This month, three section members sent in a total of twelve digital images:
Paul Brierley imaged M27 the Dumbbell planetary nebula in the constellation of Vulpecula with a Takahashi TSA-120 f7 APO triplet refractor and an Altair Astro Hypercam 26C colour camera:
Paul also imaged two galaxies with a ZWO SeeStar S50 smart telescope, NGC 404 and NGC 891, the Silver Sliver Galaxy, which are both in Andromeda:
NGC 404 is a dwarf lenticular galaxy, and is above and slightly to the left of the foreground second magnitude star Beta Andromedae (Mirach) in this image. NGC 404 is magnitude 11 so is outshone by the star, and is known informally as Mirach’s Ghost.
Steve Norrie imaged galaxy M33 in the constellation of Triangulum, first with a Celestron C8 SCT and Atik 490 MC colour camera and then with a Williams Optics RedCat 71 f4.9 APO refractor and ZWO ASI 294 MC colour camera:
With the RedCat 71 and AA 294MC camera then a RedCat 51 f4.9 refractor plus Altair Astro Hypercam 26C colour camera (both with the addition of an Optolong L-eXtreme filter), Steve imaged IC 1805, the Heart emission nebula in Cassiopeia:
Steve also imaged NGC 7023 the Iris reflection nebula in Cepheus with the C8 / Atik 490 combination and NGC 7000 / IC 5070 the North America / Pelican nebula region of emission nebulosity in Cygnus with the RedCat 51 / AA26C TEC combination:
NGC 7023 refers to the open cluster of stars within the nebulosity, which is designated LBN 487. A magnitude 7.4 star, HD 200775, is illuminating the nebula. The deep red filaments within the predominantly blue nebulosity is thought to indicate the presence of complex hydrocarbons, specifically polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH’s).
Mark Beveridge used a Celestron C11 SCT with a 0.63 focal reducer plus ZWO ASI 294 MC Pro colour camera to image three galaxies, NGC 6015 and NGC 6503 both in the constellation of Draco and NGC 7177 in Pegasus:
NGC 6503 is a dwarf spiral galaxy about a third the size of our own. It is not associated with any group or cluster of galaxies and is near an empty volume of space known as the Local Void, which was discovered as recently as 1987 by North American astronomers Rick Fisher and Brent Tulley.
Dave Finnigan