My latest Deep Sky Object, captured over two nights last week.
This mean looking celestial abstract is known as The Fighting Dragons of Ara (NGC6188).
An emission nebula (stellar nursery) situated in the southern band of the Milky Way, between the constellations of Ara & Norma.
This nebula lies at a distance of around 4000 Lightyears from earth and spans 600 light years across, the greater extent taking up an angle of around 2 degrees in the sky.
In this very active region of space, new stars are formed from the interstellar material constituting these incredible shapes.
The stellar wind from these hot young stars ionizes the gas around them, causing the gas clouds to glow with the vibrant red hues seen in this image.
It’s common name was no doubt contrived as a result of astronomers observing the shape of two dragons facing off within the intertwined structures of the nebula
The cocoon-like shape in the lower right of the images is NGC6164, otherwise known as The Dragon’s Egg Nebula (for obvious reasons).
It is understood that the super-hot & luminous O-type star at the center was formed by this nebula.
The blue halo surrounding the central nebula is likely to be material expelled by the central star in an early phase of heightened stellar activity.
The image is an integration of over 6 hours of One-shot-colour, Tri-narrowband (Ha, Hb & Oiii) footage, captured across two nights this month.
EXIF:
Canon 60D full spectrum modified.
William optics GT81 + 0.8 reducer + Optolong L-Enhance filter.
Skywatcher HEQ5 mount + ASIAIR+
William optics 50mm guide scope + ASI294mm guide cam.
122 x 3 min exposures @ ISO6400, Bin1.
Processed in Deep Sky Stacker & Adobe Photoshop.
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https://alphacrux.co.nz/pages/astrophotography
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