Sunday, March 10, 2019

IC 2169 and Other Blue Reflections!

There are several reflection nebulae as well as dark nebulae in this image from a portion of constellation Monceros.  The largest being IC 2169 located in the bottom left.  The nebula is blue due scattered light from a nearby star coming in contact with dense grains of interstellar dust, scattered tends to be blue rather than red as in emission nebulae.  There is a interesting dark dust lane which begins in the nebula seems to stretch to IC 2167 which is on the middle right.  Stellarium has this listed as interstellar matter which it is composed of.  On the top are NGC 2245, closer to the center, and NGC 2247 closer to the top edge.  Both of these are blue reflection nebula with a bright core than IC 2169 and both seem to have dark dust clouds near by.  This whole area has many colorful blue and orange stars of all sizes.

I really like imaging these types reflection nebula but I find processing them to be quite difficult.  I had to do a lot of processing in order to make it look presentable and unfortunately every object has its own processing method.  I have a loose flow-process that I do but it varies quite a lot from one object to another object.  Of course I wanted to get more data but my limited viewing window along with poor weather conditions in southern Connecticut prevent that.  I would have had another 45 minutes but I must have had dirt on my glasses when I was focusing - oh well.  My ASI1600 is back in working order and I am imaging with it again.


IC 2169, IC 2167, NGC 2245, and NGC 2247
Location: Home Monroe, CT
Date: 3-4-19, 3-6-19, 3-9-19
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 805mm
f/7
Focal Reducer: Astro-Tech 0.8x Focal Reducer/Field Flattener for Refractor Telescopes
Mount: Orion Sirius
Filter Wheel: ZWO EFW 8x 1.25"
Filter: ZWO R, G, B, L
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope with Helical Focuser
Exposure: R 47 x 90, G 52 x 90, B 50 x 90, L 64 x 90
Gain: 139
Offset 21
Temp: 0 C
Post Processing: PixInsight and Photoshop
https://kurtzeppetello.smugmug.com/
http://astroquest1.blogspot.com/

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