The Rho Ophiuchi Nebula IC4604
with 10" f/2.9 Astrograph
Uploaded 7/20/23

 
Here
            is a new shot taken in June of this year from here in Payson
            of the beautiful blue reflection nebula surrounding the star
            Rho Ophiuchi IC4604. This field here is only a small hand span
            above the Antares nebula shown a few weeks back, and again is
            silica dust surrounding a hot B type giant star. This star and
            its two fainter companions are about 362 light years away in
            the constellation of Ophiuchus and is the lit portion of a whole
            slew of dust in this region. The dark cloud to its right is called
            Barnard 42, and at the very bottom we can just see another smaller
            reflection nebula IC4603. The surrounding outside of this field
            is dark brownish dust that is only barely illuminated by distant
            stars in our Galaxy. This photo is the first I am releasing taken
            with a new field flattening lens (Starizona Nexus) which increases
            its field size by 1.5x while sharpening the stars in the corners
            very nicely. Technical details: 1.5 hours exposure, 10 inch f/2.9
            using Nexus, Payson Az.

            
Select an image size for a larger view:

1600 x 1290


Instrument:  10" f/3.9 Orion Astrograph Newtonian with Nexus 0.75x CC = f/2.9
Mount:  Astrophysics 1200 QMD
CCD Camera:  ATIK 16200 
Guider: ASI120  w/80mm WO Zenithstar 81 piggyback refractor
Exposure:  1.5h
Astronomik  RGB Combine Ratio:  1: .9: 2
Location:  Payson, Arizona, Elevation:  5150 ft.
Sky:  Seeing FWHM = 3 arcsec , Transparency 9/10
Outside Temperature:  55 F
CCD Temperature:  -30 C
Image Processing Tools: 
Maxim DL6:  Calibration, PixInsight:  All Remaining processing, Production finishing: Photoshop CS2

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