Anarchist Mountain Observatory

Anarchist Mountain Observatory

2 weeks ago

It is rare to get clear nights during new moon in the winter. This is the Rosette nebula from AMO. ... See MoreSee Less

Anarchist Mountain Observatory

4 weeks ago

Looking at the center of the image below, in the constellation of Orion taken on January 20th 2025 (a rare clear winter night in the PNW!), you will see the Horsehead Nebula, also known as Barnard 33, is a dark nebula made clearly visible by the glow of the emission nebula IC 434. Its coincidental horse like appearance has made it one of the most photographed objects in the sky. William Henry Pickering was official credited with its discovery in 1889 though it was first recorded by Williamina Paton Fleming a year earlier on a photographic plate taken at the Harvard College Observatory. The first published description of the Horsehead Nebula was given by E. E. Barnard in 1913, and it was first cataloged by him in 1919 as Barnard 33. The red glow of IC 434 is caused by ionized hydrogen gas. The bright, bluish reflection nebula near the Horsehead is known as NGC 2023. The streaking that is visible in the brighter region is caused by matter being funneled by a strong magnetic field. Small red spots in the Horsehead Nebula's base are protostars in the process of forming, and red streaks near the yellowish nebula surrounding V615 Orionis are Herbig-Haro objects, which are jets of material ejected from protostars. Also in this image is at a distance of approximately 900 light-years NGC 2024 or The Flame Nebula - an emission nebula that covers a large 30 arc-minute area with a large dark dust lane cutting it in half. Its luminescence is caused by ionization by the star Alnitak in Orion's belt. This image was taken with a ZWO SeeStar S50 with minimal image processing. ... See MoreSee Less