IC 1848 - The Sole Nebula in Cassiopeia

 

Copyright 2006 Hap Griffin

IC 1848 is sometimes called the "Sole Nebula" because of its resemblance to the heel and sole of a shoe.  Others see a human embryo lying on its back and so it is called the "Embryo Nebula" in several references.  To complicate the issue even further, it is also sometimes called the "Soul Nebula" (not to be confused with "Sole") because of its close proximity to IC 1805, known as the "Heart Nebula"...the two are often described as the "Heart and Soul Nebulae".  In any case, IC 1848 is an emission nebula...a giant cloud of glowing hydrogen gas that is the birthplace of many of the stars embedded within it.  It is physically connected to IC 1805 by a very thin bridge of gas, just barely visible in this photo to the upper right.

IC 1848 lies at a distance of 7500 light years.

Registar reports 28,726 stars in this photograph. 

 

Date/Location:   December 9, 2006     Griffin/Hunter II Observatory    Bethune, SC
Instrument:    Canon 350D (modified IR filtering) Digital SLR through Orion ED80 Refractor 
Focal Ratio:   f4.5 via Meade .63 focal reducer
Guiding:    Auto via SBIG ST237 through 10" RCX-400
Conditions:    Visually clear
Weather:    35 - 30 F
Exposure: 125 minutes total (25 x 5 minutes @ ISO 800)
Filters:    Baader UV/IR block
Processing:    Focused and captured with DSLRFocus.  RAW to TIFF conversion, auto-dark and flat frame calibration, Digital Development, resizing and JPEG conversion in ImagesPlus.  Color correction in Photoshop PS2.  Noise reduction in NeatImage.

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