ScienceDownEast | ScienceDownEast Astrophotography | Nebulae | NGC 7822 | NGC 7822 Sharpless 171
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NGC 7822 is a sprawling star-forming complex in northern Cepheus, encompassing the bright emission nebula Sharpless 2-171 and the young open cluster Berkeley 59. Intense ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds from massive, newborn stars—most notably the hot O-type star BD+66°1673—sculpt pillars and dark dust lanes throughout the region. Most notable are the "Pillars of Creation" visible near the upper-center.
Located roughly 3,000 light-years away, NGC 7822 spans on the order of 80–100 light-years, giving it a wide apparent extent in deep images. Visually it is challenging from most sites and benefits greatly from dark skies and narrowband filters. Aim a small telescope toward the King of Aethiopia (Cepheus) to find the complex.
Total image time was 6 hours.
| Moon Phase | Waxing GIbbous 98% | ||||||||
| Exposure | 24× 15 min | ||||||||
| Gain | 100 | ||||||||
| Camera | ToupTek ATR2600C [6224 × 4168] | ||||||||
| Optics | 120mm Sky-Watcher Esprit on a Proxisky UMi20S Strain Wave mount | ||||||||
| Guiding | ToupTek GPM462M using PHD2 with a 400mm guide scope. Average 20-min sub GuideRMS ranged from 0..5 to 0.84 using 0.5s exposures. | ||||||||
| Controller | KStars on MeLe Quieter 4C | ||||||||
| Filter | Triad Quad Ultra | ||||||||
| Location | Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia. | ||||||||
| Date | 2025-09-30 | ||||||||
| Processing | Processed in PixInsight. | ||||||||
| PixInsight Processing |
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