Despite my intentions to use the 250mm RC to photograph the little planetary NGC7354, it was not meant to be. My Canon 7D camera betrayed me. That’s what I get for neglecting it for almost two years. Alas! Instead, I spent the night taking pictures of NGC281 – the Pac Man nebula and NGC7380 – the Wizard Nebula. I know, astronomers have very active imaginations.
NGC281 is a star-forming region in the Constellation Cassiopeia. The stars in and around the nebula were formed from the dust and gas in the nebula. You will notice that in most of my emission (bright) nebula images, the nebulae appear red. That’s because ionized hydrogen plasma emits red light (the Hydrogen-alpha spectral line) as well as other characteristic wavelengths. The image below is the cropped composite of 17, 6-minute frames taken through the 130mm astrograph.
NGC7380, the Wizard Nebula, is another star-forming region. This one is located in the constellation Cepheus. You probably remember from your elementary school studies of Greek mythology that Cepheus was the Ethiopian king who wed queen Cassiopeia and became the parents of a daughter – Andromeda. Okay, neither did I, but I’ve read the story several times – most often after taking pictures of those regions of the sky. 🙂
This image of NGC7380 is the cropped composite of 21,6-minute frames taken with the same 130mm astrograph that I used to image NGC281. See all that glowing, red hydrogen plasma? The stars clustered around the center and right of the gas cloud are the offspring of the nebula.
