Nebula – Page 2 – Semper Iuvenis Photography

IC 2177: The Stunning Seagull Nebula Explained

The first thing that struck me was the vast number of stars. I noticed them as I began to see this image unfold in the illuminated sky. Varying temperatures are seen in the gases with hot Hydrogen gases glowing in reddish hues with cooler gases expanding outward.

IC 2177 is a region of nebulosity that lies along the border between the constellations Monoceros and Canis Major. The name Seagull Nebula is sometimes applied by astronomers to this emission region. It resembles a gull in flight. It also includes the neighboring regions of star clusters, dust clouds, and reflection nebulae.

Astronomers catalog the nebula as IC 2177. This cosmic cloud is one of many sites of star formation within the Milky Way galaxy. It is located 3,800 light-years away from Earth. It resides inside the Orion spur. This is the same partial spiral arm of the Milky Way where our solar system is located. The nebula is nearly 240 light-years across.

NGC 2327 is located in IC 2177. It is also known as the Seagull’s Head, due to its larger presence in the Seagull nebula. The region near the seagull’s eye (or lizard’s hip) is listed as NGC 2327 by astronomers. It contains a cluster of stars born about 1.5 million years ago. The eye is the brightest and hottest of the newborn stars in the entire nebula. It heats up the dust. Consequently, the dust glows in infrared light.

The complex of gas and dust clouds is dominated by the reddish glow of atomic hydrogen. It spans over 100 light-years. Bright young stars are within it at an estimated distance of 3,800 light-years.

Astrobin link for acquisition details and annotated image.

Astrophotography Insights: NGC 247 and Its Mysteries

NGC 247 (also known as Caldwell 62) is an intermediate spiral galaxy located approximately 11.1 million light-years away in the constellation Cetus. It is a prominent member of the Sculptor Group, one of the closest galaxy clusters to our own Local Group. At a dec of -20, it’s as far south as I can image. I do this from my driveway here in the forest of western North Carolina.

The “Needle’s Eye” / “Claw” Galaxy: It has an unusual nickname. It’s called the “Needle’s Eye” because of an unusually large void or “hole” on one side of its spiral disk. This region contains older, redder stars. It lacks younger, bluer stars. This indicates that star formation there stopped about a billion years ago. Spanning about 70,000 light-years in diameter, it is smaller than the Milky Way and is viewed nearly edge-on from Earth.

Burbidge’s Chain: In deep images, a striking string of four distant background galaxies is visible. They are roughly 300 million light-years away. This string is located just to the north-east of NGC 247. These were a bonus I found in my image as I was processing it. I never saw them in the faint subframes. The difference between 11 million and 300 million light-years.

Astronomers speculate the galaxy’s distinctive void may have been caused by gravitational interaction with a “dark subhalo.” Another possibility is that another galaxy passed through its disk. While the void is quiet, the rest of the disk features bright pink H II regions. These are knots of glowing hydrogen gas where new stars are actively forming.

Astrobin version for acquisition details and annotated image.

What Makes vdB 13 a Captivating Celestial Object?

vdB 13 is a bluish reflection nebula cataloged in Sydney van den Bergh’s 1966 VdB Catalogue of 159 reflection nebulae.

Situated approximately 1,000 light-years away in the constellation Aries (at the northeast corner). It is part of the western edge of the Perseus Molecular Cloud.

The nebula is illuminated by the star HIP 15984, a blue star of spectral type B8. It has an apparent magnitude of approximately 8.25.

VDB 13 is surrounded by dust and a dark nebula structure. The dusty blue reflection nebula shines prominently through the darkness. It is these dark lanes that provide the contrast and thus the eerie beauty within the image.

Astrobin link for acquisition details and an annotated image.

Exposing Sh2-225 / LBN 778

Sh2-225 (also known as LBN 778) is a faint emission nebula and H II region located in the constellation Auriga. It is situated within the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way. The nebula is estimated to be approximately 12,060 light-years (3,700 parsecs) away from Earth.

I found this to be a fascinating area. There are large bulges of Hii in the background. They are partially obscured by foreground dust. A bright patch of Hii is lit up in the middle. That bright bit is Sh2-225.

Often described as extremely faint, it appears near the more prominent supernova remnant Sh2-224 (the “Rice Hat” nebula). Some deep imaging suggests it may be part of a larger ring-like or ball-shaped structure obscured by dark nebulosity. Due to its low surface brightness, it is a difficult target for astrophotography.

Astrobin link for the acquisition details and annotated image.

Sh2-204: The Shrimp Nebula

Also known as the Shrimp nebula, Sh2-204 is a large, and quite faint, emission nebula located in the constellation Camelopardalis.

Image acquisition and session automation using APT. Subframe calibration, alignment, integration, and processing using PixInsight. Astrobin link for the details

Capturing the Elusive Sh2-224 Supernova Remnant

Sh2-224 is a faint supernova remnant (SNR) located in the constellation Auriga. It is most commonly known as the Rice Hat Nebula. This is because its unique asymmetrical shape resembles a traditional Asian conical hat.

It is the expanding shell of debris. It was left over from a massive star’s explosion. This explosion occurred between 13,000 and 24,000 years ago. There are also 7 galaxies in the photograph.

