Lobster Nebula (NGC 6357) in SHO

[glowingturnip]

Covid put a serious dent in my astrophotography, wow.  My equipment is in Spain so this set, taken in the summer, was the first chance I had in about 18 months.

Hi-res version here

 

11x Ha and 8x Oiii and Sii 900s.  Darks, flats and bias, equipment as per sig, Pixinsight.

 

This was taken in southern Spain - it's definitely low for me, a bit of a tree skimmer and shooting through the light pollution dome over Malaga (one 'advantage' of Covid was that the normal Feria lights for that time of year weren't on), but I have a bit of time as it passes over the end of the valley.  From being dark enough to set up, to losing it in the trees, I was able to get 4 shots per night.  Needs more data really, maybe a multi-year effort.

 

NGC 6357 is a diffuse nebula  in the constellation Scorpius.  It is known as the Lobster Nebula (view this upside down, maybe the two blobs look like eye-stalks ?), the Madokami Nebula (after the Japanese anime Madoka Magica due to its resemblance to the main character, there was a fan petition to rename it), and as the War and Peace Nebula (in infrared images the bright, western part resembles a dove, while the eastern part looks like a skull). The nebula contains many young stars and proto-stars shielded by dark balls of gas.  This nebula includes the open cluster Pismis 24 (the small group of stars immediately below the blue in this image), which is home to several massive stars. One of the brightest stars in the cluster, Pismis 24-1, was thought possibly to be the most massive on record, approaching 300 solar masses, until it was discovered to be a multiple system of at least three stars; component stars would still remain near 100 solar masses each, making them among the more massive stars on record.  It is located about 5,500 light years away from Earth.  

 

 

Hope you enjoy !

Edited December 12, 2021 by glowingturnip

[astro mick]

A very nice image,and a great write up.

Mick.

[glowingturnip]

thank you 🙂