B a r n a r d s     D a r k     N e b u l a e


Milky-Way Starcloud by E.E. Barnard


            created: 08-26-2012.             revised: 02-19-2024.

Hello!

Dark Nebula are clouds of interstellar matter, thin but widespread agglomerations of gas and dust. If they are large and massive enough they are frequently places of star formation, thus generating new associations or clusters of stars. Nebulae originate from large cosmic primordial clouds of gaseous matter in our Universe, leftover from its formation. Or they can come from enriched material ejected into interstellar space during the later life stages of the more massive stars. On cosmic timescales, nebulae undergo rapid changes and have only comparatively short lifetimes, so that those we observe are all young objects. Some of the stars near nebulae are often very massive and so hot that their high-energy radiation can excite the gas of the nebula to shine; such nebula is called emission nebula. If the stars are not hot enough, their light is reflected by the dust and can be seen as white or bluish reflection nebula. Some nebulae are only visible by the absorption of the light from objects behind them. They are distinguished from diffuse nebula mainly because they happen to be not illuminated by embedded or nearby stars. These are called dark nebula.


Edward Emerson Barnard (12/16/1887 - 02/06/1923), was a professor of astronomy at the University of Chicago Yerkes Observatory. As a pioneer in astrophotography, he cataloged a series of dark nebula of the Milky Way, giving them numerical designations.

Prior to his tenure at the University of Chicago, Barnard was hired as a member of the astronomical staff at Lick Observatory. While there, one of Barnard's early assignments was to utilize his studio photography expertise and began to systematically photograph the Milky-Way. So Barnard took a used 6" studio-portrait lens (a Petzval doublet named the Willard lens) that the observatory had acquired and mounted it in a wooden box camera back that he built by hand. Edward then piggybacked this home-made box photographic camera on the small 6.5" observatory refractor and began experimenting with guided exposures. His wide-field time exposures revealed details in the large-scale structures of bright starclouds obscured by what looked to be dark holes/voids, lanes, or spots. His photographs soon became popular as they showed the richness of the Milky-Way starclouds as they had never before seen. This was the start of what became Barnard's life-work, gathering evidence as to the nature of these dark features - were they really actual voids of matter in space, or were they something else.

Once at Yerkes, Barnard began using the 10-inch (25-cm) Bruce wide-field telescope, built specially for him by by John Brashear of Pittsburgh. It was also coupled with a 6.25" German Voigtlander portrait lens). With it, once completed in September of 1900, Barnard took over 4000 images, and made a number of photographic nebula discoveries, and re-imaged the large-scale Milky-Way structures he had earlier photographed using the small lantern camera at Lick.

                   

Through this work of studying the structure of the Milky Way, Barnard discovered that certain dark regions of our galaxy are actually clouds of gas and dust that obscured the more distant stars in the background. It was the richness of the starclouds and outstanding Milky-Way features, showing much more fine detail in the dark regions than ever before, which became the center of Barnard's work. This was the evidence, from his own photographs, that eventually convinced Barnard, beginning in 1913 to finally come around to the thought that these dark voids were actually obscuring dark matter blocking the view of the more distant Milky-Way. This was a major discovery among the astronomical world, as now all the various galaxy formation models would have to take into account these dark clouds of dust and gas.

But before Barnard could finalize his work into an atlas of Dark Nebula, long-standing health issues that Edward had neglected finally caught up to him. Declining in health, brought on from untreated diabetes and heart issues, Edward Emerson Barnard, at the age of 65, passed away on February 6th, 1923 at Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. As requested, Barnard was buried in his hometown of Nashville, where he was given a heroes funeral procession fitting to a state official. But his assistant and niece, Mary Calvert who started working for Edward in 1905, along with the current director of Yerkes Observatory, Edwin Frost, dedicated themselves to finishing Barnard's work. So in 1927, Edward Emerson Barnard's greatest accomplishment, his photographs of his Milky-Way "Barnard Objects" was published as a two-volume photographic atlas called: "A Photographic Atlas of Selected Regions of the Milky Way". His two-volumne book is a list of 352 dark nebulas with finder charts and photographs. Only about a 1000 copies were printed, and they soon were all taken up by the various professional observatories and universities around the world. Today, the occasional 1st edition copy that comes available are highly sought after.
         


