Open Clusters Archives - Astrodoc: Astrophotography by Ron Brecher

Rosette Nebula in HaRGB

Ron Brecher — Fri, 26 Dec 2025 06:17:52 +0000

Rosette Nebula in HaRGB Click image for full size version December 26, 2025 This gorgeous donut is the Rosette Nebula. It's very large and diffuse, and contains open cluster NGC 2244, which is in the darker centre of the nebula. The Rosette lies about 5,200 light years away in the constellation Monoceros, and is about [...]

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Pacman Nebula Wide Field in SHO

Ron Brecher — Sat, 27 Sep 2025 18:49:24 +0000

Pacman Nebula Wide Field in SHO Foraxx Palette OHS Combination Simulated Natural Colour Hubble Palette Click images above for full size versions September 27, 2025 NGC 281 is known as the Pacman Nebula. This nickname comes from its appearance, resembling an early video game character. The designation [...]

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Bubble Nebula Wide Field in SHO

Ron Brecher — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 23:42:00 +0000

Bubble Nebula Wide Field in SHO Modified Hubble Palette Foraxx Palette Hubble Palette Simulated Natural Colour Click images above for full size versions September 13, 2025 This image shows a wide field view of the region around the Bubble Nebula in Cassiopeia. I've imaged the Bubble Nebula [...]

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Coathanger Wide Field

Ron Brecher — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 21:15:43 +0000

Coathanger Wide Field Click image for full size version August 28, 2025 The Coathanger is an asterism -- a pattern of stars -- that looks unmistakably like its namesake (Turn the image 90 degrees clockwise to see it more easily). It is also catalogued as Brocchi's Cluster and Collinder 399. I've looked at this hundreds [...]

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Double Cluster

Ron Brecher — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 06:45:11 +0000

Double Cluster Click image for full size version August 3, 2025, NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day August 7, 2025 NGC 869 (right) and NGC 884 each contain hundreds of stars and are about 13 million years old (compared to 75-150 million years for the Pleiades). Lying about 7,500 light years away and a few [...]

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NGC 457 – The Owl Cluster

Ron Brecher — Tue, 24 Dec 2024 23:21:16 +0000

NGC 457 - The Owl Cluster Click image for full size version December 24, 2024 NGC 457 is the open cluster highlighted in this image. It is about 7,900 light years away and its age is estimated to be 21 million years. It is known as the Owl cluster, the Number 5 Cluster or the [...]

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NGC 2266

Ron Brecher — Sat, 26 Oct 2024 17:52:25 +0000

NGC 2266 Click image for full size version October 26, 2024 NGC 2266 is also catalogued as Melotte 50. It is an open cluster located in Gemini and lying about 10,603 light years from Earth. It is estimated to be a little more than 81 million years old, similar to the Hyades and Beehive clusters, [...]

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Cocoon Nebula

Ron Brecher — Sun, 29 Sep 2024 07:19:30 +0000

Cocoon Nebula Click image for full size version September 29, 2024 This glowing patch of gas in Cepheus is known as the Cocoon Nebula, a.k.a. Sh2-125. The image is a complex field full of a combination of emission nebula (red), reflection nebula (blue) and dark dark nebula (brown lanes) and dim, glowing dust. The Cocoon [...]

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NGC 6791 (2024)

Ron Brecher — Tue, 07 May 2024 15:03:32 +0000

NGC 6791 (2024) Click image for full size version May 7, 2024 NGC 6791, in Lyra, is one of the most studied open clusters in the sky. It has a mass of about 5,000 times that of our Sun. It is old, at about 8 billion years, but contains some unusual younger stars (4 and [...]

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Heart Nebula and Soul Nebula

Ron Brecher — Sun, 05 Nov 2023 14:11:29 +0000

Heart Nebula and Soul Nebula Click image for full size version November 5, 2023 The Heart Nebula (lower left; IC 1805, Sh2-190), and Soul Nebula (upper right; IC 1848, Westerhout 5, LBN 667, Sh2-199) are large clouds of glowing gas. Both are in Cassiopeia and about 7,500 light years away in the Perseus arm of [...]

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