Welcome to the Official Home Page of the West Jersey Astronomical Society (additionally known as the Willingboro Astronomical Society). Our club is in its 59^th year of serving both the public and the amateur astronomers of the Delaware Valley. We have a long history of public education, star parties, interesting meetings, in-depth training and experienced leadership. We are a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Click here for membership information. Members in good standing have access to the gated Barnegat Road Observing Site in the dark New Jersey Pines.

President: Vice President: Secretary: Treasurer: Star Watch Director:

Bob Lill Frank Grupico Karen Hagerman Wade Evans Suzanne Leap

Club member Howard Schneck captured this image of this well-known region in the constellation Cygnus, the Swan, which includes the North America Nebula (NGC 7000) and the Pelican Nebula (IC 5070). It was taken on July 24/25, 2026, from from Wellfleet on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Both of these emission nebulae glow red from Hydrogen gas ionized by high-energy ultraviolet photons from a nearby, extremely hot star. The "Cygnus Wall," resembling Mexico and Central America, is a region of concentrated star formation. These nebulae are about 2,590 light years away 140 light years across. William Herschel discovered the North America Nebula in 1786.

Sub-frames for this image were taken from Wellfleet, Massachusetts (Cape Cod), on July 24/25, 2026, using a ZWOASI2600MC digital astro-camera through a William Optics Redcat 71 telescope (f/4.9, focal length = 348 mm) with an Antilla Triband filter, riding a ZWO AM5 equatorial mount. Guided with a William Optics UniGuide guidescope controlled by a ZWO ASIAIR+.

Post-processing was done with PixInsight using 50 darks, 30 flats and 30 dark flats. Integration took 5.7 hours (68 x 5-minute subs). The field-of-view is 3.8° wide x 2.5° high with an image scale of 2.2 arc seconds per pixel. Mouseover for labels and click here for a larger version.

Click here for the previous home page image.

Click to contact the . Members are encouraged to submit their astronomical images to the webmaster for inclusion on the WAS Home Page. Be sure to include a description, date and time, as well as equipment and photo data.