Nebulae  Back to Photo Gallery - Nebulae
 NGC1579 Trifid of the North 


Low Resolution            Mid Resolution            Full Resolution

About:
Colorful NGC 1579 resembles the better known Trifid Nebula, but lies much farther north in planet Earth's sky, in the heroic constellation Perseus. About 2,100 light-years away and 3 light-years across, NGC 1579 is, like the Trifid, a study in contrasting blue and red colors, with dark dust lanes prominent in the nebula's central regions. In both, dust reflects starlight to produce beautiful blue reflection nebulae. But unlike the Trifid, in NGC 1579 the reddish glow is not emission from clouds of glowing hydrogen gas excited by ultraviolet light from a nearby hot star. Instead, the dust in NGC 1579 drastically diminishes, reddens, and scatters the light from an embedded, extremely young, massive star, itself a strong emitter of the characteristic red hydrogen alpha light. [Text adapted from APOD]



Optics: GSO RC 10" F8 2000mm - Astrograph Ritchie-Chrétien
Mount: AP Mach1 GTO on Gemini Q-Lock tripod
Camera: QSI 640 WSG
Filters: Astrodon LRGB I Series Gen II
Guiding Systems: SXV-AO-LF Active Optics - SX Lodestar
Dates/Times: 25-26-27 September 2014 / 17-28-29-30 October 2014 / 13-18-19-22 November 2014
Location: Pragelato - Turin - Italy
Exposure Details: L:R:G:B => 900:230:230:230 = > (60x15):(23x10):(23x10):(23x10) color Bin2 [num x minutes]
Cooling Details: -35°C
Acquisition: Maxim DL/CCD, TheSkyX, Voyager
Processing: CCDStack2+, PS CS5
Mean FWHM: 1.68" / 2.78"
SQM-L: 20.45 - 21.21