Seagul nebula and planets at twilight

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Seagull nebula IC2177 (Central region)

On the evening of the 25th February I set out to take a three panel mosaic of the Seagull nebula, but due to poor sky conditions was only able to take good hydrogen alpha data, limited SII data and very sparse OIII data, due to passing clouds. As a result the SHO colour data had to be cropped following the scope drifting off target when guiding was lost. I therefore processed the Ha data set separately to show a larger field of view and more structure. The Seagull Nebula borders the constellations Monoceros and Canis Major and comprises a strong H II emission region of nebulosity and also encompasses other neighbouring star clusters, dust clouds and reflection nebulae. The equipment used was a Sky Watcher 80 Esprit ED triplet refractor fitted with a field flattener and ASI 533MM Pro camera. The colour data comprised one hour and the Ha 36 minutes. all data were stacked and processed in Pixinsight. I hope to get new data on this target to allow me to complete this mosaic at a later date. Seagull nebula IC2177 (Central region)

Seven planets at twilight:

There has been much hype in the media of the 7 planet alignment currently in the evening sky which has encouraged many would be observers to brave the chilly winds as the sun sets to try to see them; most of which were disappointed in being only able to see the three brightest ones (Venus Jupiter and Mars). With Saturn sinking ever lower in the sky now as the days increase in length, Mercury just about visible in binoculars, Neptune and Uranus far too dim and low down in the sky to compete against the sky glow, many were left wondering what all the fuss was about. Even those with binoculars struggled to catch Mercury or Saturn as they sank ever lower towards the horizon. For posterity I took a few snaps of the so called "alignment" with an ordinary camera on a static tripod and used my binoculars to pick out faint Mercury and even fainter Saturn before they set. The images show the area of sky where the planets were located which I annotated to assist with identification and then overlaid star charts to show the positions of unseen Uranus and Neptune. The equipment used was a Sony Z|V-E10 milc camera with a 12mm F2.8 7Artisans semi fish eye lens. mounted on a static tripod taken from Machynys Llanelli.

Chris Bowden