Sharpless 2-242

Emission Nebula in Taurus

Uploaded 6/7/06

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This stunning Stromgren Sphere in the Bull has the most lovely color gradient across its face, ranging from a crimson red on the right to a rich pink on the left near the exciting star. Such color variations are not completely unexpected because of the increased ionizing radiation near the star will bring up the H-beta component in the hydrogen spectrum, which is a royal blue color. This nebula is right next to the famous S147 super nova remnant, and is always overlooked.

Nebular details:

Known also as LBN 826, this 7 arcminute Sharpless object is truly in a sea of faint Milkyway stars. Being in the "Zone of Avoidance", no galaxies appear in the background in this shot. In addition to Sh142, there are two other nebulosities in this field. The lovely blue/red object to the lower left has a stunning color contrast, while a bit of red wisp is on the left edge. Neither could be identified even with the venerable "Guide 7" Deep space atlas.

Processing Notes:

This image is a straight RGB image, with the R channel mixed 75% with H-alpha data. Extreme care was taken as to not red clip on the nebula, this retains the smooth details and keeps the color rich and crisp.

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+R)GB = 120+20:20:20 RGB Combine Ratio: 1: 1.05: 1.11 Filters: AstroDon RGB Tricolor Location: Payson, Arizona Elevation: 5150 ft. Sky: Seeing FWHM = 4.1 arcsec (Maxim DL - 10min subframe), Transparency 7/10 Outside Temperature: 35 F CCD Temperature: -30 C Processing Tools: Maxim DL, Gralaks Sigma, Photoshop, PixInsight, CCDOps Debloomer. HOME GALAXIES EMISSION NEBS REFLECTION NEBS COMETS GLOBULARS OPEN CLUST PLANETARIES LINKS
 

 
 


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