The photo presented is a narrowband Bi-Colour image created by combining filtered light Ha, and OIII filters. Narrowband images can often reveal details of objects that we cannot see easily, or not at all in broadband. Ha has been assigned to the Red channel while OIII assigned to the green and blue channels. The result has some similarities to a traditional RGB image. I added RGB Stars in an attempt to emulate a conventional RGB image with narrowband data.

The Prawn Nebula is located in the Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way, in the constellation Scorpius. Other names include both IC 4628, and Gum 56. From our vantage point, it is about 6,000 light-years away. IC 4628 is an extensive stellar nursery containing a large number of very hot, luminous, young stars created from the surrounding gases.

The nebula is about 250 light-years in diameter, with an apparent size of 1.5 degrees. For reference, this would cover an area three to four times the size of the moon. With my instrument, the full moon will fill my sensor. Unfortunately, I can’t fit the entire complex within this image.

Gum 56 is very faint and emits light at wavelengths not visible to our eyes. Two luminous giants and several young stars in this nebula emit an incredible amount of ultraviolet radiation ionising the hydrogen gas. The result, it glows. Material ejected from violent supernova in the past provides new materials that allow for the formation of new stars. The cycle of stellar life and death continues as dust and gases collapse down, forming new stars.

Instruments:

• 10 Inch RCOS fl 9.1

• Astro Physics AP-900 Mount

• SBIG STL 11000m

• FLI Filter Wheel

• Baader Planetarium H-alpha 7nmNarrowband-Filter

• Baader Planetarium OIII 8.5nm Narrowband-Filter

• Baader Planetarium SII 8.0nm Narrowband-Filter

Exposure Details:

• Ha 22 X 1800 Binned 1X1

• OIII 24 X 1800 Binned 1X1

• Red 22 X 450 Binned 2X2

• Green 18 X 450 Binned 2X2

• Blue 12 X 450 Binned 2X2

• Lum 38 X 900 Binned 1X1

Total Exposure Time: 39.0 Hours