30 minutes exposure on Fuji Super HG II 400 film. 50mm f/2 Nikkormat lens.
Aquarius is a large, sprawling constellation to the east of Capricornius and Sagittarius. Although well away from the Milky Way, the constellation contains numerous interesting objects for a small telescope. There are several bright planetary nebulae and globular clusters, and a large number of faint galaxies. Among the more famous objects located in Aquarius are planetaries, the Helix Nebula, NGC 7293, and the Saturn Nebula, NGC 7009, and the globular cluster M2. Also of interest to southern hemisphere observers is the eta aquarid meteor shower of early May. This meteor shower, which is debris from comet Halley, is the best meteor shower for the southern hemisphere. Rates of up to 100 meteors per hour can be observed, and the shower is rich in bright meteors and meteors that leave a persistant train.