Nic Kleinhans

@thebignic

Spouse, dad, retired IT, (motor-)biker, night sky observer, bass guitarist, life passionate and swiss guy.

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Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· 1d

#Astrophotography Most of the nebulas are bright objects, emitting or reflecting light. But sometimes they are just dust clouds, hidden in the sky, colorless ghosts floating in the void. Here the Ghost Nebula, or SH2-136, some 1’470 light-years away. Our universe is just fabulous!

On the background of a cosmic dark sky, with some stars featured as bright dots, white dust clouds are floating, with one in the center illuminating by a nearby star hidden behind the dust. On the opposite side of this dust cloud, in a darker part, a red light is emitted, probably from some star forming in the cloud itself.

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· 13d

#Astrophotography Remember, in H2G2, the book serie, the guy who designed the fjords of Norway got a prize for it? I think the person who designed the nebulas deserve something like that. See the colors, and the dark patches? The Iris Nebula is the next door flower Nebula, and it’s just fabulous 🤩

A blue blowing cosmic nebula in the form of an iris flower, bordered with some dark brownish clouds of dust.

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· 21d

#Astrophotography NGC3310 is a Grand Design Spiral Galaxy situated some 45 million of light-years in the Great Bear. 100 million years ago, it has proably an encounter with an another galaxy, producing a burst of new stars and some disturbance in the Design. Now, the 8. of July, a supernova ...

A small spiral Galaxy in a very dark sky with a few star. On the eleven of this galaxy, a very big bright star is seen.

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· 22d

#Astrophotography What’s the name of this Nebula, situated in Cygnus, some 1’800 light-years from us? Make a guess. Yes, correct, it’s the Pelican Nebula, an HII region on the side of the North American Nebula. Enjoy it now, because it will morph in something else in some millions of years …

Dark sky with a lot of small stars on the upper, then a pale red nebula on the lower half of the picture, resembling a pelican view from the side.

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· 29d

#astrophotography What’s the most seen cosmos picture? Probably the “Pillars of Creation”, in the Eagle Nebula, made by Hubble in 1995 and 2014. So, impossible not to try them, just to see what a infrastructure budget’s difference of some billions will make …

A lot of dark dust clouds with an open cluster of star in the middle of the pictures. Just under the middle of the picture, three pillars of interstellar dust are sculpted by the stellar wind.

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· Jul 11

#Astrophotography The Great Neighbour, Andromeda, Messier 31, maybe coming to visit us, in some 4 to 10 billion years … Because you know, 2.5 Mio light-years distance to travel, even speeding at 110km/s, is a long way … Andromeda is known to be the half of the mass of our galaxy, the Milky Way…

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· Jul 6

#Astrophotography The Crescent Nebula NGC6888, in Cygnus, some 5’000 ly away. A complex interaction between the expelled outer layer of a giant star and, 200’000 years later, the same star producing a super fast stellar wind its surrounding gases, creating a tremendous shockwave when catching …

A delicate orange-gold cloud in the shape of a human brain lays in the middle of the picture, surrounded on the left by a red cloud of hot cosmic gas, and on the right by a dark sky with a lot of colorful little dots that are stars.

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· Jul 2

#astrophotography The Western Veil Nebula, also named Witch’s Broom, 2’400 light-years away from us in Cygnus. The whole Nebula is the remnant of a supernova and is named the Cygnus Loop. The giant star in the center is 52-Cygni, 14 times bigger but only 2 times heavier than our sun, 291 ly away.

A cosmic cloud in the form of a witch’s broom, with red and green veils, and just under the middle of the cloud a giant star. The sky around is dark with thousand of little white or red dots, that are the other stars of our galaxy.

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· Jun 30

#Astrophotography The emission nebula NGC6920 and its open cluster NGC6923 in its center. I love the pillars of cosmic dust “surging” on the lower right of the main cloud, pointing to the center of the cluster. The nebula is approx 6’000 light-years from us in Vulpecula. June 27, 2026.

A red cloud of galactic gaz with a dozen of bright blue stars in the center, and some cosmic dust pillars on the low right pointing to the stars in the center

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· Jun 25

#astrophotography A detail of the Veil Nebula, not so far from us (2’400 ly) which is a remanent of a supernova approx. 20 time the mass of our sun that exploded some 10-20’000 years ago. Universe will always be marvelous 🤩

Nebula clouds swirling in blue and pink on a foreground and background of hundreds of stars from our galaxy

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· Jun 22

#Astrophotography The Bubble Nebula (NGC7635) is an emission nebula, a gaz bubble pushed by the stellar wind of a young and hot star, almost at the center of the bubble. The star is approx 2 millions years old, but to produce such a wind (1’800 to 2’500 km/s) it already lost some 25% of its mass.

Something looking like a soap bubble is levitating above a irradiated nebula cloud, ina dark sky full of stars.

