Southeast Cepheus

The Southeast corner of the constellation Cepheus is a region rich in nebulosity and teeming with clouds of hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe. The image below was taken through a narrowband filter that allows only a thin band of light at a very specific wavelength to pass through to the digital camera, in this case that of H-alpha (hydrogen, 656 nm). A mouse rollover will reveal an annotated version of the image with some of the major stars and nebulous regions labeled, while a mouse-click will show a higher resolution version in a popup window. The four 'boxed regions' indicate objects that I have created more detailed images of, which are shown at the bottom of the page--clicking on those images will take you to a larger image on a separate page.

The constellation Cepheus, named after King Cepheus (from Greek mythology) of Aethiopia (Ethiopia) lies in the northern sky approximately 25 degrees from the pole star, Polaris. Part of the Milky Way runs through the constellation, making the region rich in emission nebula and popular with astrophotographers. The approximate outline of the image above is shown as a dotted rectangle stretching across the southeast corner of the constellation (click the image for a larger version).