Sh2-64, also known as Westerhout 40 (W40), is a star-forming region located in the Serpens constellation. It is one of the closest stellar nurseries to our solar system, lying approximately 1,420 light-years away. W40 is a vast complex of gas and dust clouds, where massive stars are born and shape their surroundings. Within this region, intense radiation from young, hot stars ionizes the surrounding hydrogen gas, causing it to glow with a characteristic red hue seen in images of the nebula.
The region is also filled with dark tendrils of dust, obscuring the light from background stars and creating a dramatic contrast against the bright emission nebula. These dust lanes are not only aesthetically pleasing but also play a crucial role in the star formation process, acting as seeds for the gravitational collapse of gas clouds into new stars.
Processing of this image followed a fairly typical LRGB workflow and used
@Charles's Hagen’s narrowband addition technique
https://www.nightphotons.com/guides/advanced-narrowband-combination.
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