Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Auriga (Aur)  ·  Contains:  Flaming Star Nebula  ·  IC 405  ·  IC 417  ·  M 38  ·  NGC 1893  ·  NGC 1907  ·  NGC 1912  ·  NGC 1931  ·  The star 16Aur  ·  The star 19Aur  ·  The star φAur
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Messier 38 and the Flaming Star Nebula in Auriga, Alan Dyer
Messier 38 and the Flaming Star Nebula in Auriga
Powered byPixInsight

Messier 38 and the Flaming Star Nebula in Auriga

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Messier 38 and the Flaming Star Nebula in Auriga, Alan Dyer
Messier 38 and the Flaming Star Nebula in Auriga
Powered byPixInsight

Messier 38 and the Flaming Star Nebula in Auriga

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

This is the rich region in the centre of the constellation of Auriga with the Flaming Star Nebula, IC 405 at right, and the roundish IC 410 at bottom with the cluster NGC 1893. At top left is the star cluster Messier 38, with small NGC 1907 below it. The small nebula at left is IC 417 around the loose cluster Stock 8. The large elongated nebula at top is Sharpless 2-230. The colourful asterism of stars between IC 405 and IC 410 is the Leaping Minnow or Little Fish, aka Mel 31.

This is a blend of 8 x 4-minute exposures at ISO 800 unfiltered with 8 x 8-minute exposures at ISO 2000 shot through an Optolong L-Enhance dual-band nebula enhancement filter (it lets through only Oxygen III blue-green and Hydrogen-alpha red to really enhance the nebulosity). Blending the exposures adds the extensive red nebulosity recorded by the filtered images without turning the whole field — and stars — red and losing the blue reflection nebulas and subtle colour variations even in the red Ha nebulas.

All exposures with the Canon EOS Ra mirrorless camera through the SharpStar HNT150 Hyperbolic Newtonian Astrograph at f/2.8, from home on a very clear moonless night January 24, 2020. All stacked, aligned and blended in Photoshop 2020. High pass sharpening applied as well as a very selective use of frequency separation sharpening with WOW Freq Equalizer extension.

Comments

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

Messier 38 and the Flaming Star Nebula in Auriga, Alan Dyer

In these public groups

Canadian Astrophotography