Fortunately, in 2011, author Gerald Dobek published a revised single-volume altas of Barnards work, giving the amateur astronomer a valuable guide for locating and observing dark nebula.
Within the original 1927 books, several errors were introduced, such as dropping of several Barnard objects as being duplicates, and while Barnard had identified a total of 370 objects, a number of these were left out of the book by Barnard not having a photograph of the region or whose position were not identified on the charts. (B176 thru B200). In keeping to Barnards original work as much as possible, Dobek in his new version also did not list these missing Barnard Objects. But you can visit a website by amateurs Tim Hunter and James McGaha called "Grasslands Observatory" for online finder charts:



If you would like to read more about the life of Edward Emerson Barnard, please follow this link to: E. E. Barnard and His Dark Nebula! PDF

If you would like to print my personal Barnard Dark Nebula observation spreadsheet, sorted by constellation, please follow this link to: List of Barnard Dark Nebula! PDF


Below is my personal observations of Barnard's Dark Nebula catalog'.
All of my current EAA Livestack Observations were taken using a ZWO ASI294MC camera and an L-Pro broadband filter. (a few exceptions noted)
Each image has minimal processing applied to it: brightness/contrast adjusted, image rotated and resized as needed.
Further down the page you will find older images were taken using B&W StellaCam analog deepsky video cameras.



Barnard Dark Nebula Index:
Barnard Object Nickname Constellation
B3: Perseus
B33: "HorseHead Nebula" Orion
B72: "Snake Nebula" Ophiuchus
B77 & B78: "Bowel of the Pipe Nebula" Ophiuchus
B85: "M20 - the Triffid Nebula" Sagittarius
B86: "Ink Spot" Sagittarius
B92: Sagittarius
B93: Sagittarius
B142 & B143: "Barnards E" Aquila
B150: "Seahorse Nebula" Cepheus
B160 & B161: "part of IC1396A" Cepheus
     
     
----------------------- "non Barnard Dark Nebula" -----------------------
M8: "Lagoon Nebula dark lane" Sagittarius
Dark Horse: "Galactic Dark Horse" Ophiuchus




Object Type Constellation Date Optical Tube Mount Capture size Exposure Stack# Time Filter Guided
B3 Dark Nebula Perseus 10/23/2022 8" SCT @ f6.3 Atlas Gem 2072x1410 300 sec 6 30 minutes L-Pro yes
       also IC5389
Color Space Binning Gain Brightness White Bal (B) White Bal (R) Temperature Dark Frame
RGB24 1 350 65 75 70 -10 Yes
      (return to index)




Object Type Constellation Date Optical Tube Mount Capture size Exposure Stack# Time Filter Guided
B33 Dark Nebula Orion 11/03/2021 8" SCT @ f6.3 Atlas Gem 4144x2822 60 sec 15 15 minutes L-Pro yes
       "the HorseHead Nebula"
Color Space Binning Gain Brightness White Bal (B) White Bal (R) Temperature Dark Frame
RGB24 1 350 65 70 70 -10 Yes
      (return to index)




