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10/25/2025

Sh2-114 (The Flying Dragon Nebula)

Sh2-114, as listed in the Sharpless catalog, is a faint, little studied, nebula located in the constellation Cygnus the Swan. It has a filamentous structure that resembles a supernova remnant such as NGC 6979 (Pickering's Triangle) found in the more famous Veil Nebula. This, however, does not seem to be the case for Sh2-114 as no supernovae, or their remnants, have been detected in the area.

Sh2-114's complex and wispy structure is probably the result stellar winds emitted by very hot and massive stars that are interacting with interstellar magnetic fields. The distance to the nebula does not seem to be firmly established, however; one reference notes a distance of between 3,520 and 4,175 light years the Earth.

This was captured across 4 nights Sept 26th, 27th, and Oct 17th, 18th. Had captured almost 23 hours of data but the end stack was 235 5 min exposures (19.5 hours).

Captured with:
telescope: Williams Optics Nightcat 51
mount: Celestron AVX
filter: Optolong L-Pro
controlled with Zwo Asi-Air Plus
stacked and processed in Pixinsight.

10/17/2025

First picture from HoASP. Was cloudy last night and supposed to be cloudy tonight but we are doing clear sky dances and holding out.

10/01/2025

NGC 7380 is a young open cluster of stars in the northern circumpolar constellation of Cepheus, discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1787. The surrounding emission nebulosity is known colloquially as the Wizard Nebula, which spans an angle of 25′. German-born astronomer William Herschel included his sister's discovery in his catalog, and labelled it H VIII.77. The nebula is known as S 142 in the 1959 Sharpless catalog (Sh2-142). It is extremely difficult to observe visually, usually requiring very dark skies and an O-III filter. The NGC 7380 complex is located at a distance of approximately 8.5 kilolight-years from the Sun, in the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way.

captured with the Seestar S50 287 30 sec subs (2hr 23.5min) in EQ mode. Processed in pixinsight.

09/26/2025

NGC 281, IC 11 or Sh2-184 is a bright emission nebula and part of an H II region in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia and is part of the Milky Way's Perseus Spiral Arm. This 20×30 arcmin sized nebulosity is also associated with open cluster IC 1590, several Bok globules and the multiple star, B 1. It collectively forms Sh2-184, spanning over a larger area of 40 arcmin. Colloquially, NGC 281 is also known as the Pacman Nebula for its resemblance to the video game character.

Captured with ZWO Seestar S50 122 30sec subs. Raw stack from the Seestar was processed in Pixinsight.

09/13/2025

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗮𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗻 𝗡𝗲𝗯𝘂𝗹𝗮 (catalogued as Messier 8 or M8, NGC 6523, Sharpless 25, RCW 146, and Gum 72) is a giant emission nebula with an H II region located in the constellation Sagittarius. Discovered by Giovanni Hodierna in 1654, it is one of only two star-forming nebulae faintly visible to the naked eye from mid-northern latitudes (the other being the Orion Nebula).

Located approximately 4,000–6,000 light-years from Earth, the nebula spans 110 by 50 light-years (appearing as 90' by 40' in Earth's sky). While appearing pink in long-exposure photographs, it typically appears gray when viewed through binoculars or telescopes due to the human eye's limited color sensitivity in low-light conditions. The nebula contains the young open cluster NGC 6530 within its structure.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗱 𝗡𝗲𝗯𝘂𝗹𝗮 (catalogued as Messier 20 or M20 and as NGC 6514) is an H II region in the north-west of Sagittarius in a star-forming region in the Milky Way's Scutum–Centaurus Arm. It was discovered by Charles Messier on June 5, 1764. Its name means 'three-lobe'. The object is an unusual combination of an open cluster of stars, an emission nebula (the relatively dense, reddish-pink portion), a reflection nebula (the mainly NNE blue portion), and a dark nebula (the apparent 'gaps' in the former that cause the trifurcated appearance, also designated Barnard 85). Viewed through a small telescope, the Trifid Nebula is a bright and peculiar object, and is thus a perennial favorite of amateur astronomers.

This is a pretty heavy crop from the original image. Consists of 24 5min images stacked and processed in Pixinsight.

Captured with:
Telescope: Williams Optics NightCat 51
Mount: Celestron AVX
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC pro
Controller: ZWO AsiAir Plus

09/10/2025

The Pleiades also known as Seven Sisters and Messier 45 (M45), is an asterism of an open star cluster containing young B-type stars in the northwest of the constellation Ta**us. At a distance of about 444 light-years, it is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and the nearest Messier object to Earth, being the most obvious star cluster to the naked eye in the night sky. It contains the reflection nebulae NGC 1432, an HII region, and NGC 1435, known as the Merope Nebula. Around 2330 BC the Pleiades marked the vernal point. Due to the brightness of its stars, the Pleiades is viewable from most areas on Earth, even in locations with significant light pollution.

This was taken 8-23-25 out at the family farm. This image is the result of 43 5min exposures stacked and processed in Pixinsight.

Captured with:
Telescope: Williams Optics NightCat 51
Mount: Celestron AVX
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC pro
Controller: ZWO AsiAir Plus

08/19/2025

So I heard that Titan was going to make a transit of Saturn so decided to set the scope to capture it early morning on Aug 3rd. That weekend smoke from the Canadian wildfires was thick in the sky and figured I would not be able to get much. The image I got turned out ok for such bad viewing conditions that night. You can barely make out Titan to the upper left of Saturn, its the little smudge you can see.

Equipment used
Telescope: Celestron 8in Edge HD
Mount: Ioptron CEM-60 with Tri-pier
Camera: ZWO ASI290
2x Barlow

10,000 frame video captured via Sharpcap. Stacked best 10% frames with AutoStakkert and adjusted wavelets in RegiStax.

06/11/2025

Don't forget to take a peek at the full moon tonight. This was taken at work with my Samsung Galaxy s23 ultra phone camera.

05/04/2025

Just recently acquired a gently used new to me Seestar s50 smart telescope. This little bu**er is simply amazing. Images won't be as good as done on my bigger setups, but it's quick to set up and start seeing stuff that's for sure. It found the sun this morning so fast. Check out that sunspot staring us down.

03/15/2025

Yesterday morning early myself and a couple other members of CMAA was camped out at the Boone County Nature School Observatory imaging the Lunar Eclipse on 3-14-25. This is my picture right about maximum eclipse shortly before the clouds moved in.

Equipment used:
Telescope: Celestron 8in Edge HD
Mount: Ioptron CME-60
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
Controller: ZWO ASIair

stretched and processed using Pixinsight.

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