This is the constellation of Cassiopeia, with the "W" stars at bottom, framed to include most of the star clusters and nebulas in the constellation. A
This is the constellation of Cassiopeia, with the "W" stars at bottom, framed to include most of the star clusters and nebulas in the constellation. And it's a lot in this part of the Milky Way! For nebulas — At bottom left is the Heart Nebula, IC 1805, with the smaller round NGC 896 nebula attached. For this framing to work I had to cut off the companion Soul Nebula which lies off frame at lower left. At top is the arc of NGC 7822 and below it brighter Cederblad 214, though technically those lie across the border in Cepheus. Below Ced214 is the small round Sharpless 2-170, with the trio forming what's become known as the Question Mark. At upper right is the Bubble Nebula, NGC 7635 and the faint Sharpless 2-157 and small intense NGC 7538. At bottom is the Pacman Nebula, NGC 281. Below centre near the star Gamma Cassiopeiae or Navi are the blue reflection nebulas IC 59 and IC 63, aka the Ghost of Cassiopeia, though diffuse emission nebulosity pervades the region. A subtle blue reflection nebula, van denBurgh 1, lies below Beta Cassiopeiae or Caph at right. For star clusters – at lower left along the left side of the W are NGC 663 (most prominent) and the smaller M103, NGC 654, and IC 166 clusters. At centre to the left of the Pacman is NGC 457, the Owl Cluster or ET Cluster. At far right is NGC 7789, aka Caroline's Rose, and at top right is Messier 52. The loose concentration of stars at upper left is Collinder 463. So for all the area's richness in deep-sky objects there are only two Messier objects here, M52 and M103, and the latter is pretty poor. How he missed the other better clusters is a mystery. Dust along this area of the Milky Way yellows the star fields and provides the subtle but contrasting colours of the background sky. It dims the odd object in this field, the Local Group galaxy IC 10 visible as a tiny smudge left and below Caph. This is a stack of 20 x 2-minute exposures with the rare Samyang RF85mm lens at and on the filter-modified
Size: 6728px × 4503px
Photo credit: © Alan Dyer / VWPics / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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