NGC 1579 - Northern Trifid

NGC 1579
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Object: NGC 1579
Date of exposures: 02.12.2016, 04.12.2016, 05.12.2016
Distance: 2.600 Lightyears
Exposures: Lum: 69 x 600 Sek., RGB: 52 x 400 Sek., Gesamt 17,3 Std.
Telescope: 10'', F4 Newton
Focal length: 1000 mm
Filter: Astrodon RGB E-Series, Astronomik CLS CCD
Camera: Atik 460Exm
Guiding: MGEN
Mount: EQ8

NGC 1579 is located in the constellation Perseus and looks similar to the better-known Trifid Nebula. The known distances of the diffuse nebula vary between 2,100 and 2,600 light years. It has a diameter of 3 light-years and, similar to the Trifid, shows contrasting blue and red colors with striking dark dust areas in the central region. In both cases, dust reflects the starlight and forms the blue reflections. But unlike the Trifid, the reddish glow in NGC 1579 is not an emission of clouds from hydrogen. Instead, the dust in NGC 1579 weakens the light of an embedded, extremely young mass-rich star (LkHα 101), which itself is a strong source of emission of the characteristic red H-alpha light. The nebula was discovered in 1788 by the astronomer William Herschel with a 48 cm telescope.

Annotation:

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