A Christmas Day Horsehead and asteroid close encounter

[lukebl]

Hi all.

I noticed that the asteroid 612 Veronika was doing a flypast of the Horsehead nebula on Christmas night. This is a capture of Veronika, stacked on the asteroid so the stars and nebula show trailing, and is a combination of 12 x 5 minute exposures, SXVF-H9 cam, 250mm f/4.7 Newtonian. No filters, flats or darks. I was surprised how indistinct the Horsehead is when not using Ha filters.

Veronika is 16th magnitude, approx. 282 Million km distant, and only around 38km across.

And here's my slighly more respectable horsehead, captured with Ha filters and the same setup!

[WaveSoarer]

Both are amazing images.

[StuartJPP]

Good work!

[cstew]

Astonishing to think that you can image something only 25 miles in diameter that is 175 million miles away, using readily available equipment in your own back yard/garden!!

[David Smith]

Good stuff Luke. Good catch of the asteroid.

[sologuitarist61]

Well done on both images, though the second is a stunner of my favourite deep sky region!

[tingting44]

some very skilled AP here! love em

[JimFR]

Wow, that's fabulous! Impressed with the asteroid particularly