Object Type Constellation Date Optical Tube Mount Capture size Exposure Stack# Time Filter Guided
B33 Dark Nebula Orion 09/18/2020 14" SCT @ f11 Atlas Gem 4144x2822 180 sec 11 1930 sec L-eNhance yes
       "the HorseHead Nebula"
Color Space Binning Gain Brightness White Bal (B) White Bal (R) Temperature Dark Frame
RGB24 1 350 70 60 70 -10 yes
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Object Type Constellation Date Optical Tube Mount Capture size Exposure Stack# Time Filter Guided
B72 Dark Nebula Ophiuchus 06/17/2023 EVO50mm f4.2 Refractor Atlas Gem 4144x2822 15 sec 25 20 min L-Pro yes
       "the Snake"
Color Space Binning Gain Brightness White Bal (B) White Bal (R) Temperature Dark Frame
RGB24 1 350 70 65 55 +12.7 Yes
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Object Type Constellation Date Optical Tube Mount Capture size Exposure Stack# Time Filter Guided
B72 Dark Nebula Ophiuchus 06/17/2023 8" SCT @ f6.3 Atlas Gem 4144x2822 300 sec 4 20 min L-Pro yes
       "the Snake Nebula"
Color Space Binning Gain Brightness White Bal (B) White Bal (R) Temperature Dark Frame
RGB24 1 350 55 75 65 -10 Yes
      (return to index)




Object Type Constellation Date Optical Tube Mount Capture size Exposure Stack# Time Filter Guided
B77 & B78 Dark Nebula Ophiuchus 07/09/2021 Canon Lens @ 25mm & ASI290MC Atlas Gem 1936x1096 15 sec 60 15 minutes na yes
       the bowel of the Pipe Nebula - includes B65, B66, B67a
Color Space Binning Gain Brightness White Bal (B) White Bal (R) Temperature Dark Frame
RGB24 1 300 140 70 63 na Yes
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Object Type Constellation Date Optical Tube Mount Capture size Exposure Stack# Time Filter Guided
B85 Emission & Dark Nebula Sagittarius 09/06/2021 14" SCT @ f6.3 Fork Wedge 4144x2822 60 sec 30 30 minutes L-eNhance yes
       "M20 - the Triffid Nebula (narrowband filter)"
Color Space Binning Gain Brightness White Bal (B) White Bal (R) Temperature Dark Frame
RGB24 1 375 70 65 70 -10 Yes
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Object Type Constellation Date Optical Tube Mount Capture size Exposure Stack# Time Filter Guided
B86 & NGC6520 Dark Nebula Sagittarius 09/14/2023 EVO50mm f4.2 Refractor Atlas Gem 4144x2822 30 sec 16 8 min L-Pro yes
       "the Ink Spot"
Color Space Binning Gain Brightness White Bal (B) White Bal (R) Temperature Dark Frame
RGB24 1 350 70 65 55 +11.9 Yes
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Object Type Constellation Date Optical Tube Mount Capture size Exposure Stack# Time Filter Guided
B86 & NGC6520 Dark Nebula Sagittarius 08/05/2021 8" SCT @ f6.3 Atlas Gem 4144x2822 60 sec 10 10 minutes L-Pro yes
       "the Inkspot Nebula"
Color Space Binning Gain Brightness White Bal (B) White Bal (R) Temperature Dark Frame
RGB24 1 325 65 70 70 -10 Yes
      (return to index)




Object Type Constellation Date Optical Tube Mount Capture size Exposure Stack# Time Filter Guided
B92 Dark Nebula Sagittarius 08/05/2021 8" SCT @ f6.3 Atlas Gem 4144x2822 60 sec 10 10 minutes L-Pro yes
      
Color Space Binning Gain Brightness White Bal (B) White Bal (R) Temperature Dark Frame
RGB24 1 325 65 70 70 -10 Yes
      (return to index)




Object Type Constellation Date Optical Tube Mount Capture size Exposure Stack# Time Filter Guided
B93 Dark Nebula Sagittarius 08/05/2021 8" SCT @ f6.3 Atlas Gem 4144x2822 60 sec 10 10 minutes L-Pro yes
      
Color Space Binning Gain Brightness White Bal (B) White Bal (R) Temperature Dark Frame
RGB24 1 325 65 70 70 -10 Yes
      (return to index)




