Other Names: Prawn Nebula, GUM 56
Optics: Borg Astrograph 101ED at f/4.1
Mount: Atlas EQG using The Sky6 and EQMOD
Camera: Canon EOS 50D [ UV/IR filter modification by Hap Griffin ]
Filters: IDAS Light Pollution Suppression (LPS-V4) Filter
Exposure: 15 Mins [3 x 300s at ISO 800]
Accessories: Auto guided with Borg 45ED and Orion Starshoot Auto guider using PHD
Location: Palm Cove, QLD, Australia
Date: August 19th, 2011
Notes: Processing: Image acquisition with Maxim DSLR. Image calibration, align, and combine in Maxim DSLR. Levels, curves, Noise Ninja, crop and resize in Photoshop.
Calibrated w/40 Darks, 40 Bias, 40 Flats using light box Ambient temperature was +18.0C


South of Antares, in the tail of the nebula-rich constellation Scorpius, lies emission nebula IC 4628. Nearby hot, massive stars, millions of years young, radiate the nebula with invisible ultraviolet light, stripping electrons from atoms. The electrons eventually recombine with the atoms to produce the visible nebular glow. At an estimated distance of 6,000 light-years, the region shown is about 250 light-years across. The nebula is also cataloged as Gum 56 for Australian astronomer Colin Stanley Gum, but seafood-loving astronomers might know this cosmic cloud as The Prawn Nebula.