NGC6820 & 6823

NGC 6820 is a wonderfully detailed combination of bright and dark nebulae in the constellation Vulpecula, just south and east of Albireo and just west of M27. NGC 6823 is the cluster of stars embedded in the nebula. The cluster formed from the nebula's gas. Radiation from the cluster's hot, young stars now causes the gas to glow in the ionized hydrogen line called H-alpha. Radiation from the cluster is now driving the gas away from the cluster. Where the gas resists, bright walls and dark columns form. Eventually, more stars will form from the gas, and radiation from the stars will continue to push the gas away until the gas is entirely dispersed, leaving only a large cluster of young stars. We are watching stars at birth!

The cluster and nebula sit in the bottom left of this frame because I wanted to make sure the long, dark, elephant-trunk-like column made it prominently into the final photo. I could not see the column on any of my test exposures, though it did appear in some of the 4' subs later on. Anyway, now I see that a 600mm scope does not yield a very large image, and I should have nearly centered on the cluster. But here it is, nonetheless.

My eight-year-old son thinks the larger stars in the center of the cluster look like the wings of a small bee! The dimmer stars in between look like the body, with a stinger on the end. Can you see it? It's the Bee Cluster!

Imaging Scope: Orion 80ED & WO 0.8x II (f/6)
Imager: Atik 16
Exposure: 40x4', or 160'
Filter: Astronomik 13nm Ha
Capture Software: Nebulosity 1
Mount: Takahashi EM-10
Guiding Camera: DSI Pro
Guiding Software: PHD
Guiding Scope: No-name 60mm f/5
Date: Night of 9-6-09
Location: The Woodlands, TX
Processed with Nebulosity 1, Photoshop Elements 7