The Prawn nebula, or IC 4628, is an interesting emission nebula at a distance of around 6000 light years away. It lies in the the tail of Scorpius. The young, hot, massive stars irradiate the nebula with UV light, exciting the hydrogen gas.
Furthermore there are some very interesting dark clouds visible in this area.
I found it difficult to find a view/crop that I favourite. I like the wide angle view to show more context, but the details in the nebula are just amazing as well.
Left and right from the ‘dark bridge’ are some areas with dark red structure combined with yellow glow from some stars.
Unfortunately there was quite some high cirrus in the air so didn’t have real nice transparent clear skies when imaging the Prawn nebula. It’s still amazing how much detail you can pick up in these circumstances, but you’ll notice it in the halos around the stars.
Acquisition details Prawn nebula
Date: June 28,29 2016
Location: Kiripotib, Namibia
Optics: APM 107/700 triplet with Riccardi 0.75 reducer side by side with TS Quadruplet 480/80
Mount: Fornax 51
Camera: Modified Nikon D600 and Nikon D5100
Guiding: Lacerta MGEN
Exposures:
36x8min ISO 200 with Nikon D600
36x8min ISO 400 with Nikon D5100
