The Western Veil Nebula (Caldwell 34)

September can bring some very nice calm-weather dark skies and last Sunday night (the 6th) was one of them. It was enough just to sit outside wrapped up in a blanket and admire the view. To get an idea of how dark the sky was I tried counting (by eye) the number of stars in the great square of Pegasus and came up with seven or eight which is not too bad. Whilst I was using my Dwarf 3 to do some imaging I contented myself by roaming round the sky with my 10x50 binoculars. A few things I found interesting. The first was that I had a really good view of the galaxy M33, which is becoming more prominent in our autumn skies now. I was surprised how bright it seemed in binoculars but it was impossible to see with the naked eye, even though I knew exactly where to look. I also had a go at viewing some double stars, something I have found difficult with bins on previous occasions. I had a look at beta Cygni which is at the head of the swan and a nice combination of blue and yellow stars (magnitudes 3.1 and 4.7). These I did manage to separate into their components which was excellent (they are 34 arc seconds apart). Another pair that I could separate was zeta Lyrae (magnitudes 4.3 and 5.9) which are 44 arc seconds apart. Very satisfying!

Back to the imaging. I chose this evening to have a go at the western part of the Veil Nebula. I have already imaged the eastern part. Here is what I obtained after 199x15s (49.75 minutes):-

The first frame was taken at 23:05 BST and the last at 00:19 on the 7th. The duo-band filter was employed and the gain was set to 60. Auto parameters were used in Stellar Studio. I have increased the saturation and brightness of the image in Photoshop and binned it x2 (please click on the image to see a full-size view). There are patches of nebulosity in a lot of the frame to the left of the central bright star. The main bright patch in the centre of the field of view is the remnants of the supernova shock wave that is still traveling to the right in this frame. This part is called the Witch's Broom (or NGC 6960).

Here is a close-up of the nebula in the centre of the frame at the full resolution of the scope:-

The filamentary nature of this nebula can be seen very well in this image. It almost appears rope like. The bright star at the edge is 52 Cygni and is at a much closer distance to us. For a full description of how this nebula formed please have a look at my previous post.

All text and images © Duncan Hale-Sutton 2026 

 

The Pacman Nebula (NGC 281)

Last Friday, the 4th September, we had some clear skies in the evening here in Neatishead and I was out making use of it with my Dwarf 3 smartscope. The moon was at last quarter and wouldn't rise until 22.29 BST. It now gets fully dark about 8.30pm BST. I decided I would have a go at the interestingly named Pacman Nebula in Cassiopeia and this is what I obtained after 350x15s (1 hour 27.5 minutes) of observation:-

The first frame was taken at 22:12 BST and the last at 23:59. The duo-band filter was employed and the gain was set to 60. Auto parameters were used in Stellar Studio. I have increased the saturation and brightness of the image in Photoshop and binned it x2 (please click on the image to see a full-size view). Here is a close-up of the nebula in the centre of the frame at the full resolution of the scope:-

The nebula gets its name from its resemblance to the main character in the 1980s Pac-Man video game. The dark intrusion of gas and dust on the right looks like its mouth and the central bright star like an eye. This HII region of glowing gas is powered by IC1590 - the cluster of stars at the centre of this image. There are also several Bok Globules to be seen; these are small isolated darker areas of dust and gas that can be viewed against the brighter areas of nebula behind. They are often associated with areas where star formation is beginning to take place. The nebula lies at about 10,000 light years from us and close to the star alpha and eta Cassiopeiae on the sky.

All text and images © Duncan Hale-Sutton 2026 

Perseus Double Cluster (NGC 869/884, Caldwell 14)

After I had been observing the new nova in Sagitta the other night (the 25th August) I thought I would point the telescope at an old favourite - the double cluster in the constellation of Perseus. The moon was a bit more of a problem by then so a nice bright object was ideal to observe. This is what I obtained with my Dwarf 3 after 83x15s (20.75 minutes):-

The first frame was taken at 22:48 BST and the last at 23:14. The astro filter was employed and the gain was set to 60. Auto parameters were used in Stellar Studio. I have binned the image x2 (please click on the image to see a full-size view). Here is a close-up, unbinned crop of the above image:-

These open clusters are some of the finest objects in the night sky and can easily be seen with the naked eye as a faint double smudge near the sword hand of Perseus. Known also as h and Chi Persei, the upper cluster is NGC 869 and the lower is NGC 884. These objects (lying at a distance of about 7,500 light years in the Perseus Arm of our Milky Way galaxy) are relatively young and probably emerged from a single cloud of dust and gas about 13 million years ago. NGC 869 is the slightly more massive of the two but NGC 884 contains several prominent red supergiant stars (these can be seen in the above image). These are massive short-lived stars have already evolved off the main sequence. Each cluster contains about 300 stars.

All text and images © Duncan Hale-Sutton 2026 

 

New Nova in Sagitta

** Update. This nova has now been given the name V488 Sagittae. **

Last night (25th August 2026) I received an alert to say that there was a new nova in the constellation of Sagitta (the arrow) and it was only discovered early in the morning by the NMW-TexasTech survey (NMW stands for New Milky Way). This new object has been given the designation PNV J19450648+1822422 and it is located at 19 45 06.48 +18 22 42.2. As it was clear I decided to go out and image it with my Dwarf 3 and here is what I obtained after 97x15s (24.25 minutes) of observation:-

The first frame was taken at 22:12 BST and the last at 22:41. The visual filter was employed and the gain was set to 60. Auto parameters were used in Stellar Studio. I have binned the image x2 (please click on the image to see a full-size view). 

