Ant Nebula, Menzel 3 in Norma, against rich and colorful Milky Way starfield. Imaged with Sloan i', r' g' filters at 0.28" per pixel with EdgeHD11 on cgx-l video guided by MetaGuide.
About 55 x 5m exposures in each filter.
A sharpened close-up of the r' channel in gray scale is
here.The only aesthetic operation on the image was a global stretch. The colors are calibrated deterministically using custom code and unaltered in the stretch. The colors are different from RGB because the i' filter (red here) extends deeper into the IR, causing the cool, faint stars to show as deep red. No cropping, no AI, no sharpening.
There is a faint greenish glow in the upper right that looks like a gradient but I believe it is extended nebulosity that was captured in my
Ha image of the region from a few years ago - in my gallery.
The nebula glows mainly in Ha but Ha shows in the r' filter, which is mapped to green here. So the actual dominant "true" color of the nebula would be the usual pink/purple of Ha/HBeta.
Here is a Hubble image with text describing its possible origins - which are not fully understood. It's an exploded star but additional mechanisms such as an orbiting companion may be involved.
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