Images

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.

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.

M77 is a nice small galaxy in the constellation Cetus. It has a wide area of gaseous rings around it, most of which could be pulled out in this image, due to 20h of exposure. M77 is also listed in the Arp Catalogue, as Arp37.

Sh2-86 is a rather faint nebula in the constellation Vulpecula at a distance of approximately 6000 lightyear. Especially the OIII and SII signals are very faint. But during processing they could be retrieved well. Using the Hubble Palette, the final result is rather impressive with the big pillar structures in the nebula.