The NebulaeThis beautiful field of nebulae is generally imaged in wide angle shots that include the Angel Nebula, but it seems to be rarely imaged on its own. However, recently there was an amazing
Top Pick image by Brian Diaz and Insight Observatory.
@Brian Diaz and
@Insight ObservatoryIn fact, this field and the field around the Angel are part of the Monoceros R2 molecular cloud star forming region, which in total covers almost 16 square degrees solid angle. At 1700 light years distance, its actual profile is roughly elliptical, about 440 x 200 light years. Jim Thommes has published a nice annotated map of some of the region
here , though in a different orientation.
With the help of Jim's map as well as SIMBAD, from left to right in my image above, we have:
- NGC2182 (vdB72, LBN998, Ced 68) reflection nebula
- MWSC 0771 open cluster. Not obvious, but it is comprised of the stars in a rough circle that has on its lower circumference the two bright blue stars which are just to the right of NGC2812.
- NGC2183 nebula (LBN996, Ced 69)
- [GRG2000] VLA1 HII region is red, just below the NGC2183 nebulosity.
- GGD 12-15 Open Cluster, this is the star cluster embedded in NGC 2183 and 2185.
- Dobashi 4978 Dark nebula which separates NGC2183 and NGC2185
- NGC2185 (vdB73, LBDN997, Ced 70) reflection nebula
- vdB74 reflection nebula
- Dobashi 4980 dark nebula, the dark slash above vdB74
- PGC3084914, or LEDA 3084914 is listed as a Galactic Nebula or a Galaxy on SIMBAD.
My processingStill trying to recover from horrible winter skies, while catching up on my own imaging now, I’m filling in by processing this wonderful, purchased dataset from Insight Observatory. As far as I can tell, this dataset is the same set used in the Top Pick image.
I used DeepSkyStacker to make calibrated and registered LRGB stacks. In Startools, I then applied background extraction, a luminance development stretch, deconvolution, and initial color balance.
In Photoshop I removed the stars using StarXterminator, the nebulosity layer was deblurred using APF-R (as used by NASA), denoised/sharpened with NoiseXterminator, with a final fine-tuning of the color space. I isolated the stars from the stars image, The star layer was added back in with linear dodge (add). Final noise reduction, color tweaks, curves adjustments were applied separately to the stars and nebulosity layer.
Insight Observatory DataAFIL-1
Telescope: AG10 CDK F6.7 f=1665mm
Mount: SkyWatcher EQ8RH
Camera: FLI Proline 6303
Location: Lijiang, China (Gemini Observatory)
Dates: 2021-12-31 to 2022-01-10
147 subs of 600 s each, for a total for 24 h 30 m exposure.
L: 780 m, R: 230 m, G:220 m, B: 240 m
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