NGC 7635
Bubble Nebula
Bubble Nebula
| NGC 7635, the Bubble Nebula in Cassiopeia. The Bubble is approximately 11,000 light years distant, and is approximately 10 light years in diameter. The stellar wind of the massive Wolf-Rayet star BD+602522 is pushing the gas shell of the nebula outward, but the outward movement is being resisted by the nearby dense molecular cloud. This interaction causes the surrounding material to heat up and glow. This image was taken using standard broadband red, green and blue color filters, and as a result has a more normal color appearance than some images of this object taken using narrowband filters. The image was taken over four nights using the new Montgomery Bell Academy observatory on Long Mountain near McMinnville, TN. The telescope was operated remotely during data collection. The observatory is complete, although the systems that will be used to vent air from the dome have not yet been activated, and seeing conditions in the dome should be improved in the future as a result. The FWHM of the final image is approximately 2.5 arc seconds. August 23, 25, 26 & 27, 2011 Camera: SBIG STX16803 Filters: AstroDon LRGB Camera control software: MaximDL Guiding/adaptive optics: Self guided Camera temperature: -20C Telescope: PlaneWave CDK 24" Telescope control software: SiTech, PointXP, TheSky6 Mount: PlaneWave Ascension 200HR Total exposure time: 5 hours Subexposures: Luminance: 48 x 5 minute, binned 2x2 (0.89 arc sec per pixel) RGB: 12 x 5 minute Red, Green & Blue, binned 2x2 Conditions: Hot, variable seeing. Processing: CCDStack2 and Photoshop CS5. |
