Starship Asterisk*

The Teapot in Sagittarius
flickr.com/jbury
Copyright: Joshua Bury
[attachment=0]teapot_Bury.jpg[/attachment][/i]

Arp 188: The Tadpole Galaxy
http://emanuele.zenfolio.com/p276706007 ... #h2db57ef3
Credit: Hubble, data; Emanuele Colognato, processing
[attachment=0]Tadpole.jpg[/attachment][/i]

Atlas Mountains at Sunset
http://anacissaphotographs.com/
Copyright: Ana Pinto
[attachment=0]moonmountains_.jpg[/attachment][/i]

NGC 281: PacMan Nebula
http://www.azstarman.net/web_links/NGC281.htm
Copyright: Bernard Miller

Cederblad 214
http://cosmicphotos.com/gallery/image.p ... lbum_id=11
Credit: John Carver, data acquisition; Jason Jennings, data processing
[attachment=0]214.jpg[/attachment][/i]

NGC 253 and NGC 288
Copyright: Tunç Tezel NGC253 is a bright, large spiral galaxy lying about in the faint constellation Sculptor. It is the brightest galaxy in the Sculptor with the magnitude of 7.1; some keen-eyed observers reported to have seen the galaxy with unaided eyes in superior conditions. It spans nearly as wide as the Moon, thanks to being relatively close to us; 10 million light years away. In reality, it is about as big as the Milky Way.

NGC288, on the other hand, lies only 27000 light years away, in the halo of Milky Way. It is a magnitude fainter than NGC253: 8.1. The pair is separated 1 3/4 degrees of sky. They are visible in the same binocular field (about as wide as this picture) but most telescopes are not able to fit them in the same field. South Galactic Pole (SGP) lies less than a degree southwest of NGC288, close to the lower right corner of this picture.
~ Tunç Tezel

I really like Joshua Bury's image of the Teapot in Sagittarius, although the Teapot itself is the least interesting part of the image, at least to me! No, I prefer the amazing wealth of deep-sky objects and individual interesting massive hot stars that he has captured in his large, deep, beautifully colored image. Starting at the bottom edge of the picture, can you see a line of four stars running diagonally from upper right to lower left? Behind those stars is NGC 6375 (http://spider.seds.org/spider/Misc/Pics/n6357rp.jpg) centered on cluster Pismis 24 (http://astroart.co.uk/images/Star%20clu ... y%2020.jpg) which contains two of the most massive stars in the Milky Way.

Moving upwards a bit you can see famous star cluster M6 and M7. M6 (http://www.astrosurf.com/sguisard/Pagim ... 0-cp10.jpg) sits right in the middle of the thick dark dust lane and is easy to see. M7 (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3204/285 ... 166359.jpg) on the other hand, is seen against a relatively dust-free background of distant yellow stars, and looks like a bluish smudge against all the yellowness.

Then nothing much happens before we reach the Lagoon Nebula (http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/~astrolab/m ... ez_big.jpg), the very obvious pink splotch in the dust lane. The pinkishness of the Lagoon extends to the left, where it blooms into a delightful combination of emission and reflection nebula centered on NGC 6559: http://www.cosmotography.com/images/small_ngc6559.jpg). Isn't it lovely?

Above the Lagoon is the Trifid Nebula and M 21, which is a young cluster of blue stars. I just couldn't find a good image of the Trifid Nebula and M 21, so I'll just post this link to an image of the Lagoon, the pink and blue Trifid Nebula above the Lagoon and M 21 to the upper left of the Trifid Nebula: http://www.utahskies.org/report/20010720/m8_m20_l.JPG.

Above The Lagoon and the Trifid Nebulas and M 21 is a combination of emission and reflection nebulosity called NGC 6595: http://www.astrophotos.net/images/nebul ... 09rewk.jpg.

An now we come to the large bright patch of relatively young stars in the dust lane, called the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud or Messier 24: http://www.oneminuteastronomer.com/wp-c ... ier-24.jpg. In this picture you can see NGC 6595 at bottom and the magnificent Omega Nebula, M 17, at top. Another pink patch close to M 24 is M 16, the Eagle Nebula: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2007/sarl7c ... Nebula.jpg.

Well, what a collection of links!!! I just wanted to say that there is so much to see in this part of the sky, and Joshua Bury does the sights delightful justice in his large mosaic (I assume it is a mosaic)!

Ann

Testing a New Mirror
Copyright: Julien Vandermarlière

Thanks for the links and descriptions Ann! I was definitely pleased with the number of DSOs I could pick out in the final shot. This is actually not a mosaic, it's the full FOV of my 50mm prime lens. It's a nice sharp lens!

Josh