IC1848

IC1848 - The "Embryo" or "Soul" Nebula

Object Description:
Located just over 4° N of h Persei, IC 1848 is a faint emission nebula located just SE of IC1805.  It is variously referred to as the "Soul Nebula" or "Embryo Nebula", due to its resemblance to a baby.  The same field of view also contains Collinder 33 and Collinder 34 star clusters as well as faint nebulae IC1871 and Sh2-198.

Both IC1848 and IC1805 are not visible to our naked eyes. IC1848 has a size of 60 arc minutes in east-west and 30 minutes in north-south direction.  The nebulae float together at a distance of about 2500 light years away.

This image is a tricolor narrowband image, taken with Ha, OIII, and SII filters.

Dates Taken:
- 9/30/06 through 10/22/06

Equipment Used:
- TAK FSQ
- SBIG STL-6303
- Paramount ME
- FLI PDF
- Astrodon 50mm Ha, OIII, and SII filters, with 6nm bandpass

Exposures:
- Ha: 8 hours of 30 minute subs
- OIII: 14.5 hours of 30 minute subs
- SII: 11.75 hours
   ...totalling 34.25 hours

Processing:
CCDStack:
- Calibration
- Image registration
- Initial channel combines
- Hot/cold pixel reduction
- Gentle deconvolution
- DDP

Photoshop CS2:
- Color combine
- Gradient removal
- Color adjustments
- Noise control
- Shadow/highlight adjustments
- Contrast enhancement (Noel Carboni's Photoshop Actions)
- Contrast curves
- Sharpening

Further information available at http://www.flemingastrophotography.com/ic1848.html