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With the nights growing longer, astronomers can capture more objects than they could during the summer. So if you're new to astrophotography or looking to go star gazing with your telescope, this is the article for you. Here are the four best celestial bodies to photograph during this festive December!
The Heart Nebula (IC 1805)
Credit: Bray Falls
The Heart Nebula is located about 7,500 light-years away in the Cassiopeia constellation. Its companion, the Fishhead Nebula, is located in the upper right corner of this photo. This massive emission nebula known as IC 1805 resembles a human heart overall. Hydrogen, the nebula's most conspicuous ingredient, emits a powerful red light that causes the object to glow. Young stars from the open star cluster Melotte 15 erode several beautiful dust pillars in the Heart Nebula's center with powerful brightness and winds. This is a remarkable object to capture using a portable telescope with a focal length of around 360mm.
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IC 1805
Object Type: Emission Nebula
Constellation: Cassiopeia
Distance: 7,500 light-years
Apparent Magnitude: +18.3
Apparent Size: 150 x 150 Arc Minutes
The Soul Nebula (IC 1848)
Credit: Konstantinos Tsekas
The Soul Nebula is a massive star-forming complex that is part of the Perseus spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy and is situated around 6,500 light-years from Earth. Compared to the component that houses our sun, the Perseus arm is located farther from the Milky Way's core. As a result, a small piece of the Milky Way's diameter, around 100,000 light-years across, is covered by the Soul Nebula, which spans nearly 580 light-years. This is another excellent object to capture using a small refractor telescope with a focal length of around 400mm.
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IC 1848
Object Type: Emission Nebula
Constellation: Cassiopeia
Distance: 6,500 light-years
Apparent Magnitude: +6.5
Apparent Size: 150 x 75 Arc Minutes
The Christmas Tree Cluster and Cone Nebula (NGC 2264)
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
To get into the festive mood, the Christmas Tree Cluster and Cone Nebula are the perfect targets! This young open cluster can be seen in the constellation Monoceros. Along with the Cone Nebula and the Fox Fur Nebula, it is a member of the NGC 2264 region and a part of the Milky Way's Orion Arm's loose association of extremely young stars known as the Monoceros OB1 association. Its triangular shape, which is made up of a group of extremely young stars resembling a tree in visible light, gave rise to the name "Christmas Tree Cluster." It is visible to the naked eye in good visibility with an apparent magnitude of 3.9 and looks stunning with binoculars. Small telescopes with low magnification may also observe the Christmas tree cluster, which is ideal for astrophotography!
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NGC: 2264
Object Type: Emission Nebula
Constellation: Monoceros
Distance: 2,600 light-years
Apparent Magnitude: +3.9
Apparent Size: 20 x 20 Arc Minutes
The Amatha Galaxy (NGC 925)
Credit: Bruce W.
The Amatha Galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy found around 30 million light-years away in the constellation Triangulum. This galaxy has a bar structure and loosely coiled spiral arms without a ring, according to its morphological classification of SB(s)d. The northern spiral arm appears flocculent and less coherent than the southern spiral arm, which is more robust. Since this object is relatively small, with an apparent magnitude of 10.7, I suggest this to advanced astrophotographers. You need a large aperture of 10 inches and a focal length of 800 mm to collect decent data of this celestial body.
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NGC: 925
Object Type: Barred Spiral Galaxy
Constellation: Triangulum
Distance: 30 millions light-years
Apparent Magnitude: +10.7
Apparent Size: 10 x 5 Arc Minutes
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