Title: Sharpless 2 - 310 Giant HII region in the Milky Way
Description:
At the feet of Canis Major is one of the largest HII regions in the sky, Sharpless 2-310 Sh2-310 spans most of this 7.4° x 3.2° field of view. Hydrogen atoms are ionized by the two extremely hot and intrinsically bright star clusters, center top. One of these tau Canis Majoris has blown out a hole in the nebula. As the hydrogen nuclei (protons) re-capture electrons light is emitted as the electrons tumble from higher to lower energy states. Much of the light here is from red Hydrogen-alpha (3>2). Other atomic species are ionized and much of the remaining light here is from Sulfur II this is color coded yellow. There is a hint of teal Oxygen III teal that when combined with hydrogen and sulfur make some regions appear white.
There are a number of other designations for this region. The rightmost filament is LBN 1063. Middle ‘arrow head’ is LBN 1059. Center left is LBN 1067. The wisp in lower left is LBN 1057. Upper left is LBN 1054.
This is a two panel mosaic composed of 14 + 14 H-alpha, 8 + 9 Oxygen III, and 7 + 9 Sulfur II exposures, each 10 minutes for a total of more than 10 hours of integration from my little observatory at Dark Sky New Mexico.
Borg 107FL F/3.9 refractor, ASI6200MM Pro camera, Chroma 3nm passband filters for fast optics.
Uploaded: ...
Comments