Winter may be the best season for astrophotography. The cold weather is a bummer here in the northeast, but staying in because it was too cold is not a choice if you are an astrophotographer. The cold creates this crisp feeling that makes the sky feel so clear. If you look at the Winter night sky for 1 minute, you will know what I’m talking about. So, get your heavy jacket, gloves, and a wooly hat with a headlamp like I have, and get shooting.

I will walk through some of the deep-sky targets I think are Winter essentials. Since there are so many, I’m dividing this into early and late Winter. I divide this into early and late Winter because they will be at their highest point in the sky at optimal times (6 PM—12 AM on the East Coast). Shooting targets at their highest point is optimal to avoid light pollution and get the best possible image.

Almost all of these targets (except 1) can be shot with an affordable small telescope like a Redcat 51 or even this SVBony $600 telescope on Amazon.

Early Winter Astrophotography Targets (December – January)

M45: Pleiades

The Pleiades remains my favorite astrophotography target. I printed a 19×13 image of it in my office. Its bright young blue stars, dusty and dark background, and reflection nebula have made the Pleiades one of the greatest wonders of the Winter night sky.

I shot this with a Redcat 51 and ASI533MM camera. Most of these Winter targets are wide-field, which is also great for beginners who often start (and should start) with wide-field telescopes.

The Pleiades - M45

The Pleiades by Kevin Fitzpatrick, Dec 2023 – Jan 2024

NGC 1499: California Nebula

Another amazing wide-field target, the California Nebula, is huge and just made it into the field of view of my Redcat 51 + ASI533MM setup. With its fluffy orange (or red) cloudy texture and the smokey-feeling Oiii gas at the top, this target is another astonishing Winter object to capture.

The California Nebula - NGC 1499

California Nebula by Kevin Fitzpatrick, Dec 2022 – Jan 2023

IC 1805: Heart Nebula (or Heart & Soul Nebulas Pair)

Back in 2022, I originally shot just the Heart Nebula with my ASI533MC color camera. That was the last thing I shot on a color camera before my ASI533MM mono camera got delivered. In 2023, I wanted to do this again, but I wanted to get the Soul Nebula (IC 1848) in there as well. My widest setup would not capture both, so I did a 2-panel mosaic. If you want to learn more about how I did the mosaic (note: it was painful learning), please read my article here. In the article, I explain step-by-step how to do a mosaic using Astro Pixel Processor (APP). Hopefully (because of me), you won’t need as much research and experimentation if you plan on doing a mosaic.

The Heart & Soul Nebula Mosaic by Kevin Fitzpatrick, 2023-2024

The Heart & Soul Nebula Mosaic by Kevin Fitzpatrick, Dec 2023

IC 405: Flaming Star Nebula (or Flaming Star & Tadpole Nebula Pair)

This nebula pair resides in the constellation of Auriga. The entire area is beautiful and full of nebulosity. It was a tight shot on my Redcat 51 + ASI533MM setup to frame them both in there, but it worked. As noted above, the entire area of Auriga is amazing. I’d shoot even more of this if I had a wider setup. I may do just that by creating a mosaic like this one, but I’m tabling that for now.

The Flaming Star & Tadpole Nebula by Kevin Fitzpatrick, Jan 2023

The Flaming Star & Tadpole Nebula by Kevin Fitzpatrick, Jan 2023

Late Winter Astrophotography Targets (February – March)

M42: Orion Nebula

What else can you say about The Orion Nebula? It may be the most well-known astrophotography target in the sky. It’s a household name for those who know nothing about space. Every astrophotographer has to shoot this. For this image, I shot both LRGB and Ha. The Ha is the outer smokey area surrounding the Nebula. To learn how I did this, please see my post about it, which has a video tutorial on how I created it. I shot this with…you guessed it–a Redcat 51, just like every other Winter target so far.

The Orion Nebula by Kevin Fitzpatrick, Feb 2024

The Orion Nebula by Kevin Fitzpatrick, Feb 2024

IC 434: The Horsehead Nebula and Flame Nebula

This may be a second favorite to the Orion Nebula, but that’s not the case. This part of the Orion is stunning and is my favorite by far. The dark magenta backdrop, the vast young blue stars visible from anywhere with the naked eye, the lighter red/orange Flame Nebula, and, of course, the iconic horsehead that looks like it’s floating on a cloud of ethereal red. I shot this with the Redcat 51 + ASI533MM, and there is no new surprise.

