The Herschel 400 Astronomical League Project is underway
It’s not too late to join. We are about 30 objects into the Herschel 400. Hope to get another session in soon. Please subscribe to the YouTube channel so you get notifications on LIVE STREAMS.
Angels in Monoceros: The Monoceros M2 Complex
The Monoceros R2 molecular complex (often shortened to Mon R2) is a massive giant molecular cloud and one of the nearest active star-forming regions to Earth. It's a dynamic stellar nursery embedded in dense gas and dust, where new stars—particularly massive ones—are actively being born.
Key Facts
Location: Southwestern part of the constellation Monoceros (the Unicorn), near the border with Orion. It's part of the larger Orion-Monoceros cloud complex.
Distance: Approximately 2,400–2,700 light-years (around 830 parsecs).
Size and Structure: The main dense core is relatively compact (a few light-years across), but the overall molecular cloud and associated nebulae span a wide area—reflection nebulae alone stretch up to about 2° in the sky. It's situated well below the galactic plane, which makes it stand out in certain observations.
Age and Activity: Star formation here began roughly 6–10 million years ago. It hosts an OB association (young, hot, massive B- and A-type stars) that illuminates surrounding dust, creating prominent reflection nebulae with bluish hues. There's also significant emission from ionized gas (red glows) and dark nebulae that appear as shadowy silhouettes blocking background light.
Notable Features:
A central hub of massive star formation with embedded clusters, molecular outflows, and HII regions.
Infrared observations (like those from VISTA or 2MASS) penetrate the dust to reveal hidden young stars and protoplanetary disks.
It's a key site for studying early stellar evolution, variability in young stellar objects (YSOs), and the interplay between massive stars and their natal clouds.
The most famous and photogenic part of Mon R2 is the region around NGC 2170 (the Angel Nebula), a striking reflection nebula with wing-like dust structures, glowing blue from scattered starlight, mixed with red emission and dark lanes. Wider views of the complex reveal a richer tapestry of colorful gas, dust filaments, and star clusters.
Credit: GROK 2/28/26
Click on image for larger view.
New Astro Camera: OM-3
Join me for a LIVE conversation about this new astro camera coming to the market. Is this the best option for you? How does it compare to other options? https://www.earthandskyphoto.com Correction: when discussing Bulb mode with Canon, I incorrectly said it had a limit of 30”. I meant to say manual exposure has a max of 30”. In bulb, you need to use a remote control or app for exposure time control. The problem is you can’t set exposure time for stills in the camera menu. I was made aware that Olympus no longer owns the OM system. It is owned by Japanese industrial Partners, a private equity firm. For content on the OM-3 for astrophotography, please see Ben Chapell’s Narrow Band channel. https://youtube.com/@TheNarrowbandChannel?si=GcWY-BM9skG9LPhY
Tree in Fog
Tree in Fog: Canaan ValleyA new image from our spring workshop in the Canaan Valley area. Morning light and atmospheric fog create magical environments for photography. This is a look over the valley near Canaan Valley State park at sunrise. For a larger image presentation please click on the image and then click on the thumbnail at the bottom of the portfolio.
Elakala Falls with Black and White Interpretation
Elakala Falls Black and White DownstreamIt is important to experment with black and white interpretations of scenes when the color component is not critical and the image is more about light and structure. Flowing water lengs itself very nicely to black and white interpretations. This is not my primary visualization while in the field, but it is one that we need to be mindful of if we are not inclined to view a scene in the eyes of black and white.
Elakala Falls with Black and White Interpretation
Elakala Falls in Black and WhiteI consider Elakala Falls a wonderful fall for black and white interpretation. Delicate streaming flows of water provide a graphically interesting scene that works well in a monochromatic presentation. Elakala Falls in Black and White is now in the Water Portfolio.
A Winter Day in Ritter Park, Huntington, WV
A quiet winter day in Ritter Park with hardly anyone else around is as good as photography gets in Huntington, WV. A winter storm that glanced through our area delivered 4 inches of heavy-wet snow and provided a wonderful photographic opportunity in Huntington. It also afforded me the first opportunity to test the camera protective bag I blogged about a few weeks ago. The protective bag worked very well in the wet snow conditions. I used the 24-105 zoom lens and had just a bit of difficulty retracting the zoom all the way to the 24mm zoom position and had to realign the sleave of the protective bag. It was a bit frustration at the short end of the zoom, but other than that the bag really performed well and kept the camera perfectly dry. All images were captured hand-held at ISO 400 with the bag in place the entire time. All images were optimized in Adobe Light Room 2.5 with only minor clone tools used in PS4. Enjoy the gallery and please let me know if you have any questions.
San Juan River Gallery...almost there...
I just posted the San Juan River gallery on the website. I love the way the gallery is presented via squarespace's interface. The one thing I can't quite get to work is a simultaneous playing of an audio file while viewing the images. So the next best thing I can do is to provide a link to the music and simply play it in a separate window while you peruse the images. Here is the link to "Everlasting Light" and please enjoy the show. Don't forget to activate the "lightroom" mode by clicking on the first image in the gallery and then following the arrow prompts to progress through the show. Take care.
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