Pickering's Triangle and The Cygnus Loop.

 

Pickering's Triangle and the Witches Broom Nebula. Seestar S30 EQ mode. Cropped selection from a 60 minute stack of 60 second light frames.

"Part of the Veil Nebula in Cygnus and the remnants from a supernova.  One of the joys of the Northern Hemisphere's summer and early autumn skies " - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory in Lowestoft, Suffolk, UK.

The Cygnus Loop: Scientific Description

By G.Gemini Coms Manager at the JPO.

The Western Veil Nebula & Pickering’s Triangle (Cygnus Loop)

This wide-field capture features two prominent components of the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant: NGC 6960 (the Western Veil, or Witch’s Broom) and Pickering’s Triangle (Simeis 3-188). Located approximately 2,400 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus, these intricate filaments trace the expanding shockwave of a core-collapse supernova that shattered a massive star roughly 10,000 to 20,000 years ago.

Arcing across the upper section, the Witch’s Broom forms a sharp, delicate shock front visually anchored by the bright foreground star 52 Cygni (mag 4.2). The ribbon displays strong colour separation created by distinct atomic transitions: rich magenta-red hues from ionized hydrogen (H alpha emission at 656.3 nm) complemented by subtle cyan filaments corresponding to doubly ionized oxygen ([O III] emission at 500.7 nm), where supersonic shocks heat the interstellar medium. Across the lower frame, Pickering's Triangle unfolds into a intricate web of braided gas threads, showcasing diffuse hydrogen emission interlaced with faint ionization boundaries.

Acquisition & Processing Details:

• Telescope/Camera: ZWO Seestar S50 (Equatorial Mode)

• Integration: 60 × 60s exposure lights (1 hour total integration)

• Gradient Correction: GraXpert

• Star Separation: StarNet GUI

• Post-Processing & Composition: Affinity Photo 2

Curiosity said Alice!

 

The Martian Vista captured by the mast-cam of the Curiosity Rover.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

" When you make something well it does last, even in the most extreme of environments. This image taken by the Curiosity Rover on Mars at its highest elevation to date, really underlines the extreme nature of the Martian Environment. 

In a timescale of one million years the Sun will have begun to heat up as part of its ageing process. Life on Earth will eventually become impossible. In the meantime, rather than prioritising humanity's escape to Mars, we might be better to invest resources in protecting our environment and defending the one 'Million Years', which is an enormous amount of time and represents at least 100,000 future generations". - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

"I was surprised to see our sponsor's image of the Andromeda Galaxy, captured with the Seestar S30, in the September issue of Astronomy Now. Who knew the 'old boy' would get to be astronomically popular?" - Kurt Thrust current Director of Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Sometimes you find an unexpected interloper.

 

" Kurt was getting his head around an update of the Seestar App and as part of the process pointed the S30 at the Elephant's Trunk Nebula IC1396 for a couple of minutes. He then forgot all about it. When I came across the data, I noticed that the 'Elephant' had been photobombed by a meteor, possibly a Perseid straggler" - Joel Cairo CEO of the JPO the UK's most easterly Astronomical Observatory.

Comet 220P McNaught.

 

" The Seestar S30 was on 'outreach work' and was used by Kurt to image the short period comet 220P McNaught in the early hours of this morning whilst it was moving against the background of the Constellation Cetus. The comet surprised everyone this year by unexpectedly brightening in the night sky.". - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Comet 220P McNaught: Scientific Description

By Gary Gemini Coms Manager at the JPO.

Comet 220P/McNaught is a short-period, Jupiter-family comet with an orbital period of approximately 5.51 years. First discovered by astronomer Robert H. McNaught in May 2004, its orbit is characterized by a perihelion distance of ~1.56 AU, an aphelion extending to ~4.68 AU near Jupiter's orbit, and a low orbital inclination of ~8.1°.

Morphological Features in the Exposure:

Optically Dense Coma: The image captures a highly condensed central pseudo-nucleus surrounded by an asymmetrical coma. The bluish-white hue around the nucleus stems primarily from cyanogen ($CN$) and diatomic carbon ($C_2$) radical gas emissions driven by solar ultraviolet radiation and photo-excitation.

Structural Dust Tail: 

Extending towards the upper-right quadrant, the prominent tail consists mainly of millimeter- to micrometer-sized dust grains pushed outward by solar radiation pressure along the anti-solar direction.

Outburst Morphology: to

 The pronounced brightness and extended structure visible here align with 220P's dramatic activity phases, such as the major outbursts where sublimating subterranean ices (like $CO$ or $CO_2$) violently ruptured the refractory mantle, ejecting massive plumes of dust and volatile gases.

Enlarged crop of the original stacked image.

