IC 2599
IC 2599 (Gabriela Mistral Nebula) is an emission nebula (hydrogen or HII region) excited by an open star cluster (OCL 819) in its center. It is in the constellation Carina and located northwest of the Eta Carina Nebula (NGC 3372). The nebula lies at a distance of 7,560 ly (2,317 pc) from Earth.
IC 2599 is associated with the open cluster NGC 3324. A rich deposit of gas and dust in the NGC 3324 region fuelled a burst of starbirth millions of years ago and led to the creation of several extremely massive and very hot stars. The intense ultraviolet radiation from these hot young stars causes the gas cloud to glow and has carved out a cavity in the surrounding gas and dust. In fact the stars are slowly eroding the gas cloud away.
NGC 3324 is an open cluster in the constellation Carina, located northwest of the Eta Carina Nebula (NGC 3372) at a distance of 7,560 ly (2,317 pc) from Earth.
IC 2599 (aka Gum 31) is sometimes called the "Gabriela Mistral Nebula" due to its resemblance to the Nobel Prize-winning poet from Chile. NGC 3324 was first catalogued by James Dunlop in 1826. See Wikipedia for more details.
This image captures IC 2599 through a Hydrogen Alpha filter.
Technical Details
- Object: NGC 3372
- Other Names: Gum 31, Gabriela Mistral Nebula, NGC 3324
- Object Type: emission nebula
- Object Data: Apparent Magnitude = 6.7, Angular Size = 20 x 20 arc-minutes
- Object Position (Equinox 2000): 10h 37m, -58° 44´, Constellation = Carina
- Date: 2021 Feb 26-28 (3 nights)
- Location: Chile Remote Observatory, Observatorio El Sauce, Chile
- Partnership: Operated in partnership with David Churchill
- Telescope: Planewave CDK-17 (with Focal Reducer: f/4.5; FL = 1945mm)
- Camera: QHY 16200A with Integral 7-position Filter Wheel
- Mount: Astro-Physics 1600GTO
- Guider: Agena Starguide II / SBIG STi
- Sub-Exposures: Astronomik Filters
- H-Alpha (6nm):66 x 10 min = 660 min - Total Exposure: 11h 00m
- File Name: IC2599-CDK21Ha-C01w.jpg
- Field of View: 38.9' x 58.3' at 0.64 arc-sec/pixel
- Original Image Size: 3630 x 4540 pixels (16.5 MP); 12.1" x 15.1" @ 300 dpi
- Data Acquisition: David Churchill
- Image Processing: Fred Espenak
- Maxim DL: Image Calibration, Stacking, Digital Development Processing
- Adobe Camera Raw: Noise Reduction
- Photoshop CC: Curves, Levels
- Topaz Labs: Sharpen AI - Copyright: Fred Espenak