Astro-Kooperation

Not much needs to be said about M 108, a great spiral galaxy in Ursa Major, apparently situated right next to the famous Owl Nebula (M 97), a Planetary of our own Milky Way. Both contrast nicely given that they are separated by some millions of lightyears. M 108 itself reveals several dustlanes indicating that we are looking at this galaxy from the edge (although it is not a perfect edge-on like NGC 891 for instance). This is the official first light image for the new Celestron 11 Edge HD telescope taken under very good seeing conditions. Make sure to look at the full resolution image.

NGC 3184 is an often overlooked target in the spring skies despite its almost perfect face-on shape. Situated at the „leg“ of Ursa Maior, it can be well observed from the winter months until late spring. Being about 50,000 lightyears in diameter, NGC 3184 is about half as extended as our Milky Way. Indication of the distance from Earth varies between 25 to 40 million lightyears.

The objects in the catalogue of van den Bergh (vdB) are mostly weak reflection nebula. This is the very first of its brothers, by no means stronger then them. A pale blue glow surrounding a group a bright stars which cast their light on interstellar matter. A close companion, but very different in nature, is the faint galactic nebula GN 00.08.88 to the north-east of vdB 1 . Not much is known about this tiny  nebula but it nicely contrasts with the reflection nebula.

The Pelican Nebula is part of the allegedly most famous nebula complex of the skies: the North America Nebula. Situated right next to it, the image shows the Pelican and the western part of North America. This picture is the first light of my new Celestron 11 EdgeHD Hyperstar. Imaging at F2, the total integration time was 1 hour only.

NGC 206 ist a giant star cluster located not in our Milkyway but rather in M 31, the Andromeda Nebula.  The Andromeda Nebula itself is said to be similar in size and kind to the Milkyway, our own galaxy, but is some 2.2 million lightyears away from Earth. The light collected for this image has thus been emitted long time before human life evolved.

The Little Dumbbell Nebula (M 76) is certainly one of the best known objects in the autumn skies. The central bar is bright enough to be easily seen through mid-sized telescopes even under lightened skies. The central star is a close (optical) double-star with a distance of only about 1.4 arcsecs, although in fact the fainter component is really behind the nebula, so this pair is not a physical double-star.

Among the most prominent galaxies in the autumn skies is NGC 7331, a magnificent spiral galaxy at a distance of about 50 million lightyears. Easily visible through mid-sized telescopes is only the bright core while the spiral arms require long-exposed photographs. The arms extend to about 100,000 lightyears hence this galaxy being about the size of our Milkyway.

UGC galaxies are often tiny and not exactly spectacular. This one is different: The pair of UGC 1810/13, also known as Arp 273, is a masterpiece of art: Prominent spiral arms reveal plenty of detail which can also be distinguished by its colour. Make sure to view the highest resolution.

NGC 891 may be the most ideal edge-on galaxy on the northern hemisphere. Looking at the galaxy’s disc from the side, the center dust lane is most prominent. In vicinity to this striking object, there are plenty of background galaxies some of the revealing extraordinary shapes, such as PGC 9101 at the lower left edge of the image.