Stellar Shot of the Week: June 11, 2021
"M52 and the Bubble Nebula" (by Aidan Guerra)
Congratulations to this week's Stellar Shot selection, which goes to one of our favorite local(ish) talents: Aidan Guerra. Aidan is a passionate high-school age astrophotographer who has been doing some fantastic work with our SV70T. In this case he has taken on a spectacular duo made up of an emission nebula and a globular cluster, which present a very dramatic comparison of features, colors, and compositions. The round nature of the globular cluster and the shape of the bubble itself (in the nebula) play off of each other very nicely, which in turns helps to rein in the contrasting elements like color and structural details of each object. Despite looking like neighbors these two objects are actually quite a distance apart, with the bubble nebula being over twice the estimated distance from earth as M52. Aidan captured this shot and many others using a full complement of ZWO imaging gear, the venerable Celestron Advanced VX mount, and a combination of imaging filters to help cut through Sacramento's light pollution.
Make sure to check out Aidan's website (https://www.aidanguerraastrophotography.com/) for more of his astrophotography, and don't forget to submit your own images to us directly by email or by tagging them with #stellarvue and #stellarshot
Equipment list for this shot includes:- Stellarvue SV70T Triplet Refractor
- ZWO ASI178MC-Cool
- ZWO ASI120MM-Mini
- ZWO EAF
- Celestron AVX
- ZWO ASIAIR Pro
- ZWO 30mm f/4 Mini Guide Scope
- OPT Triad Triband Filter
- Astronomik CLS-CCD Light Pollution Filter
- QHYCCD Polemaster
