North East London Astronomical Society - NELAS

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North East London Astronomical Society - NELAS NELAS was founded in 1956 and meets on the third Sunday of each month (except August) at 1.30pm.

Cocoon Nebula β€” 39 minutes with the smallest smart telescope 🌌About 3,300 light-years away in Cygnus, this pink glow is ...
21/09/2026

Cocoon Nebula β€” 39 minutes with the smallest smart telescope 🌌

About 3,300 light-years away in Cygnus, this pink glow is a stellar nursery. A single young star at its centre is lighting up the hydrogen around it, and the cluster of fainter stars inside the glow were all born from this same cloud.

Now look at the dark lane running away from it. That's Barnard 168, a river of dust stretching several times the width of the Cocoon β€” the nebula sits at the end of it like a cocoon on a thread. It's only just visible here, and it's the real prize with more time.

πŸ“ RA 21h 53m Β· Dec +47Β° 16β€²
πŸ“· DWARF Mini, astro filter β€” 16 Sept
⏱ 39 min β€” 39 Γ— 60 s, gain 100
πŸ›  Stacked in-scope, processed in PixInsight
🎯 No mount, no guiding, no polar alignment β€” set it down, tap go

Swipe for the annotated version and the finding chart.

Cave Nebula β€” two telescopes, two nights, one image 🌌About 2,400 light-years away in Cepheus, this is Sh2-155, better kn...
21/09/2026

Cave Nebula β€” two telescopes, two nights, one image 🌌

About 2,400 light-years away in Cepheus, this is Sh2-155, better known as the Cave. The bright curved rim is the edge of a hydrogen cloud being lit and slowly eaten away by hot young stars just out of frame. The "cave" is the dark hollow behind it β€” thick dust blocking everything beyond.

The whole field is faint red cloud laced with dark lanes, and the small teal glow near the bright star top right is vdB 155, a patch of dust reflecting blue starlight rather than glowing on its own. This is one of the hardest targets a smart telescope can reach β€” faint, low contrast, and needing hours rather than minutes.

πŸ“ RA 22h 57m Β· Dec +62Β° 37β€²
πŸ“· DWARF 3 + DWARF Mini, both with duo-band filters
⏱ 2 h 49 min total β€” DWARF 3: 76 Γ— 60 s, gain 90 (7 Aug) Β· DWARF Mini: 93 Γ— 60 s, gain 100 (8 Aug)
πŸ›  Aligned in PixInsight, stacked in DeepSkyStacker, processed in PixInsight
🎯 No mount, no guiding, no polar alignment β€” set them down, tap go

Swipe for the annotated version and the finding chart.

Iris Nebula β€” two smart telescopes, one image 🌌1,300 light-years away in Cepheus, this cloud of dust is lit from the ins...
18/09/2026

Iris Nebula β€” two smart telescopes, one image 🌌

1,300 light-years away in Cepheus, this cloud of dust is lit from the inside by a single young star roughly ten times the mass of our Sun. The blue glow isn't gas emitting light β€” it's starlight reflected off dust grains, the same physics that makes our sky blue.

Now look at the darkness around it. That's not empty space. It's a molecular cloud so dense it hides the stars behind it. The Iris is simply the one patch bright enough to shine through.

Last time I said the dark cloud needed more hours β€” so this time I came back with two scopes and stacked them together. The dust lanes are starting to show.

πŸ“ RA 21h 01m Β· Dec +68Β° 10β€²
πŸ“· DWARF 3 + DWARF Mini, astro filters
⏱ 1 h 43 min total β€” DWARF 3: 63 Γ— 60 s, gain 90 Β· DWARF Mini: 40 Γ— 60 s, gain 100
πŸ›  Aligned in PixInsight, stacked in DeepSkyStacker, processed in PixInsight
🎯 No mount, no guiding, no polar alignment β€” set them down, tap go

Swipe for the annotated version and the finding chart.

