Cosmic pillars of cold molecular gas and clouds of dark dust lie within Sharpless 171, a star-forming region some 3,000 light-years away in the royal constellation Cepheus. This tantalizing false-color skyscape spans about 20 light-years across the nebula’s bright central region. It also highlights the pervasive glow of emission from atomic gas using narrowband filters and a color palette made popular in Hubble Space Telescope images. Powering the nebular glow are the young, hot stars of a newly formed cluster, Berkeley 59. Of course, this star-forming region is entry number 171 in the famous 1959 catalog of emission nebulae compiled by astronomer Stewart Sharpless.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: William Optics FLT 110
Imaging cameras: SBIG ST-10XME
Mounts: Skywatcher NEQ6 PRO
Guiding telescopes or lenses: William Optics zenithstar 1 80×480
Guiding cameras: Meade DSI C
Software: Photoshop, PHD Guiding, Software Bisque TheSky6 Pro, CCDStack
Filters: Astrodon OIII 3nm, Astrodon Ha 5nm, Baader Planetarium SII 8.5nm 1.25″
Dates: Oct. 6, 2012
Frames: 145×600″
Integration: 24.2 hours

Autor: Theodore Arampatzoglou

11 March 2014

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