NGC2359 & Haffner 6 Wolf Rayet Bubble and Open Cluster in Canis Major

Uploaded 2/10/10

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 There are few objects in the sky as unusual as this nebula. This bubble of ionized gas is caused by a Wolf Rayet type star with a fierce stellar wind carving a spherical bubble in the middle of a cloud of gas, causing it to glow with primarily OIII and Hydrogen light. About a quarter degree in size, this primary object is accompanied by a loose open cluster, which I've framed in the bottom right corner, Haffner 6. Containing roughly 60 stars in an area of 5 arc minutes, this 9th magnitude moderately rich cluster is nearly buried amongst a field of thousands of Milky Way stars.

The Nebulas Photographic color.

I have photographed this object for years with both film and CCD. My film shots are almost always a very close shade to white, since the films response to the teal OIII line was virtually non existent. CCD shows more reds in the upper regions, with either a blue or green bubble depending on the brand RGB filters you use. Here, a combination of the OIII and HII yield a close to accurate teal color, with red hydrogen excitation along the edges. I feel this is very close to what the eye would see if we could detect color in such a faint object.

Optics: 12.5" f/5 Newtonian w/Lumicon Coma Corrector Platform: Astrophysics AP1200 Camera: Hutech Modified Canon XTi @ ISO800 Exposure: 18 x 5m = 90mins Location: Payson, Arizona Elevation: 5150 ft. Sky: Seeing 8/10, Transparency 9/10 Outside Temperature: 35F Processing Tools: Photoshop CS2, Images Plus 3.82 HOME GALAXIES EMISSION NEBS REFLECTION NEBS COMETS GLOBULARS OPEN CLUST PLANETARIES LINKS