WO Z73 – Semper Iuvenis Photography

C 9 – Cave Nebula

The Cave Nebula is 2,400 Light-years from earth in the constellation Cepheus.

Sh2-155 (also designated Caldwell 9) is a very faint diffuse nebula located 2,400 light-years away in the constellation Cepheus. It is widely known as the Cave Nebula.

The image consists of subs taken from the hills of Burke County, NC from Nov & Dec ’20 along with subs from Jan, May, June & July of ’21 – 220 subs totaling 19.5 hours of exposure.

Acquisition hardware: EQ6r Pro, WO Z73, ASI071MC Pro, Radian Quad Ultra, Polemaster, Senso Sesto 2, WO 50-200mm guidescope, ASI 120mm, and NUC.

Acquisition software: APT, PHD2, EQMOD, W10 pro.

Processed manually in Pixinsight.

Roughly 2,400 light-years away and lying in the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, the Cave Nebula is a diffuse emission nebula, within a larger nebula complex that includes a reflection nebula, and dark nebula. It is formed of gases that emit their own light. The bright arc that forms the mouth of the cave is an active birthplace for stars, known as an H II region, where hot clouds of atomic hydrogen have become ionized.

Having a magnitude of about 8 and a span of roughly 40 light-years, Caldwell 9 is a diffuse and low-contrast object, so it can still be difficult to find in the sky. Caldwell 9 is tantalizing to researchers because, according to radio and near-infrared studies of this nebula, the area is bursting with young, hot stars popping into existence.

The amazing wonders of nature.

The Jellyfish Nebula

IC 443 (also known as the Jellyfish Nebula and Sharpless 248 (Sh2-248)) is a galactic supernova remnant in the constellation Gemini. It lies adjacent to the emission nebula Sharpless 249, a star forming region, in the left half of this image. Some really smart folk who’ve been studying this believe that IC 443 may be the remains of a supernova (Star Explosion) that occurred 3,000 – 30,000 years ago. The same supernova event likely created the neutron star CXOU J061705, the collapsed remnant of the stellar core. The shock wave from the explosion produced the particularly intricate lacework of nebulosity that makes up the Jellyfish. The nebula, which is about 5,000 light years away, is adjacent to a rich region of star formation called Sharpless 249. IC 443 is one of the best-studied cases of supernova remnants interacting with surrounding molecular clouds.

The region is bordered by two very bright stars – Propus to the right and Tejat on the left. I find these two by lining up Alnitak (bottom star in Orions Belt) with the bright red star Betelgeuse and continuing about as far again. The two little stars are visible to the naked eye.

Eta Geminorum is the star’s Bayer designation. The traditional names Tejat Prior, Propus (from the Greek, meaning forward foot) and Praepes and Pish Pai (from the Persian Pīshpāy, پیش‌پای, meaning foreleg). In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN’s first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN; which included Propus for this star. Between the Propus and Tejat are several faint areas of nebulosity. IC 443, the jellyfish while further east around μ Gem is the emission nebula Sh 249 (left side of image). In between is the small faint emission nebula IC 444 (the bridge between the jellyfish and Sh 249).

Image captured with a ASI071MC Pro camera attached to a WO Z73 refractor telescope riding a SkyWatcher EQ6r Pro equitorial mount. Image acquisition with APT and processed manually in PixInsight. Exposures of 240s(28), 360s(94), 600s(32) – totaling 996 minutes, or 16.6 hours. All at unity gain and cooled to 20f. Calibration masters utilized.

Clear skies!

The Rosette Nebula – C 50

The Rosette Nebula is an H II region located near one end of a giant molecular cloud in the Monoceros region of the Milky Way Galaxy. The open cluster NGC 2244 is closely associated with the nebulosity, the stars of the cluster having been formed from the nebula’s matter.

The Rosette Nebula is a cloud of dust containing enough material to make about 10,000 stars like our Sun. In the center of the nebula, and off to the right hand side of this image, is a cluster of hot, bright young stars. These are warming up the surrounding gas and dust, making it appear blue.

The Rosette is a very busy area! A survey of the nebula with the Chandra X-ray Observatory has revealed the presence of numerous new-born stars inside optical Rosette Nebula and studded within a dense molecular cloud. Altogether, approximately 2500 young stars lie in this star-forming complex, including the massive O-type stars HD 46223 and HD 46150, which are primarily responsible for blowing the ionized bubble. Most of the ongoing star-formation activity is occurring in the dense molecular cloud to the south east of the bubble.

Another interesting tidbit of knowledge – On April 16, 2019 the Oklahoma Legislature passed HB1292, making the Rosette Nebula the official state astronomical object. Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed it into law April 22, 2019.

This photograph is comprised of 318 images totaling ~20 hours of exposure taken with a ZWO ASI071MC Pro camera and a WO Z73 scope w/flat7a riding a Skywatcher EQ6r Pro equitorial mount from my driveway parking area. Captured remotely on my laptop running APT & PHD2. Processed manually in PixInsight with PS doing the jpeg conversion.

There are 2 Caldwell designations as well a 5 New General Catalog (NGC) items within this cluster. They can be read about in Wikipedia via a google search. I dare ya!

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Cheers!