Perseus – Semper Iuvenis Photography

The Double Cluster in Perseus

Caldwell 14 is popularly known as the Double Cluster in Perseus. It is a pair of bright open star clusters, NGC 869 and NGC 884. They are located approximately 7,500 light-years from Earth.

Double clusters are not all that common. Thus, this pair has special recognition as being relatively young, separated by only .5 degrees and are visible to the naked eye as a hazy patch in dark skies.

For me it’s the vibrant star colors that catch my eye. There are a few very bright red giants and several yellow stars similar to our sun. The bright blue stars are the youngest within the clusters.

There are more than 300 blue-white supergiant stars in each of the clusters. The clusters are also blue-shifted. NGC 869 approaches Earth at a speed of 39 km/s. NGC 884 approaches at a similar speed of 38 km/s. Their hottest main sequence stars are of spectral type B0. NGC 884 includes five prominent red supergiant stars. All are variable and all around 8th magnitude: RS Persei, AD Persei, FZ Persei, V403 Persei, and V439 Persei.

Astrobin link for the acquisition details and an annotated version of the image.

Exploring Sh2-206: The Fossil Footprint Nebula

Sh2-206 is also known as NGC 1491 or the Fossil Footprint Nebula. It is an emission nebula located approximately 10,700 light-years away in the constellation Perseus. The nebula gets its deep red coloration from the ionized hydrogen gas. The “Fossil Footprint” nickname comes from its distinctive shape in images.

It is a typical target for astrophotography during the late autumn and winter months in the Northern Hemisphere. Astrobin link for acquisition details and annotation.

This image contains 187 3 minute subframes captured from my driveway using APT. This natural color image was calibrated, integrated, and processed using PixInsight.

The Phantom Tiara Nebula – NGC 1333

NGC 1333 is a reflection nebula located in the northern constellation Perseus. It is positioned next to the southern constellation border with Taurus and Aries. This nebula is in the western part of the Perseus molecular cloud. It is a young region with very active star formation.

This is a bright but small object surrounded by thick interstellar dust clouds. Some of these clouds are so thick that they completely hide the light behind them. NGC 1333 is commonly referred to as the Embryo Nebula, or the Phantom Tiara.

Session management and acquisition control by APT. Processed manually in PixInsight. Astrobin link for acquisition details and annotated contents.

Sh2-207 Faint Hii in Perseus

I choose to image this pair of Nebula while perusing images of the Sharpless Catalog online. I didn’t realize how faint and small they are at the time. This image integrates 7 hours of exposure. It uses a GSO RC8 at 1627mm fl and a ZWO ASI071MC camera atop a Skywatcher EQ6r Pro mount. All are controlled and integrated by APT, Astro Photography Tool.

Sharpless 2-207 is a star-forming region, similar to a miniature version of the Rosette Nebula. Despite its appearance, this is an HII region ionised by an O9.5 IV star and not a planetary nebula. The star cluster in the western part of the nebula is about 2-3 million years old. Its kinetic distance is about 4 kpc. The smaller H-II region Sharpless 2-208 is at about the same distance.

The nebulae Sh 2-207 and Sh 2-208 are located on the border of the constellation Camelopardalis to Perseus. The best viewing time is September to March, when the circumpolar constellation is at its highest. These are very dim and require long exposure and adequate focal length. They are surrounded by the Perseus hydrogen cloud but that would require much more integration time to bring out. Perhaps another year.

There’s not much else to say about a couple of balls of ionized hydrogen in space.