Nights at Melinda Heights

For a full size image click here.

Distance: 2,900 Light Years

Magnitude: Unknown

Size: 100 Arc Minutes

Telescope: Borg 71

Camera: QSI683

Mount: AP1100

Exposures: SII 30×600, Ha 35×600, OIII 30×600

This image was captured from my home in a Bortle 6/7 region.

NGC 7822 is an emission nebula in the constellation Cepheus. It contains an open star cluster, dark dust lanes, elephant trunk structures, and Bok globules.

It is illuminated by an open star cluster called Berkeley 59. In this cluster is star DD+661673 which is 100,000 times larger than our sun. At 45,000 Kelvin, it is blasting away at the surrounding dust and forming the elephant trunk shaped dust lanes. This cluster is home to several other type O and B stars that are very young, very large, and very hot. Berkeley 59 also contains 42 variable stars.

The dark lanes seen in my image are listed in Lynd’s Dark Nebula catalog as LDN 1267, LDN 1268, LDN 1269, LDN 1270, LDN 1271, and LDN 1275. LDN 1267 is about 9 arc-minutes in size. LDN 1268 is about 27 arc-minutes in size. LDN 1269 is about 10 arc-minutes in size. LDN 1270 is about 6 arc-minutes in size. LDN 1271 is about 6 arc-minutes in size. LDN 1275 is about 10 arc-minutes in size.

Elephant trunk structures are areas of colder gas and dust that are cylindrically shaped as a result of the large amounts of ultraviolet radiation emitted from the open star cluster. All of the elephant trunk structures in my image point to the central star cluster Berkeley 59. One elephant trunk structure known as the “Dancing Queen” is actually rotating upon its axis. The “Dancing Queen” trunk is the smaller object to the right of the bigger trunk just below and right of the image center. Elephant trunk structures are also known to be active star forming regions but it often takes IR imaging to see through the dense gas and dust. There are also smaller areas of dense gas and dust in NGC 7822 known as globules. These are smaller concentrations of dust and gas usually spherical or tear dropped in shape.

Here is a close up of the image that I captured with a Takahashi TOA-130:

Exposures: SII 18×600, Ha 30×900, OIII 16×900

For a full size image click here.

Here is an LRGB version captured with a Takahashi TOA-130:

Exposures: L 18×600, R 20×300, G 20×300, B 20×300

For a full size image click here.