Object Type Constellation Date Optical Tube Mount Capture size Exposure Stack# Time Filter Guided
B142 and B143 Dark Nebula Aquila 09/14/2023 EVO50mm f4.2 Refractor Atlas Gem 4144x2822 30 sec 60 30 min L-Pro yes
       "Barnard's E"
Color Space Binning Gain Brightness White Bal (B) White Bal (R) Temperature Dark Frame
RGB24 1 350 70 65 55 +11.2 Yes
      (return to index)




Object Type Constellation Date Optical Tube Mount Capture size Exposure Stack# Time Filter Guided
B150 Dark Nebula Cepheus 11/06/2021 8" SCT @ f6.3 Atlas Gem 4144x2822 180 sec 5 15 minutes L-Pro Yes
       "Seahorse Nebula"
Color Space Binning Gain Brightness White Bal (B) White Bal (R) Temperature Dark Frame
RGB24 1 350 65 75 70 -9.4 Yes
      (return to index)




Object Type Constellation Date Optical Tube Mount Capture size Exposure Stack# Time Filter Guided
B160 and B161 Dark Nebula Cepheus 09/14/2023 EVO50mm f4.2 Refractor Atlas Gem 4144x2822 180 sec 20 60 min L-Pro yes
       part of IC1396A
Color Space Binning Gain Brightness White Bal (B) White Bal (R) Temperature Dark Frame
RGB24 1 350 70 65 55 +9.8 Yes
      (return to index)




Object Type Constellation Date Optical Tube Mount Capture size Exposure Stack# Time Filter Guided
Lagoon Nebula Emission Nebula Sagittarius 09/06/2021 14" SCT @ f6.3 Fork Wedge 4144x2822 60 sec 30 30 minutes L-eNhance yes
       "M8 - the Lagoon Nebula (narrowband filter)"
Color Space Binning Gain Brightness White Bal (B) White Bal (R) Temperature Dark Frame
RGB24 1 375 70 65 70 -10 Yes
      (return to index)




Object Type Constellation Date Optical Tube Mount Capture size Exposure Stack# Time Filter Guided
Galactic Dark Horse Dark Nebula Ophiuchus 06/18/2023 Canon Lens @ 5mm & ASI290MC Atlas Gem 1936x1096 30 sec 12 12 minutes na yes
       includes the Pipe Nebula - B66
Color Space Binning Gain Brightness White Bal (B) White Bal (R) Temperature Dark Frame
RGB24 1 300 175 70 65 +16.3 Yes
      (return to index)



StellaCam analog deepsky video cameras Index:

Arp Object NGC / IC Nickname Constellation
B33: IC410 "HorseHead Nebula" Orion
B59: B59, B66, B67, B77, & B78 "Pipe Nebula" Ophiuchus
B68: B68, B70, B72, B74, B76, B265, & B267 Ophiuchus
B72: "Snake Nebula" Ophiuchus
B84: Sagittarius
B84a: Sagittarius
B85: M20 "Triffid Nebula" Sagittarius
B86: "Ink Spot Nebula" Sagittarius
B87: "Parrot Head Nebula" Sagittarius
B89: B88, B89 & B296 (M8) "Lagoon Nebula" Sagittarius
B90: Sagittarius
B92: B92, B93, B99, B304, B307, & B308 (M24) Sagittarius
B95: Sagittarius
B100: B100 & B101 Scutum
B103: Scutum
B104: Scutum
B110: Scutum
B112: B112, B114, B115, B116, B117 & B118 (near M11) Scutum
B113: Scutum
B127: B127, B129, & B130 Sagittarius
B132: Sagittarius
B133: Sagittarius
B134: Sagittarius
B135: B135 & B136 Sagittarius
B138: Aquila
B142: B142, & B143 "Barnards 'E'" Aquila
B145: Scutum
B148: B148 and B149 Cepheus
B150: Cepheus
B152: Cepheus
B161: Cepheus
B163: Cepheus
B163: Cepheus
B289: B289, & B295 Sagittarius
B296: B296 (the Lagoon - M8) Sagittarius
B312: Scutum
B343: Scutum
B352: B352, & B353 NGC7000) "North American Nebula" Scutum
B00: multiple B's "Galactic-DarkHorse" Ophiuchus


