The Owl Nebula a planetary (starburst) nebula about 2000 light years away in Ursa Major, shot from my backyard on March 24, 2021. At a magnitude of 9.9 it is a very faint target for my street-light bathed backyard, but a 5 inch scope at 90 second exposures begins to pull in the details of the owl-eyes. The two circular dark spots in a green orb give it an owl-eye like appearance. The central star approaching a white dwarf stage in it’s lifecycle. But of course, despite the tempting likeness, there’s no owl there. In fact its not green either. More on that later.