The Universe is big, very big!

 

"The above is an annotated version of an image captured and created with the JPO's Seestar S30. 

The Seestar S30 has a field of vision of only  0.0064% of the entire celestial sphere or sky. A tiny amount in the scheme of things. 

In addition the Seestar, having an aperture of only 30mm has limited light grasp, so can only image objects down to apparent magnitude 12 to 15, dependant upon light pollution and length of exposure.

Both the above limitations, inherent to the Seestar S30, act to minimise the number of stars imaged.

The above Seestar image is estimated by AI to contain somewhere between 300 and 400 billion stars. The overwhelming majority of these stars are held within the galaxies identified in the above image. The spiral galaxy NGC 7479, the Propeller Galaxy, contains 100 to 200 billion stars alone.

The Universe is a very very big place indeed". - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Messier 8 reviewed in detail.

 

The Lagoon Nebula Messier 8 
Data credit: the PIRATE robotic telescope. 
Open Observatories, Open University, telescope.org.
(Rendered two ways using Affinity Photo software)

" The wonderful  Messier 8 aka the Lagoon Nebula, never rises much above our southern horizon at the Jodrell Plank Observatory. We therefore use data captured from Tenerife much further south. The Nebula is a mix of dust and ionized gas and is a home to star birth in the Milky Way."- Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Messier 8 the Lagoon Nebula: Scientific Description

By Gary Gemini Coms Manager at the JPO.

Image Analysis & Morphological Features

Captured using the PIRATE (Physics Innovations Robotic Telescope Explorer) instrument at the Observatorio del Teide, Tenerife, this wide-field frame resolves the core structural dynamics of Messier 8 (M8), a massive H II region.

The image highlights the complex interplay between photo-ionized gas, obscuring interstellar dust, and young stellar associations:

Central Ionization Zone & The Hourglass Nebula: 

At the physical center lies an intensely bright, high-surface-brightness core driven by extreme photo-ionization. Situate in here is the Hourglass Nebula, a highly turbulent sub-region sculpted by stellar winds and ionizing ultraviolet radiation primarily originating from the massive O-type supergiant Herschel 36 (visible as the bright star adjacent to the central core).

Central Ionization Zone and Hourglass Nebula

Dust Topography & Dark Nebulae: 

Sweeping lanes of cold molecular gas and opaque dust cross-cut the emission background. The prominent central dust lane—the feature historically giving M8 its "Lagoon" namesake—is clearly visible, alongside small, dense, collapsing protostellar dust clouds known as Bok globules (such as Barnard 88, 89, and 296) silhouetted against the bright ionized hydrogen background.

Open Cluster NGC 6530: 

To the east (left) of the core lies NGC 6530, an embedded, extremely young open star cluster born directly out of the nebula’s parent molecular cloud. Its hot, massive stars contribute significantly to the collective UV flux driving the illumination of the surrounding gas.

Physical & Astrophysical Attributes

Classification: Active H II Region / Emission Nebula with associated Open Star Cluster (NGC 6530).

Constellation: Sagittarius

Distance: ≈4,100 to 5,200 light-years (1.25 to 1.60 kpc) from Earth.

Physical Extent: Spans roughly 110×50 light-years (≈33×15 pc).

Excitation Mechanism: Photo-ionization driven by high-energy far-ultraviolet photons (λ<91.2 nm) emitted by massive, hot O- and B-type stars. Recombination processes in the ionized hydrogen gas generate the dominant Hα emission lines.

Stellar Population: The region serves as an active site of ongoing star formation. NGC 6530 is estimated to be only 2 to 4 million years old, housing hundreds of young, high-mass stars, protostars, and Herbig-Haro objects embedded deep within its dust lanes.

Bok globules.

Herbig-Haro objects embedded in dust clouds.

Does size really matter?

 

" The top image is of part of the Rosette Nebula in the constellation Monoceros the Unicorn. It was captured using the 16 inch (400mm.) aperture PIRATE robotic telescope located at altitude on the extinct volcano Mount Teide, Tenerife. The lower image is of all of the Rosette Nebula captured with our 30mm aperture Seestar 'smartscope' at Sea-level from the JPO in Lowestoft. Apart from the orientation they are remarkably similar in their resolution of detail.  

Clearly, the research grade telescope located under a dark sky at altitude in Tenerife has provided the better image but how much better is a matter for debate. Having access to both sets of data is definitely a bonus for the JPO imaging team and we remain grateful to Open Observatories, the Open University and telescope.org.

For astronomers who like to capture their own data and in terms of value for money, mobility and ease of use, the Seestar S30 is an incredible piece of kit for the use of beginners and seasoned astro-imagers alike!" - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.