The nova is marked by the green line. The orangey looking bright star to the left of centre is delta Sagittae and the next brightest star to the far right is alpha. The following chart and stellar comparison sequence comes from the AAVSO (and so I hope they don't mind me reproducing it here):-

The labels in this chart identify the comparison stars magnitude so 81 is actually 8.1 visual magnitude. There are stars labelled 71, 73 and 77 that look to be as bright as the nova so that means roughly that the nova has a magnitude of around 7.1 to 7.7. This agrees with the follow-up photometry that has been done.

All text and images (except from the AAVSO) © Duncan Hale-Sutton 2026 

The Eastern Veil Nebula (Caldwell 33)

Saturday night (the 22nd August) we had a nice clear evening and the gibbous waxing moon was low down in the south east. The evenings are beginning to darken again and it now gets fully dark by 10pm BST. I went out with my Dwarf 3 just after that time and decided to have a go at photographing the eastern edge of the Veil Nebula in the constellation of Cygnus. This is Caldwell 33 and it is made up of NGC 6992 and NGC 6995. Here is what I obtained after 218x15s (54.5 minutes):-

The first frame was taken at 22:23 BST and the last at 23:46. The duo-band filter was employed and the gain was set to 60. Auto parameters were used in Stellar Studio. I have increased the saturation and brightness of the image in Photoshop and binned it x2 (please click on the image to see a full-size view). Here is a close-up of the nebula in the centre of the frame:-

It certainly is a very pretty object! NGC 6992 is the upper part of the nebula and NGC 6995 is the lower part that curves back on itself. This cloud of shining gas results from a Type II supernova that exploded around 15,000 years ago. What we see here is only part of the whole structure (the Cygnus Loop) which measures something like 3.5 x 2.7 degrees on the sky. During the time since the star exploded the ejected material has been expanding outwards into interstellar space. What we see here is the shell of the shockwave interacting with the local interstellar medium. Ribbons of hot gas are produced - some parts are emitting the red hydrogen alpha line but others are producing the green emission line of ionised oxygen (it looks blueish here). In the wider-field image above you can make out other smaller patches of nebulosity to the right which are a part of the loop.

All text and images © Duncan Hale-Sutton 2026  

The Wizard Nebula (NGC 7380 and Sh2-142)

Last night (the 21st July) was one of those really nice still summer evenings when, with a bit of clear weather, you get a glorious view of the Milky Way. This is because, when it finally gets dark enough about 11.30 BST, Cygnus, through which the Milky Way travels, is quite high up in the south. I was quite pleased to see a number of nebulous patches low over our hedge which were possibly exciting objects like the Lagoon Nebula or the Eagle Nebula. I will have to get round to cutting some of the elder to get a better view! In the end I didn't have much time before it clouded over but I had a go at something at a much higher altitude and this was what has been called the Wizard Nebula in Cepheus. The moon was at first quarter but was low in the south west. This is what I obtained after 152x15s (38 minutes) of observation:-

The first frame was taken at 23:45 BST and the last at 00:31 on the 22nd. The duo-band filter was employed and the gain was set to 60. Auto parameters were used in Stellar Studio. I have increased the saturation and brightness of the image in Photoshop and binned it x2 (please click on the image to see a full-size view). Here is a close-up of the nebula and star cluster in the centre of the frame:-

NGC 7380 actually refers to the young open star cluster that sits above the nebula in this image. The stars in this loose cluster formed between 4 and 11 million years ago and have emerged from the dust and gas that is surrounding them. The nebulosity is referred to as Sh2-142 in Sharpless's catalogue. The red colour comes from ionized hydrogen and most of the ionizing radiation comes from DH Cephei - a close pair of massive O-type stars. The cluster is about 8,500 light-years from us in the Perseus arm of the Milky Way. I suppose it gets its name of the wizard nebula because there is what looks like a wizard's pointed hat in the lower centre of the image and I guess his arms (with long sleeves) are stretched out either side whilst he creates an explosion of colour in the middle! Who knows!

All text and images © Duncan Hale-Sutton 2026 

The Pelican and North American Nebulae

The hot dry weather has been continuing for quite a few weeks now and last night was clear again but with the odd bit of patchy thin cloud. As Cygnus is relatively well placed by late in the evening I had a go at the area of nebulosity that is near the rear of the swan and not far from the brightest star in the constellation, Deneb.The Pelican and North American nebulae lie close together on the sky and form part of a large area of ionized gas. Here is what I obtained after 260x15s (1 hour 5 minutes) of observation:-

The first frame was taken at 23:58 BST and the last at 01:27 on the 10th. The duo-band filter was employed and the gain was set to 60. Auto parameters were used in Stellar Studio. I have increased the saturation of the image in Photoshop and binned it x2 (please click on the image to see a full-size view). 

The North American Nebula (NGC 7000 or Caldwell 20) is in the lower left of the frame. The dark 'bite' taken out of it is supposed to represent the Gulf of Mexico. In the upper centre right of the picture is the Pelican Nebula (IC 5070). This can be seen a bit better in the following rotated and cropped version below:-

As Ruben Kier says in his '100 Best Astrophotography Targets' the long beak looks more like the head of a prehistoric Pterodactyl than the head of a bird but one can get the idea. The nebula is about 1,500 light years from us.

All text and images © Duncan Hale-Sutton 2026