Picture of the Month for 2018

• December 2018 - Picture of the Month

  Herbig-Haro 222 (Orion Streamers) in Orion

  

  This month I bring you more dust clouds. In those clouds are the luminous stock waves caused by the outflow from forming stars: Herbig-Haro objects.

  In Steve's image we're looking at a 20 arc-minute field on the edge of the Orion Giant Molecular Cloud Complex. He's chosen to feature the arcing structure of Herbig-Haro 222 which is in the upper centre of his image.

  Though admittedly not as impressive, I can see at least seven other Herbig-Haro objects in there too, and perhaps unsurprisingly, this region of the sky is packed with them.

  Up in the top left corner is IC 428, which is... I don't really know other than to say it's a bright nebula. I've seen supernova remnant in dso-browser (which seems unlikely), NED calls it a nebula, and SIMBAD claims it's an Object of unknown nature. Whatever it is, it seems that it was discovered by Williamina Fleming on Harvard plates from the late 1880s.

  James Whinfrey - Website Administrator.

• November 2018 - Picture of the Month

  Structures of the Large Magellanic Cloud

  

  I admit it, I'm following in the footsteps of NASA's APOD for this month. Don and Josep already gained that distinction in January this year. In my defense, you can plainly see why.

  This is a view of 4.5 degrees of the Large Magellanic Cloud which is simply packed with emission nebulae, supernova remnants and a great deal more. Don's website has an annotated version of this image that's well worth a look to get a feel for the abundance of deep-sky objects.

  This is clearly a playground for imagers, but Steve Gottlieb's 2013 post in the Deep Sky Forum shows that there are some delights available to visual observers in that dense region of nebulosity to the bottom left. In fact it might be worth reading all Steve's posts on observing the LMC. I wonder if many have tried using Electronically-Assisted Astronomical (EAA) observing in this area?

  James Whinfrey - Website Administrator.

• October 2018 - Picture of the Month

  Arp 331 in the Constellation of Pisces

  

  This may be a familiar object to some of you, but I've never set an eyepiece on it. David's fabulous image certainly makes me appreciate why many dedicated galaxy hunters love these galaxy groups. The chain in this image is just under fourteen arc-minutes long with NGC 383 sitting in the middle.

  I chose these galaxies because Owen's already featured Arp 331 as his Galaxy of the Month back in 2011, so he won't be doing that again. I suggest you take a look.

  Unfortunately, my guess is that these galaxies are beyond the reach of my even my 10-in scope, especially with suburban UK skies. Owen noted it being observed with a 16-in scope, and it's possible in a 12-in according to Night Sky Observer’s Guide Volume 1. Imaging it is clearly possible given David's terribly light polluted sky. So visual or imaging. why not give it a go?

  James Whinfrey - Website Administrator.

• September 2018 - Picture of the Month

  NGC 4755 (Jewel Box cluster) in Crux

  

  I've included nebulae of all kinds, globular clusters, and even galaxies in Picture of the Month, but I've realised that open clusters have been neglected recently.

  Which to choose? There's a wide selection available to me with the return of the Milky Way. Despite that I've never seen this month's cluster, though it's not hard so I've been told, because it's not visible to northern observers. I've been assured that it is spectacular by those that have seen it.

  This month I'm featuring one of the iconic open clusters and, if you haven't already identified it, it's called the Jewel Box (NGC 4755)... for obvious reasons. Steve has produced a wonderful image, but I bet it's even more special through the eyepiece.

  James Whinfrey - Website Administrator.

• August 2018 - Picture of the Month

  Planetary Nebula Patchick 5 in Cygnus

  

  More nebulae, and this time a more obscure planetary that has featured as an Object of the Week on the Deep Sky Forum (DSF).

  Being around half the angular size of M57, half the visual apparent magnitude and at about twice the distance Patchick 5 is certainly not a bright object! Based on the comments I suspect that this is one for the astroimager, like Bernhard, but perhaps you happen to have a huge telescope and excellent skies.

  I'm drawn to the vibrancy of Bernhard's image which comes close to that which I see through the eyepiece. Unfortunately this comes across much better on in the larger image on Bernhard's website. Of course he's extracted much more detail from this bipolar planetary, which is why I've decided to add his close crop too.

  

  James Whinfrey - Website Administrator.

• July 2018 - Picture of the Month

  Sharpless 2-64 in the Constellation of Serpens

  

  I may have chosen Sh2-64 as the feature object this month, but this wonderful widefield (2.5 degrees according to Don) contains much more.

  Sh2-64 is the emission nebula in the bottom right corner and it's not the only one since the whole area is busy with star formation. The extent of the dark nebulae on show attests for the size of dark clouds in the direction of the Serpens-Aquila rift.

