Blue Horse Head or IC 4592
Above image awarded Photon d'Or for June 2021
Below is a closer look - this has some higher res data from last year mixed in.
This is not the more famous Horsehead nebula toward Orion but rather a fainter nebula that only takes on a familiar form with deeper imaging. The main part of this imaged molecular cloud complex is a reflection nebula catalogued as IC 4592.
Reflection nebulas are actually made up of very fine dust that normally appears dark but can look quite blue when reflecting the light of energetic nearby stars. In this case, the source of much of the reflected light is a star at the eye of the horse. (In fact if you look closer you will note two stars). That star is part of Nu Scorpii, one of the brighter star systems toward the constellation of the Scorpion (Scorpius).
Imaging telescope: Takahashi FSQ130ED
Imaging cameras: FLI ML16200
Mounts: Takahashi EM 400 Temma 2
Guiding cameras: QHY CCD QHY 5 II
Focal Extender / Reducer: Tak QE 0.73x
Software: PHD 2, Astro Pixel Processer, PixInsight , Sequence Generator Pro SGP
Filters: Astrodon LRGB
Accessories: ATIK EFW3
Original Resolution: 4450 x 3550
Dates: May 12 - May 15, 2021
Frames:
Astrodon Lum: 30 x 180"
Astrodon R,G & B: 3 x 30 x 180"
Integration: 6 Hours.
Center (RA, Dec):(243.617, -19.503)
Center (RA, hms):16h 14m 28.025s
Center (Dec, dms):-19° 30' 12.026"
Size:3.21 x 2.56 deg
Radius:2.055 deg
Pixel scale:2.6 arcsec/pixel
Orientation:Up is 179 degrees E of N
Reflection nebulas are actually made up of very fine dust that normally appears dark but can look quite blue when reflecting the light of energetic nearby stars. In this case, the source of much of the reflected light is a star at the eye of the horse. (In fact if you look closer you will note two stars). That star is part of Nu Scorpii, one of the brighter star systems toward the constellation of the Scorpion (Scorpius).
Imaging telescope: Takahashi FSQ130ED
Imaging cameras: FLI ML16200
Mounts: Takahashi EM 400 Temma 2
Guiding cameras: QHY CCD QHY 5 II
Focal Extender / Reducer: Tak QE 0.73x
Software: PHD 2, Astro Pixel Processer, PixInsight , Sequence Generator Pro SGP
Filters: Astrodon LRGB
Accessories: ATIK EFW3
Original Resolution: 4450 x 3550
Dates: May 12 - May 15, 2021
Frames:
Astrodon Lum: 30 x 180"
Astrodon R,G & B: 3 x 30 x 180"
Integration: 6 Hours.
Center (RA, Dec):(243.617, -19.503)
Center (RA, hms):16h 14m 28.025s
Center (Dec, dms):-19° 30' 12.026"
Size:3.21 x 2.56 deg
Radius:2.055 deg
Pixel scale:2.6 arcsec/pixel
Orientation:Up is 179 degrees E of N
Sky Map
Annotated Image
