NGC6164 Captured with the 20" AG Optical iDK telescope in Namibia, part of the Skygems network. I struggled a bit with some tracking issues that the scope was having, so some of my subs were not as sharp as I would have liked. I had to discard quite a few of them and keep some that were marginal. But it was a great learning experience as this is my first image with such a high magnification instrument.
The object is located roughly 4,200 light years away. The nebulosity is caused by a rare, massive, and hot O-type star that is roughly 40 times larger than the Sun. Its intense energy is pushing away and ionizing the material around the star causing the region to glow. It is more than halfway through its relatively short life and in a mere few million years will die in a supernova event.
It is visually close to the popular Fighting Dragons of Ara complex in the constellation Ara. I imaged the larger complex with a wide field scope earlier this year which can be found here:
https://www.astrobin.com/p1wo8e/G/Acquisition details:
14ea R/G/B 600" ea
14ea Ha 1200" ea
16ea O3 1200" ea
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