What to Lookout for this February!

The end of winter is slowly approaching, resulting in more humid conditions and light pollution. It's time to take advantage of this winter's last taste of cold air and clear nights. Although it is more difficult to get out and take pictures in these conditions, the results are more rewarding than at any other time of the year. This article will inform you about the six best celestial bodies to photograph during February!


California Nebula (NGC 1499)

Difficulty: Easy

Credit: Farmakopoulos Antonis, NASA APOD

One of the most famous nebulae in the night sky is the California Nebula. The name originates from its very similar structure to the state of California. This huge emission nebula spans over 2.5 degrees of the night sky is located in the constellation Perseus. It is approximately 1,000 light-years away and has an apparent magnitude of 6.0. Despite its size and visual magnitude of 6.0, the nebula is difficult to detect with the naked eye due to its low surface brightness and broad area of bright integrated magnitude. To photograph this stretch of hydrogen gas in the sky, you need at least a 300mm focal length telescope to capture the structures formed within the nebula. I suggest a higher exposure time because of its low surface brightness, around 1 minute at least. Since this nebula is mainly composed of hydrogen gas, try using a narrowband hydrogen-alpha filter to block out unnecessary wavelengths that could interfere with post-processing. The beautiful image to the left was taken by Farmakopoulos Antonis and was featured on NASA's Astronomy Photo of the Day. 

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Monkey Head Nebula (NGC 2174)

Difficulty: Easy

Credit: Victor Van Puyenbroeck

This intriguing nebula is 6,400 light-years away in Orion's constellation and is the birthplace of numerous stars. These stars emit powerful ultraviolet radiation, which ionizes hydrogen gas and causes the nebula to glow. NGC 2174 is visible in binoculars and covers an area larger than the full Moon. However, a larger telescope is required to see any of the details. This is because many young stars are embedded in the surrounding dust and gas in the stellar nursery. It is composed of hydrogen gas around the outside, with the center containing a vast amount of Oxygen II. To capture this night sky object, I suggest you have a telescope with a focal length of around 800-900mm, as this would capture NGC 2174 in full frame and detail. To step it up, you could get a telescope with an even higher focal length and focus on the nebula structures on the left-hand side. Victor Van PuyenBroeck took this image with Ha, OIII, and SII filters to set colors for each type of gas, giving it many layers appealing to the eye.

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The Jellyfish Nebula (IC 443)

Difficulty: Intermediate

Credit: Astrobackyard

The Jellyfish Nebula, also known as IC 443, is a sprawling remnant of a massive star that exploded as a supernova 3,000 to 30,000 years ago in a gas-strewn patch of the Milky Way in Gemini. The explosion's shock wave created the intricate lacework of nebulosity that makes up the Jellyfish. The nebula, about 5,000 light years away, is close to a star-forming region known as Sharpless 249. Supernova remnants like Messier 1 have to be my favorite targets to capture because of their complex structure and astonishing beauty. To capture this gem, I suggest using a telescope with 300-600mm of focal length to capture a good amount of the detail and surrounding nebulosity. You would also need a decently sized aperture considering the apparent magnitude is as high as 12.0. Astrobackyard took the image to the left with 2.6 hours of integration time. Please go check out his media, as his work is one of the best I have seen.

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Casper the Friendly Ghost Nebula (M78)

Difficulty: Intermediate

Credit: David Cruz

Messier 78, also known as Casper the Friendly Ghost, is a bright blue reflection nebula in the constellation Orion. The nebula is located between Betelgeuse and closer to Alnitak. M78 has frequently been misidentified as a comet, which explains why Comet Hunter Charles Messier included it in his list of non-comets. I always loved how reflection nebula worked by having an extremely bright star reveal the dust nebulosity hidden by the dark vastness of space. Because it is technically a "reflection," these nebulae are considerably harder to capture! Binoculars and small telescopes can resolve M78 with its apparent magnitude of 8.2, so I suggest having a telescope with almost any aperture. The size, on the other hand, is a different story. Its apparent size is 8 x 6 arc minutes, making it extremely difficult to locate in the night sky. The focal length of your telescope has to be over 1000mm to capture some detail of this unique object. The image to the left was taken by David Cruz with broadband and narrowband filters, bringing out the natural colors while holding onto the idea of the different gases having different colors.

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Thor's Helmet (NGC 2359)

Difficulty: Hard

Credit: Hannah Rochford, NASA APOD

NGC 2359, often known as Thor's Helmet, is a hat-shaped cosmic cloud with wing-like appendages. Thor's Helmet is around 15,000 light-years away, 8 x 8 arc minutes in dimensions, and is located in the Canis Major constellation. In reality, the cosmic head-covering is like an interstellar bubble, blown by a strong wind from the bubble's center, a bright, enormous star. The core star, known as a Wolf-Rayet star, is an extremely hot giant assumed to be in a brief pre-supernova stage of life. Within the next few thousand years, the star at the core of Thor's Helmet is predicted to undergo a stunning supernova explosion. To capture this glorious celestial body, you will need a telescope with a decently large aperture (4"+) and high focal length (900mm+) to account for its high apparent magnitude and small size. To make your photo pop out even more, you can use filters like RGB, Ha, OIII, and SII to extract the separate gas colors from the nebula's composition. The extremely crisp image to the left was captured by Hannah Rochford through a composition of different filters of light frames, atoning for the natural stars and filamentary patterns in the nebula.

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Angel Nebula (NGC 2170)

Difficulty: Hard

Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Sh2-106, commonly known as the Celestial Snow Angel, is a star formation area and emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus. It is a powerful hydrogen alpha region that spans around two light-years and is estimated to be roughly 2,000 light-years away from Earth in a remote section of the Milky Way. The young and massive star at the nebula's center blasts jets of hot gas from its poles, forming the bipolar structure. The star then ionizes the dust that surrounds it. This has to be one of the most challenging objects in the sky to photograph, as it is only 2 x 2 arc minutes and is a reflection nebula. This means you need a telescope with an extremely high focal length of at least 1500mm to get some details and a large aperture (8"+) to capture as much light as possible. On top of that, you can only use broadband and RGB filters to capture this object as it classifies as a reflection nebula. This photo taken by the Hubble Space Telescope is one of the best images to this day, exemplifying its unique structure.

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