Mandel-Wilson 4: Animal Track Nebula IFN

[gorann]

Here I am back in Ursa Major in my gathering of faint Integrated Flux Nebulae (IFN). This is first light for my second RASA 8 after I collimated it. Unlike its older brother it was not perfectly collimated out of the box and stars suffered a lot especially in the periphery. Now it is probably as good as it can be.

I have not found any published images of the Animal Track Nebula at this image scale and it can just about be seen in the Aladin Sky Atlas (DSS2-IR). If anyone have seen any images of it please let me know.

As before the RASA 8 - ASI2600MC combo is quite good at finding colours even in the faintest nebulosity, and it is not clear to me if the red nebulosity here is IFN or Ha emitting nebulosity. It does seem to lay behind the greyish IFN so it should all be in the outskits of our galaxy if I got it right and therefore not lit up by single stars but by the collective radiation of the galaxy (according to Mandel and Wilson). Could the curved line of grey nebulosity to the right suggest that some shock wave is affecting this area?

Collected during two nights 6-7 April with a RASA 8 and ASI2600MC on a Mesu200 mount. 62 x 5 min (gain 100), so 5.2 hours. Processed in PI and PS. Annotated in PI.

Edited April 9, 2021 by gorann

[Knight of Clear Skies]

The arc on the right is intriguing, I wonder if it's an old supernova remnant? The Ursa Major Arc runs near there but is much less curved, due to its enormous size.

[clarkpm4242]

That is very attractive!  As well as a technical triumph.  Paul.