RA: 19h 42m 27s Dec: +23° 05' 14.7, Mag: 15 , Size: 40', Distance: ~6000 ly
RA: 19h 42m 27s Dec: +23° 05' 14.7, Mag: 15 , Size: 40', Distance: ~6000 ly
Sharpless 2-86 is an emission nebula surrounding and illuminated by open star cluster NGC 6823 plus small reflection nebula NGC 6820 in the constellation Vulpecula. NGC 6823 open star cluster was discovered by William Herschel in 1785 and is located approximately 6000 light years and spans nearly 50 light years across with an age of about 2 million years. This cluster has between 50 to 100 stars with most located towards the center. Located to the west of the cluster is trunk-like pillar similar to other nebulae with star creating nurseries. A more detailed recent study done by Riaz et al. in PDF format can be found here here.
This image is done in mapped color of Red-Green-Blue to SII (Sulfur), Ha (Hydrogen alpha) and OIII (Oxygen) respectively to clearly display the nebula gas composition.
| Location & Date | Backyard, Abbott Observatory - June & July 2014 Temperature - Low 60's F |
| Telescope | Orion ED80 refractor, 600mm F/7.3, Losmandy G11 Gemini, Prime Focus, Image scale 2.54 arcsec/pixel |
| Camera | SBIG ST-2000XM (KAI-2020 CCD) w/CFW10 AstroDon 5nm Ha, OIII, SII filters CCD temp -15°C |
| Exposure Times | Ha 24x15m, OIII 24x15m, SII 24X15m -Bin 1x1 |
| Other Information | Image planning - CCD Navigator v3 Image acquisition/focus/guiding/dither - CCD Autopilot4 w/CCDSoft/TheSky6/PinPoint |
| Image Processing | Images Plus 2.75 - Calibrate, Normalize, Alignment, Sigma Combine, Deconvolution
Adobe CS4 - Hubble Palette color mapping: R=SII G=H-a B=OIII using technique by Dr. Travis Rector, U. of Alaska, NR, Star Spikes, JPEG conversion |
