IC 63

About Image:

IC 63, famously known as the "Ghost of Cassiopeia," is a hauntingly beautiful nebula located roughly 550 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. This target is a combination emission and reflection nebula. It is shaped like a ghostly arrow pointing directly at the violently bright, eruptive variable star Gamma Cassiopeia, which sits just 3 to 4 light-years away from the gas clouds. The intense ultraviolet radiation from this massive blue star is actively blasting, ionizing, and slowly eroding the delicate hydrogen-alpha gas filaments of the nebula into deep space.

Equipment & Details:

Optics: Orion 8” inch 3.9f Newtonian astrograph

Camera: Canon 60D DSLR unmoddified

Mount: Celestron AVX

Guiding: Orion starshoot autoguider 60mm guide scope

Dates: October 8,9,17-20216

Location: Clarksdale Missouri

Exposures: Lights-143 with 4-minutes subs, ISO-1250 total 9 hours 32 minutes

Processing: Pixlnsight, Photoshop CS5