Not your ordinary planetary nebula, which are produced when sun-like stars enter the last phase of their lives by becoming a red-giant and subsequently shedding their stellar atmospheres. The Crescent is, like other planetary nebulae, being ionized by it's parent star's intense radiation, but unlike most other planetary nebulae, The Crescent is also being ionized by the nearby Wolf-Rayet star "WR 136" whose intense winds are colliding with the material blown off by the Crescent's parent star. The end result is a beautiful image of two distinct shock waves colliding with each other in the depths of space, heating the gasses to temperatures so extreme that it emits X-ray radiation in addition to wavelengths within the visible spectrum of light.
Captured from my backyard observatory in Fremont, Michigan March 12th, April 5th using a QHY11 Monochrome CCD/Takahashi E-180. I also combined earlier data using the 12” RC for the Crescent Nebula
www.flickr.com/photos/terryhancock/7769503058/in/photostreamTotal Exposure time 2.5 hours
Image details
Location: DownUnder Observatory, Fremont MI
Date of Shoot: March 12th, April 5th 2014
H-Alpha 120 min 15 x 10 min bin 1x1
Equipment
QHY11S monochrome CCD cooled to -20C
Takahashi E-180 F2.8 Astrograph
Paramount GT-1100S German Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition Maxim DL
Stacking and Calibrating: CCDStack
Registration of images in Registar
Post Processing Photoshop CS5
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