2004 (Page 1) Deep Space Images from 2024

2024 Images (Page 1)

IC 405 - Flaming Star Nebula
IC 405 is an emission and reflection nebula, meaning that while some light is emitted from the glowing nebulous gas, the nebula is also reflecting light from nearby stars. The star that illuminates the central part of the nebula did not originate here, but is believed to have traveled to this location from the vicinity of Orion's belt. It is called the Flaming Star Nebula because of the wispy filaments that resemble smoke from a burning fire.
M 51 - Whirlpool Galaxy
This is a lovely example of a spiral galaxy, so called because as it rotates, its beautiful arms are dragged into a graceful spiral pattern. The smaller, yellowish galaxy visible in this image, slides behind M51 - close enough to exert a gravitational tug on the Whirlpool's arms, enhancing their spiral form and stirring up dust-rich plumes of stars that extend between the galaxies.

Rosette Nebula
The beauty and grandeur of this place is enhanced by the star cluster embedded within it, and the lovely floral pattern makes it a popular target for astrophotographers. You are looking at an emission nebula, so called because of the light emitted due to radiation from the stars it contains. It is known as the "Rosette Nebula", although some folks think the shape bears some resemblance to a human skull. The nebula contains numerous regions of intense star formation, which has produced a rich population of young stars. The bubble in the center was excavated by powerful winds from a couple of giant stars in the vicinity. If you like trivia, you'll want to know that the Rosette Nebula was chosen as the official astronomical object for the state of Oklahoma. The nebula and its resident cluster are five thousand light years from Earth and can be seen in the sky between the constellations of Orion and Canis Minor.
CED 214 - Cosmic Question Mark
This emission nebula goes by the rather unromantic name, CED 214. Its center contains some lovely dust pillars, illuminated by the hottest star within a kiloparsec from Earth. This is part of a larger area of nebulosity referred to as the "Cosmic Question Mark."

Heart Nebula
Sometimes it's hard to figure out how a nebula gets its name. But I think it's fairly obvious why this one is called the Heart Nebula. The strange shape is caused by stellar winds from giant stars in the nebula's core, and it's the radiation from these stars that makes the nebulous gases glow. The intense red colors are produced by energized hydrogen, while the blues and oranges indicate the presence of oxygen and sulfur respectively. The nebula is 7,500 light years away, and can be found in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1787.
NGC 7023 - Iris Nebula
This is known as the Iris Nebula, probably because it looks like an Iris flower, with bright blue petals suspended in a huge cloudy expanse of dark interstellar dust. The nebula is illuminated from the neighborhood stars, which is why it is called a reflection nebula.

Sadr Region
This image was produced from a series of exposures taken in June, 2024. It shows the part of the sky that surrounds the bright star Sadr, which you can find in the constellation of Cygnus - the swan. You can see Sadr very clearly - it's the biggest and brightest star in the image, just above and to the right of center. Although we're calling this the Sadr region, much of the colorful nebula you see here is actually nowhere near Sadr. It's mostly in the background, more than a couple of hundred light years beyond the big star. The section I've photographed is just below what's called the Butterfly Nebula - you can just make out the lower portions of the insect's wings, to either side of the dark zone stretching from the center to the top. This is called an emission nebula, since it consists of ionized gas, energized by the stellar winds from nearby stars. It is more than two thousand light years from Earth. The star, Sadr, is huge - about 150 times bigger than the Sun.
IC 342 - The Hidden Galaxy
IC 342 is very close to the galactic plane, at an angle of just 10 degrees. This makes it difficult to see, because it's obscured by dust, stars and debris from our own galaxy, hence the reason it is called "The Hidden Galaxy." By my calculations, we're likely peering through about thirty thousand light years of star stuff. It's a decent sized galaxy, and at just 11 million light years away it seems likely that if it were not so obscured by the Milky Way, it could well be visible to the naked eye. You can find it in the sky in the constellation Camelopardalis, between Ursa Major and Cassiopeia - although as noted, it is not easy to see. This photograph was taken with my RASA 11 astrograph and is the result of about 10 hours exposure over a number of evenings in August of 2024. You can just about see the outlines of outer arms - much fainter and more blue in color. Perhaps with longer exposure times I could bring out more of this detail. As with all of my images, a color sensor was used, with no filters. You can see lots of star formation happening, indicated by the presence of all of those pinkish red and yellow nodes. The galaxy core is especially bright - not just because of the central black hole, but also because of intense star formation in this region too. It is referred to as an H II nucleus because of the amount of ionized hydrogen it contains. Personally, I think this is a lovely galaxy, and one that is often overlooked by astrophotographers due to it being relatively "hidden".