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The Prawn Nebula

A crustacean amongst a sea of stars

prawn nebula astronomy singapore astrophotography

Click on the above thumbnails to view cropped regions of interest

Description

The Prawn Nebula (IC 4628) is an emission nebula and star-forming region located in the constellation of Scorpius. Due to the presence of hydrogen-rich gas clouds, it glows in a reddish hue when high energy radiation from massive stars ionize the interstellar gas cloud. Beside the Prawn Nebula is a bright star cluster known as the Northern Jewel Box or False Comet. Designated as NGC 6231, it appears to leave a trail of stars leading to IC 4628. The cropped images show close ups of NGC 6231 (left) and IC 4628 (right). 

Imaging Details

Location: Singapore 
Date(s): June 2016
Telescope: Takahashi FSQ85ED at f/5.3
Camera: SBIG ST8300M 
Mount: Losmandy G11/G2 
Exposure (minutes): HaLRGB 80:30:25:25:30

Image reduction, integration and processing with Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight.

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