2023 – Bracken Observatory

2023 Images

IC 63 - Ghost Nebula
This is an area of nebulosity approximately 600 light years distant, near Gamma Cassiopeiae - the middle star in the famous 'W' shape of Cassiopeia, which shows prominently here in the upper, right quadrant of the photo. The brightness of the star makes it difficult to detect the nebula. This image is the result of about 11 hours of exposure time, using a cooled CMOS camera. There are actually two fairly distinct nebulae visible in the image: IC 59 (left) and IC 63 (right). IC 59 has less H-alpha emission, and so it appears more blue, as the light is mostly blue light reflected from the star. IC 63, also known as the Ghost Nebula, is slightly closer to the star, and appears brighter in this image.
M52 Scorpion Cluster & Bubble Nebula
Pair text with an image to focus on your chosen product, collection, or blog post. Add details on availability, style, or even provide a review.I chose this image as my holiday photo for 2023, as I think it has a festive aura. In the upper middle is the open star cluster M52, sometimes referred to as the Scorpion Cluster. It is color-enhanced here for effect. M52 is a loosely-bound grouping of stars that all originated from the same cosmic dust cloud. Because of this, the stars in the cluster all have more or less the same composition and age, but have a variety of different masses. This gives us a useful opportunity to study how the lifecycle of a star relates to its size. In the lower left section, you can see the Bubble Nebula, which I think resembles a holiday bauble. This bubble was created by the expansion of nebulous material driven by the stellar wind from a hot, young star. Although both the star cluster and the nebula can be seen in the same part of the sky, in the constellation of Cassiopeia, the nebula is much farther away from us. It is 11 thousand light years distant, whereas M52 is about 4,600 light years away.

M31 - Andromeda Galaxy
I've wanted to take a photo of Andromeda Galaxy ever since I saw it portrayed in an episode of Star Trek, back in the 1970's. This image was taken in August, 2023. At a distance of only 2.5 million light years, Andromeda is our closest major galactic neighbor, and looks to be a little larger than our own galaxy - the Milky Way. It's currently speeding toward us, on a collision course, which means at some point we'll have difficulty getting the whole galaxy into a single frame. Our galaxy is thought to have a similar spiral shape, so maybe there's an observatory in an Andromeda star system that just published a comparable photo of us. There are two fairly obvious satellite galaxies visible here also - M32, (top and left of center), and M110, (below and to the right).
M101 - Pinwheel Galaxy
Pair text with an image to focus on your chosen product, collection, or blog post. Add details on availability, style, or even provide a review.Photo #2 from the observatory. This is the Pinwheel galaxy, where a supernova explosion was detected in early 2023. The remnants of the explosion are still visible in this photo.

IC 1396 - Elephant's Trunk
This lovely expanse is known as IC 1396, an emission nebula that contains numerous stellar nurseries - clumps of dust and gas where new proto-stars are being produced. When a young star is born, it begins to emit radiation, similar to our own star's solar wind. This stellar wind clears away any debris from the immediate vicinity of the new star, forming rounded cavities in the surrounding material. An example of this activity can clearly be seen just below the center of the image, in an area called the Elephant's Trunk.
Cygnus Loop (Veil Nebula)
This image is the result of about 12 hours of exposure time. It is a huge area of nebulosity, about 120 light years in diameter, called the Cygnus Loop - also known as the Veil Nebula. The beautiful stranded filaments you see are the remnants of an exploding star. The star is thought to have been about 15 times more massive than our sun, resulting in an explosion so bright that it would have appeared to our distant ancestors, more than 22,000 years ago, as bright in the sky as the planet Venus. The area seen in this photo includes three distinct nebula formations - from top to bottom, these are known as the Western Veil, Pickering's Triangle and the Eastern Veil.

NGC 281 - Pacman Nebula
The Pacman nebula, named after the popular video game character, is an emission nebula approximately 6.5 thousand light years away, and situated about 1,000 light years above the galactic plane. You can find it in the sky near the constellation of Cassiopeia. It contains numerous dense accumulations of gas and dust; ideal settings for the creation of new stars. Pacman also hosts a population of high-mass stars that finish their lives as supernovae explosions, blasting debris into the galactic neighborhood. This star-stuff later serves as building material for new stars and planets. The energy from these high-mass stars is what helps to sculpt the nebulous gases into such beautiful shapes.