Stars – Page 3 – Semper Iuvenis Photography

Sh2-154 a Molecular Hydrogen Cloud in Cepheus

Sh2-154 is a large emission nebula in the constellation Cepheus, located approximately 3,260 light-years away, within a star-forming region. It is cataloged in the Sharpless catalog. This nebula is noted for being a faint, but sizable, region of double-ionized hydrogen. It is surrounded by dust. The giant B-type star (LS III +60 28) is responsible for ionizing the nebula.

Sh2-154 is situated in the same larger star-forming complex as the more famous Cave Nebula, also known as Sh2-155. It is often pictured alongside Sh2-155 in wide-field astrophotography. The ionizing radiation from (LS III +60 28) may be compressing nearby molecular clouds. This action could potentially trigger the birth of new stars. The open cluster NGC 7419 is located close to Sh2-154. Because Sh2-154 is an emission nebula, it appears mostly red in images and is effectively captured using a hydrogen-alpha filter.

I use APT for image acquisition control and automation. The Skywatcher Esprit 120ED f7 840mm fl telescope was paired with the ZWO ASI2600MC camera. It was atop an Eq6r Pro mount. Together, they collected the 151 5 minute light frames over three nights in Sept 2025. I used PixInsight to create and process the image. Astrobin link for acquisition details.

Sh2-158 Northern Lagoon Nebula

SH2-158 is also known as the Northern Lagoon Nebula or NGC 7538. It is an active star-forming H II region in the constellation Cepheus. This nebula is located about 9,100 light-years away. It is home to massive young stars and protostars. It includes one exceptionally large O-type protostar. It is part of the Cassiopeia OB2 complex in the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way.

Sh2-158 is often overlooked by amateur astrophotographers due to its proximity to the larger and more famous Bubble Nebula. However, it is a challenging and rewarding target. I was intrigued by the name alone. I have imaged the Lagoon Nebula and hadn’t heard of the Northern Lagoon Nebula. A quick search led to a few examples but not many, so I set my sights on the target.

Sh2-158 is an active star-forming region embedded within a large molecular cloud. As an emission nebula, Sh2-158 glows. However, its light is spread out over a large area. This distribution makes its surface brightness very low. Long total exposure times are needed. Often, multiple hours are required to gather enough light. These times help distinguish the nebula from the sky’s background noise. The surrounding dust clouds absorb and scatter light, further diminishing the nebula’s brightness and obscuring fine details within it. This makes revealing the nebula’s structure challenging and requires advanced processing techniques. The dust also causes reddening, altering the color balance of images and requiring careful calibration during post-processing.

Image acquisition details in astrobin image

I imaged it over the course of three nights in Sept 2025. I used a RC8 telescope at 1625 mm paired with an AI071MC camera atop an Eq6r Pro mount. I used a Radian Ultra Quadband filter.

Sh2-86 Cloud Sculpting Star Cluster

Sh2-86 is a faint emission nebula in the constellation Vulpecula, located approximately 6,000 light-years from Earth. It contains the young, hot open star cluster NGC 6823. This cluster illuminates the surrounding nebula. It gives the nebula its distinctive shape.

The nebula has “pillar-like” structures. These structures are similar to “elephant trunks.” It also has Bok globules. These globules are denser regions of gas shielded from the intense radiation of the young stars.

This image consists of 81 exposures. Each exposure was 5 minutes long. They were taken from my driveway with an Esprit 120ED telescope and ZWO ASI2600MC camera. Image acquisition using APT. Image processed manually in PixInsight. Acquisition details in this astrobin link.

Sh2-82 – The Little Cocoon in Sagitta

Also known as the little cocoon nebula. This is due to its resemblance to IC 5146 – The Cocoon Nebula. It is also called The Little Trifid Nebula. This is because it looks a bit like Messier 20 – The Trifid Nebula. Sh2-82 has a lot to offer. The reflection nebula surrounds the bright red emission nebula with a flare off the one side.

A long dust lane runs diagonally through the image, blocking the light of most of the stars behind it. This provides the contrast for the entire image.

Imaged with an RC8 telescope and ASI071MC camera, this image contains 100 5 minute subs. Image acquisition via APT and processed manually in PixInsight. Image acquisition details.

M 14 – A Globular Cluster of Stars in Ophiuchus

Continuing with Globular Clusters, I present M 14. It is a colorful cluster of over 150,000 stars. These stars have been traveling through space as a singular entity over the past 13 billion years.

Globular clusters are densely packed collections of stars. They are roughly spherical and are held together by gravity. Often, they are found in the outer regions (halos) of galaxies. They can contain tens of thousands to millions of stars and are among the oldest objects in a galaxy.

Messier 14 (M14) is a globular cluster located in the southern constellation Ophiuchus. The cluster lies at a distance of 30,300 light years from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 7.6. It has the designation NGC 6402 in the New General Catalogue.

