Star Clusters, Star Fields and Constellation Wide fields

There is a unique beauty in capturing entire constellations in a wide-field view. Most of these images were taken with either a 50mm or 28mm lens, allowing us to see the full extent of each constellation. Many of them look beyond the plane of the Milky Way, gazing outward from our galaxy’s disk. You can refer to the small maps to locate each image.  This page also spotlights some closeups of a few star clusters.  Astronomers catalog a cluster as a group of stars that are moving through space together.

The vast scale of the cosmos never ceases to amaze me. Most of the stars visible in the night sky are far more massive and luminous than our sun. Many lie between 30 and 1,000 light-years away. To put this into perspective, if our sun were placed 32 light-years from Earth, it would appear as a faint 4.8 magnitude star, barely visible under the darkest skies. In contrast, the Blue Supergiant Rigel in Orion, if positioned at the same distance as Sirius (8.6 light-years), would shine as brightly as the half-moon and would cast a shadow!

Lyra is a small but striking constellation best known for Vega, the fifth-brightest star in the night sky and a key member of the Summer Triangle asterism. Within Lyra lie fascinating deep-sky objects, including the Ring Nebula (M57), a stunning planetary nebula showcasing the remnants of a dying star; the globular cluster M56, a dense collection of ancient stars; and the Double Double (Epsilon Lyrae), a famous multiple-star system. Despite its modest size, Lyra holds a rich variety of celestial wonders.

NGC 6633, IC 4665, and IC 4756 are three open star clusters located in the region of the sky near the bright star Cebalrai in the constellation Ophiuchus. NGC 6633 is a bright, loosely scattered cluster with a mix of young and aging stars, often compared to the Hyades in appearance. IC 4665 is a relatively young and sparse cluster, easily visible in binoculars, while IC 4756 is a rich but somewhat faint cluster, blending into the Milky Way’s star fields. These clusters, along with Cebalrai—a giant star in Ophiuchus—form an intriguing area for observation, revealing the diversity of star formation in our galaxy.

Hercules and Corona Borealis are two neighboring northern constellations, each with remarkable celestial phenomena. Hercules is home to M13, the Great Hercules Cluster, a breathtaking globular cluster packed with hundreds of thousands of ancient stars. Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown, is famous for the recurring nova T Coronae Borealis, a binary system where a white dwarf periodically erupts; astronomers anticipate its next outburst between 2024 and 2026. Together, these constellations offer a striking combination of deep-space grandeur and dynamic stellar activity.

M39 and the Coathanger are two striking open star clusters in the summer sky, both located near the Milky Way’s rich star fields. M39, in the constellation Cygnus, is a bright and loose cluster of young stars, easily visible in binoculars with its wide, scattered appearance. The Coathanger, also known as Brocchi’s Cluster or Collinder 399, lies in Vulpecula and is an asterism rather than a true star cluster, forming a distinctive hanger shape that stands out against the starry background.