NGC7023 - Iris Nebula (John Dziuba)

NGC7023 - Iris Nebula

This is a target that has always intrigued me. But, from my home observatory it is squarely positioned in the middle of the worst light pollution low in my Bortle 8 sky. That makes it practically inaccessible to me as a broadband target. So, now that I have my remote observatory set up at SRO the Iris was one of my highest priority initial targets. It helps that the 1000mm focal length of the TOA-150 is ideally suited for this target.

This was a challenging one. With its bright core and a rapid transition to fine and dim surrounding features it was a real challenge to process the data in order to bring out as much detail and color as possible in all brightness levels without the final image looking over-cooked (which it may very well be). After many revisions, I settled on this version. As this hobby tends to go, I am sure I will be revisiting this data set in the future.

The Iris Nebula is a bright reflection nebula in the constellation Cepheus and lies 1,300 light-years away. Within the Iris itself, dusty nebular material surrounds a hot, young star. The dominant color of the brighter reflection nebula is blue, characteristic of dust grains reflecting starlight. Central filaments of the reflection nebula glow with a faint reddish photoluminesence as some dust grains effectively convert the star's invisible ultraviolet radiation to visible red light. Infrared observations indicate that this nebula contains complex carbon molecules known as PAHs. The dusty blue petals of the Iris Nebula span about six light-years. (credit: text from NASA)

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	7915019
PixInsight job	A6UWBCK5QK67X12Y8M64E60CN0H4R1GR
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	21h00m35s.188
RA (top/left)	21h06m55s.172
RA (top/right)	20h54m19s.370
RA (bottom/right)	20h54m31s.657
RA (bottom/left)	21h06m33s.224

Dec (center)	+68°01′35″.68
Dec (top/left)	+68°33′06″.94
Dec (top/right)	+68°33′43″.42
Dec (bottom/right)	+67°29′10″.14
Dec (bottom/left)	+67°28′44″.60

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