AstroWorldCreations

Caldwell 56, also known as NGC246, is a planetary nebula in the constellation Cetus. The characteristic shape of the bright outer shell has given it its nickname Skull Nebula. It is photographed here as an HOO image. The central white dwarf is resolved from its companion.

Sh2-290 is a faint planetary nebula in the constellation Cancer. It is a typical dual band colour image, with relatively strong signals in Ha and OIII. This image is captured using a total of 20h of exposure. Sh2-290 is a member of the Sharpless catalogue of HII regions.

M71 is a nice globular cluster in the constellation Sagitta at about 13,000 light-years away from Earth. The object is located near the dense star fields of the Milky Way, making it an intriguing object to photograph.

IC4954 and IC4955 are two very small nebulae in the constellation Vulpecula. The total field of view of this image is only 12 x 9 arcmin, so very much zoomed in on an already long focal length telescope. Each night only 0.5-1.5h of data could be collected, so this image is the result of 20 imaging sessions.

Sh2-200 is a very dim planetary nebula in the constellation of Cassiopeia. By mistake it ended up in the Sharpless catalogue of HII emission regions, but recently its identity as a planetary nebula was confirmed. The nebula itself and especially the hydrogen regions around it are very dim, so require long exposure times

IC434 is better known as the horse-head nebula and one of the most well-known nebulae at the night sky. The image here contains just over 2h of exposure, taken using a travel rig during a trip to Scotland. Updates to the travel rig had been applied, the most notable being that it is now run using Stellarmate on an iPad mini.

Sh2-206, also called the Fossil Footprint Nebula, is a beautiful emission nebula in the constellation Perseus. It is photographed here using the Hubble palette, creating the typical blue/golden look. For processing, the relatively new NPColourMapper script was used.

Caldwell 5, or IC342, is also known as the hidden galaxy, tucked away behind the dust of our own Milky Way. Individual frames did not reveal too much detail, but stacking 20h of exposure brought out the full splendour of this beautiful galaxy.

M32 is a small dwarf satellite galaxy to its big brother Andromeda Galaxy. It is not photographed on its own, but the purpose of this image was to zoom in onto M32 itself. It is not a spectacular target, but photographed here in a closeup that is not seen very often.

M103 is a small open cluster of only 172 stars, in the constellation of Cassiopeia. It is located 9,400 lightyears from the Sun and includes some rather bright stars of magnitude 10.5. The object is photographed under full moon conditions.

M52 is an open cluster in the constellation of Cassiopeia. Star clusters like these are ideal targets to image during full moon, which is done here.

M110 is at first glance a somewhat boring galaxy, always in the shadow of its close and popular neighbour M31, the Andromeda Galaxy. The main reason of imaging was to complete the Messier catalogue. But some very small scale structure appeared to be present, which in the end made this a fun object to photograph.

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) has a long tail and can be seen without a telescope. This photo was taken on 14 October 2024, shortly after sunset when the comet was still bright before it fades as it moves further into our solar system.

M57, or the Ring Nebula, is a small planetary nebula in the constellation Lyra. Usually, only the core is captured in images, but this photo also shows the outer hydrogen (Ha) and oxygen (OIII) gas clouds. The difference is significant, so two different HDR methods were needed to achieve this result.

Arp78 is one of the 'Peculiar Galaxies' from the Arp catalogue in the constellation Aries. Tidal forces from nearby galaxies pull the arms of Arp78 into the peculiar shapes as they are.