NGC 7479 (2022)
- Constellation: Pegasus
- Right Ascension: 23h 04m 56.6s
- Declination: +12° 19′ 22″
- Distance: 105 million ly
- Galaxy Type: SB(s)c
NGC 7479 is a barred spiral galaxy located in Pegasus. A prominent bar along with some what asymmetrical arms are visible. The asymmetry is probably due to a recent merger as the galaxy is still undergoing star burst activity throughout the galaxy.
- Details
- Category: Galaxies
- Telescope: Explore Scientific 127 Refractor
- Camera: ZWO 2600 MM
Messier 8 - Lagoon Nebula (2022)
- Constellation: Sagittarius
- Right Ascension: 18h 03m 37s
- Declination: −24° 23′ 12″
- Distance: 4,100 ly
Messier 8 is a large emission nebula located in Sagittarius. Intense ultraviolet radiation emitted from hot young stars in the nebula cause the atomic hydrogen to glow a pinkish red. A star forming region, the nebula contains the open cluster NGC 6530 along with several Bok globules, which are dark collapsing areas of the nebula, along with 4 Herbig-Haro objects which are patches of nebulosity associated with newly born stars. The entire nebula spans a radius of 55 ly x 20 ly. It is one of only two nebula in the northern hemisphere barely visible as a patch of nebulosity. The other being the Orion Nebula.
- Details
- Category: Nebulas
Read more: Messier 8 - Lagoon Nebula (2022)
- Telescope: Explore Scientific 127 Refractor
- Camera: ZWO 2600 MM
Barnard's Star (2022)
- Constellation: Ophiuchus
- Right Ascension: 17h 57m 48.49803s
- Declination: +04° 41′ 36.2072″
- Distance: 5.9 ly
- Apparent Magnitude: 9.5
Barnard's Star, being one of the closest stars to our solar system, displays one of the highest proper motion, which is the apparent angular movement of a star against the background stars. Just like highway signs appear to move faster than distant landmarks. It is a dim red dwarf star that requires optical aid to see it. It has a B-V color index of 1.7
A composite picture of images taken in July of 2014, and in July of 2022 showing the different positions against the background stars.
- Details
- Category: Stars
- Telescope: Explore Scientific 127 Refractor
- Camera: ZWO 2600 MM
NGC 6791 (2022)
- Constellation: Lyra
- Right Ascension: 19h 20m 53s
- Declination: +37° 46.3′
- Distance: 13,300 ly
NGC 6791 is an interesting open cluster in Lyra, containing thousands of stars, its one of the older clusters known at 8 billion years. Most clusters tend to disperse over the millennia due to gravitational influences. In addition the stars are metal rich that is to be expected for an old cluster. Old clusters tend to be metal poor in their composition as it usually takes several star birth, death cycles to build up metals. That makes it one of the most studied open clusters.
The bright reddish-orange star above and left of the cluster is U Lyr, a red giant carbon star.
- Details
- Category: Open Clusters
- Telescope: Explore Scientific 127 Refractor
- Camera: ZWO 2600 MM
NGC 4647 and Messier 60, Dance of Galaxies.
- Constellation: Virgo
- Right Ascension: 12h 43m 32.3s
- Declination: 11° 34′ 55″
- Distance: 56 million ly - 63 million ly
NGC 4647 is an intermediate spiral galaxy, and Messier 60 is elliptical galaxy that are just beginning to interact with each other. The pair of interacting galaxies are cataloged as Arp 116, which is a catalog of interacting galaxies. The pair are a part of the Virgo galaxy cluster.
Annotated image follows.
- Details
- Category: Galaxies
Read more: NGC 4647 and Messier 60, Dance of Galaxies.
- Telescope: Explore Scientific 127 Refractor
- Camera: ZWO 2600 MM
Messier 75 (2022)
- Constellation: Sagittarius
- Right Ascension: 20h 06m 04.85s
- Declination: −21° 55′ 17.85″
- Distance: 68,000 ly
If globular cluster NGC 5897 (2022) ranks low on the Shapely-Sawyer concentration scale, Messier 75 comes out at the top of it's class with a rank of 1 (I). If it wasn't for being on the other side of the galactic center, it would be much more spectacular to image. The cluster has a radius of 67 light years, and contains some 400,000 stars. Would definitely be a sky full of bright stars if one was located inside the cluster.
- Details
- Category: Globular Clusters
- Telescope: Explore Scientific 127 Refractor
- Camera: ZWO 2600 MM
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