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.
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