NGC 225 and vdB 4
About image
NGC 225 is an open cluster in Cassiopea constellation, characterized by bright stars well separated on an area of 12' of diameter.
Its estimated distance from Earth is around 2140 light years and the age around 120/130 million of years.
One of its stars illuminates the blue reflection nebula vdB 4, visible on one side of the cluster: this star is a white-blue star of main sequence Be Herbig, that is a very young star (less than 10 million years of age) which is in an evoluted stage of formation but has not yet reached the main sequence .
So the color of the star explains the color of the nebula which reflects its light.
vdB 4 is the illuminated part of a wide complex of dark nebulae catalogued as LDN 1297 and well visible in the image.
Technical data
Optic Astrograph Newton Artec 200 E - Aperture 200mm, focal lenght 912mm, f/4.5
Mount Skywatcher EQ6R
Camera ZWO ASI 294MM Pro with external filter wheel 7 positions
Filters Antlia 36mm LRGB
Guiding system Artesky Ultraguide 60 MKII
Exposure details R 55x120" bin2 -15C gain 120
G 54x120" bin2 -15C gain 120
B 55x120" bin2 -15C gain 120
L 94x180" bin2 -15C gain 120
Total integration 10h10'
Acquisition Voyager, PHD2
Processing Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CS5, NoiseXTerminator, StarXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
SQM-L 21,09
Location Promiod (Aosta Valley, Italy)
Date 3/29/30 November 2024
© Roberto Marinoni 2019 - All rights reserved