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
A Night at the Winter Star Party
While at the Winter Star Party in February, I imaged with multiple cameras through the night. The primary camera was on the telescope with a secondary wide angle camera on the G11 mount and a third camera for night landscape from a tripod. One of the techniques I wanted to experiment with was a time-lapse of our imaging area with a star field for the entire night. My first results of this can be found on my Vimeo page linked below. A higher quality video is available for download from the Vimeo webpage for Vimeo members. Registration is simple and takes only a few seconds.
I really hope to explore this technique more fully over the coming months and to incorporate the results in a more comprehensive artistic output. I hope you enjoy the video and there is more information on the Vimeo webpage. I am also experimenting with the video capabilities of the 5D Mark II and will update the blog with results from that soon. Thanks and take care...
The Globular Cluster of Stars
What contains over 5 million solar masses, has about the same mass of the smallest whole galaxies, and is the second brightest globular cluster in the local group of galaxies? The globular cluster known as Omega Centauri or NGC 5139 is the answer. This image was captured along the beaches of the Florida Keys during the Winter Star Party in February. (Please click on the image for a larger presentation.)
The image was taken with a relatively short focal length telescope at 400mm. This view is very close to approximating the view through a nice pair of astronomical binoculars. That is my favorite way to view this object as the sparkling cluster shimmers against a backdrop of dark space. For more information on the object please see
http://messier.obspm.fr/xtra/ngc/n5139.html.
The image information is: captured with a modified Canon 450D, 11 frames of 3.5 minutes each at ISO 1600 on a TMB 92mm telescope at f5. The mount used was an Astro-Physics 400GOTO. All processing in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. Please contact me if you have any further questions and I hope you enjoy the image.
If you are ever at a southern location in northern hemisphere winter, please do yourself a favor and gaze through a pair of binoculars at this heavenly site.
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