Amazing Hourglass Nebula Photo Captured by Patient Stargazer

News
By Nina Sen
published

Hourglass Nebula Sh2-106 Bill Snyder
Bill Snyder took this photo on Oct. 13, 2012 from Heavens Mirror Observatory in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains. Snyder used a Planewave 17” telescope equipped with an Apogee U16 camera, as well as a Paramount ME mount and Astrodon LRGB filters to view SH2-106. The total exposure time to capture this image was more than nine hours. (Image credit: Bill Snyder Astrophotography)

Shaped like an hourglass roughly 2,000 light years from Earth, nebula Sh2-106 shines in this stunning photo.

Veteran astrophotographer Bill Snyder captured this image on Oct. 13, 2012 from Heavens Mirror Observatory in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains.  He used a Planewave 17” telescope equipped with an Apogee U16 camera, as well as a Paramount ME mount and Astrodon LRGB filters to view the SH2-106 nebula. The total exposure time to capture this image was more than nine hours.

The Hourglass Nebula lies in the constellation Cygnus, the Swan. This compact star-forming region gets its signature shape from high-speed winds ejecting from the S106 IR star in the center.

Editor's note: If you snap an amazing photo of the moon, or any other night sky object, that you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, send photos, comments and your name and location to managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.

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Nina Sen
Contributing Writer and Producer

Nina Sen is a freelance writer and producer who covered night sky photography and astronomy for Space.com. She began writing and producing content for Space.com in 2011 with a focus on story and image production, as well as amazing space photos captured by NASA telescopes and other missions. Her work also includes coverage of amazing images by astrophotographers that showcase the night sky's beauty.