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IC 405 Region in Auriga

 

 CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL SIZE VIEW (2600x1950)

Scope: WO Megrez 80mm APO at f/5.8, Location: DAA Observatory, Shelter Valley, CA 17 December 2017,  Camera: Atik 383L (Astronomik Gen 2 Ha LRGB Filters)

Exposure: Exposure: 12 x 8 min  (1x1 bin) exposure with UV/IR block, 12 x 10 minutes (2x2 bin)  exposure with Hydrogen Alpha filter, 8 x 4 min (2x2 bin) RGB exposures.

Processing: Data Collection -  Sequence Generator Pro (as FITs).  Calibrated, stacked (Kappa Sigma Combine) - Deep Sky Stacker. LRGB channel registration, equalization, gradient removal - Astroart.  Curves, Levels, RGB combine - ImagesPlus. Luminance Layering, final stretch, and finishing  - Photoshop.  RGB calibration - eXcalibrator. This image is a  RGB combine with Luminance layering.  Color saturation in LAB color.  The H-Alpha filter exposure was screen blended into the IR/UV Blocking filter exposure stack and used for the luminance layer. Ha was screen blended into the Red channel -  emission balance of RGB done with Channel Mixer in Photoshop. Images processed at 3352 x 2532 resolution. Final Image size is approximately  2600 x 1950.

North is up in this image.  The primary object (certainly the most well known object) in this image is IC405. It's common name is the "Flaming Star" nebula. The star responsible for this name is AE Aurigae (also known as  HD 34078). This star is thought to have originated in the Orion star forming region and was ejected some 2.5 million years ago. As such, it did not originate in the emission nebula but is instead passing through at a high speed - producing an energetic bow shock. IC405 is cataloged (more or less) in several other catalogs and is also known as  Sharpless 229, Cederblad 42, and LBN 795. The large open cluster Melotte 31 is also partly visible in this image. This cluster was hard to pin down. The descriptions have this cluster as quite large in angular span - one reference says 135 arc minutes; catalog notes say one degree square. I have likely indicated its span too small in my annotated image. The emission nebula LBN 791 is the "tail" of the Flaming Star extending south. The blue component of the Flaming Star  nebula is a reflection nebula known as vdB 34. Also in this image at the lower edge are several small objects that SIMBAD describes as reflection nebulae  - but the are in an extra-galactic catalog so they may be distant galaxies.  These objects  and some of the brighter stars are identified in the annotated image.   Horizontal FOV is approximately 140 arc minutes.

Image center is approximately - Equatorial 2000: RA: 05h 14m 24s Dec: +32°47'58"

 

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