gallery

Heart of the Orion Nebula (above)

by JACK NEW TON
England’s John Herschel observed the
Orion Nebula extensively with an 18-
inch speculum-metal reflector during
the early 19th century. This view of the
nebula’s bright inner portion surround-
ing the well-known Trapezium stars
clearly shows why he described the re-
gion as resembling “a curdling liquid, or
a surface strewed over with flocks of
wool, or to the breaking up of a macker-
el sky.”

142 July 1999 Sky & Telescope ©1999 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
 Looking Outward (above)
by THOMAS U. WRIGHT
Spanning some 180˚ of galactic longitude from Canis Major (far left on
the facing page) to central Cygnus (far right on this page) , Thomas
Wright’s Milky Way panorama is looking outward, away from the center
of our galaxy. In addition to numerous twisting braids of dark, obscur-
ing dust, hundreds of nebulae, star clusters, and other deep-sky objects
can be identified in this view. Especially prominent are the Andromeda
Galaxy (bottom center, above), the California Nebula (right edge, facing
page), and the Pleiades (bottom right, facing page).

Looking Inward (facing page, bottom right)

by THOMAS U. WRIGHT
A single exposure with the camera used for the panorama above cap-
tured this vista looking toward the center of the Milky Way, where bril-
liant clouds of distant suns dominate the heavens. The constellation
Scorpius (lower right) and the Teapot asterism of Sagittarius (left of cen-
ter) are prominent in this view, which spans some 50˚ of galactic longi-
tude from upper left to lower right.

Scorpius Complex I (left)

by MICHAEL STECKER
The lower portion of the Scorpion’s tail skims the treetops as seen from
midnorthern latitudes. Were it higher in the sky, observers would be far
more familiar with this spectacular field of nebulae and star clusters
north of the wide double star Zeta Scorpii at the bottom of this photo-
graph. The emission nebula at top is IC 4628, and the prominent cluster
below center is NGC 6231.

©1999 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved. Sky & Telescope July 1999 143

Omega Nebula (above)
b y A D R I A N C AT T E R A L L
The Omega Nebula, M17, in Sagittarius is one of the few
deep-sky objects to show a distinct shape in a small tele-
scope. Its brightest portions resemble an inverted check
mark. It was discovered in 1746 by the Swiss astronomer
Philippe Loys de Chéseaux.
144 July 1999 Sky & Telescope
Scorpius Complex II (left)
by GEORGE GREANEY
Located some 3˚ northwest of the Stinger stars in the Scor-
pion’s tail, this rich star field includes the emission nebulae
NGC 6357 (upper left) and NGC 6334 (lower right). The latter is
informally known among astrophotographers as the Cat’s Paw
Nebula. The small void to the left of NGC 6334 is the dark neb-
ula Barnard 257.
HOW THEY DID IT
Heart of the Orion Nebula
Meade 16-inch LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector
with a focal reducer yielding f/6.2, Pictor 1616 CCD
camera. Tricolor image assembled from a 4-second
exposure through a red filter and 60-second expo-
sures through green and blue filters. Field is 12' wide
centered at 5h 35.2m, –5˚ 24'. North is up.
Looking Outward
4×5 camera with 90-mm f/4.5 lens set at f/10. Four
80-minute exposures on gas-hypersensitized Kodak
400 MC Portra film made at the McDonald Observatory
Visitor Center last November 17th (note several Leonid
meteors captured during the exposures). Negatives
scanned by Jon Scott and stitched together digitally by
William Scheffler. Final processing by Thomas Wright.
Looking Inward
Same as above except a single 90-minute exposure.
Scorpius Complex I
Astro-Physics 5.1-inch f/6 refractor. Digital composite
of two 50-minute exposures on gas-hypersensitized
Fujicolor HG 400 film made at Las Campanas Obser-
vatory in Chile. Field is about 2˚ wide centered at 16h
55.2m, –41˚ 15'. North is up.
Scorpius Complex II
Astro-Physics 6-inch f/7 refractor on a Byers Series II
German equatorial mount. Digital composite of two
45-minute exposures on gas-hypersensitized, 120-
format Kodak Pro 400 PPF color-negative film. Digital
files composited with Picture Window 2.0 and further
enhanced with Adobe Photoshop 5.0. Field is 2 1⁄4˚
wide centered at 17h 22.4m, –34˚ 55'. North is up.
Omega Nebula
Astro-Physics 5-inch refractor working at f/8 on a
Losmandy G11 mount. SBIG ST-8 CCD camera with
CFW8 filter wheel. Tricolor image with red, green, and
blue exposures of 10, 20, and 40 minutes, respective-
ly, made from the island of La Palma in the eastern
Atlantic Ocean. Field is 20' wide centered at 18h
20.7m, –16˚ 12'. North is up.
©1999 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.