Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Lacerta (Lac)  ·  Contains:  LBN 437
SH2-126 and LBN 437 | The Head of the Gecko, Kevin Morefield
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SH2-126 and LBN 437 | The Head of the Gecko

SH2-126 and LBN 437 | The Head of the Gecko, Kevin Morefield
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SH2-126 and LBN 437 | The Head of the Gecko

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Description

SH2-126 refers to the background Hydrogen emission nebula while LBN437 is the dust cloud illuminated by the bright stars within it.  I saw this also referred to as the Star Funnel, presumably due to the shape and new stars being formed within.  This is typically seen in a much wider FOV where the entire Gecko is framed in a field of red emission.  I decided to focus on the part that interested me most - The intersection of the dust cloud, Ha glow and the very bright stars.

It is interesting that the point of the funnel is rimmed in a bright Ha glow.  This suggests to me that the dust cloud is piercing the Hydrogen, collecting it on the front as the cloud expands.  Pure speculation on my part...

The data is composed of HaLRGB, with the Ha data layered as a lighten layer in Photoshop.  Attempts to blend the Ha as you would with a galaxy (add to the Red and Luminance channels) did not produce a result that looked much like the underlying masters.   The masters showed the separate emission and dust structures very clearly.  

I left the stars quite bright and a bit saturated purposely.  The very bright stars really produce the "high notes" here and add contrast to balance the image.  At least that was my goal.  

There are a few details in there I'd like to know more about.  Within the dust there are a few small bright spots of hydrogen - are those Herbig-Haro objects?  Also, there is a sort of hour-glass blue shape around a star - what is that?  All theories are welcome!

Data capture was done between the ebb and flow of the west coast smoke.  We really have 5 seasons now, Winter, Spring, Summer, Smoke and Fall.

EDIT:  Thanks to a detailed annotation by Prath Pavaskar, 8 Herbig Haro objects were confirmed in the view and the hourglass is a bi-polar jet coming from one of the HH objects. 

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.389.1649&rep=rep1&type=pdf

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/1917547_A_HST_study_of_the_environment_of_the_Herbig_AeBe_star_LkHa_233_and_its_bipolar_jet

Comments

Revisions

  • SH2-126 and LBN 437 | The Head of the Gecko, Kevin Morefield
    Original
  • SH2-126 and LBN 437 | The Head of the Gecko, Kevin Morefield
    B
  • Final
    SH2-126 and LBN 437 | The Head of the Gecko, Kevin Morefield
    D
  • SH2-126 and LBN 437 | The Head of the Gecko, Kevin Morefield
    E

B

Description: Unprocessed Ha

Uploaded: ...

D

Description: Slight color balance adjustment

Uploaded: ...

E

Description: Low res Annotation showing HH objects

Uploaded: ...

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

SH2-126 and LBN 437 | The Head of the Gecko, Kevin Morefield

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Sharpless2 Objects
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