The first thing that struck me as I began to see this image unfold is the vast number of stars found in the illuminated sky. Varying temperatures are seen in the gases with hot Hydrogen gases glowing in reddish hues with cooler gases expanding outward.
IC 2177 is a region of nebulosity that lies along the border between the constellations Monoceros and Canis Major. The name Seagull Nebula is sometimes applied by astronomers to this emission region as it resembles a gull in flight, although it also includes the neighboring regions of star clusters, dust clouds and reflection nebulae.
Astronomers catalog the nebula as IC 2177. This cosmic cloud is one of many sites of star formation within the Milky Way galaxy. It is located 3,800 light-years away from Earth, inside the Orion spur — the same partial spiral arm of the Milky Way where our solar system is located. The nebula is nearly 240 light-years across.
NGC 2327 is located in IC 2177. It is also known as the Seagull’s Head, due to its larger presence in the Seagull nebula. Astronomers list the region near the seagull’s eye (or lizard’s hip) as NGC 2327, which contains a cluster of stars born about 1.5 million years ago. The eye is the brightest and hottest of the newborn stars in the entire nebula, and heats up the dust so that it glows in infrared light.
Dominated by the reddish glow of atomic hydrogen, the complex of gas and dust clouds with bright young stars spans over 100 light-years at an estimated 3,800 light-year distance.
This image consists of 11 hours of exposures with an ASI071MC pro OSC camera connected to a WO Z73 doublet refractor telescope riding a SW EQ6r Pro mount. Image acquisition with APT, processing in PixInsight.
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