4th and 5th September. 8pm.Wanstead Fringe Live Stargazing Event at a Wanstead Cricket club. See attached flyer for more...
04/09/2026

4th and 5th September. 8pm.
Wanstead Fringe Live Stargazing Event at a Wanstead Cricket club.
See attached flyer for more details.
The ground to the telescopes can be dark and uneven, so please wear appropriate footwear, use the cricket club allocated routed to the green and bring torches. children must be supervised at all times.

πŸ‘» The Soul Nebula β€” IC 1848Drifting through the constellation Cassiopeia, the Soul Nebula is a vast cloud of glowing hyd...
24/07/2026

πŸ‘» The Soul Nebula β€” IC 1848

Drifting through the constellation Cassiopeia, the Soul Nebula is a vast cloud of glowing hydrogen shaped β€” with a bit of imagination β€” like a curled-up embryo or a ghostly figure. It's the eternal companion to the nearby Heart Nebula (IC 1805); together they form the famous "Heart & Soul" pair, physically linked by a bridge of gas. πŸ’—

Lying roughly 7,500 light-years away, this stellar nursery spans about 100 light-years across. Its glowing cavities are carved by radiation and stellar winds from clusters of hot young stars buried inside β€” a textbook case of "triggered star formation," where each generation of stars ignites the next along the compressed cloud edges. 🌟

You can also spot small embedded star clusters within the nebula's brightest regions, some only a few million years young.

πŸ“ Coordinates (J2000)
RA: 02h 55m
Dec: +60Β° 25β€²
Constellation: Cassiopeia
Distance: ~7,500 light-years
Apparent size: 150β€² Γ— 75β€² (about 5 Γ— 2.5 full moons)
Also known as: Westerhout 5, Sharpless 2-199

πŸ“· Acquisition & Processing
Telescope: DWARF 3
60 Γ— 60s exposures (1 hour total integration)
Duoband filter
Stars corrected in DwarfLab Stellar Studio
Nebula processed in PixInsight (HOO palette)

Swipe to see the annotated field and finder chart πŸ‘‰

β€”


🐘 The Elephant's Trunk Nebula β€” IC 1396ABuried inside the vast glowing cloud of IC 1396 in the constellation Cepheus, th...
24/07/2026

🐘 The Elephant's Trunk Nebula β€” IC 1396A

Buried inside the vast glowing cloud of IC 1396 in the constellation Cepheus, this winding column of dark dust and gas is one of the sky's most striking shapes β€” an "elephant's trunk" stretching nearly 20 light-years long.

It sits about 2,400 light-years from Earth, sculpted by fierce radiation from the hot blue multiple star HD 206267. That same radiation is squeezing the cloud from the outside in, triggering a stellar nursery β€” over 250 young stars are forming inside this region, some less than 100,000 years old. 🌟

The whole IC 1396 complex is enormous: more than 3Β° across (about six full moons side by side) and over 100 light-years wide β€” a giant faint bubble that's a favourite target for wide-field and narrowband imagers.

πŸ“ Coordinates (J2000)
RA: 21h 38.6m
Dec: +57Β° 30β€²
Constellation: Cepheus
Distance: ~2,400 light-years
Apparent size: ~3Β° (parent nebula IC 1396)

πŸ“· Acquisition & Processing
Telescope: DWARF 3
60 Γ— 60s exposures (1 hour total integration)
Duoband filter
Stars corrected in DwarfLab Stellar Studio
Nebula processed in PixInsight (HOO palette)

Swipe to see the annotated field and finder chart πŸ‘‰

β€”

🌌 North America & Pelican Nebulae β€” NGC 7000 + IC 5070Here we are looking at one of the most beautiful regions of Cygnus...
05/07/2026

🌌 North America & Pelican Nebulae β€” NGC 7000 + IC 5070

Here we are looking at one of the most beautiful regions of Cygnus: the North America Nebula on the left and the Pelican Nebula on the right.

