gallery

Van den Bergh 142 (above left)

by WILLIAM M cLAUGHLIN
Located within the huge emission neb-
ula IC 1396 in Cepheus, the dark nebula
VdB 142 is punctuated by several bright
knots and a luminous rim. Although IC
1396 was discovered visually by the
legendary 19th-century observer E. E.
Barnard, it is a very challenging object.
This prevents VdB 142 from being bet-
ter known to backyard observers.

Setting Crescent (above right)

by STEPHEN PITT
This view of a young crescent Moon
headed toward the western horizon in
Californias Joshua Tree National Park is
noteworthy for the detail visible on the
Earthlit portion of the lunar disk.

Barnards Loop (right)

by STEVE MANDEL
So much nebulosity appears in this CCD
image of central Orion that even those
familiar with the region may need a
moment to get their bearings. From the
center of the 9-wide field, the Orion
Nebula is the brightest condensation at
lower right, while IC 434 the luminous
backdrop for the Horsehead Nebula
is just to the upper right. The large arc
dominating the left half of the field is
Barnards Loop. Far less known to most
readers is the gauzy veil of nebulosity
overspreading the region.

140 May 2001 Sky & Telescope 2001 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
 Witch Head Nebula (left)
by GARY L. STEVENS
Discovered by the pioneering German
astrophotographer Max Wolf, the Witch
Head Nebula is among the largest of
all reflection nebulae. Located in Eri-
danus, it is illuminated by light from
the brilliant star Rigel 212 to the east
in Orion. The nebulas popular moniker
may be better understood if this image
is viewed with the page upside down.

Rosette Nebula (below left)

by ROBERT GENDLER
More than 1 in diameter, the Rosette
Nebula is a challenging object for
binoculars even when the sky is very
clear and dark. Its location in Monocer-
os, however, is easy to pinpoint since
the circular wreath of glowing hydro-
gen surrounds the prominent star clus-
ter NGC 2244, which borders on naked-
eye visibility.

Messier 74 (below right)

by ROBERT GENDLER
Known since the late 18th century, the
spiral galaxy M74 in Pisces is one of the
faintest objects included in the French
comet hunters famous catalog of deep-
sky objects. Because of its low surface
brightness, it is sometimes best seen
with low-power, wide-field instruments.

2001 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved. Sky & Telescope May 2001 141
 Pelican Nebula (top right)
by GERALD RHEMANN
Not long ago the Pelican Nebula, located
just 3 southeast of the well-known
North America Nebula in Cygnus, was
considered to be a real prize when cap-
tured on amateur photographs. But
modern high-speed color film has trans-
formed the delicate wisps of emission
nebulosity into a routine target for
most astrophotographers.

Helix Nebula (middle right)

b y D AV I D H A N O N
Roughly half the Moons apparent diame-
ter, the Helix Nebula in Aquarius is often
cited as the largest planetary nebula visi-
ble from Earth. With good sky conditions,
it can be seen with binoculars.

Capitol Eclipse (bottom right)

b y T O M WA C H S
A scouting expedition the week before
last Christmass partial solar eclipse al-
lowed Maryland photographer Tom
Wachs to place his camera where the
Sun would appear to slip behind the
Capitol dome in Washington, D.C., just
after the eclipse ended.The cold and
wind kept all but the most hearty tripod-
tripping tourists at home, he writes,
but for those who did come by I had
plenty of solar filters to share.

Lunar Eclipse Mosaic (facing page)

b y G I O VA N N I D A L L A G O
Using computer-plotting techniques,
Italian astrophotographer Giovanni Dal
Lago combined individual images of last
Januarys total lunar eclipse to show the
Moons apparent path through Earths
shadow.

142 May 2001 Sky & Telescope 2001 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
HOW THEY DID IT
Van den Bergh 142
RC Optical Systems 1212-inch f/9 Ritchey-Chrtien re-
flector on an Astro-Physics 1200 German equatorial
mount, FLI Dream Machine CCD camera with SITe
chip. Eight sets of 3-minute red, 214-minute green,
and 3-minute blue exposures processed and com-
bined with MaxIm DL. Field 28 wide centered at right
ascension 21h 35.7m, declination +57 29. North is up.
Setting Crescent
6-inch f/8.3 refractor, 10-second exposure on Fuji
Provia 100f transparency film push-processed one
stop to ISO 200.
Barnards Loop
SBIG ST-8E CCD camera fitted with a Nikkor 50-mm
lens set at f/4. Fifteen 10-minute exposures through a
hydrogen-alpha filter. Image processing with MaxIm
DL and Adobe Photoshop. Field is 9 wide centered at
right ascension 5h 45m, declination 312. North is up.
Witch Head Nebula
Takahashi FSQ-106N (4.2-inch) f/5 refractor and SBIG
ST-8E CCD camera. Two-frame mosaic with each
frame assembled from LRGB images using nine 10-
minute exposures with a blue filter as the luminance
and blue components and 10-minute red and green
exposures. Field 113 wide centered at right ascen-
sion 5h 06.0m, declination 7 00. North is up.
Rosette Nebula
Takahashi FSQ-106N (4.2-inch) f/5 refractor and SBIG
ST-8E CCD camera. Two-frame mosaic with each
frame assembled from LRGB images using a 60-
minute exposure with a red filter as the luminance
component and RGB exposures of 10, 10, and 20 min-
utes, respectively. Field 113 wide centered at right
ascension 6h 32.2m, declination +4 58. North is up.
2001 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
Messier 74
Optical Guidance Systems 1212-inch f/9 Ritchey-
Chrtien reflector on an Astro-Physics 900 German
equatorial mount and SBIG ST-8E CCD camera. LRGB
image using 28 unfiltered 10-minute exposures as
the luminance component and RGB images each as-
sembled from five 10-minute exposures with their re-
spective filters. Field 9 wide centered at right ascen-
sion 1h 36.7m, declination +15 47. North is up.
Pelican Nebula
340-mm f/9 astrographic reflector. Composite of 40-
and 90-minute exposures on 120-format Kodak Pro
Gold 400 color-negative film. Field 1 wide centered
at right ascension 2h 51.8m, declination +43 58.
North is at left.
Helix Nebula
Astro-Physics 7-inch refractor working at f/7 on a
Byers German equatorial mount and SBIG ST-8E cam-
era. LRGB image assembled from six 10-minute expo-
sures with red, green, and blue filters and the lumi-
nance frame made from the red exposures. Field 25
wide centered at right ascension 22h 29.6m, declina-
tion 20 51. North is up.
Capitol Eclipse
35-mm camera with a 28-mm wide-angle lens set at
f/8 and Kodak Kodachrome 64 film. Sun exposures
130 second through a Baader solar filter. Sky exposed
for 1125 second at f/16 (one stop less than exposure-
meter value) when Sun was hidden behind building.
Lunar Eclipse Mosaic
Pentax 75-mm f/6.7 SDHF refractor with 1.8 Barlow
lens and Canon D30 digital camera. Individual expo-
sures assembled into mosaic using TheSky to accu-
rately plot the Moons position for the time of the ex-
posure. Processing done with Adobe Photoshop.
Sky & Telescope May 2001 143