The nebula spans roughly 163 light-years in diameter. The “hat” shape results from the supernova’s shockwave interacting with a lower-density cavity in the interstellar medium. This interaction allowed part of the shell to expand more rapidly into a “wing” or arc.

Sh2-224 is considered an extremely difficult target for amateur astronomers and astrophotographers because it is exceptionally dim. Capturing its detailed filamentary structure typically requires Long Integration Times: Often 20 to 60+ hours of total exposure.

This image is right at 8 hours of exposure. Image acquisition and session automation using APT. Subframe calibration, alignment, integration, and processing with PixInsight. Astrobin link for all the details.

Discovering the Peanut Nebula

Sh2-205 is a large, reddish H II region. It is a cloud of interstellar gas and dust where stars are forming. It is located on the border of the constellations Camelopardalis and Perseus. Within Sh2-205 is LBN 696, the big round ball of gas in the center of the image.

Also known as the “Peanut Nebula,” it is approximately 3,200 light-years from Earth and spans about 100 light-years across. It’s not often that the entire frame is filled with various gases. In this case, there’s really no background “sky”. It’s entirely nebulae.

Additionally, it is a faint nebula. Long exposure times are needed to image it. Its brightest part is a peanut-shaped area. I’m guessing the round bit in the middle is the “peanut”. The bright round ball in the center of the photograph is LBN 696. The image encompasses about half of the much larger Sh2-205 nebula.

This image contains 163 5 minute subframes acquired over three nights using APT for session control and automation. Subframe calibration, alignment, integration, and processing with PixInsight. Astrobin link for acquisition details and annotated image.

Discovering a Squid within a Flying Bat Nebula

The Sh2-129 nebula, also known as the “Flying Bat Nebula,” is a large and faint emission nebula. It consists of ionized hydrogen gas. This nebula is located in the constellation Cepheus, approximately 2,300 light-years from Earth. It is notable for containing the much fainter, blue-green “Squid Nebula” (Ou4) within its boundaries.

The attraction of this image is of course the Squid (Ou4) within the Flying Bat. The bat nebula spans 50 light-years across. Imaging it requires a very wide field telescope. I do not keep such a telescope set up on my rigs. I went with the widest I have mounted and that’s the Esprit 120ED at 860mm fl. Not an easy target with a OSC camera. Certainly a lot more time will help bring out the squid. Perhaps next year as Cepheus is on the back end of its time over us. Meridian is at 17:30 now.

Capturing an image of Sh2-129, especially the faint Ou4 within it, is considered a challenging target for Astro photographers. It typically requires long exposure times. Many hours, often 30+ hours, are needed using narrowband filters. These filters isolate the specific hydrogen-alpha and oxygen-III emissions that reveal its detailed structure. This image is 11 hours using a broadband filter. More in 2026.

141 subframes at 300s acquired using APT for session management and automation. Esprit 120ED & ASI2600MC cooled to 15f atop an Eq6r Pro mount. Subframes calibrated, aligned, integrated, and processed manually in PixInsight. Astrobin link for the details.

I look forward to spending more time on this one. Stay tuned!

Peering into the Cocoon Nebula

Sh2-125 is an astronomical catalog designation for the Cocoon Nebula, also known as IC 5146 or Caldwell 19. It is a stellar nursery. It is also a combination emission and reflection nebula in the constellation Cygnus. The nebula is about 4,000 ly away, and the central star that lights it formed about 100,000 years ago.

The nebula gets its “cocoon” shape because the star birth within it has expelled gas and dust. It sits at the eastern end of a long, dark lane of dust. This is the dark nebula Barnard 168 (B168), which appears as a trail behind the glowing cocoon. Based upon the scarcity and dimness of the stars I’d say there’s a lot of dust all around the cocoon.

It is situated in a star-rich region of the Milky Way, which can make it challenging to spot. When viewing Sh2-125, dark nebula Barnard 168 (B168) is an inseparable part of the experience. It forms a dark lane that surrounds the cluster. This lane projects westward, creating the appearance of a trail behind the Cocoon. In short it’s a beautiful celestial object.

This image consists of 130 3 minute exposures calibrated, registered, integrated, and processed in Pix Insight. Subframe acquisition and session automation via APT. Astrobin link for acquisition details and annotated image.

Discovering a colorful gem in Canis Major – Sh2-301

Sh2-301, or Gum 5, is an emission nebula in the constellation of Canis Major. At a declination of -18 this little gem sits at the edge of my southerly reach. It’s unusual to find an Hii target this far south, although there are a few.

This nebula is rich in Oxygen, Hydrogen, and Sulfur emissions. It is often overlooked because it’s close to Thor’s Helmet and the Vela super nova remnant. It has a lot of structure as well. There are many small columns of dust and gas. You can also see wispy blue areas of oxygen and a nice Bok globule in the center.

Additionally there are 4 galaxies and 2 LBN targets in the image. Astrobin link for acquisition details and annotated image.

I happened upon this target after watching Gary Imm on the Astro Imaging Channel SAIC you tube channel. He went through a very interesting presentation on the Sharpless catalog and his approach to imaging it. Following that, I was looking through his images and this target caught my eye.

Session automation and image acquisition by APT. 132 subframes taken with an RC8 telescope at 1625mm fl and an ASI071MC Pro camera cooled to 15f. These ride atop a Skywatcher Eq6r Pro Equatorial mount. Subframe calibration, alignment, integration, and processing in PixInsight.