IC405 Clouds of Doom

Also known as the Flaming Star Nebula, IC405 was captured by the Bent Nail Observatory's medium-field 950mm refractor. The loose hydrogen gas in this region is slowly coalescing into new baby stars, that's why these types of nebulae are often referred to as stellar nurseries.

It is an emission nebula and so it was decided to capture it using narrowband filters. In this image the hydrogen emissions (rendered as red) and sulphur emissions (rendered as green) combine to make these relatively cold gasses appear to be in flame. The final image is a stack of 20 x 5 minute frames with the hydrogen filter (Ha), 20 x 5 minute frames of sulfur (SII), and 12 x 5 minute frames of Oxygen (OIII) for a total of 260 minutes of integration. Stacked in Pixinsight and then the stars were removed using RC Astro's Star Xterminator for an even more dramatic effect.

Here it is complete with stars: