The Northern Trifid Nebula

The Northern Trifid Nebula, NGC 1579 is a diffuse nebula located in the constellation of Perseus. It is referred to as the Northern Trifid because of its similar appearance to the Trifid Nebula, which is located in the southern celestial hemisphere of the sky. About 2,100 light-years away and 3 light-years across, NGC 1579 is, like the Trifid, a study in contrasting blue and red colours, with dark dust lanes prominent in the nebula's central regions. It is a HII region, a region of star formation.The star cluster contains the emission-line star LkHa 101, which provides much of the ionizing radiation in the nebula. NGC 1579 lies within a giant molecular cloud known as the California Molecular Cloud.

This image taken in February 2025.

L-channel - 106 x 300 sec. bin 1x1;

R-channel - 27 x 300 sec. bin 1x1;

G-channel - 27 x 300 sec. bin 1x1;

B-channel - 27 x 300 sec. bin 1x1.

Total integration time about 15:35 hours.

My setup: Telescope 8" Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain (SCT) CPC800 GPS (XLT) on the equatorial wedge, focal reducer Starizona Night Owl 0.4х, Feq=864mm, camera Starlight Xpress Trius SX694, SX mini filter wheel, filters Astrodon LRGB E-series gen.2 .

Capture and processing software: MaxIm DL6, PHD2, PixInsight, StarTools, Photoshop CC, Zoner photo studio 14.

Copyright:Boris Vladimirovich