The Owl Nebula (M 97)

April 10, 2026

The “Owl Nebula”, M97 (NGC 3587) is a planetary nebula in the constellation Ursa Major (Big Dipper), about 2000 lightyears away. The Owl is relatively new, forming in the last 8000 years or so from a small to medium sized star, ejecting ionized gasses, including hydrogen, helium, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur, toward the end of its life.  This image is from my April 9, 2026 astro session in the backyard, CarbonStar 150 imaging Newtonian (600mm FL, f/4), ZWO ASI715MC camera (gain 0), ZWO AM5 EQ mount, 129 3-minute subs stacked in PixInsight, no calibration frames.