Barnard Dark Nebula Observations:



B33 (Horse Head nebula)     Orion     - 09/15/2012
6" RC f5 & Stellacam-3 45 seconds
   

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B33 (dark nebula) - 09/23/2017 - 8" SCT f6.3, StellaCam-3 @ 180 seconds (stack of 10)


(return to index)




B59, B66, B67, B77, & B78 (Pipe Nebula)     Ophiuchus     - 08/17/2012
25mm CCTV lens & Stellacam-3 3 seconds
   

(return to index)




B68, B70, B72, B74, B76, B265, & B267     Ophiuchus     - 08/17/2012
50mm CCTV lens & Stellacam-3 8 seconds
   

(return to index)




B68, B69, B70, B72 & B390     Ophiuchus     - 09/12/2012
50mm Refractor & Stellacam-II 8 seconds
   

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B72 (Snake nebula)     Ophiuchus     - 08/23/2011
6" RC f5 & Stellacam-3 30 seconds
   

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B72     Ophiuchus     - 06/03/2013
50mm Refractor & Stellacam-II 8 seconds


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B84     Sagittarius     - 09/12/2012
50mm Refractor & Stellacam-II 8 seconds
   

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6" RC f5 & Stellacam-3 30 seconds
   

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B84a     Sagittarius     - 09/12/2012
50mm Refractor & Stellacam-II 8 seconds
   

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B85 (the Triffid - M20)     Sagittarius     - 09/20/2010
8" SCT f6.3 & Stellacam-3 30 seconds
   

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B86 (Ink Spot nebula) (NGC6520)     Sagittarius     - 09/12/2012
50mm Refractor & Stellacam-II 8 seconds
   

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6" RC f5 & Stellacam-3 30 seconds
   

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08/29/2016 - 8" SCT f6.3, StellaCam-3 @ 60 seconds


(return to index)




B87 (Parrot Head nebula)     Sagittarius     - 09/12/2012
50mm Refractor & Stellacam-II 8 seconds
   

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6" RC f5 & Stellacam-3 30 seconds
   

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B88, B89 & B296 (M8 - the Lagoon nebula')     Sagittarius     - 09/15/2012
50mm Refractor & Stellacam-II 8 seconds
   

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B88     Sagittarius     - 09/12/2012
6" RC f5 & Stellacam-3 30 seconds
   

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B89     Sagittarius     - 09/12/2012
6" RC f5 & Stellacam-3 30 seconds
   

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B90     Sagittarius     - 09/04/2013
50mm Refractor, StellaCam-II @ 8 seconds
   

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6" RC f5, StellaCam-3 @ 25 seconds
   

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B92, B93, B99, B304, B307, & B308 (M24)     Sagittarius     - 08/17/2012
50mm CCTV lens & Stellacam-3 3 seconds
   

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B92     Sagittarius     - 09/12/2012
6" RC f5 & Stellacam-3 30 seconds
   

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B93     Sagittarius     - 09/12/2012
6" RC f5 & Stellacam-3 30 seconds
   

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B95     Scutum     - 09/12/2012
50mm Refractor & Stellacam-II 8 seconds
   

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B100 & B101     Scutum     - 06/24/2017
8" SCT @f6.3 & Stellacam-3 60 seconds
   

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B103     Scutum     - 06/24/2017
8" SCT @f6.3 & Stellacam-3 60 seconds
   

(return to index)




B104     Scutum     - 09/06/2015
80mm Refractor f5.5 & Stellacam-3 @ 20 seconds
   

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06/24/2017 - 8" SCT @f6.3 & Stellacam-3 60 seconds
   

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B110     Scutum     - 06/24/2017
8" SCT @f6.3 & Stellacam-3 60 seconds
   

