Galaxies in a Cosmic Soup - NGC 7497 and MBM54 molecular cloud

This image shows a molecular cloud field in constellation Pegasus. This molecular cloud takes the shape of ghostly wisps, is located just outside our own galaxy and is called IFN - integrated flux nebula. This means that they reflect the combined luminosity of the stars in our galaxy and are, therefore, made visible.

But lurking in “between” these clouds, several galaxies are visible, being the largest one NGC 7497, located at about 60 million light years - a closer look will allow us to identify some of them. Despite appearances, these are located much farther than MBM54, which is at about 1,000 light years away.

 

This landscape has been on my target list for almost 8 months and only now it shows on the right position to photograph. But I also had the luck of being on a dark site during New Moon which helped tremendously. Astrophotography is indeed a hobby of patience and also some luck.

 

Shot at Santa Susana, Portugal (Bortle 4) on the 30th and 31st of August 2022.

 

Technical details:

LUM: 126 x 180 s (6h18)

RGB: 138 x 180 s (6h54), 1:1:1

 

TS Optics Triplet APO 800/115 | QHYCCD 268M | Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro | Optolong LRGB | TSOptics TSFLAT 3’ 0.79x | RB Focus Gaius-S

Acquisition: N.I.N.A. | Processing: Pixinsight

 

Done