Bad weather conditions across the UK meant limited opportunities for deep sky observations this month; despite this four section members were able to capture eighteen digital images:
Ian Papworth sent in seven of those, below are two images of M35 and NGC 2158, open clusters in the constellation of Gemini, then emission/reflection nebula M42 in Orion and M38 open cluster in Auriga:
The apparently much smaller cluster NGC 2158 at the bottom right in the above image is some 9,000 light years further away from the Earth than M35, which is around 3,800 light years distant.
Next are two images of M1, the Crab supernova remnant in Taurus, and open cluster NGC 2169 in Orion:
Ian used a Skywatcher 150P Newtonian reflector, an Altair Hypercam 183C Pro camera and a Nikon D5000 DSLR.
Alan Clitherow imaged spiral galaxy M31 in the constellation of Andromeda with an ED 80mm refractor and astro modified Canon 600D DSLR:
M31 is the nearest large galaxy to our own and at 2.5 million light years is the most distant object easily visible to the naked eye.
Richard Lewis imaged M33, the Pinwheel galaxy, in the constellation of Triangulum with an SWO 80 mm refractor and ASI 294 colour camera:
M33 is about 2.7 million light years from us, but fainter than M31 due to its low surface brightness and much harder to see without optical aid.
Steve Norrie sent in nine images. The first five are emission nebulae, NGC 1499 the California nebula in the constellation of Perseus, IC 410 the Tadpoles nebula in Auriga, IC 1318 in Cygnus and NGC 1931 and NGC 1893 both in Auriga:
NGC 1931 has both emission and reflection nebulosity and has similar characteristics to M42 in Orion. It is about 7,000 light years from the Earth.
Steve also imaged open cluster M45, the Pleiades and the supernova remnant M1 both in Taurus, the Pinwheel galaxy M33 in Triangulum and galaxy NGC 925, also in Triangulum:
Steve used a selection of telescopes and cameras, including a Celestron C8 SCT, 127mm and 72 mm refractors, an Atik 490 colour camera and a Trius 694 mono camera with narrow band filters.
Dave Finnigan