Apollo 11 Rocket Engine Recovery (Infographic)

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NGC 6960 - Veil Nebula (Western Segment)

In the constellation Cygnus (The Swan) an unknown supergiant star exploded some 15,000 years ago and briefly appeared as a spectacular Type II supernova. The remnant of that ancient blast is now visible as a very large circle of nebulosity known as the Cygnus Loop. More popularly known as the Veil Nebula (aka Filamentary Nebula, Bridal Veil Nebula, or Network Nebula), this circle of star material spans some 3 degrees or six full-Moon-diameters of the night sky. The segment on the western side of the loop is cataloged as NGC 6960 or Caldwell 33 and is the subject of my recent image shown below:

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This portion of the Veil Nebula is also known as "The Witches Broom" and is dominated by the bright, magnitude 4.2 foreground star known as 52 Cygni. NGC 6960 runs in a roughly north-south line slightly east of 52 Cygni. A cropped, full resolution image of this western segment of the Veil is shown below:

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Note 1: East is toward top and North is toward right side for all images. Complete image details are available by clicking here.

Note 2: [Source: O'Meara, Stephen James. "The Caldwell Objects". Cambridge: University of Cambridge and Sky Publishing, 2002. Print.]

Spectacular Pleiades

On fall and winter evenings, the northern sky's most spectacular open cluster rides high in the constellation Taurus the Bull. The 70-million-year-old cluster contains some 100 stars in an area 14 light years in diameter with ten stars brighter than 6th magnitude. Photographs show the entire area surrounded by ice-blue nebulosity that reflects the light of the hot, young stars. Debate continues whether the nebulosity is associated with the stars or whether the cluster is just moving through an area of nebulosity. Either way, the cluster/nebulosity combination makes for a magnificent wide-field photograph. Here is a reduced version of the Pleiades:

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A map of the Pleiades rotated to match all images is shown below:

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The brightest area of nebulosity surrounds the star Merope (23 Taurii) and is known as the Merope Nebula (IC349). Just to the south of Merope (left) is another area of nebulosity cataloged as NGC 1435 and also known as Tempel's Nebula. A close-up image of the area around Merope is shown below:

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Another bright area of nebulosity surrounds the Maia (20 Taurii) and is known as the Maia Nebula (NGC 1432). A close-up image of the area around Maia is shown below:

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Note 1: East is toward top and North is toward right side for all images. Complete image details are available by clicking here.

Note 2: [Source: O'Meara, Stephen James. "The Messier Objects". Cambridge: University of Cambridge and Sky Publishing, 1998. Print.]

NGC 663 and Companions

Among the many open cluster in the region where the Milky Way cuts through Cassiopeia is a tight grouping of three clusters dominated by NGC 663. With a diameter of 15 arc-minutes and a magnitude of 7.1, NGC 663 is also cataloged as Caldwell 10 and is often described as the 'The Horseshoe Cluster'. Here is a close-up image of NGC 663:

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About one-half degree to the southwest of NGC 663 is another fainter and smaller cluster cataloged as NGC 659. This cluster is about 6 arcmin in diameter and shines at magnitude 7.9. Here is a close-up image of NGC 659:

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Also in the same field of view, about 43 arc-minutes to the northwest of NGC 663 is still another small cluster designated as NGC 654. This cluster is also about 6 arc-minutes in diameter but slightly brighter than NGC 659 at magnitude 6.5. Here is a close-up image of NGC 654:

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The complete field-of-view containing the three clusters (labeled) is shown in the following image. Note: The bright blue-white star to the southwest (below and left) of NGC 659 is the multiple star 44 CAS. This 5.8 magnitude star has a magnitude 9.6 companion 66 arc-seconds away and a 9.2 magnitude companion 140 arc-seconds away.

(Click image to view larger, unlabeled version)

Note: East is toward top and North is toward right side for all images. Also, complete image details are available by clicking here.

Comet Garradd - Sept. 29, 2011

Comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd) is a fairly bright and very well placed object for North American astronomers from now through Spring of 2012. As comets go it is a large object but never comes closer to the Sun than Mars' average distance. Thus it will be visible for an unusually long time but will never sport much of a tail. Below is an image of Garradd taken on the evening of September 29, 2011 from the Chiefland Astronomy Village in Chiefland, Florida. It is composed of multiple 2-minute exposures through LRGB filters.

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Here is also a very short video of the motion of Garradd over the 90-minute period that I spent imaging the object (10 frames, each frame approximately ten minutes apart).