Messier 14 is elongated in shape and contains about 150,000 stars. It occupies an area about 100 light years across in size. M14 can easily be seen in binoculars, but is not visible to the naked eye. The brightest star in the cluster has a visual magnitude of 14. The average apparent magnitude of the cluster’s 25 brightest stars is 15.44.

The cluster has only about 5 percent of the Sun’s heavy elements. Its estimated age is about 13 billion years. Imaged the evening of June 23, 2025 using an RC 8 telescope and ASI071MC astro camera.

Acquisition details

NGC 6229 – A Globular Cluster

NGC 6229 is a globular cluster located in the constellation Hercules. NGC 6229 is located at about 100,000 light years away from Earth. It is an intermediate-metallicity globular cluster. It has two distinct generations of stars. It may be the remnant core of a spheroidal dwarf galaxy.

Acquisition details.

Imaged from my driveway with a Bortle 4 sky. 93 x 60s subframes were collected using my RC8 telescope at 1627mm and the ASI071MC camera.

Discover the Leo Quartet – NGC 3190 galaxy group

This galaxy season I wanted to touch on a few galaxy clusters. I’ve photographed the Leo Triplet before but never the Leo Quartet. The NGC 3190 group is also known as Hickson 44 or Arp 316. It is a compact group of galaxies located in the constellation Leo. The galaxies are about 100 million light-years from earth.

3190 group – Astrobin

Here’s a breakdown of its members:

NGC 3190: A spiral galaxy with a prominent dust lane, viewed nearly edge-on.
NGC 3193: An elliptical galaxy, appearing as a relatively featureless glow.
NGC 3187: A barred spiral galaxy with distorted, S-shaped arms, giving it a peculiar appearance.
NGC 3185: A barred spiral galaxy with a ring-like outer structure.

Image capture using APT 4.6, Image processing with PixInsight.

Messier 10 Globular Cluster in Ophiuchus

The Milky Way galaxy is home to roughly 150 known globular clusters. These clusters are tightly packed, spherical groups of stars, typically containing tens of thousands to millions of stars. Globular clusters are generally very old. Their ages are 12-13 billion years. This age makes them among the oldest stellar objects in the Milky Way.

Messier 10 or M 10 is a bright and rich globular cluster of stars in the equatorial constellation of Ophiuchus.

At approximately 15,000 light-years from Earth it is one of the closest globular clusters. It’s estimated to be about 11.4 billion years old., making it one of the younger globular clusters in our galaxy.

Image acquisition via APT 4.63 and consists of 208 60 second exposures, or a little over 3 hours of integrated light.

RC8 scope at 1625mm fl; ASI 071MC camera cooled to 15f; EQ6r Pro mount.

Image calibrated, integrated, and processed manually in PixInsight.

LBN 406 – Laughing Skull molecular cloud

The Laughing Skull Nebula in Draco

Beverly Lynds Bright Nebula (LBN) 406 is a very faint molecular cloud of dust. It reflects nearby star shine in the constellation Draco. On her brightness scale of 1 to 6, Lynds classified this nebula as a barely visible, 1. The stellar winds have created some interesting shapes. This area is often called The Laughing Skull Nebula, focus on the center of the image.

At the very bottom center is the small galaxy, UGC 10548, that looks like the planet Saturn. A Higher resolution telescope reveals two distinct arms and not a ring.

This image is 125 8 minute exposures, or 16.5 hours, over several early mornings in March 2025. Imaged with a Skywatcher Esprit 120ED and Antlia Quad LP filter. Imaging camera is an ASI2600MC. Both riding n EQ6r Pro mount. Imaging session control and acquisition by APT 4.62. Image calibration, alignment, integration and processing done manually in PixInsight.

Cheers!

Galaxies of Virgo (Great Galactic Face; The Eyes; Markarian’s)

The Virgo constellation

I used NGC 4425 as the centering coordinates for this image. Multiple galaxies are within the field of view. These include components of Markarian’s Chain, the Great Galactic Face, The “Eyes,” and another 10 galaxies. The Virgo constellation is chalk full of galaxies. Be sure to look at my annotated version in Astrobin. It identifies all the galaxies in the image. It also provides the acquisition details for the photo.

NGC 4425 is a Barred Spiral Galaxy located in the constellation of Virgo in the equatorial region. NGC 4425’s distance from Earth is 54.7 million light years. NGC 4425 is cataloged in the New General Catalogue (NGC). This catalogue is a list of deep space objects. John Louis Emil Dreyer compiled it in 1888. His work was an update to John Herschel’s earlier work. NGC 4425 is not a Messier Object and doesn’t have a Messier Number. The galaxy is separate and distinct, not in Milky Way galaxy or The Solar System.

When we observe the NGC 4425, we are not looking at it as it currently appears. Instead, we see it as it used to appear 54.7 million years ago, given how long light takes to reach us from there.

NGC 4425 is situated close to the celestial equator. Thus, it is at least partly visible from both hemispheres at certain times of the year.

Each of the 20+ galaxies in this image have a history, a unique story.