NGC7380 & Sh2-142

Emission Nebula in Cepheus

Uploaded 9/26/06

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This enigmatic object surrounds the blue hot open cluster NGC7380 in an area of the sky rich in red and blue nebulosities. At 7.2 magnitude, the cluster is over 12 arcminutes in size, and contains 40 stars in which the brightest members are 7.5 magnitude. Most have a bluish tint, however there are dozens of background stars that are yellows and oranges.

The nebula, Sharpless 2-142 is mostly hydrogen emission, with isolated patches of blue and white reflection nebulosity. it is larger than this frame, spanning over half a degree in size and contains large numbers of knots, globules and bright shock fronts from colliding molecular clouds. A very peculiar white reflection nebula marks the core of the nebula, seen just below center here. White reflection nebula are rare, and are caused by the normally blue coloration overlain by unilluminated yellowish dust neutralizing the color to white.

Processing:

An hour of standard G2V balanced RGB data was taken for star and nebular color contrasts. 3 hours of hydrogen data was added in with lighten to both the red and blue channels (Ha + Hb) to maintain precise star colors and a nebular color as close as possible to the RGB color image. Most of the stars in this image were severely bloomed, and thankfully the Starizona Debloomer did a respectable job at cleaning them up nicely.

Instrument: 12.5" f/5 Home made Newtonian Platform: Astrophysics 1200 QMD CCD Camera: SBIG 10XME NABG with Enhanced Water Cooling Guider: SBIG ST4 Exposure: Ha^RGB = 180:20:20:20 RGB Combine Ratio: 1: 1.05: 1.11 Filters: AstroDon RGB Tricolor + Ha Location: Payson, Arizona Elevation: 5150 ft. Sky: Seeing FWHM = 6.2 arcsec (Maxim DL - 10min subframe), Transparency 9/10 Outside Temperature: 45 F CCD Temperature: -20 C Processing Tools: Maxim DL, Gralaks Sigma, Photoshop, PixInsight, Starazona Debloomer. HOME GALAXIES EMISSION NEBS REFLECTION NEBS COMETS GLOBULARS OPEN CLUST PLANETARIES LINKS
 

 
 


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