IC 2177 Seagull Nebula

On the first clear night in a month I had two hours to capture something so I focussed on what I call the Brighton and Hove Albion Nebula (aka the Seagulls).

 

It is a broad expanse of glowing gas and dust presenting a bird-like appearance, hence its more common name - The Seagull Nebula. You can just about make out the wings and body. If I had more time they would have been more distinct.

 

The cloud of gas at the ‘head’ of the Seagull (Sharpless 2-292) glows brightly due to the energetic radiation from an extremely hot young star within it (HD 53367).

 

Sharpless 292, IC 2177, and NGC 2327 all refer to the ‘head’ of the Seagull, which is only a small portion of the larger nebula. The entire nebula region spans nearly 240 light-years across.

 

The picture also includes two open clusters of stars. NGC 2335 is about a third of the way up on the left and NGC 2343 is in the centre at the bottom of the picture. There are so many other stars here it may be hard to tell what is a cluster and what isn't.

 

Equipment Used

 

Telescope: William Optics Zenithstar 81 APO

Mount: SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro

 

Controller: ZWO ASIAIR Plus

Main Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro at gain 101, temperature -10C

Filter: ZWO IR cut-off (Infrared block) filter

Focal reducer: William Optics 0.8x 2.00"

Focuser: ZWO EAF

Guide Camera: ZWO ASI290MM Mini guidecam

Guide Scope: William Optics 50mm

 

Stacked from:

Lights 25 at 300s, gain 101, temp -10C

Darks 30 at 300s, gain 101, temp -10C

Flats 30 at 850ms, gain 101, temp -10C

DarkFlats 30 at 850ms, gain 101 temp -10C

 

Bortle 4 sky.

Stacked in AstroPixelProcessor and adjusted in Photoshop CS4 and Topaz DeNoise AI

 

 

Done