Starship Asterisk*

Cederblad 122 - Star cloud associated with nebulosity A large area covered by a dense star cloud and a faint emission nebula in its background spans in more than 2 degrees in the constellation of Centaurus. In dark skies this region is visible at naked eye and present a remarkable contrast with the...

Messier 22 Messier 22 is an elliptical globular cluster in the constellation of Sagittarius. Because the cluster is located near the galactic plane the background is packed of stars. It is one of the brightest globular visible in the night sky. The brightest stars are 11th magnitude, with hundreds ...

RCW 98 - The Coffee Bean Nebula in Norma RCW 98 is one of the southern 182 objects that astronomers Rogers, Campbell and Whiteoak placed in their RCW catalogue published in 1960. In particular RCW 98 is an HII region with a ring type structure around a Wolf Rayet star. Strong radiation from nearby ...

THE JEWEL BOX Also known as the Kappa Crucis Cluster or Caldwell 94. NGC 4755 is a brigth open cluster in the constellation Crux. Originally discovered by French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1751–1752. This cluster was later named the Jewel Box by John Herschel when he described its tele...

Vela Molecular Ridge The Vela Molecular Ridge are interstellar clouds covering the north western side of the constellation of Vela and the eastern side of Puppis. From left to right we have Gum 17, Gum 15 and Gum 14. Part of the gas in the clouds are ionized by the ultraviolet radiation coming from...

Messier 46 & NGC 2438 Messier 46 was the first object Charles Messier discovered after he had published the first edition of his list (M1-M45). He added this one to his catalogue on February 19, 1771, three days after presenting it to the academy, together with three more Messier objects, M47, ...

R LEPORIS (aka HIND'S CRIMSON STAR) R Leporis (R-Lep) is a carbon star which are typically an asymptotic giant branch star, a luminous red giant, whose atmosphere holds more carbon than oxygen. R Leporis is too far from earth for its parallax to be measured effectively. It was estimated a distance ...

NGC 2506 IN MONOCEROS (THE UNICORN) NGC 2506 (aka Melotte 80, Collinder 170 or Caldwell 54) is a quite populated and concentrated open cluster in Monoceros. 94 probable members have been identified within the field of NGC 2506 based upon their radial velocities. Compared to the Sun, the cluster is ...

NGC 1761; 1763 & 1765 EMISSION NEBULA AND OPEN CLUSTER IN THE LARGE MAGELLANIC CLOUD The image gathers three interesting deep sky objects not commonly photographed The open cluster in the centre is NGC 1761 which is embedded with emission nebulas. At the top of the open cluster with 4 to 5 arc ...

IC 447 REFLECTION NEBULA IN MONOCEROS (THE UNICORN) C 447 is a beautiful complex of reflection and dark nebula two and a half degrees from the well known Cone Nebula. Contrary to the Emission Nebulas, Reflection Nebulas do not emit radiation of its own. The interstellar dust and gas reflects the li...

Sharpless 2 16 (aka Gum 70) & Collinder 347 Sharpless 2 16 is located in the constellation of Sagittarius in its border limits close to Scorpius and Ophiuchus. Found little information about this objet so I quote the Galaxy Map data (*) Sh 2-16 is part of the Sh 2-15 to Sh 2-20 complex of HII r...

Messier 17 Wide Field A wide field image for a complex region covering part of the constellation of Sagittarius and Scutum. Messier 17 stands out in the center of the field. A star factory sculpted by stellar winds and radiation covering 100 light years across. Slowly stellar winds and energetic li...

NGC 6544 in Sagittarius NGC 6544 is located in the western part of the constellation of Sagittarius, on the edge of a rich star field. Easy to find since is just 50' towards the southeast of the well known Lagoon Nebula. It can also be noted from dark skies with 10 x 50 mm binoculars as a small whi...

IC 5201 in Grus (The Crane) IC 5201 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Grus at a distance of 40 million light years.Given its apparent dimensions, means that IC 5201 is about 90,000 light years across. It was discovered by Joseph Lunt in 1900 from Cape Town Observatory in South ...

Sagittarius Triplet A well known and photographed area in Sagittarius with classics Messier and NGC objects standing out in front of a crowded star field due to the proximity to the galactic plane. Image taken from Buenos Aires suburbs More info at http://www.baskies.com.ar/PHOTOS/SAGITARIUS%20GEMS...

NGC 3496 in Carina NGC 3496 is located almost 3 degrees east from Carina Nebula. This open cluster is embedded with nebulosity which is part of the enormous nebula region known as RCW 54 ich is whionized by stars of the Car OB2 association. RCW 54 complex is at 3100 parsecs while NGC 3496 is at 990...

RCW 98 - THE COFFEE BEAN NEBULA RCW 98 is one of the southern 182 objects that astronomers Rogers, Campbell and Whiteoak placed in their RCW catalogue published in 1960. In particular RCW 98 is an HII region with a ring type structure around a Wolf Rayet star. Strong radiation from nearby stars is ...

NGC 4833 Globular Cluster in Musca (The Fly) Deep south in the constellation of Musca (The Fly) we found this very old globular cluster. Evidence obtained indicate it is about 2 billion years old... thats more than M5 and M92. NGC 4833 is obscured by dust and is situated close to the galactic plane...

Messier 24 in Sagittarius Messier 24 is one of the few particular objects of the catalogue. Under entry Nº 24, Charles Messier list a large object of 1 1/2 deg in extension, which he included on June 20, 1764, and describes it as "a large nebulosity in which there are many stars of different m...

NGC 3699 in Centaurus NGC 3699 is another gem of the Southern Sky located in the constellation of Centaurus close to the border limit with the Constellation of Carina. It has an irregular shape crossed by a dark fissure in the middle. Ha and OIII narrow bands filters reveals an outer structure. For...

Lambda Centauri Region A wide field image showing a crowded field of view of 4º 30' x 3º 22'. The bright star is Lambda Centauri shining at magnitude 3,1 just 410 light years away from Earth. IC2944 is a large HII region (star forming cloud) also known as RCW 42 and Gum 43. The cluster of hot blue ...

NGC 3199 Emission and Reflection Nebula in Carina (The Keel) Hi all!! Below an image of this bright emission and reflection nebula located 12,000 light years away in the southern constellation of Carina (the Keel). The nebula has an arc shaped form and covers a distance of 75 light years. Near the ...

Inside the Coalsack in Crux - NGC 4609; Hogg 15 & RCW 69 There are many interesting objects within the Coalsack in Crux.Within the FOV in the image below we have NGC 4906 and Hogg 15, two small open clusters separated by 5,27 magnitude star SAO 252002 right in the centre of the image. Studies i...

Messier 68 Situated opposite to the Galactic Center which is an unusual place for a globular, Messier 68 is orbiting the galactic bulge with an eccentricity of 0,5. Lying at a distance of about 33,000 light years from earth, the cluster spreads over 106 light years in diameter. Messier 68 is quite ...

Southern Cross One of the most iconic constellation of the southern hemisphere. It lies on the southern end of the Milky Way. The name Crux is Latin for cross. Even though it is the smallest of all 88 modern constellations, Crux is among the most easily distinguished as its four main stars each hav...