Cassiopeia Starfield
Characteristics:
RA (J2000): 00h 51m 51s
Dec (J2000): 61 degrees 25' 23"
Position Angle (Pinpoint): minus 37 degrees
Description:
The above image
was taken on three consecutive nights
of exceptionally transparent and clear skies in New England. It
is a widefield view of a starfield in the constellation Cassiopeia that
contains a number of interesting objects, the most familiar being the
mixed emission and reflection nebulae IC 59 and IC 63, seen to the left
of center, riding above the bright star gamma Cassiopeia. Gamma
Cas forms the middle star in the famous "W" shape of the Cassiopeia
constellation. It is an odd Be type variable with an extremely
fast rotation rate, associated with loss of mass and significant
changes in brightness over the years. This highly luminous star
is responsible for energizing the emission front of IC 59 and IC 63,
causing it to glow red in Ha light. Behind the emission front is
the less energetic reflection component that shines with predominantly
blue light. Also seen in this starscape is the myriad of stars
that populate the Milky Way in this location, as well as bands of dust,
several open clusters, the faint emission nebula SH2-180, as well as
the tiny planetary nebula PLN 121+0.1 (associated with SH2-179).
Feel free to check out the links to larger images and to crops of areas
of interest within this star rich field. Rob Gendler's
description of IC 59 and IC 63 may be found here.
Photographic
Details:
Date: September 19, 20, 21, 2009
Scope: Takahashi
FSQ106 at f5 on the Takahashi NJP
Mount
Autoguider: SBIG ST-402 with
60mm guidescope, focal length 227mm
Camera: STL11K -20C
Filters: Baader Ha,
LRGB
filter set; all 50.8mm
unmounted
Exposures: Luminance 180'; Ha 200'; R 60'; G 60'; B
120'.
Total
exposure 10.3 hours
Post-processing:
Calibrated, aligned, and Sigma Clip combined
in Maxim, 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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