Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cepheus (Cep)  ·  Contains:  NGC 7822
Sharpless 171, John Renaud
Sharpless 171
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Sharpless 171

Sharpless 171, John Renaud
Sharpless 171
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Sharpless 171

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Description

Sharpless 171 is a large emission nebula located approximately 3,200 light-years away in Cepheus, within the larger star forming complex NGC 7822. Near the top left of the structure is a young cluster of stars named Berkeley 59, which is largely responsible for ionizing and illuminating the nebula. This cluster contains many stellar "baby stars" that are no more than a few million years old. Interestingly, the bright central star pointed to by the pillar isn't associated with SH2-171 - it's actually a foreground star, at about 300 light-years away.

This was acquired mostly last Fall and I finally just recently found the right combination of both time and motivation to finish processing it. Even at 60 hours of data, it was a challenge to bring out contrast while retaining some of the "murky" feel of this region and not over smoothing it... I think I got there... after about 8 restarts! :-P

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Sharpless 171, John Renaud