Imaged by BHAS's Kevin Cox on Dec. 12-13, 2023
Description: Faint
emission nebula IC 410, captured under backyard suburban skies with narrowband
filters. It also features two remarkable inhabitants of the cosmic pond of gas
and dust.
Right of center are the tadpoles of IC 410. Partly obscured by foreground dust,
the nebula itself surrounds NGC 1893, a young galactic cluster of stars. Formed
in the interstellar cloud a
mere 4 million years ago, the intensely hot, bright cluster stars energize the
glowing gas. Composed of denser cooler gas and dust, the tadpoles are around 10
light-years long and are likely
sites of ongoing star formation. Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation their
heads are outlined by bright ridges of ionized gas while their tails trail away
from the cluster’s central young stars.
IC 410 lies some 10,000 light-years away, toward the nebula-rich constellation
Auriga. (Source: NASA APOD)
Image
Technical Details:
Equipment:
Telescope: Askar 130PHQ
Camera: QHYCCD QHY268M PH (Mono) (Gain 56 Offset 100 Mode V)
Mount: iOptron CEM70G
Filters: Antlia 3nm Hα 2″ · Antlia 3.5nm [OIII] 2″
Accessories: Pegasus Astro Falcon Rotator · QHYCCD QHYCFW3-L (7 x 2″) · QHYCCD QHYOAG-M · ZWO EAF
Acquisition Details:
Dates: December 12 & 13, 2023
Frames:
· Antlia 3nm Hα 2″ (2h 9′)
· Antlia3.5nm [OIII] 2″ (2h 15′)
Integration: 4h 24′
Sky Quality: Bortle 5 (SQM 19.6)
Pixel scale: 1.118 arcsec/pixel
Software:
Capture: N.I.N.A. & PHD2
Planetarium: Stellarium
Stacking & Post-processing: PixInsight (ABE, Dynamic Crop, Russell Croman BlurX/NoiseX/StarX, EZ Soft Stretch, Pixel Math, Curves)
Post-processing (Web prep): Photoshop (Curves, Levels, Crop, Resize, Export to PNG)