Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Vulpecula (Vul)  ·  Contains:  NGC 6823
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3D IMAGE PAIR with 46 hrs HOO: An open cluster, the Vulpecula OB1, emission nebulae, an elephant trunk, Bok Globules and more., Rick Veregin

3D IMAGE PAIR with 46 hrs HOO: An open cluster, the Vulpecula OB1, emission nebulae, an elephant trunk, Bok Globules and more.

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
3D IMAGE PAIR with 46 hrs HOO: An open cluster, the Vulpecula OB1, emission nebulae, an elephant trunk, Bok Globules and more., Rick Veregin

3D IMAGE PAIR with 46 hrs HOO: An open cluster, the Vulpecula OB1, emission nebulae, an elephant trunk, Bok Globules and more.

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Description

This is a 3D image pair from my image of Sharpless 86 (SH2-86), NGC 6820 and NGC 6823. 

To best view in 3D, click on the image so the pair mostly fill your screen (you can also adjust your browser view size if needed) and cross your eyes: the 3D image will appear like magic between the image pair. Full resolution will not work as you need to be able to see both full images.

Processing the 3D image was done using the Startools 3D module. I had not tried it before, but I was blown away by what a good job it does, and how many options it has to optimize the 3D effect in the image. I'd love to hear your feedback on how it works for you.

Acquisition and processing details were shown in the original 2D image

Things to look for in the image:

The open star cluster, NGC 6823, at the image center has 30 stars of 9th magnitude and fainter in a region about 50 light-years across. The cluster is 7500 light-years away, and only three million years old. It is dominated by many young, bright blue stars tightly bunched into a space of one square light-year. However, the outer parts of the cluster have even younger stars.  

Vulpecula OB1. The cluster is the core of the much larger Vulpecula OB1 stellar association, which is hundreds of light-years across, in our view about 1.5⁰ x 3.5⁰. OB associations consist of groups of young O and B stars that are not gravitationally bound. These clusters are the birthplaces of stars, including the most massive and the least massive.

An HII emission nebula: Sharpless 86 (SH2-86) also known as Lynds 135 (LBN 135) surrounds the star cluster. The nebula is contoured and also excited into visible red Ha fluorescence by the OB stars in the cluster.  This emission nebula is sometimes called NGC 6820, but NGC 6820 actually refers to a small emission nebula, which is a knot in SH2-86. See Simbad for more information.

The elephant trunk or pillar is much like the more famous Pillars of Creation: dense cold gas shaped by the winds and radiation of young stars. The pressure on the surface of these pillars triggers more star formation there.

Bok Globules are cold dark molecular gas at about 10 Kelvin, and can be from 1 to 1,000 solar masses and 10,000 au to 3 light-years in size. Globules are a stage in the collapse of a dense part of molecular clouds that are forming new stars. Bok Globules may represent the collapse of the densest part of an elephant trunk.

A small unresolved star cluster, Collinder 404, and emission nebula centred at about the same spot, NGC 6820,  is obvious as a white patch at 5 o’clock. It is described as a knot in SH2-86, about 0.5x0.5’ in size. Variable stars that are Cepheid candidates are present, but none of them have been identified as Cepheid variables to date.

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