Sharpless 2-228 in Auriga (Dec. 2019)

This splash of glowing hydrogen is a sign of greater things to come.  Barely visible to the eye through large telescopes, this nebula is spawning stars.  Hidden in its dusty glow is a cluster of new stars waiting to be seen!

This image shows (i) the glowing gas of ionized hydrogen (6.5 hours of exposure) and (ii) stars and a little gas shining at the wavelength of ionized oxygen (5 hours of exposure).  But professional astronomers with access to infrared telescopes that peer through the dust and gas have taken images of the cluster of stars glowing within the cloud.  Here is a link to the infrared image of the hidden cluster.  Here is the study that produced the infrared image of the hidden cluster.

My image was taken with the Synta-ONTC 203mm Newtonian telescope at f/4.95 and the SXVF-H9 camera.  What amazing things we can see from our own backyards!

NGC 1931 (Sh2-237) in Bi-Color (Dec. 2019)

To the H-alpha, I added 6.5 hours of OIII, for a total of 13 hours.  This is a combination of those two stacks of data, with a synthetic green channel used to create a color image.  There is precious little OIII data in this object.  The stars there are too new to generate much loose oxygen that can be ionized.

NGC 1931 (Sh2-237) in H-alpha (December 2019)

This is the h-alpha stack, 6.5 hours worth.  The area is fun because it is actually covered with h-alpha, the glow of ionized hydrogen.  Studies of NGC 1931 suggest that two clouds of gas collide here, actually generating two swarms of stars.  You can see the bow shock of one of the clouds moving towards the other.