Your guide to astrophotography

A few years ago, I created a 15-panel mosaic of IC 1805 – The Heart Nebula. This nebula, located in Cassiopeia, has a small extension not captured in the mosaic image. I went back and imaged this portion, which is identified as NGC 896 – The Fish Head Nebula.

Because it is part of the Heart Nebula, it has the same details in that it is roughly 7,500 light years away. However, the fish head section of the heart nebula was discovered first because it is brighter than the rest of the nebula.

No fancy name for this emission nebula in Cepheus, but there is a lot of activity. NGC 7822 is a star forming region about 2,900 light years away. Estimates put…

I always like to see how much imagination you need to have to see how the name of a nebula aligns with what we see in the image. We've had…

Can you spot the Elephant's Trunk in the image? The large round and dark section at the top, is the elephant's head. The hole represents the elephant's eye. And the…