is Sharpless 2-155, while the Wizard is Sharpless 2-142 but also known as NGC 7380 though that designation applies to the star cluster associated with it. All are located on the Cassiopeia-Cepheus border. North is more or less up in this portrait orientation. This is a stack of 12 x 16-minute exposures with the SharpStar 61mm EDPH refractor with its reducer at f/4.4, and with the Canon EOS Ra camera at ISO 3200, with a clip-in Astronomik 12nm H-alpha filter to block all but red H-a light for a monochrome portrait. Luminosity masks with Lumenzia helped bring out the faint nebulosity. The initial exposures were taken in moonlight. I added a slight blue colour grade for artistic effect.
