A Cosmic Boo-ya

Our excursion through the constellation of Cassiopeia made a stop to the blue-white giant star in the middle of the constellation’s iconic “W”, Gamma Cassiopeia. Meet IC 63, fondly known as the Ghost of Cassiopeia (for obvious reasons). This nebula is primarily an emission region composed of hydrogen clouds and dust and is located about 550 light-years away from Earth. An interesting trivia; Gamma Cassiopeia is said to have a radius that is 14 times larger than our sun, is 55,000 times more luminous and 19 times more massive. Let that settle in your minds for a little. It definitely helps us to appreciate that the Universe is much bigger than we can imagine. We may bump into some rather interesting objects and regions on this cosmic journey, but let us continue to look up and experience an amazing Universe.

Source: https://www.universetoday.com/19850/cassiopeia/amp/

Gear: AA Hypercam 26C, SW Evostar 72ED, HEM27 mount, SVbony Ha filter (7nm), Optolong CLS; SVbony 120mm guidescope + ZWO 120mc

Exif: Ha 3 hrs (300 secs subs), RGB 1 hr (60 secs subs); Gain 200, Offset 3, TEC @ 10 degrees

SharpCap, AstroPixelProcessor, PixInsight, Photoshop, Topaz DeNoise AI

4 Comments

  1. THIS IS GREAT! I HAVE THE IMAGE PULLED UP ON MY BIGGER SCREEN COMPUTER ALSO. REALLY LIKE THE 3D EFFECT YOU GET! I ALSO LOVE THE FACT THAT YOU GIVE SO MUCH BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT THE OBJECTS IN YOUR PHOTOS. I DIDN’T REALIZE THAT THAT OBJECT WAS SO CLOSE 550 LIGHT YEARS IS REALLY NOTHING!
    EXCELLENT COLORS AND GREAT RESOLUTION! ABSOLUTELY AMAZING WHAT YOU CAN DO THESE DAYS WITHOUT HAVING TO HAVE A TELESCOPE THE SIZE OF A TRUCK!
    KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK AND WE’LL BE TALKING TO YOU LATER!
    CLEAR SKIES AND KEEP LOOKING UP!

    1. Thank you much. I am definitely learning how to process these images. I would have loved to take this at a much further focal length but that’s another time 😊. I was happy with the results.

  2. Congratulations on getting involved in a meaningful way and engaging your audience in planarary science. I will be following your journey of discovery

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