RCW 61 – A Rare Target (Alex Woronow)

Celestial hemisphere: Southern · Constellation: Centaurus (Cen)

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RCW 61 – A Rare Target

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RCW 61 – A Rare Target

OTA:……………….CDK17

Camera:………….SBIG STXL11002with AOX and FW8G (0.63 arsec/pxl)

Observatory:…. Heaven’s Mirror, Chile

EXPOSURES:

…R…….8 x 900 sec.

…B…....8 x 900

…G…….8 x 900

…O.….17 x 1800

…H.….18 x 1800

Total exposure 18.5 hours

Image Width: about 30 arc-minutes

Processed by Alex Woronow (2020) using PixInsight, Skylum, Topaz, 3DLut, SWT

Judging by the number of publications about this object, it must be the least studied, least observed, least liked object in our galaxy. It certainly was hard to process. The details in the cloud structure are sparse, and contrasts in tone or brightness among them also avoid prominence. It really wants to present as a hydrogen blob. The detail revealed in this picture took staring over about 5 times and twisting every AI knob I have in my programs folder. In the end, I opted to allow the hydrogen line data to provide most of the structural information (that is, the Luminosity channel). Likewise, most of the color is a 3::1 combination of H-alpha red::H-beta blue—the H-beta blue proportion being inferred from its “Balmer Decrement” of Ha/Hb =2.86, which was determined in planetary nebulae. How does that translates to other nebulae or compare to background-free measurements (e.g., in a laboratory)? Well, let’s just say that Google appears to be mute on those questions.

BTW, while I started by applying the above Balmer decrement, I altered it considerably (and intentionally!) to produce a more intense image.

Alex

Objects of the South - negative declination only

Please note: The following tables are updated every 24 hours.

Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	4285545
PixInsight job	IZ9XQKBGUORCWYCGYFVC5I5W0YW3KREE
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

RA (center)	11h30m04s.334
RA (top/left)	11h27m38s.728
RA (top/right)	11h29m22s.423
RA (bottom/right)	11h32m31s.600
RA (bottom/left)	11h30m45s.238

Dec (center)	-63°50′59″.41
Dec (top/left)	-63°39′14″.27
Dec (top/right)	-64°10′21″.53
Dec (bottom/right)	-64°02′33″.39
Dec (bottom/left)	-63°31′35″.11

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RCW 61 – A Rare Target

RCW 61 – A Rare Target

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RCW 61 – A Rare Target

RCW 61 – A Rare Target

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