Pier 1
Sharpless 232 in Auriga
The diffuse nebula is massive, the biggest in the Auriga nebula complex, but it is very faint and hard to capture. Hundreds of subexposures were used to try to bring out its dusty detail and dim contrast. Only the Hydrogen and Sulphur channels shine; Oxygen contributed to the star colors.
The Whale Galaxy
This interesting edge-on galaxy in Canes Venatici looks a bit like a whale with its pup underneath. Of particular note is its off-center starburst region, and it’s a good fit to be number 281 in Arp’s list of unusual galaxies. The nearby colliding Hockey Stick galaxies can be seen in the upper right of this image.
The California Nebula in Blue
This nebula is found just ‘above’ the Seven Sisters of the Pleiades in Perseus. When processing the almost pure hydrogen glow, image processors must choose which color to make it, and we chose a cooler blue and purple rendering over the traditional pink and red this time.
The Eastern Veil in Red & Blue
Part of a much larger nebulous complex in Cygnus, the Eastern Veil features delicate wisps of glowing hydrogen and oxygen, the remnants of an exploding star that may someday seed a new planetary system with raw ingredients.
The Veil Nebula in Blue and Gold
When choosing narrowband palettes to highlight specific wavelengths, sometimes the traditional choices aren’t necessarily the best. This blend of the Veil jumped out to us with a thin spine of green over the electric blue and mainly gold structures.
The Orion Nebula
How did the most famous and easily viewed nebula drop all the way down to number 42 on Charles Messier’s famous list of non-comets? This new view of the classic target shows our sharpest dust features yet.
The Sunflower Galaxy
Messier 63, sometimes called the Sunflower Galaxy, is known as a ‘flocculent’ galaxy, a structure without well defined spiral arms. In these unusual arms, astronomers look for data about star formation.
The Heart of the Swan
This massive 9 panel mosaic features the immense field of nebulosity in Cygnus constellation. It took dozens of hours to register and align the panels in place, and the final working file was almost 10 GB in size.
Nebula in the Open Cluster
The field of glowing hydrogen lies among an open cluster grouping of stars. It has a prominent and recognizable pillar, similar to the famous Pillars of Creation and the Spire in M16.