Gregg's Astronomy & Astrophotography
Recent Images 2/27/2024
Sh2-287 Emission nebula in MonocerosSh2-287 Emission Nebula in Monoceros.  The constellation of Monoceros (the Minotaur) is home to some of the most picturesque nebulae in the night sky.  These include the Rosette Nebula and the Cone Nebula (also sometimes called the Christmas Tree Nebula).  But, there are other interesting targets in Monoceros, and one of these is Sh2-287 (from the Sharpless 2 catalog).  It is a faint patch of HII nebulosity that lies just to the southeast of the small open cluster NGC 2311.  Like other objects in the Sharpless catalog, this nebula is small and faint.  This makes it a good target for astroimagers, but not so much for visual observers.  For more details on Sh2-287 see the entry in Galaxy Map. For more images from the Sharpless Catalog, see Dean Salman's excellent web site.  See the thumbnail below for an annotated version of my image:

Sh2-287 Emission nebula in Monoceros

This image was made in January 2024 with a ASA 10N astrograph and STL11000 CCD, with data collected though hydrogen alpha and LRGB filters for a total of about 5 1/2 hours.  The image was acquired and processed in MaximDL, with additional processing in Photoshop.








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This page illustrates what can be  photographed using amateur telescopes and a CCD camera.  I currently use an SBIG STL11000M camera and have previously used SBIG and Starlight Xpress cameras, as well as a Cookbook 245 camera that I built myself.  Many of the images o this web site were taken from my backyard near a busy street with several street lights.  Not only is the CCD camera a great imaging tool, but it allows "real time" observation of objects not normally visible in areas with moderate-severe light pollution.