The Owl Nebula (M97) & M108
The Owl Nebula (M97) and the galaxy M108 provide a very interesting pairing in the sky. Both objects appear very luminous and similar in size, but the two are separated by millions of light years. The Owl Nebula (M97) is a planetary nebula at about 2600 light years distant. M108 is a spiral galaxy approximately 45 million light years distant - or about 17000x further than M97.

This is taken with the TMB152 and STL-6303 out at JMSM Observatory through Clear, Red, Green, and Blue filters.

Click the image above to view larger images and some more of the technical details of the image.

The Owl Nebula is a typical planetary nebula with an unusual appearance. The latest models show it follows typical planetary nebula formation with three distinct shells caused by different stellar winds during the parent star's end of life. The outermost shell is very faintly visible in my image. The second shell begins with the bright red ring and proceeds inward. While the third (innermost) shell had been formed, the strong solar wind that formed it has ceased. Now this ring is backfilling with nebular material causing the two darker areas that represent the Owl's eyes.

M108 is a spiral galaxy that we are viewing almost edge on. The apparent lack of a central bulge has caused some issues with classification. There are other indicators of the spiral shape - primarily the predominate dust lanes visible in the image.

There are also a multitude of other galaxies throughout the image. Have a look around and enjoy!