Photography

These are glamor shots of the Crab Nebula (M1), the Orion Nebula (M42), and the Pleiades (M45) I took as part of a undergraduate lab course the winter right before COVID. All three are listed in the Messier Catalogue, which comprises 110 fixed deep-sky objects that are popular targets for amateur astrophotography. Included in the catalogue are 40 galaxies, 29 globular clusters, 28 open clusters, 6 galactic nebulae, 4 planetary nebulae, one supernova remnant, and 3 other objects.

For these photos I used a Cassegrain telescope at the Wendelstein Observatory in the Alps. It has an aperture of 43.2 cm, a focal length of 2939 mm, and an f-ratio of f/6.8. This results in high magnification and beautiful structural details. Each image was exposed in three color channels separately, which were later combined into false-color composites. Exposure time: 3 × 200 s per color channel.

Crab Nebula (M1)

The Crab Nebula (Messier 1) is located in the constellation Taurus at a distance of approximately 6,300 light-years from Earth. Compared to the other objects listed here, it has a relatively low apparent brightness of 8.4 mag, making it faint and observable only with a telescope.

Color mapping: IR → B, R → R, G → G.

Orion Nebula (M42)

The Orion Nebula (Messier 42) lies in the constellation Orion. At a distance of 414 parsecs, it is one of the closest objects in the Messier Catalogue. M42 is a well-observable active star-forming region in our inner galactic neighborhood. With an apparent magnitude of 3.7 mag at its center, the basic structure of the nebula, located just below Orion’s Belt, is visible even to the naked eye. A bright inner region is visible, surrounded by delicate red and blue filaments that fade outward. A dark dust cloud (dark nebula) obscures the upper left region.

Color mapping: IR → G, R → R, G → B.

Pleiades (M45)

The Pleiades (Messier 45), at a distance of 444 light-years, are the closest Messier object to Earth. They are located in the constellation Taurus and form a relatively young open star cluster. Their estimated age is between 20 and 50 million years. This means the Pleiades did not yet exist when dinosaurs inhabited the Earth. The cluster consists of at least 1,200 stars, with 6 to 9 particularly bright members. In Japanese, the Plejades are called "subaru" 昴 and are the namesake and inspiration for the logo of the car manufacturer.

Color mapping: IR → G, R → R, G → B.