This is IC 443 or to give it its common name, the Jellyfish Nebula, in the constellation of Gemini. Being classed a type II supernova remnant, it is the is the result of the death of a giant star about 8x the mass of our sun, which left a neutron star following the "explosion", the super dense core of the former star. The remnant gas from the supernova is interacting with molecular clouds which exist in the interstellar medium around the former star, which is most dense towards the upper left of the image, resulting in the more clumpy appearance at this position, giving the nebula its ditinctive shape.

Imaged in the light of Hydrogen Alpha, this particular wavelength of light occurs when hydrogen electrons fall from their third to their second lowest energy level, as is the case with the light emitted from the Jellyfish Nebula. The resuting light has a wavelength of 656.28nm (in air) which is towards the red end of the visible light spectrum and hence has been mapped to red in this image. The Ha filter used blocks out light at other wavelengths, resulting in a much sharper image, 

One of the pleasures of astrophotography is being alone in the darkness of the countryside for several hours at a time, often accomopanied by the familiar but eerie sounds of a hooting owl. M97 is a well known planetary nebula in the constelaltion of Ursa Major, that other inhabitant of the late night woods, the great bear. Formed by the glowing remnants of the ancient star's outer envelope, shed when it ran out of nuclear fuel and became unable to maintain hydrostatic equilibrium, the gas serendipidously formed two voids, giving the appearance of the owl's face.......comforting in the cold of the night.

This narrowband image illustrates the otherwise faint emission nebula IC410, which is being illuminated by the intensely hot and bright yoiung stars which form the open cluster known as NGC 1893. The nebula is partly obscured by forground dust, appearing as ragged tears or "holes" from our telescopic perspective. Centre left of the image are a pair of  snaking pillars, nick-named the tadpoles, comprising cooler columns of gas and dust being sculpted by the stellar winds and radiation, their heads outlined by ionised gas, each about 10 light years long. 

The bright star at the centre of this nebula is named AE Auriga and it's emitting energetic light that  strips electrons from the surrounding gas. When the atoms in the gas re capture the electrons light is emitted, creating the surrounding emission nebula shown in the image. The gas is mainly interstellar hydrogen but the dark areas of dust that appear within the nebula are rich in carbon.

Around 6000 light years away in the Northern reaches of Casseopoeia liaes a large molecular cloud and a complex of star forming regions. This object, commonly refered to as the Fish Head nebula and designated IC 1795, lies at the tip of the adjacent Heart neula (IC 1805). The dark band that separates the fish head from the body and the other dark features over the glowing gas of the nebula is actually a lane of obscuring dust.

This  filtered narrowband image features part of the Heart nebula IC 1805 that lies adjacent to the area shown above and is about 90 mins of exposure through a Hydrogen Alpha filter.

I've posted a Ha narrowband image of this object (NGC2264) previously but this full "Hubble palette" SII/Ha/OIII image brings out some of the real detail in the nebula. It presents itself well at this tme of year which is always appropriate, as it's commonly known as the "Christmas Tree Cluster" or the "Mother and Child" nebula. The nebula is around 2500 light years away in the constellation of Monoceros and is formed from dust reacting to the energetic light and gas being expelled from the hot young stars embedded within.

Limited clear sky time means the image (which is 3 hours worth sub frames in total) is very noisy and it's taken a lot of processing even to get it to this stage. 

Jupiter: The solar system's largest planet

Aside from the moon, Jupiter is easily the brightest object in the evening sky at the moment. It's visible in the twighlight if you look carefully and can be followed high in the sky throughout the night in the constellation of Gemini. Looking to the South, the gas giant forms the top of an equilateral triangle with Betegeuse in Orion's left shoulder to the West and Procyon in Canis Minor to the East. The position of the Jet Stream this year has meant that the atmospheric "seeing" has not been favourable for planetary photography. However, a couple of clear, cool evenings last week presented presented opportunities too good to miss. The top two images show sufficient surface detail to clearly discern the darker North and South equatorial belts with the lighter equatorial zone in between and a number of other features caused by turbulence and hot spots in the upper atmosphere. The lower image captures the famous Great Red Spot and the shoadow of Jupiter's third largest moon Calliso, which is just out of frame to the right.

IC1499: The California Nebula

....well, part of it at least. This narrowband image of a section of the emission nebula in Perseus has been given its common name due to the full nebula's resemblence to the state of California. The total length of IC1499 is about 100 light years and it glows in the characteristic red light of ionised hydrogen. 

A Cleaner Version of the Easten Veil

Here is a slightly less cloudy version of the easten Veil nebula supernova remnant, photographed through clearer skies.