IC 4592 - BLUE HORSEHEAD NEBULA + iTEX Observatory + LRGB HA3

IC 4592 - BLUE HORSEHEAD NEBULA

Image Credit: Emanuele La Barbera and  iTEX Observatory team

Filters: Optolong LRGB and HA3nm 

 

 

 

IC 4592 - BLUE HORSEHEAD NEBULA

It is a great pleasure for me to share the first image from our project called iTeX, which establishes us as a group. The name is a play on words that refers to the fact that a group of Italians owns a remote observatory in one of the most beautiful skies in the world, in Texas.
What you see is a success: we were the first to see ionised hydrogen gas (H-Alpha) that no one has been able to “see” in such detail until now. Only a solid collaboration can yield such results.
I have high expectations for the future and hope to see some great things.

IC4592, known as the Blue Horse Nebula, is a reflection nebula 437 light years from Earth, located in the constellation Scorpio, near the famous Rho Ophiuchi.
It is a vast nebular system that receives blue light from its nearest star, ν Scorpii, reflecting it and thus becoming as bright as a deep blue cloud. There is also a very faint H-Alpha signal in the region that fills the entire FOV and, in my opinion, dominates the image.

Masterful processing by Robert Panai.

 

 

 

Shot data:

-TS OPTICS 70 quadruplet f5
-Ioptron HAE29C
-QHY 268 M
-Optolong LRGB and HA 3nm and 2"

L: 110x600"
R: 40x180‘ + 40x20’
G: 40x180‘ + 40x20’
B: 40x180‘ + 40x20’
HA: 100x600‘ + 20x1200’

Location: Rockwood, Texas. Average SQM > 21.85 Close

Hope you like it.