Spiders, Flies and Tadpoles

01/24

ASI2600MM, 360mm f/2.8, 19.9h (RGB 3x 1h, Lum 1.5h, Ha 5.5h, S2 5.7h, O3 4h)

Within the extended Hydrogen Alpha region next to open cluster M38 (on the right) there are several interesting targets like the small Fly Nebula SH2-237, the Spider Nebula IC417 in the center and the larger Tadpole Nebula IC410 on the bottom left.

Not to forget the open starcluster M38 on the right, which was discovered already in the 17th century. It was visually bright enough, to get listed in Messier's catalog of nebulous objects. In this image M38 is nearly hidden in plain sight and the seemingly brighter emission nebulae only were discovered centuries later. In reality these regions appear much fainter to our visual capabilities.

IC410 is called the Tadpole Nebula for the two small, bright objects within that area, which needs a much larger focal length to get properly resolved:

While these shots with a smaller focal length may be quite impressive, these are always a bit of a challenge during the edit. Such a combination of various bright targets in one frame is therefore always a compromise.

Check out the annotated view to locate the individual targets contained in this image: