The Fly, Medusa and the Eskimo

[stevewanstall]

NGC 1931, the Fly Nebula. 6 x 120 s at ISO 1600 and 23 x 180s at ISO1600. I only targeted this because the end of my shed (=observatory) was blocking the view of the Medusa Nebula. So, I had sometime to wait until it was high enough  to image.

NGC 1931 Fly Nebula in Auriga

Wikipedia: NGC 1931, is an emission and reflection nebula in the constellation Auriga. The nebula has been referred to as a "miniature version of the Orion Nebula", as it shares some of the same characteristics. It is a mixed emission-reflection nebula, and contains a smaller version of the Trapezium in its hot young star cluster centered in the emission nebula. The entire cluster/nebula complex is only about 3 arcmin in size. The distance from earth is estimated at about 7000 light years.

The Medusa Nebula. I thought I had previously collected over three hours of data on this object, to find the catalogue coordinates were incorrect.

Incorrect (but in Wikipedia and the catalogues in Astrophotography Tool)

                                                              RA 7h 29m 3s        | Dec +13° 14′ 48″

Correct:                                                 RA 7h 29m 11s       | Dec +13° 15′ 57″

 This image is based on 26 x 180 s exposures at ISO1600.

Abell 21, Medusa Nebula in Gemini

Wikipedia: The Medusa Nebula is a large planetary nebula in the constellation of Gemini on the Canis Minor border. It is also known as Abell 21 and Sharpless 2-274. It was originally discovered in 1955 by UCLA astronomer George O. Abell, who classified it as an old planetary nebula. The braided serpentine filaments of glowing gas suggests the serpent hair of Medusa found in ancient Greek mythology.

Until the early 1970s, the Medusa was thought to be a supernova remnant. With the computation of expansion velocities and the thermal character of the radio emission, Soviet astronomers in 1971 concluded that it was most likely a planetary nebula.

As the nebula is so big, its surface brightness is very low, with surface magnitudes of between +15.99 and +25 reported. Because of this most websites recommend at least an 8-inch (200 mm) telescope with an [O III] filter to find this object although probably possible to image with smaller apertures.

The Eskimo Nebula in Gemini looks like a blue star that's not quite right! It's pretty small in my telescope and I think is probably overexposed. This image is based on 22 x 180s exposures at ISO 1600. The inset shows some detail.

Eskimo Nebula in Gemini

The Eskimo Nebula (NGC 2392), also known as the Clownface Nebula or Caldwell 39, is a bipolar double-shell planetary nebula (PN). It was discovered by astronomer William Herschel in 1787. The formation resembles a person's head surrounded by a parka hood.

Not enough data but a quick look at IC447 in Monoceros while waiting for the good ol' meridian flip:

IC447 in Monoceros

Wikipedia: IC 447 is a reflection nebula in the constellation Monoceros. In astronomy, reflection nebulae are clouds of interstellar dust which might reflect the light of a nearby star or stars. The energy from the nearby stars is insufficient to ionize the gas of the nebula to create an emission nebula, but is enough to give sufficient scattering to make the dust visible. Thus, the frequency spectrum shown by reflection nebulae is similar to that of the illuminating stars. Among the microscopic particles responsible for the scattering are carbon compounds (e. g. diamond dust) and compounds of other elements such as iron and nickel.

 

Celestron 9.25 XLT with focal reducer at F6.3 on a Skywatcher EQ6 Pro mount. Canon 500D  (modded) with LP filter. PRocessing in DSS ad PS. Never enough exposures because I want to look at so many things and clear nights are few and far between!

[MartinB]

What a lovely set of images, you've been busy.  I like that fly, it's about to be eaten with by a spider.  You given me an idea for my next endeavor!