VdB30 (2024)

VdB30 is a reflection nebula located somewhere between 1600 and 6900 light-years away in the constellation Camelopardalis. It surrounds a central bright blue supergiant star, Alpha Camelopardalis (Alpha Cam, HD 30614). Although the cloud of gas and dust that surrounds the star is very large, it has a low reflectivity making it hardly noticeable. Another interesting thing about Alpha Cam is it is considered a runaway star having a reported speed between 60 and 4200 km/second. Runaway stars have abnormally high speeds relative to the interstellar medium which were set into motion by a supernova explosion of a companion star.

I barely captured the reflection nebula and was not really expecting to catch much of it anyway so the question why I attempted to go after this object is the first place. The answer is that it was a filler. We had several clear nights last month and I was going after other targets which went behind trees after a few hours and wanted to keep imaging. VdB30 may be a reflection nebula but it sits in a region with a faint hydrogen emission nebula. This made the vdB30 a good choice because I could collect data on moonlight nights well. I really like how the Ha arcs around vdB30 and forms a boomerang appearance. I also collected OIII data, however, there was not much signal and the HOO version was very similar to the HaRGB version. I did use it as the background was a bit smoother and I did a small blend of RGB around Alpha Cam.


Dates: 9-3-24, 9-4, 9-5, 9-7, 9-8, 9-9, 9-10, 9-11, 9-12, 9-13, 9-14, 9-15, 10-5

Higher Quality:
https://www.astrobin.com/4qmcqe/?nc=collection&nce=712

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VdB30 (2024)

Dates: 9-3-24, 9-4, 9-5, 9-7, 9-8, 9-9, 9-10, 9-11, 9-12, 9-13, 9-14, 9-15, 10-5

Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 805mm (644mm w/ FR)
f/7
Focal Reducer: 0.8x AstroTech Field Flatterner/Focal Reducer
Mount: Orion Sirius
Filter Wheel: ZWO
EFW 8 x 1.25"
Filter: Antlia Ha, OIII; ZWO R, G, B
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure: Ha 213 x 300, OIII 97 x 300, R 53 x 90, G 49 x 90, B 54 x 90 (29h 44')
Gain: 139
Offset 20
Sensor Temp: 0 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, BlurXTerminator, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, GraXpert, Bill Blanshan Color Masks, Bill Blanshan Stretching, Topaz Denoise.


https://www.instagram.com/astroquest1/
http://astroquest1.blogspot.com/
https://www.astrobin.com/users/kurtzepp/collections/
http://youtube.com/AstroQuest1