Processed in October 2012
Imaged July - October
The North America Nebula (NGC 7000 or Caldwell 20) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, close to Deneb (the tail of the swan and its brightest star). The remarkable shape of the nebula resembles that of the continent of North America, complete with a prominent Gulf of Mexico. It is sometimes incorrectly called the
"North American Nebula". Cygnus's Wall is a term for the "Mexico and Central America part" of the North America Nebula. The Cygnus Wall exhibits the most concentrated star formations in the nebula. The nebula was discovered by William Herschel on October 24, 1786, from Slough, England.
IMAGE DATA
In Hubble Palette
R: 15 x 2700s S2 - 1x1 binned
G: 21 x 2700s Ha - 1x1 binned
B: 15 x 2700s O3 - 1x1 binned
0.41 arcsec / pixel
PACMAN NEBULA (NGC 281)
Processed in August 2012
Imaged in March 2012
NGC 281 is an H II region in the constellation of Cassiopeia and part of the Perseus Spiral Arm. It includes the open cluster IC 1590, the multiple star HD 5005, and several Bok globules. Colloquially, NGC 281 is also known as the Pacman Nebula for its resemblance to the video game character.
The nebula was discovered in August 1883 by E. E. Barnard, who described it as "a large faint nebula, very diffuse." The multiple star HD 5005, also called Beta 1, was discovered by S. W. Burnham. It consists of an 8th-magnitude primary with four companions at distances between 1.4 and 15.7 seconds of arc. There has been no appreciable change in this quintuple system since the first measurements were made in 1875.
IMAGE DATA
5 x 2700s Ha
0.41 arcsec / pixel
NGC 1491
Processed in march 2012
Imaged in januari 2012 - march 2012
NGC 1491 is an emission nebula found in the constellation of Perseus. This particular nebula has an 11th magnitude star in its center. The "reddish" color of this object indicates that it is heavily composed of HII. Note how the central star is "blowing" a bubble in the gas that immediately surrounds it. The winds from this star are so energetic that they are breaking up the nebula to left of it in this picture.
IMAGE DATA
12 x 2700s Ha - 4 x 2700s O3 - 5 x 2700s S2
0.41 arcsec / pixel
WIZARD NEBULA (NGC 7380)
Processed in februari 2012
Imaged in november 2011 - januari 2012
NGC 7380 (also known as the Wizard Nebula) is an open cluster discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1787. William Herschel included his sister's discovery in his catalog, and labelled it H VIII.77. It is also known as 142 in the 1959 Sharpless catalog (Sh2-142). This reasonably large nebula is located in Cepheus.
IMAGE DATA
11 x 2700s Ha - 9 x 2700s O3 - 9 x 2700s S2
0.41 arcsec / pixel
CENTRE OF HEART NEBULA (IC 1805)
Processed in januari 2012
Imaged in october-november 2011
The Heart Nebula, IC 1805, Sh2-190, lies some 7500 light years away from Earth and is located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. This is an emission nebula showing glowing gas and darker dust lanes. The nebula is formed by plasma of ionized hydrogen and free electrons.
The very brightest part of this nebula (the knot at the right) is separately classified as NGC 896, because it was the first part of this nebula to be discovered.
The nebula's intense red output and its configuration are driven by the radiation emanating from a small group of stars near the nebula's center. This open cluster of stars known as Melotte 15 contains a few bright stars nearly 50 times the mass of our Sun, and many more dim stars that are only a fraction of our Sun's mass. The cluster used to contain a microquasar that was expelled millions of years ago.
IMAGE DATA
10 x 2700s Ha - 11 x 2700s O3 -129 x 2700s S2
0.41 arcsec / pixel
