Red and grey IFN near NGC2976

[gorann]

The Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN) in this particular area of Ursa Major not far from M81 and M82 is rarely imaged. NGC2976 up in the left corner of this image is that small galaxy often caught together with M81 and M82 so those more iconic galaxies are lurking just a bit above this image. With the RASA I found the IFN to be quite colourful with both grayish and reddish reflecting dust. It is generally throught that these clouds are on the outer edges of our galaxy and, unlike "ordinary" reflection nebulae, are reflecting the light of the whole galaxy, and are thereby very faint and usually not readily detected with small aperture (low f-ratio) telescopes.

But clearly they are not all gray; some also reflect red even if they are not the usual Ha emitting nebulae (see http://www.deepskycolors.com/archive/2017/01/01/Clouds-Of-Andromeda.html). Indeed, that is why IFN often looks slightly reddish, as in my recently posted images from this area (the Angel and Volcano IFN nebulae), but in the area imaged here there seems to be an unusually clear separation of the gray and red IFN.

Caught 17 March with a RASA8 and ASI2600MC (no filter gain 100), 57 x 4 min. Processed in PS and PI.

 

Edited March 19, 2021 by gorann

[callisto]

Nice colours 👍

[gorann]

9 minutes ago, callisto said:

Nice colours 👍

Thanks Callisto!

[ramdom]

Stunning!!

--Ram

 

[gorann]

8 hours ago, ramdom said:

Stunning!!

--Ram

 

Thanks a lot Ram!