(return to index)




   

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B112, B114, B115, B116, B117 & B118 (dark nebula near M11)     Scutum     - 09/08/2015
50mm Refractor & Stellacam-II 8 seconds
   

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B113     Scutum     - 06/24/2017
8" SCT @f6.3 & Stellacam-3 60 seconds
   

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B127, B129, & B130     Sagittarius     - 09/05/2013
50mm Refractor, StellaCam-II @ 8 seconds
   

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6" RC f5, StellaCam-3 @ 25 seconds
   

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B132     Sagittarius     - 09/05/2013
50mm Refractor, StellaCam-II @ 8 seconds
   

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6" RC f5, StellaCam-3 @ 25 seconds
   

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B133     Sagittarius     - 09/05/2013
50mm Refractor, StellaCam-II @ 8 seconds
   

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6" RC f5, StellaCam-3 @ 25 seconds
   

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B134     Sagittarius     - 09/05/2013
50mm Refractor, StellaCam-II @ 8 seconds
   

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6" RC f5, StellaCam-3 @ 25 seconds
   

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B135 & 136     Sagittarius     - 09/05/2013
50mm Refractor, StellaCam-II @ 8 seconds
   

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B135     6" RC f5, StellaCam-3 @ 25 seconds
   

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B136     6" RC f5, StellaCam-3 @ 25 seconds
   

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B138     Aquila     - 08/17/2012
12.5mm CCTV lens & Stellacam-3 5 seconds
   

35mm CCTV lens & Stellacam-3 5 seconds
   

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B142, & B143 (Barnards 'E')     Aquila     - 08/17/2012
50mm CCTV lens & Stellacam-3 8 seconds
   

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B145     Scutum     - 09/06/2015
50mm Refractor, StellaCam-II @ 8 seconds
   

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80mm Refractor f5.5 & Stellacam-3 @ 20 seconds
   

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B148 and B149     Cepheus     - 09/07/2015
80mm Refractor f5.5 & Stellacam-3 @ 30 seconds
   

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B150     Cepheus     - 09/07/2015
80mm Refractor f5.5 & Stellacam-3 @ 30 seconds
   

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B152     Cepheus     - 09/07/2015
80mm Refractor f5.5 & Stellacam-3 @ 30 seconds
   

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B161     Cepheus     - 09/07/2015
80mm Refractor f5.5 & Stellacam-3 @ 60 seconds
   

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B161     Cepheus     - 09/19/2017
8" SCT f3.3 & Stellacam-3 @ 180 seconds
   

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B161     Cepheus     - 09/18/2017
8" SCT f6.3 & Stellacam-3 @ 180 seconds
   

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B163     Cepheus     - 09/18/2017
8" SCT f6.3 & Stellacam-3 @ 180 seconds
   

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B164     Scutum     - 09/06/2015
50mm Refractor, StellaCam-II @ 8 seconds
   

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80mm Refractor f5.5 & Stellacam-3 @ 20 seconds
   

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B289, & B295     Sagittarius     - 2009
24mm CCTV lens & Stellacam-II 8 seconds
   

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B296 (the Lagoon - M8)     Sagittarius     - 06/15/2012
6" RC f5 & Stellacam-3 90 seconds
   

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B312     Scutum     - 09/12/2012
50mm Refractor & Stellacam-II 8 seconds
   

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B343     Scutum     - 09/06/2015
50mm Refractor, StellaCam-II @ 8 seconds
   

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80mm Refractor f5.5 & Stellacam-3 @ 20 seconds
   

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B352, & B353 (North American nebula)     Cygnus     - 08/17/2012
50mm CCTV lens & Stellacam-3 xx seconds
   

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Galactic-Darkhorse     Ophiuchus     - 06/15/2012
12mm CCTV lens & Stellacam-II 8 seconds
   

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Hope you enjoyed the visit. Come again soon!
Larry McHenry,   Pittsburgh, PA. USA

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