A great month of viewing, including a partial lunar eclipse! Here is the November line-up:
The big celestial event this month was the partial eclipse of the Moon on the 19th. I didn’t think I’d get any photos as the forecast was not good, and when I got home about 10:30 I could see the Moon but not many stars. I got out our small 4” telescope and held my iPhone up to the lens and was able to capture the moment when the Earth’s shadow first touched the Moon. After taking a few more photos the stars came out and I rushed to set up the Celestron telescope and catch the eclipse as it was darkening the Moon. The last photo shows the minute when the eclipse was at its maximum. Notice how with the Moon so dimmed, you are able to see the eclipsed part of the moon, too!
November really starts to show my favorite constellation—Orion. First up is a close-in shot of M 42, the Orion Nebula. This was taken with a focal reducer on the camera, that gives the image a larger field of view, a little over a half of a degree. To understand what that means, the Moon is about a half of a degree wide, so this image shows a little more of the sky than the Moon is wide. I love taking photos of M 42, and in the next few months I’ll probably have a few more to show you.
The next photo shows a larger field of view of M 42, because I was using my HyperStar lens, that has a field of view of over two and a half degrees. Above the Orion Nebula is NGC 1977, the Running Man Nebula. Zooming in to look at these images can reveal some cool features. You can see the Orion Nebula with your naked eyes—it is the middle star in Orion’s sword, which is just below the belt.
Another favorite in Orion is NGC 2024, the Flame Nebula and below it NGC 2023, the Horse Head Nebula.
I have been trying to get a good photo of nebula IC 1396, and I thought I better post it as my luck may not improve over this one. What I like about this is the Elephant Head, just to the right of the center star. When Marianne finally wins the lottery and I get a big telescope and camera, I’ll post a better photo of it.
NGC 253 (Sculptor Galaxy) and NGC 7789 (Caroline’s Rose Cluster) were both discovered in 1783 by astronomer Caroline Herschel, sister of William Herschel. She had a storied career in astronomy, discovering several comets, was the first woman to receive a salary as a scientist, her findings were published, and she received several gold medals for her work. Her work in organizing two-and-a-half thousand nebula and star clusters eventually became the New General Catalog (NGC) which include the objects in these two photos. She and her brother had a remarkable astronomical journey together.
NGC 891, the Silver Sliver Galaxy is thought to look much like our Milky Way would look edge-on. Both are considered similar in luminosity and size. It was discovered by Caroline’s brother, William Herschel.
NGC 7023, the Iris Nebula, is another that I have been trying to get a good photograph of for the last few months. It is a reflection nebula, meaning that it is a cloud of dust that is reflecting the light the light from nearby stars.
Last spring I included another mosaic of these two nebula, NGC 7000 (North American Nebula) & IC 5070 (Pelican Nebula). This is a much better photograph and shows a pair of bug’s eyes between the two nebula. I couldn’t find a name for the bug, so I am christening it “Burning Beetle.”
Until next time, clear skies!
Hank
