Waid Observatory

Object: IC 410 - The Tadpole Nebula
Dec. 23, 2018   -   Location: Davis Mountains west of Fort Davis, TX
Telescope: Stellarvue 102ED  -  Camera: ST-8300M  - Filters: Astrodon Ha, OIII
Exposure: Ha = 240 min. OIII = 280 min.

Click on the image to view at higher resolution.

 

IC 410

 

IC 410 - The Tadpole Nebula 1

Found in the constellation Auriga at an estimated distance of 12,000 light-years, IC 410 is an emission nebula surrounding the open cluster of young stars designated NGC 1893.  These bright stars are estimated to have been formed only about 4 million years ago.  This cluster of stars is located in the center of the image above.  The intense radiation and stellar winds of the cluster have sculpted the two tadpole shaped structures located in the upper left center of the image.  These cosmic streamers are approximately 10 light-years in length and are potentially stellar nurseries for newly forming stars.

The image above was assembled from two narrowband filtered images.  These consisted of HA mapped to red and OIII mapped to green and blue.  The Ha filtered image was also used for the luminance channel.  The resulting image is a false color image that approximates the true color of the nebula.

1https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170507.html

 
Copyright Donald P. Waid