The Horsehead and Flame Nebulas by Kevin Fitzpatrick, Jan - Feb 2023

The Horsehead Nebula and Flame Nebula by Kevin Fitzpatrick, Jan – Feb 2023

C49: Rosette Nebula

The Rosette Nebula was the #1 target (along with M13) I wanted to shoot when I first started astrophotography. It’s still a favorite and always will be. It’s an absolutely beautiful Winter target that many beginners will want to shoot with their first telescope. If you look closely at the center, where the doughnut-like hole is, there are some amazing-looking stars and structures. They are not easy to see in my wide-field pic, but take a look at this picture from Visible Dark , which better gives a close-up of the doughnut hole part. It’s an awe-inspiring nebula. Again–shot with the Redcat 51 + ASI533MM combo.

The Rosette Nebula by Kevin Fitzpatrick, Feb - Mar 2023

The Rosette Nebula by Kevin Fitzpatrick, Feb – Mar 2023

IC 443: Jellyfish Nebula

The Jellyfish Nebula may not be a well-known Winter target, but it’s notable. The jellyfish, which looks more like a Pacman ghost, is large, and the nebulosity above or coming out of its head resembles a speech bubble. I also love the dark cracks in the speech bubble part. All this makes a really interesting picture. Some people shoot this with larger telescopes that only show the jellyfish part, but the nebulosity above it is what I think makes this photo. Once again–I shot with the Redcat 51 + ASI533MM combo.

The Jellyfish Nebula by Kevin Fitzpatrick, Feb 2024

The Jellyfish Nebula by Kevin Fitzpatrick, Feb 2024

Other Winter Targets

These are targets that I have not shot myself, but I want to get to do someday.

Seagull Nebula (IC 2177)

This is an often-forgotten target, but it’s huge and perfect for a wide-field telescope like a Redcat 51. Depending on your sky’s real estate, it hangs a bit low in the southern sky, so it may be difficult to shoot.

Spaghetti Nebula (SH2-240)

This supernova remnant only requires shooting Ha & Oiii if you shoot mono. No Sii filter is required. If you shoot color, an Optolong L-Extreme filter would be perfect. It’s also a super-large object; with my Redcat 51 and ASI533MM, I’d need to do a 4-panel mosaic to get this in its entirety. Nonetheless, it’s gorgeous and alluring. Check out this pic from Wikipedia.

The Christmas Tree Cluster and Cone Nebula (NGC 2264)

The Redcat 51 wide-field setup continues even more. This is also a large area of nebulosity located right near the Rosette Nebula. Many people make mosaics of them both together.

The Orion Constellation

Get out your 28mm or 50mm camera lens and attach it to your astro camera with a ZWO Canon EF adapter. The Orion constellation is huge and will require an everyday lens like 28mm to capture it in its entirety. The constellation contains The Orion Nebula, Horsehead Nebula, M78, The Witch Head Nebula, and the legendary large area of nebulosity called Barnard’s Loop. Check out this pic of the full constellation, which is 2.5 giga-pixels in size and zoomable.

M78

A smaller, less mentioned reflection nebula in the constellation Orion. Reflection nebulas are usually blue and intriguing as they look so different from other objects in space. M78 also contains a dark nebula, which makes it even more fascinating. Reflection Nebula are clouds of dust illuminated by a nearby powerful star, of which Orion has no shortage. They are not shot with traditional narrowband filters and instead require LRGB filters. I’d say this is more of an intermediate than a beginner target. Read more and see a pic on Wikipedia.

The Witch Head Nebula (IC 2118)

Another reflection nebula in the Orion constellation. The Witch Head Nebula is extremely faint and I imagine it would take many hours of integration time to get a good shot of this. In addition, it’s long and may not fit into the field of view of most beginner setups. I would say this is more of an advanced astrophotographer target.

Crab Nebula (M1)

The Redcat 51 wide-field party has finally come to an end. This nebula is super super tiny. You’ll need an SCT like a Celestron EdgeHD 8 or even something larger to get a usable picture of this. It’s an extremely colorful supernova remnant like the Spaghetti Nebula and Veil Nebula. If you have the telescope to shoot this, go for it. I’d rank this a target for advanced astrophotographers. See a pic and learn more on Wikipedia.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back To Top