WONDERS TO WATCH
10 of the best wide-field, deep sky targets for your DSLR and long lens this month and beyond
This month The Eagle and Swan Nebulae (M16 & M17)
These two bright emission nebulae, catalogued as Messier 16 and 17, sit nestled within sparkling fields of stars. Their bright pinkish colour contrasts beautifully with the whites and ochres of the rich star fields and the surrounding dark dust lanes.
Barnard’s E and surroundings
This striking E-shaped dark nebula appears in silhouette in front of the dense star fields of the Milky Way in Aquila. Although dark, it’s an easy target to find with a few quick test exposures as it’s very close to the mag. +2.7 star Tarazed (Gamma Aquilae).
The North America Nebula and Sadr region
While off-the-shelf DSLR cameras can sometimes struggle to capture the reds of emission nebulae, these two prominent regions of glowing nebulosity in the constellation of Cygnus show up fairly easily in long-exposure, wide-field images.
The Scutum star cloud
This patch of bright Milky Way star fields in Scutum is easily visible to the naked-eye from a relatively dark suburban site. Its large apparent diameter makes it a superb target for wide-field imaging with a DSLR camera.
The Elephant’s Trunk Nebula and surroundings
The region of the constellation Cepheus containing the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula and the famous Garnet Star (Mu (+) Cephei) makes for an attractive wide-field panorama. This month it sits high overhead at midnight.
The rest of the year Cassiopeia
While an entire constellation might not seem like an obvious target for deep-sky work, Cassiopeia – replete with numerous clusters, star fields and nebulae – fits beautifully inside the field of view of a 90mm lens on a full-format DSLR camera.
The Andromeda Galaxy (M31)
Its large apparent size and brightness make M31 a great object to set your photographic sights on if you’re just starting wide-field, deep-sky DSLR imaging. There’s something magical about capturing Andromeda set among the scattered stars of our own Galaxy.
Dark dust clouds in Taurus
The region roughly halfway between the Pleiades star cluster and the bright star Beta (`) Tauri contains a large expanse of dark, dusty nebulosity that can be a challenging, but rewarding, target to go after under dark skies.
Nebulae in Orion
A treasure trove of nebulae, the constellation of Orion contains plenty to keep a wide-field, deep-sky imager occupied. If you’re looking for a challenge, try to capture some of the very dark, dusty nebulosity that surrounds more familiar targets like M42.
Spring galaxies
While most galaxies tend to look better at high magnification, wide long-exposure images still have a certain majesty to them. For example, they can show the myriad galaxies on the border of Virgo and Coma Berenices as numerous tiny smudges of light strewn across space.