A huge but very faint Ha emission nebula which was only discovered in 1950s by Colin Gum. This 2.5 hour image taken with a very wide lens and 6nm Ha filter shows its full extent, which is equivalent to 72 moons across. It is thought to be a supernova remnant from over a million years ago.
MoreMosaic of 30 panels totalling approx. 20 hours imaging using a mono camera and 6nm Ha filter. The area covers 22 x 18 degrees. The image contains many features including dark and emission nebulae, supernova remnants, cometary globules and even a galaxy. Check the link to see latest full resolution from Astrobin site.
Latest VersionClose up of the much smaller remnant from this supernova 3,700 years ago (100 ly diameter and 6,500 ly away).
MoreThe brightest and best nebula in the sky! It is 4 times larger than Orion and is 8,500 ly away. Fantastic images can be obtained relatively easily with this target even in near 'real-time'.
MoreAt the centre of Carina, a dark keyhole shaped region about 7 ly across. Next to it is Eta Carinae, a highly luminous hypergiant star about 150 times larger than the sun and 4 million times brighter: big enough to be on the verge of a supernova. Other features that are visible are small Bok globules including the 'defiant finger' and an open star cluster. Image taken at 1250 mm with a C90 MAK f/14 scope.
SupernovaLambda Centauri or Running Chicken nebula. Another 5 hour OSC dataset displayed in SHO pallette. Bok globules, dense cold dust about 1 ly in size can be seen towards the centre and are called Thackeray globules after their discoverer in 1950. On the bottom left of the image the small blue dot is planetary nebula Hf69.
Largest globular cluster in the milky way, 150 ly in size and containing 10 million stars. Taken with the C90 MAK.
MoreShot in just 1 hour from Kangaroo Valley in gale force winds using a non-modified camera at 135 mm. This wide FOV takes in Orion, Running man, Horsehead, Flame and M78 nebulae. To the right of Orion is the '13th pearl' nebula: within this is a dark empty region that is not well understood called the cosmic keyhole.
Orion Nebula (M42) is easily visible in relatively bright skies. It is a beginner target but actually difficult to capture without overblowing the core containing the stars in the trapezium and mini-Orion's belt. This is a HDR combination of short and long exposures. Also featured is the Running Man nebula which is both an emission and reflection nebula.
4.5 hours using a OSC camera and Ha filter showing the converted red channel. The Boogeyman (aka LDN 1622) is on the bottom left of Barnard's loop- a massive arc of Ha emission that runs around Orion. On the other side you can see the emission parts of M78 and in the top right, the flame nebula.
Reflection nebula caused by light from one of the brightest stars in the sky Rigel, just below it, illuminating the dust. Also known as IC 2118.
MoreA pair of interacting dwarf galaxies; the large (LMC) and small (SMC) magellanic clouds pictured here next to the Milky Way, which is an extremely rare arrangement in the universe. There is also a 'magellanic bridge' of gas connecting LMC and SMC. This image is a stack of 13 s exposures from a tripod in dark sky.
The second closest galaxy to the milky way at 160,000 ly. It has an off centre bar and diffuse arms due to interactions with SMC and milky way. SN1987A, which was the closest observable supernova reaching a magnitude of 3 was also in the LMC. This image is a 135mm combination of Ha and RGB data.
MoreMosaic of 24 panels taken at 360 mm to give high resolution coverage (2 arcs/pix) of the entire region. In total 36 hours of imaging in OSC dual narrowband. There are 285 designated targets in this FOV. Surveys have shown 60 globular clusters, 400 planetary nebulae & 700 open clusters. Original has been greatly reduced for uploading- check link for better version.
Higher resolution versionPanorama shot from many stacked shots taken with a static tripod in Blue Mountains. This southern hemisphere view is compared to the ESO image beneath which covers both hemispheres. The link has more detailed maps from latest scientific surveys.
Galaxy MapAnother dark sky reflection nebula, 400 ly away, this time shot at 360mm. The dusty part is one of the darkest in the milky way. There are three blue reflection nebulae (NGC 6726, 6727 & IC 4812) and a smaller white one (NGC 6729). Also shown is the globular cluster (NGC 6723) which is much further away at 30,000 ly. Approx. 3 hours of data on a freezing night in 2023.
The best of the rest
A single sub exposure of 5 mins (left) is very noisy but stacking 30 images together improves the final signal-to-noise ratio (right) in this example of Gum 14.
This is the SMC using IR-cut filter (full visible spectrum on left) versus a dual narrowband filter that removes light pollution and only transmits nebulae emissions (right).