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· Jun 20

#Astrophotography NGC 7380 and the Wizard Nebula, approx. 7-8‘000 ly in the Milky Way. An open cluster of 50-100 stars illuminating the Nebula around it. 240 minutes of exposition, no filters. To be noted the dark patch on the left slightly up, don’t know the name of that dark cloud …

A red-pink nebula boarding the down and right side of an open cluster of approx. fifty to hundred stars in a sky full of stars of the Milky Way

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· Jun 18

#Astrophotography NGC281 - The Pacman Nebula, 9‘600 ly from us, is an émission Nebula, hot gazes irradiated from young stars clusters. Taken yesterday, only 19 minutes of exposition.

A red Nebula on top of the Image, looking a bit like a Pacman. A lot of Stars from our galaxy are everywhere.

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· Jun 9

“I am the eye in the sky, looking at you…” Jupiter and Venus, evening sky in June 2026.

Two little white dots in an evening dark blue sky, with the black shape of a tree on the left and of a house on the right

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· May 23

#Astrophotography My take this week of NGC 5907, 46.5 millions of light-years away, and showing us a new supernova, SN 2026 kid, discovered the 22 of April by Yasuo Sano All the other stars in this picture belong to our galaxy and are “only” some thousand of light-years away.

A galaxy seen from the edge, going from the right up corner of the picture to the lower left. Some dark clouds are laying along the ridge of the disc. At some distance of the center of the galaxy in the direction of the lower left shine a supernova that belong that galaxy, shining like the other stars of this picture, but these belong to our galaxy and are “only” some thousands of light-years away , not millions …

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· May 9

#astrophotography Messier 5 and the star 5-Serpentis M5 is a globular cluster of more than 500k stars, approx. 25kly from us, and contains also two millisecond pulsars. 5-Serpentis is a double star 82ly from us

A golular cluster of more than 500k stars in the middle of the picture, at 8 o’clock of the cluster a bright star, both surrounded with a sky full of faint stars of all colors.

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· Mar 28

#Astrophotography The North America nebula, left, and a part of The Pelican right, taken last Tuesday with my RedCat 51 V3. The labeled star right from “Florida” is the star that ionize both nebulas. It’s very faint, because it lays behind the dark cloud that separates the two nebulas.

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· Mar 26

#Astrophotography My first take with my new WO RedCat 51 WIFD and my ASI585MC Pro. The Virgo Cluster around M86 with, going to the left-up, the most of the Markarian’s Chain. Processed in PixInsight, 90 minutes of integration. Not bad for a first light of a new instrument 😅

Night sky with some faints galaxies, libeled, of the Virgo Complex.

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· Mar 6

#Astrophotography The Ring Nebula, in Lyra. A planetary nebula born after the expulsion of material from its star, 3’200 years ago. The nebula is 6 yl wide and 2’500 ly away.

Un anneau bleu clair et rose-rouge sur les bords en plein ciel étoilé, c’est une nébuleuse planétaire dans la constellation de la Lyre

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· Feb 27

#Astrophotography The Head of the Cone Nebula, taken end of February 2026, RGB + H-Alpha , total of 5 hours at F6.3 with a CST 9.25

One Dark Nebula surging from the bottom of the picture and pointing like a finger to the right upper corner, all on a pretty dark reddish background, and a few stars like little white diamonds.

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· Jan 7

#Astrophotography M108 the Surfboard Galaxy. CST9.25” + ZWO ASI585 MC PRO. 3 hours. 6 Jan 2026, Jura Mountains, Switzerland

A galaxy seen almost from the side, having the shape of a surf board.

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· Jan 6

#Astrophotography The Owl Nebula taken in the night of the 5th of January from the Jura Moutain in Switzerland. CST 9.25” + ZWO ASI585MC Pro, narrowband filters (24nm then 3.5nm), 3 hours

A Planetary Nebula in the blue and red, with two darker spot resembling the head of an owl

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· Dec 19

#Astrophotography My first Horse Head Nebula. I never thought to be able to make such a picture in my life.

Horse Head Nebula on a pink background with bright white stars overall

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· Nov 24

Triangulum Galaxy taken a week ago from my backyard innige Jura Mountains Switzerland #astronomy #galaxies

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· Oct 13

I love the autumn in our Jura mountains - Switzerland

Chemin de forêt entouré d’arbres aux couleurs automnales, Jura Suisse.

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· Aug 26

NGC7721, a galaxy 75 Mio light-years away from my scope in the Jura mountains of Switzerland. The nearest galaxy to us, Andromeda, is 2.5 Mio light-years away.

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· Aug 13

#Astronomy Yesterday 10:24 PM, chasing the Perseides over Switzerland, getting probably an Iridium Flash near Cassiopeia

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· Aug 11

Dawn sky with Venus and Jupiter on the left, Orion on the right, and some typical Jura (Switzerland) landscape as silouhette on the bottom

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· Jun 21

A Modern Fossil

Une coque de lecteur MP3 Philips emprisonnée dans le goudron d’une route.

Nic Kleinhans@thebignic· Apr 6

There’s a Moon over us, and I think it’s beautiful.