Images

M37 is the brightest open cluster in the constellation of Auriga. Many of its 500 stars are fairly young bright blue stars, but the big star in the center (HD39183) is a yellow giant. M37 is photographed here during two consecutive full moon periods in December 2024 and January 2025 respectively.

Sh2-292 is an emission nebula in the constellation Canis Major. It is the head of te Seagull nebula. Most images will show the full Seagull nebula using a fairly wide field setup. But the Sh2-292 designated area is only referring to the head, which is shown here in an SHO palette.

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.