Avoiding Lights

 Colorful November Sky Pictures

Clear sky on November 12th presented a good opportunity to create a Seestar portrait of the Perseus double cluster. Unfortunately, two neighbors had turned on multiple bright lights which glared directly into Seestar's lens when pointed north toward Perseus. Imaging the double cluster was initially impossible.

I hoped these lights would eventually turn off. While waiting I pointed Seestar directly south away from the lights toward the constellation Aquarius where I made an attempt to capture the colorful Helix Nebula (NGC7293). The following 60-minute exposure is an improvement over a previous attempt last year. (Click on all images below to see the best detail.) The Helix Nebula is the closest planetary nebula to Earth. Gases previously emitted by the central white dwarf star are excited by that star's ultraviolet radiation and glow with characteristic colors.

Troublesome neighbor lights were finally extinguished! This allowed me to move to the original target in Perseus - the double cluster (NGC869,884). In the following 31-minute exposure NGC 869 is the upper cluster, and NGC884 is the lower one. I particularly like the colorful orange stars sprinkled about. This image looks great when enlarged to full size!

Dark moonless sky continued, so I next pointed to Cygnus to capture the eastern segment of the Veil Nebula. The entire Veil Nebula is a supernova remnant too large to fit in one Seestar field of view. NGC6992 is one segment of this nebula called the Eastern Veil Nebula. I used the light pollution filter and mosaic mode for the following 23-minute exposure. A longer exposure would have been better, but, unfortunately, the exposure ended too soon when the Veil Nebula began setting behind the roof of my house.

The constellation Auriga had risen in good position, so I next targeted the Flaming Star Nebula (IC405). I used the light pollution filter and mosaic mode for the following 90-minute exposure. The nebula is excited by bright star AE Aurigae, the brightest star right of center.

Well after midnight I could no longer keep my eyes open. It was time to quit.