Sh2-163, Gaia Star Cluster - UBC 400
Sh2-163, Gaia Star Cluster - UBC 400
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MOUSE-OVER
IMAGE FOR STARLESS VIEW CLICK
ON IMAGE FOR FULL SIZE VIEW (6332x4208) Scope:
Celestron 9.25 Edge HD 235 mm at f/7; Camera: ASI294MM (Baader
LRGB, Ha, OIII Filters) Acquisition:
DAA Observatory, Shelter Valley, CA;
/ August 17, 18, 23, 2025 Ha
- 112 x 4 minutes (gain-180, 2x2), OIII - 112
x 4 minutes (gain-180, 2x2), Lum 72 x 3 minutes (gain-121 2x2), RGB -
36 each x 2 minutes -
(gain-121 2x2) Total - 22.1333 Hrs
Processing: Data Collection - N.I.N.A. (as FITs).
Sub-frame calibration - Pixinsight (WBPP). Sub-frame registration and
integration (Average combine - Linear fit clipping, 2X drizzle
for Lum, OIII, and Ha) - PixInsight (WBPP). Noise reduction - NoiseXTerminator
(RGB, Lum, OIII, Ha) - PixInsight. Non-linear stretching for Lum, OIII, Ha
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PixInsight. RGB combine and stretching, Photometric RGB calibration (SPCC)
- PixInsight. De-convolution - BlurXTerminator (AI4) - PixInsight.
Generation of starless Lum, OIII, Ha, and RGB images for later processing
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StarXTerminator (PixInsight). Lum starless combined to RGB
starless; OIII and Ha (HOO Palette) starless screened to LRGB starless - Pixinsight Lum stars combined to RGB stars - Pixinsight. LRGB stars screened onto
HOO / LRGB starless images - Pixinsight. Final finishing - Affinity Photo.
Annotation - PixInsight, Aladin (Simbad), and Affinity Photo. This image is an HOO
/ LRGB miage. Image processed at 8,288x5644 resolution (2x drizzle). Full Field combined image size is approximately
6332x4208.
Description: North to the left in this image. The emission
nebula Sh2-163 (co-identifier LBN 557) is the bright red object. Ha
and OIII emission line are present, but OIII is faint relative to Ha - the OIII
causes the core color to shift a little toward blue. Sh2-163 is about 8,150
to 12,500 light years distant. The emission light is energized by star
TYC4280-667-1 (co-identifier LS I +60 8, 10,680 light years) and possibly one
other star.
Sh2-163 is also believed to trigger star formation as its front expands into
the ISM toward the left if its bright
arc An
interesting open star cluster, UBC 400, is in the upper left part of
this image. It has only been identified in 2020 with data from the Gaia
Project DR2 release which occurred 2018. The Gaia mission is intended to
map in detail the Milky Way galaxy's stars and precise distances. The
data has several more releases (DR3 - 2018, DR4 scheduled for end of
2026, DR5 scheduled no earlier than 2030). UBC 400 is 10,700 light years
distant. There have been hundreds of other clusters identified with the
Gaia data.
These objects,
information, and some of the brighter stars are identified in the annotated
image.
The Horizontal Full FOV is approximately 0.642 degrees. Full
size, full field image scale is approximately 0.363 arcsec/pix.
Image
center approximately - Equatorial 2000: RA: 23h 33m 22s Dec: +60°49'44"
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