The Cocoon Nebula (IC 5146 or Caldwell 19)

On the same evening that I imaged the new supernova in NGC 7331 (the 15th September) I also had a go at imaging the Cocoon Nebula in the Constellation of Cygnus. This object is found near the eastern border with Lacerta and in a line with pi1 and pi2 Cygni. This is what I obtained after 209x15s (52.5 minutes) of observation with my Dwarf 3 smartscope:-

The first frame was taken at 23:35 BST and the last at 00:37 on the 16th. 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). 

What is interesting about this wide-field image is the snaking river of darkness that travels from the bottom right to surround the nebula in the centre of the frame. This is the dark nebula called Barnard 168 and consists of dust and gas that obscures the more distant stars of our galaxy behind it. Into this nebula has been born a cluster of stars (Collinder 470) which has caused the it to glow due to the strong UV light these stars emit. In this image we principally see the red emission light of ionised hydrogen but in other photographs there is also some blue light of reflection.

Here is a close-up of the emission nebula at the full resolution of the telescope:-

You can see some dusty lanes of gas obscuring the nebula behind. I think, on another occasion I would use a different filter to bring out some of the blue light of the reflection nebula.

All text and images © Duncan Hale-Sutton 2026 

Supernova in NGC 7331, The Deer Lick Group and Stephan's Quintet

On the 1st September 2026 a new supernova was discovered in the spiral galaxy NGC 7331 in Pegasus and was designated SN 2026aaiv. At discovery, this Type Ia supernova was a faint 17th magnitude but by September 15th it had brightened a 100 times to about magnitude 12. On that evening the sky was clear and the moon was 3 days before first quarter and not interfering with observation. I thought I would have a go at seeing if I could image this faint object and the galaxy it is found in and this is what I obtained after 246x15s (1 hour 1.5 minutes) of observation with my Dwarf 3 smartscope:-

The first frame was taken at 21:55 BST and the last at 23:13. The astro 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). The galaxy NGC 7331 is seen in the centre of this image. Here is a crop of this image at the full resolution of the scope:-

The supernova can indeed be seen in this image and I have marked it with the green lines. It is quite close to the centre of the galaxy. What is amazing is that it looks to be as bright as the central core of NGC 7331 which contains millions of stars; so a single exploding star can rival the brightness of all these other stars put together. Type Ia supernovas occur in binary star systems where one of the stars is a white dwarf. When the dwarf has stolen enough material from its companion it undergoes a rapid runaway nuclear explosion which rips the stars apart. So much energy is produced that the explosion can be seen from great distances away (NGC 7331 is 47 million light-years distant).

NGC 7331 is also number 30 in Patrick Moore's Caldwell Catalogue. To the left of it are a number of smaller galaxies that are much further distant (300 to 350 million light years) and with NGC 7331 are collectively called the Deer Lick Group. I have labelled these objects in the same image below:-

Finally there is another interesting small group of galaxies in the wide field image above and this is Stephan's Quintet. They can be found to the right of NGC 7331. Here is a crop of the full-scale image again:-

 

These galaxies were discovered by Edouard Stephanis in 1877 at Marseilles Observatory. It is difficult to make out these five galaxies as they are again small and mostly distant. I have labelled the objects in this image with their NGC numbers; NGC 7318 contains two interacting spiral galaxies, NGC 7317 is an elliptical galaxy, NGC 7319 has interacted with the other galaxies in this group that are at the same distance and has caused a distortion of its spiral arms. The odd one out and the brightest of the group is NGC 7320 which is at a distance of 60 million light years as opposed to 300 million light years for the rest. So NGC 7320 is more like the distance of NGC 7331 whereas the others are comparable in distance to the 'fleas' of the Deer Lick Group. Stephan's Quintet is also called Arp 319 or Hickson 92.

All text and images © Duncan Hale-Sutton 2026 

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