Latest Photo: Butterfly Nebula - IC 2220
The reflection nebula IC 2220 is located about 1,200 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation of Ship's Keel. It is almost symmetrical and has a diameter of about one light year. This phase in a star's life is very short, so objects of this type are rare. The cloud of gas and dust is illuminated from within by the star HD 65750. It belongs to the red giant type and has five times the mass of our sun. Although it is comparatively young at 50 million years old, it is at a significantly advanced stage of its life. IC 2220 is only visible because the star's light is reflected by the dust grains (in this case, silicon dioxide is responsible for reflecting the starlight).
The nebula was created by the red giant as it continually loses some of its mass to the environment. Red giants form from aging stars that are nearing the final stages of their evolution. They have almost used up their supply of hydrogen.
There are celestial objects outside our solar system that can be easily observed with modern optical systems. In amateur astronomy, the term deep sky refers to observable celestial objects that are located outside the solar system. These include, among other things, star clusters, nebulae and galaxies.
A remote-controlled telescope is operated by an observer via the Internet and is located in an observatory with an automatic system. This offers the unique opportunity to record deep sky objects that are difficult to observe from your own location.