  James Whinfrey - Website Administrator.

• June 2018 - Picture of the Month

  NGC 6726 the Constellation of Corona Australis

  

  OK there's a lot more than "just" a reflection nebula going on in this striking image from southern skies. A globular cluster (NGC 6793) and a variable nebula (NGC 6729) around R Coronae Australis... there's even some emission thrown in!

  All of which made choosing this image pretty easy for me. Martin's done a great job with this version, but with processing by Eric Coles it landed an APOD last year.

  James Whinfrey - Website Administrator.

• NGC 5139 (Omega Centauri) in Centaurus

  May 2018 - Picture of the Month

  

  Too many galaxies in a row for me, so I've decided to head south and back to the Milky Way for a stunning globular cluster.

  Omega Centauri may not be visible to me in the UK, but for southern observers I'm told it's a naked eye object! The largest and brightest globular cluster in the night sky, and one with a more complex history than most in our galaxy.

  James Whinfrey - Website Administrator.

• April 2018 - Picture of the Month

  NGC 4945 in Centaurus

  

  It's still galaxy season here in the North, but I've chosen to head to the southern skies for this detailed image of a distinctive galaxy. I love the dusty dark lanes and star forming regions... reminds me of our home.

  In Warren's words

  NGC 4945 is a spiral galaxy located near the bright star Zeta Centauri. Discovered by James Dunlop in 1826, it is thought to be similar to the Milky Way Galaxy. X-ray observations however, show that the galaxy has an unusual, energetic Seyfert 2 nucleus that may house a huge black hole. NGC 4945 is one of the brightest galaxies of the Centaurus A/M83 Group- a large, nearby group of galaxies.

• March 2018 - Picture of the Month

  Markarian's Chain in Virgo

  

  It's galaxy season so I decided to look for some galaxies to feature this month. Fortunately David provided this great image of the iconic Markarian's chain that he took last year.

  David's notes

  Benjamin Markarian who died on 29 September 1985 was an Armenian astrophysicist who gave his name to Markarian's Chain of galaxies in the Virgo Cluster of galaxies after he discovered that this string of galaxies moves with a common motion. The Virgo Cluster is the nearest cluster of galaxies and contains over 2000 galaxies. It has a noticeable gravitational pull on the galaxies of our own Local Group of Galaxies which surround our Milky Way Galaxy. The centre of the Virgo Cluster is located about 70 million light- years away toward the constellation of Virgo.

  This image shows part of Markarian's Chain and is marked by the Messier galaxies M84 and M86 to the right and the interacting pair of galaxies NGC 4438 and NGC 4435, known as The Eyes or ARP 120, in the centre of the image. There are many small, faint galaxies in this image.

  The image comprises 20 luminance and eight each of RGB subs, all of five minutes exposure with a 107mm APM triplet and an QSI 583 camera.

  James Whinfrey - Website Administrator.

• February 2018 - Picture of the Month

  Planetary Nebula HFG2 in the Constellation of Puppis

  

  Planetary nebulae are far from uniform in appearance which is one of the reasons I find them interesting. It's also a good reason for their regular appearance as Picture of the Month.

  That said, when this image of HFG2 landed in my inbox I was struck by the profusion of detail from the PN itself and its interactions with surrounding material. Don talks about some of this on his website where you can get a closer look at a larger version.

  HFG2 is listed under the name FEGU 248-5 in SIMBAD and also appears to be PK247-04.1, which is number 159 in the Perek-Kohoutek Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulae (2000 version).

  I managed to find HFG2 on page 84 of the Interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas which suggested a telescope of 300mm of more aperture... unsurprising for a 15–17 magnitude planetary nebula. I may have to stick with images.

  Don also believes that this is the first colour image of this object. Does anyone know differently? Has anyone seen HFG2 (PK247-04.1) visually?

  James Whinfrey - Website Administrator.

• January 2018 - Picture of the Month

  VdB 93 in the Constellation of Monoceros

  

  Another year and one more fabulous patch of nebulosity. Sorry, I couldn't resist this wonderful image by Bob and Janice Fera that covers about 40 arc-minutes of sky.

  Near the border of Monoceros and Canis Major, the area around VdB 93 possesses a few identifiers... as you might expect. IC 2177 and Sh 2-292 seem to be amongst them, as is the arguably more memorable Seagull Nebula.

  We're looking at the head of the Seagull Nebula in this image, with the bright Be star HD53367 in the centre lighting up the surrounding gas. HD53367 is also a close double and variable star (RST3489 and V0750 Mon respectively).

  The remainder of the Seagull Nebula lies out of shot to the East (up in this case) as Sh 2-296, an HII emission region.

  James Whinfrey - Website Administrator.