Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cassiopeia (Cas)  ·  Contains:  IC 1848  ·  IC 1871  ·  LBN 667  ·  LBN 669  ·  LBN 670  ·  LBN 672  ·  LBN 673  ·  LBN 675  ·  LDN  ·  Sh2-198  ·  Sh2-199  ·  Sh2-201
IC 1848 / IC 1871 The Soul Nebula and SH 2-201/SH 2-198 - [HII] regions, Nicla.Camerin_Maurizio.Camerin
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IC 1848 / IC 1871 The Soul Nebula and SH 2-201/SH 2-198 - [HII] regions

IC 1848 / IC 1871 The Soul Nebula and SH 2-201/SH 2-198 - [HII] regions, Nicla.Camerin_Maurizio.Camerin
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IC 1848 / IC 1871 The Soul Nebula and SH 2-201/SH 2-198 - [HII] regions

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Acquisition details

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Description

"...the Soul Nebula (a.k.a. the Embryo Nebula, IC 1848, or W5). It is an open cluster of stars surrounded by a cloud of dust and gas over 150 light-years across and located about 6,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia, near the Heart Nebula
The cluster of stars, IC 1848, formed about a million years ago from the material of the nebula. Winds and ultraviolet light from these young stars are excavating a cavity in the cloud. Parts of the cloud that are more dense than their surroundings are being eroded more slowly and form giant towers, or pillars of dust and gas, which all point toward the central star cluster." https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/pia13014-soul-nebula

In the North Hemisphere we have the luck to access this extraordinary nebula. In May 2020 with around 6 hours of data I tried to process this nebula for the first time without success.  Even though it was an exciting moment to see the nebulosity and pale pillars of gas formation, all was diluted in some frustration after weeks of work with poor results.

Many factors contribute to that situation, the lack of a good calibration frame, skill in process, etc.  All those little but important aspects of this sophisticated hobby worked and after many trials and errors with other DSO, things turned out better.  A year passed and it was time to jump again in this pending project with new good data, proper calibration frames etc.

After working for almost three weeks,  we were very happy to achieve this point. It is a nebula of incomparable beauty and with infinity of details and curiosities that I particularly delight in.

The data was acquired from March 2020 until January 2021 in eighteen nights.
Filters used and hours around stacked
L-Pro 4 h
Enhance 13 h
Extreme 17 h

The colourization of the image is Hubble Palette oriented.
Image composition:
L: Ha
R: Ha
G: (Ha30%+[OIII]70%)50% +G(Enhance stack)50%
B: [OIII]

The 'corpse' of the nebula came from the Extreme/Enhance stack split in Ha and [OIII] by Siril script. Stacked back in DSS the pre-process files generated by Siril for orientation frame guide purposes.  The L-Pro stack was used to integrate the stars into the nebula.

Processed May-June, 2021
https://twitter.com/AstroOtus/status/1404839668315824129

Comments

Revisions

  • Final
    IC 1848 / IC 1871 The Soul Nebula and SH 2-201/SH 2-198 - [HII] regions, Nicla.Camerin_Maurizio.Camerin
    Original
  • IC 1848 / IC 1871 The Soul Nebula and SH 2-201/SH 2-198 - [HII] regions, Nicla.Camerin_Maurizio.Camerin
    B
  • IC 1848 / IC 1871 The Soul Nebula and SH 2-201/SH 2-198 - [HII] regions, Nicla.Camerin_Maurizio.Camerin
    C
  • IC 1848 / IC 1871 The Soul Nebula and SH 2-201/SH 2-198 - [HII] regions, Nicla.Camerin_Maurizio.Camerin
    D
  • IC 1848 / IC 1871 The Soul Nebula and SH 2-201/SH 2-198 - [HII] regions, Nicla.Camerin_Maurizio.Camerin
    E

B

Title: Pillars Vortice

Description: Starless detail.

Uploaded: ...

C

Title: The First Pillars

Description: Starless detail.

Uploaded: ...

D

Title: Golden Fall

Description: Starless detail.

Uploaded: ...

E

Title: Borders and Grand Canyon

Description: Starless detail.

Uploaded: ...

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

IC 1848 / IC 1871 The Soul Nebula and SH 2-201/SH 2-198 - [HII] regions, Nicla.Camerin_Maurizio.Camerin