Where stars are born, IC348, LBN749 in Perseus
Published 2 March 2021

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About this object

IC 348 is the bluish reflection nebula just below the bright star 38 Persei (ATIK) in the upper left of the image. It also has the designation VdB 19. Within the constellation Perseus, IC 348 is a star forming region which contains several hundred stars. Many of these are young hot stars and their collective light causes the dust to glow the color of the stars. Around IC348 there is also a brighter reddish/orange area, the glow from the stars within this dust. Just to the left of 38 Persei there is a small whitish/orange nebula called Cederblad 21. Near the center of the image is a small reflection nebula which is orange and blue called DG21 and GN 03.39.8. The dark dust clouds near center and off to the right are named Barnard 3 and 4. The bright red emission nebula behind the dark dust clouds is LBN 749. To see where these objects are I included an annotated image. This area is fascinating and really has a lot going on. It's part of the star forming region called the Perseus OB2 molecular cloud.

The image is comprised of nearly 24hrs of exposure time through LRGB and HII filters. It was done from my suburban Bortle 5 backyard.
Image Details

  • Optics : Stellarvue SVX 152 refractor @f8 1200mm FL
  • Mount: Paramount MYT
  • Camera: ZWO ASI6200
  • Filters: Chroma 50mm LRGB, Astrodon 50mm 5nm
  • Exposure (min): LRGBHa 164:192:172:184:720 23.9 hrs, 2x2 binning
  • Camera/Mount Control: The Sky X, Voyager
  • Guiding: StarlightXpress Lodestar X2
  • Processing: PixInsight 1.8,
  • Location: Stark Bayou Observatory, Ocean Springs, MS
  • Sky: Typical SQM 19.6-20.1, Bortle 5, Suburban
  • Date: 19 Nov 20 - 2 Jan 21
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