The Bubble Nebula in Hydrogen Alpha (NGC 7635)
Characteristics:
Magnitude: about 7.0
Size: about 15'
Distance: 11,000 light years
RA: 23h 20m 42s
Dec: 61 degrees 12' 00"
Description:
The Bubble Nebula is one of only a
few "bubbles" identified in the night sky, and it forms a photogenic
partner with the open cluster M52, seen in the lower left. It is
an unusual planetary nebula named for the surrounding bubble that is
seen in the upper right portion of the photograph above, caused by gas
ejected from a massive central star. The rate of ejected gas is
so brisk that it "runs into" the wall of the surrounding nebula, thus
creating a boundary of higher density gas that forms the outer shell of
the bubble. More information about this process may be found here.
Photographic Details:
Date: July 24, 2005
Scope: Takahashi
FS102 at f8, on the G11 Losmandy
Mount.
Autoguider: SBIG STV with
e-finder.
Camera: Maxcam CM10.
Filter: Astrodon
Ha filter (6 nm bandpass).
Exposures: 25 x 10' each.
Total exposure: 4.2 hours.
Conditions: Temperature 75 degrees F dropping to 65
degrees F throughout the
night; above average
transparency, below average seeing; calm; clear, with a waning
moon.
Post-processing:
Subs were debloomed with Ron Wodaski's
Debloomer software, dark frame calibrated, and then
aligned in Registar. Sigma combined using RC Sigma Reject
MaximDL, followed by DDP
in ImagesPlus (IP). Further processing in Photoshop CS (16
bit format).
Please
note: Graphics on this website
may not be reproduced without author permission.
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