This lovely image of the Seagull Nebula was sent to us by Cesar Cantu from the Chilidog Observatory in Monterrey, Mexico. He took the image on January 4, 2011 using a Takahashi FSQ106 Telescope and a Canon 5D camera. The Seagull is near Sirius, the main star in the constellation Canis Major. The region also includes NGC 2327 – a compact, dusty emission region with an embedded massive star that forms the bird’s head and IC 2177 – forming the sweeping arc of the seagull’s wings. The image is dominated by the reddish glow of atomic hydrogen and is about 3,800 light-years away.
Beautiful! See more at Cesar’s website, Astrophoto.
Nancy, the link appears to be broken.
Aqua, a beautiful field to amble through with a low-power eyepiece or binos.
Fixed, thanks Jon!
I dunno about Seagull, looks more like a turtle. In fact … it must be Great A’Tuin, the world turtle!