These are huge glowing clouds of hydrogen gas, shaped by young hot stars and crossed by dark lanes of interstellar dust. The dark β€œGulf of Mexico” region in NGC 7000 and the separation between both nebulae are especially striking in this wide-field mosaic.

⭐ The bright star near the upper right is Deneb, one of the main landmarks of the summer sky and part of the Summer Triangle. This whole area sits in the rich Milky Way fields of Cygnus.

The nebula complex is roughly 2,000–2,600 light-years away.
Deneb is also commonly placed at around 2,600 light-years, although its exact distance is difficult to measure precisely.

πŸ“ Approximate centre:
RA 20h 58m | Dec +44Β° 20β€²

πŸ”­ Capture details
Taken from Bortle 8–9 suburban London on 03/07/2026 using the Dwarf 3.

πŸ“· Mosaic: 4 panels, 30 light frames per panel
⏱️ Exposure: 60 seconds per frame Gain: 120
πŸ•’ Total integration: 120 minutes
πŸ§ͺ Processing: PixInsight, HOO palette
✨ Stars: finished in StellarStudio

Even from heavy light pollution, careful mosaics and narrowband-style processing can reveal huge structures hidden in the summer Milky Way.


A lovely celebration was had in our April meeting to celebrate NELAS's 70th anniversary! πŸŽ‰πŸŽ‰
26/05/2026

A lovely celebration was had in our April meeting to celebrate NELAS's 70th anniversary! πŸŽ‰πŸŽ‰

🌌 Christmas Tree Cluster & Cone Nebula (NGC 2264)A compact star-forming region in Monoceros, where young stars are still...
22/04/2026

🌌 Christmas Tree Cluster & Cone Nebula (NGC 2264)

A compact star-forming region in Monoceros, where young stars are still embedded in gas and dust. The bright central cluster shapes the surrounding nebula, while the Cone Nebula appears as a dense column silhouetted against the emission glow.

πŸ“ Kelling Heath (Astrocamp), Norfolk 19th March 2026
🧭 Coordinates (J2000): RA 06h 41m | Dec +09Β° 53β€²

πŸ”­ Captured with the DWARF 3 smart telescope

πŸ› οΈ Processing
Dual-band (60s, gain 120) combined with broadband (15s, gain 60), ~single-session capture.
Stars corrected in Stellar Studio (), with further processing and blending completed in PixInsight.
Time 1hr and 30 min approx.

🌌 California Nebula (NGC 1499)A wide, faint emission nebula in Perseus, glowing mainly in hydrogen-alpha and illuminated...
18/04/2026

🌌 California Nebula (NGC 1499)
A wide, faint emission nebula in Perseus, glowing mainly in hydrogen-alpha and illuminated by the bright star Xi Persei (Menkib). Because it stretches across a huge area of sky, it works far better as a mosaic target than as a single frame.
πŸ“ Taken at Kelling Heath Star Party (Astrocamp), Norfolk, UK on the 20th of March 2026 β€” a great chance to work under some of the darkest skies in the UK.
🧭 Coordinates (J2000)
RA 04h 03m | Dec +36Β° 25β€²
πŸ”­ Captured with DWARF 3, using a 4-panel mosaic to cover the full length of the nebula.
πŸ› οΈ Processing: 4-panel mosaic with two datasets combined.
Dual-band (HΞ±/OIII): 60s, gain 120 β†’ nebula signal
Broadband (RGB): 15s, gain 60 β†’ stars + banding control
~5h total integration.
Stacked/assembled in Stellar Studio, then blended in Pixinsight to smooth gradients, reduce dual-band colour banding, and restore natural star colour.
Workshop will be available shortly.
✨ It is not a nebula that shouts at you straight away. Most of its beauty is in the subtle structure β€” long soft clouds of hydrogen spread across the field β€” and that makes it a really satisfying one to build carefully.

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