Nights at Melinda Heights

For a full size image click here.

Telescope: Televue NP101

Camera: QSI 683

Mount: AP 900

Exposure: Ha 20×1200 Seconds, SII 20×1200 Seconds

The above image was captured with my Televue NP101 refractor using 20 minute exposures with SII, Ha, and OIII filters. During processing I decided to omit the OIII data because it was very weak and just muddled the image using the SHO color method. I used a variant of the HOO method called HSS which is Ha assigned to the red channel and SII assigned to both green and blue channels.

IC 59 and IC 63 are two very faint nebulas in the constellation Cassiopeia. Both are emission and reflection nebula with the leading edge of each is the part showing the excited Hydrogen gas typical of emission nebula. The bluish part of the nebula is the reflection nebula and is very dim. IC 59 is the dimmer “W” shaped nebula and IC63 is the “V” shaped nebula. They are both illuminated by the bright star Gamma Cassiopeia that is just in front of the leading edge of the “W” and “V” shapes of both nebulas. This star is a very large variable star that is about 15 times as large as our sun but 70,000 times brighter. It is rotating so fast that it has an equatorial bulge and is discharging its own mass in to space. It is estimated to be near the end of its lifespan. [1]