Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Scorpius (Sco)  ·  Contains:  HD147009  ·  HD147010  ·  HD147195  ·  IC 4601  ·  LBN 1115  ·  LDN 1719  ·  VdB103
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
IC 4601, gmadkat
Powered byPixInsight

IC 4601

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
IC 4601, gmadkat
Powered byPixInsight

IC 4601

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

IC 4601 is a reflection nebula about 420 light-years away in Scorpius. It is part of the Horsehead Nebula (IC 4592). The blue hue of reflection nebulae is caused by the tendency of interstellar dust to more strongly scatter blue starlight, resulting from the scattering of light off of very small dust particles.  The blue light's wavelength matches the small, smoke sized, dust particles better than other colors of light.  The young hot blue stars embedded within the dust cloud radiates strongly in the blue spectrum, giving the nebula its blue color. IC 4601 is illuminated by the intense radiation of the stars present in its vicinity.The dust of IC 4601 contains the heavy elements that planets are made of, and plays a major role in the creation of new stars, likely present are baby stars wrapped in these blankets of dust.

Imaged in LRGB on the Planewave CDK 700 at Observatorio El Sauce, Chile.

Processed in Pixinsight and Photoshop. Used SPCC for color and BXT for details and stars.

Comments