Rokinon 135mm | GeoAstro

Telescope: Rokinon 135mm

The Witch Head Nebula

Posted by Lasha Ebitashvili | Aug 2, 2018 | Astrophoto, Nebulae |

IC 2118 (also known as Witch Head Nebula due to its shape) is an extremely faint reflection nebula believed to be an ancient supernova remnant or gas cloud illuminated by nearby supergiant star Rigel in Orion. It lies in the Eridanus constellation, about 900 light years from Earth. The nature of the dust particles, reflecting blue light better than red, is a factor in giving the Witch Head its blue color. Radio observations show substantial carbon monoxide emission throughout parts of IC 2118, an indicator of the presence of molecular clouds and star formation in the nebula. In fact candidates for pre-main...

Heart and Soul Nebulae

Posted by Dimitri Goderdzishvili | Nov 24, 2017 | Astrophoto, Nebulae |

Cassiopeia is the constellation where the “heart and soul” of our galaxy can be found. Nebulae IC 1802 and IC 1848 are relatively nicknamed Heart and Soul after their heart and embryo-like shapes. Spanned over 300 light-years, it takes about 6000 years for photons from these bright emission nebulae to reach the Earth. Their bright red light is mostly emitted by energized hydrogen. The region itself contain quite a lot of star clusters as the centers of these nebulae give birth to a lot of young stars. The vanishing line in the middle of these two nebulae is actually...