Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cassiopeia (Cas)  ·  Contains:  IC 59  ·  IC 63  ·  The star Navi (γCas)
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IC63 - The Ghost of Cassiopeia, Hap Griffin
IC63 - The Ghost of Cassiopeia
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IC63 - The Ghost of Cassiopeia

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
IC63 - The Ghost of Cassiopeia, Hap Griffin
IC63 - The Ghost of Cassiopeia
Powered byPixInsight

IC63 - The Ghost of Cassiopeia

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IC63...the Ghost of Cassiopeia. In this image, captured in hydrogen alpha light, the ghostly figure is lit from the ultraviolet light from the nearby blue giant star Gamma Cassiopeiae, which emits as much energy as 34,000 Suns. Gamma Cassiopeiae is visible to the naked eye as the middle star in the W shape of the constellation Cassiopeia. However, IC63 is exceedingly dim and invisible except in long exposure photographs. This image is a stack of 16 ten-minute exposures through a 5 nm hydrogen alpha filter that passes only the light from glowing hydrogen. IC63 lies at a distance of 550 light years, so we see this ghostly apparition by light that left it at approximately the time that Columbus was starting his voyage to discover America.

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IC63 - The Ghost of Cassiopeia, Hap Griffin