IC 63 The Ghost of Cassiopeia

IC 63, also known as "The Ghost of Cassiopeia", is an area of molecular hydrogen clouds and dust located 550 light-years away in the constellation of Cassiopeia.

 

This region is both an emission nebula and a reflection nebula. The gas and dust in this region are bombarded with radiation from the bright star Navi (which is just out of shot to the top of this picture).

 

Navi is a Blue-White Giant star; the middle star in the "W" shape made by the constellation. It has a radius that is 14 times larger than our own Sun, while also being 55,000 times more luminous and 19 times more massive. Added to this is the fact that it is only 3 or so light-years away from the nebula. and bathes it in ultraviolet light. This causes the hydrogen gas to glow in the red part of the spectrum. Areas of blue can also be seen, which is due to light reflected from the gas dust in the nebula.

 

This picture was gathered by the C11 telescope over the course of about 3 hours.

 

~

 

Telescope: Celestron C11-A XLT Schmidt Cassegrain OTA

Mount: SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro

 

Controller: ZWO ASIAIR Plus

Main Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro at -10C

Filter: Optolong L-eNhance filter

Focuser: ZWO EAF

Guide Camera: ZWO ASI174MM Mini guidecam

Guide via: ZWO OAG

 

Stacked from:

Lights 83 at 120 seconds, gain 101, temp -10C

Darks 30 at 120 seconds, gain 101, temp -10C

Flat 30 at 6.1 seconds, gain 101, temp -10C

Dark Flat 30 at 6.1 seconds, gain 101 temp -10C

 

Bortle 4 sky.

Integrated the saved frames in Astro Pixel Processor.

Processed in PixInsight

Captions added in Photoshop CS4

 

Done