Messier 44, also known as the Beehive Cluster or Praesepe, is a bright and prominent open star cluster located in the constellation Cancer. It is located approximately 610 light-years away from Earth. It is one of the closest open star clusters to our solar system. As the cluster lies close to the ecliptic, asteroids from the solar system can often be observed in its vicinity, depending on the date of capture.

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Sh 2-230 is a very faint and extended emission nebula that encompasses a number of other a number of other Sharpless objects in the heart of Auriga. The Sharpless 2 catalogue (Sh 2) is a list of 312 HII (Hydrogen Emission Nebula) regions with the intention, to form a complete list of these objects north of declination δ = -27°. The first edition of the catalogue from 1953 was labelled Sharpless 1 (Sh 1).

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The Pleiades also known as the Seven Sisters, Messier 45, and other names by different cultures, is an asterism and an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. At a distance of about 444 light years, it is among the nearest star clusters to Earth. It is the nearest Messier object to Earth, and is the most obvious cluster to the naked eye in the night sky.

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On the evening of 9 and 10 January 2024, I pointed my telescope at the Orion Nebula M 42 and was very surprised at how many satellites crossed the field of view within just 3 hours. Particularly conspicuous was an apparent motorway of slightly lower declination below the Orion Nebula. After a little thought I came up with the explanation for this apparently particularly popular satellite orbit.

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The celestial region shown in the image comprises the surroundings of the Large Orion Nebula. Most of the objects visible in the photographs are located in the Orion arm of the Milky Way, as is our home solar system.

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The Soul Nebula (IC 1848, Sharpless 2-199, LBN 667) is an emission nebula located in constellation Cassiopeia. Several small open clusters are embedded in the nebula. This complex is the eastern neighbor of IC1805 (Heart Nebula) and the two are often mentioned together as the "Heart and Soul".

The Heart Nebula (IC 1805, Sharpless 2-190) is an emission nebula, 7500 light years away from Earth and located in the Perseus Arm of the milky way (as the Soul Nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia).

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NGC 225 is an open cluster in the constellation Cassiopeia. It is located roughly 2,200 light-years from Earth. It is about 100 to 150 million years old. The binary fraction, or the fraction of stars that are multiple stars, is 0.52. It is also known as sailboat cluster. But what's happening at the top of the mast? The boat is obviously being boarded by an octopus - the more clearer, the longer you expose (or if you drink too much red wine)... Beside the quite nice, probably not so well known star cluster you can see interesting dust clouds and a reflection nebula, which are cataloged as LDN 1291 and LBN 604.

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"The Andromeda Galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy and is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way. It was originally named the Andromeda Nebula and is cataloged as Messier 31, M31, and NGC 224. It has a diameter of about 46.56 kiloparsecs (152,000 light-years) and is approximately 765 kpc (2.5 million light-years) from Earth. The galaxy's name stems from the area of Earth's sky in which it appears, the constellation of Andromeda, which itself is named after the princess who was the wife of Perseus in Greek mythology.

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The Iris nebula is a bright reflecion nebula in the constellation Cepheus. It's appearance is caused by the very hot star HD 200775 in it's centre whose light is partly reflected and partly absorbed by surrounding dust clouds. As can be seen from the labeled image, the dust cloud itself can be found in Lynd's cataologue of dark nebulae as entry LDN 1174. The reflection nebula shines at magnitude +6.8. It lies 1,300 light-years away and is six light-years across

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A wide angle shot on the island La Palma shortly after new moon. Due to the long exposure times the planet Mars can be seen as a bright reddish-yellow spot in the lower right corner whereas some well known deep-sky objects (the open cluster M35, the jelly-fish nebula IC 443 ant others) can be seen in the upper half of the image. The view was unfortunately a bit clouded by Sahara dust as a result of the weather phenomenon "Kalima" and the moon crescent illuminated thereby the sky already considerably.

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