NGC 1432 - Maia Reflection Nebula in Taurus

Dear friends,

Happy New Year!

The Pleiades open star cluster in Taurus is one of the most celebrated winter gems for inhabitants of the northern hemisphere. Although the nebulosity around Merope (NGC 1435) gets all of the attention, it is unfortunate that little interest exists for the equally impressive nebulosity around Maia just to the northeast of Merope. In fact, similar to Merope, the nebulosity around Maia has its own NGC entry as well (NGC 1432).

For a result based on four hours total exposure (LRGB @ 60:60:60:60), I kindly direct you to www.perseus.gr/Astro-DSO-NGC-1432.htm .

WOW! What an opener to 2008. The detail and depth in that shot are, quite frankly, staggering. Congrats on this wonderful image.

Hi Dave,

Glad you like it. It seems that every winter simply gets worse and worse than the previous winters and this year is no exception.

I have been after this target for the past two years and something has always gone wrong. I remember last year I cooled my CCD camera too quickly and had ice form on the chip ... and which killed the one great session I had last winter.

Anyway, patience always pays off. I would like to revisit this object later this year with greater total exposure time (perhaps six hours) so as to get a little more detail in the striations. There is also a very slight problem with the small stars.

Now we know where you've been for the past while.
A stunning image there an Anthony. !

Hi Anto,

Very nice Image the detail and the sharpness is incredible.

Great work as always Anthony.